ryanlove 1 | -
Feb 02, 2008 | #1
I've been writing for essay companies for three years and I just couldn't believe that I would have my first taste of being scammed by a writing company which from all appearances seems to be legitimate.
I applied with writers.ph last December when there was a lull in the flow of work from the two other companies that I write for and I was initially impressed by the way they handled my application and by the appearance and structure of their website.
Though the payout was quite low, the company's promise of "promotion" and "advancement" seemed like a good trade off; there was something comforting about the interactivity that one would get upon logging on the site- there was tech and customer support, online chat, etc...
The first warning bell sounded when a stupid customer (sorry, but most of them are) asked for a revision without obviously reading the paper written for him and it resulted in an automatic deduction from my payment. Just like that- I complained, but there was no response.
And then it just began to slide downhill when "plagiarized" papers would conveniently crop up everytime I reminded them of my late salary- the shocking thing was that the software they were using to check for plagiarism was a low-level program that needed human qualitative analysis which they never did apply. All they keep saying was that my work was being checked by "quality control".
It was apparent at this point that something was really wrong- they couldn't be checking papers that had already beem submitted to the client three weeks ago..
I stopped taking new orders and realized too late when I googled writers.ph, that complaints about writers.ph were rife all over the net. I had a suspicion that they were just waiting for me to go over the edge and use it as an excuse to terminate my services. I decided that it was just money and that I could earn it again, ten times over in a way that was dignified and professional. After a strongly worded message to customer support, I discovered 4 hours later that indeed, they had terminated my services by simply de-activating my log-in name and password.
The simple fact for freelance writers- and I've been writing professionally since high school- is that if you don't get paid on time, then it's a scam plain and simple. It's the only dignity we're entitled to as we grit our teeth at some of the abuse and complaint heaped on us by some customers who feel that because they pay us, they're already entitled to unwarranted and mis-informed criticism.
But the worst thing of all, is to have the company itself- and one that passes itself off as for Filipinos- to be the perpetrators of abuse.
I applied with writers.ph last December when there was a lull in the flow of work from the two other companies that I write for and I was initially impressed by the way they handled my application and by the appearance and structure of their website.
Though the payout was quite low, the company's promise of "promotion" and "advancement" seemed like a good trade off; there was something comforting about the interactivity that one would get upon logging on the site- there was tech and customer support, online chat, etc...
The first warning bell sounded when a stupid customer (sorry, but most of them are) asked for a revision without obviously reading the paper written for him and it resulted in an automatic deduction from my payment. Just like that- I complained, but there was no response.
And then it just began to slide downhill when "plagiarized" papers would conveniently crop up everytime I reminded them of my late salary- the shocking thing was that the software they were using to check for plagiarism was a low-level program that needed human qualitative analysis which they never did apply. All they keep saying was that my work was being checked by "quality control".It was apparent at this point that something was really wrong- they couldn't be checking papers that had already beem submitted to the client three weeks ago..
I stopped taking new orders and realized too late when I googled writers.ph, that complaints about writers.ph were rife all over the net. I had a suspicion that they were just waiting for me to go over the edge and use it as an excuse to terminate my services. I decided that it was just money and that I could earn it again, ten times over in a way that was dignified and professional. After a strongly worded message to customer support, I discovered 4 hours later that indeed, they had terminated my services by simply de-activating my log-in name and password.
The simple fact for freelance writers- and I've been writing professionally since high school- is that if you don't get paid on time, then it's a scam plain and simple. It's the only dignity we're entitled to as we grit our teeth at some of the abuse and complaint heaped on us by some customers who feel that because they pay us, they're already entitled to unwarranted and mis-informed criticism.
But the worst thing of all, is to have the company itself- and one that passes itself off as for Filipinos- to be the perpetrators of abuse.