Freelancer.com has ruined my life

There definitely is something strangely odd about this site. They act as a currency exchange, pilfering huge amounts of money by converting slightly lesser than actual forex value. They apparently converted currency 9 times for 2 small gigs. And I just stopped using this site. They deserve this backlash. From what I can gather the developer is aghast with difficulties and is emotionally distraught to provide a compelling narrative. But the fact remains that sites like these, though they call themselves for freelancers, is purely hogwash about its business and is more than happy to shoot itself in the foot. The ideology of acting like a half-decent marketplace (at least what they purport to be) is somehow lost out on these guys. Shame.

The best he probably can (and from his writing likely does) expect from this on a personal level is to have learned a valuable lesson and to serve as cautionary tale for others to not fall in the same trap.

He likely has little in the way of legal recourse but he'd have to consult with a lawyer for that anyway.

9.Indemnification Contractor will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Client against any damage, cost, loss or expense arising from a claim, suit or proceeding brought against Client (i) alleging that any Work Product infringes upon any Intellectual Property Rights, (ii) alleging that any Work Product misappropriates any trade secrets, of any third party, or (iii) arising from Contractor's breach of the terms of this Agreement.

I read that to mean that if a client I did work for is sued for IP infringement, even if no IP infringement occurs, I need to pay for the client's defense out of my own pocket.

⓪ - https://www.elance.com/p/legal/independent-contractor-servic...

I wasn't a freelancer - I was a paying client with a long and profitable history, good ratings, etc.

Never used them again.

Their advertising, marketing and brand are "we are here to help you!" and to take away the potential headaches and challenges that freelancers without the platform have.

Yet, really, they are not there to mitigate the risk they claim. They don't give a shit about you or your income. They only want people to use the platform.

It's a power imbalance. The company has thousands and thousands of people using their service, so one person is such a small % of their business, they don't give a shit.

For small businesses, in a small town or community, your reputation is what your business is, so you will work really hard to ensure it is good.

Large companies with a huge web presence and the resources to protect it, don't care about you. If you post a bad review, they will find a way to get 100 people to post positive ones.

It's largely about resources, the large company has WAY more than you as an individual.

They only care about their competition.

It's sad, but that's the state of our system, from health care companies to insurance companies to telecoms to banks, you are at the mercy of these large corporations as a customer.

Unless you have a personal networth large enough to fix these problems, it's a basically insolvable problem.

I recently had a disagreement with my car insurance company about an accident. They ruled against me, which I disagreed with. My only recourse would be to hire a lawyer and take them to court. They knew it would be WAY more effort than it was worth for me.

My only option was to switch companies, which I did, but it doesn't really matter since the new company could do the same to me just as easily.