Comments on: Elance.com, Great Concept, Terrible Experience

By: JThomas2121

JThomas2121 — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:24:28 +0000

I agree with the few comments that you get what you pay for. If you’re looking for the cheapest provider, then you deal with the problems. If you know how much a fair job should cost and snag the first 1/4 or less bid, without vetting, without establishing a payable timeline, then that’s your problem. Too bad you can’t accept that and instead go off and curse people out who have different opinions and experiences. I’m a provider on Elance (in a different category), and I don’t accept payment until the job is done. For larger jobs, I will finish a milestone to satisfaction, then request fund releases before moving to the next phase. Why this never occurred to you is beyond me. Once escrow is funded in Elance, it doesn’t mean the provider gets that money. You still have to release those funds. If they don’t do the work, the dispute process is much easier.

If you want to hire cheap labor oversees, go for it. I’ll tell you one thing, though, as a provider, if you want quality, open the purse strings. I lose many bids to underbidding, but more than 70% of the time, I’m always contact later to fix the mess. And the customer pays twice. Stop being a stooge and a part of the problem and realize the basic business tenet is true … if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is … and also, ‘You do get what you pay for.’

By: Oni

Oni — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:31:19 +0000

LOL, most of you guys bitchin about crappy providers don’t realize that you get what you paid for. If you look for cheap indian labor, guess what? ..You’ll get cheap indian labor.

Software development is not a commodity like sugar and rice. As an American provider I find it amusing when a clueless elance client posts a job for “less than $500″ when the job should cost at least 10X more when properly engineered. These type of projects are always bound to fail.

Software/Web application development are like the engineering and legal trades. Whomever you choose to be the provider should 1.) know what they are doing 2.) have experience 3.) be available/local.

What kind of idiot would hire an attorney (for a murder case) or an engineer (for a new building) that doesn’t have a proven track record? Or hire one out of the country in a different time zone!?

By: Boris Abazher

Boris Abazher — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 06:24:11 +0000

How’s this?

I have used elance before as a provider, I find that most of the Indian providers claim unrealistic costs and deadlines, especially at elance. I don’t actually see any other outcome of such situation, but the vendor running off with your money or you never seeing the code. I would advice not to even consider suspiciously low rates.

I once was talking to a possible customer, he asked me to provide an estimate on a mobile application for three platforms (iPhone, Blackberry and J2ME). My estimation was 5K or so… The guy said it was much too expensive. Moreover he told me that one other provider estimated the job $300 and another one $50, but his deadline was too far away. I thought “WTF”??? I have a feeling, that app is never going to be developed with a customer as dumb as that.

By: Kristi Patrice Carter

Kristi Patrice Carter — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:56:09 +0000

I am very sorry that you didn’t have a positive experience on Elance. I use Elance all the time and I must say that I’ve had about 95% positive and the other 5% well not. The troublesome times were caused because I didn’t do a good job selecting my provider. I rushed through the process and wasn’t clear on my deliverables and expectations and as such, my project suffered. Since then I’ve learned that you have to be extremely clear about what you need and expect at the very beginning. You have to check feedback of your provider and you have to use the private message board to your benefit. Lastly, you have to follow up on your provider to make sure that he understands what is expected. By doing this, my experiences are mostly positive.

I do hope you will give Elance another shot because they do have a wealth of talent that you can choose for your next project.

By: cliff

cliff — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:33:22 +0000

I have had an awful problem with a provider but found the elance process for disputes to be very helpful. I am following the credit card complaint route and suggest that anyone making payments uses this method of payment. That said Elance does recommend a way of paying for work and I should followed that process to the letter. Regrettably a client should NEVER trust a provider and that is an awful place to be but it is a good place to start. Pay for the work as it is completed. The first time a deadline is missed stop the work and do not make a payment. If you are doing a larger scale project and you are paying in stages make sure ALL code is transferred to you prior to releasing the ESCROW. I have learned the hard way. Now I have a great coder working with me and I am follwoing my own advice above. The work quality is excellent, on-time and well managed. I am happy to pay for what I am getting. I would love to name and shame and may do just that in the fullness of time. There are providers out there that should be allowed to provide anything.