UK Essays - writing for them?

Hi Guys

Has anyone heard of UK Essays? Any experiences, writing for them - good or bad I'd be eager to hear.

Thanks

Evie

Hmm - well having looked round the forum and established that UK Essays operate under different names and is run on this forum by Spider Man's alter ego - my ******** detector is a-clangin'.

From the attached article it would appear they condone students submitting essays as their own

durham21.co.uk/archive.asp?ID=3973

I had a look at the contract UK Essays sent me. Total bunch of gangsters. There's a clause that states even if a close family member suddenly dies, you still have to hand in the essay or get a massive fine. Curiously there are no such undertakings for UK Essays to pay the writer on time, or at all. Nothing. It's a horrible contract; made me feel grubby just reading it and I refused to sign.

There has to be a better way to earn a living. And those lazy little tosspot students can write the essays themselves.

I also applied to work for them, but discovered through a solicitor acquaintance that their contract is borderline illegal in the UK. In addition, they pay their writers a fraction of the price they charge for the essays ordered. I managed to get out of a contract with them and started offering my own writing service freelance for a niche market.

Hi there,

I hope I can be of help in answering these posts. I work for Academic Answers Limited - UK Essays is one of our websites. Our writers are usually signed up via Academic Knowledge or Deveraux and Deloitte, our research houses.

Just responding to Evie's post here - I think she has misunderstood the contract. Hopefully I can set things straight for her here.

Just to explain why writers don't generally get paid for late work, first of all - UK Essays offers buyers a 'work on time or money back' guarantee - and all our writers know this. They agree to work to these terms when they sign up.

So when a writer fails to meet their promise, who do you think should pay for the cost? The writer - or us? Remember, we're just an agency - so legally we're not actually supposed to bear the risk. As a writer, we just find you the customers and negotiate the deal for you.

When you get assigned a piece of work, on the whole, you have a full five days per 5,000 words to complete it, so it's going to be a very rare occasion that someone dies on the last day or you fall horribly ill on the exact day of delivery and can't do the work. But when this is the case, as inevitably sometimes it will be, we just reserve the right to ask for proof.

In fact, we have a pretty good core writing team who've been with us for years and so I'd never ask anyone I knew well for such evidence because I know they work with us and would never 'try it on' but there are always a sad few individuals who do. If proof is available (or it's a writer we know well) then we cover the cost of the lateness and pay the writer as long as they finish off the work, or pay for someone else to do it (or refund the customer). We also help writers with getting extensions from the customer, buying them sources if they are struggling or assigning the work elsewhere if they just can't finish it.

Evie, I can't help but wonder if you were the individual who contacted us recently and asked where in the contract did it say you'd get paid .. maybe I'm wrong and you're not .. but it does say it very clearly in the first clause and throughout the contract, payment is referred to. For example:

"(Clause 1.9) [AK] agrees with the Writer throughout the period of this contract to use all reasonable commercial efforts to obtain orders, and the Writer authorises [AK] to collect payment from the Client on his behalf and forward this, minus commission and any relevant deductions in accordance with this agreement, to the Writer"

The writer website is also part of the contract and you'll find the information about payments on there (for example, that all payments for work done up until mid month are made at the end of the month via bank transfer or Paypal as you wish).

The contract is certainly not borderline illegal - I do all of AA Ltd's legal work and as a F.ILEX I'm happy there's nothing in there which is questionable. Some academics (perhaps including your solicitor friend) feel that writing essays for students should be illegal and so have this view that it must therefore be illegal - but it's not - further, they misunderstand that our service is not a cheat service and not to be used for such purpose.

Finally, regarding the price, although the websites do charge the customer more than the writer gets paid, we actually don't make a huge profit. Writers rarely understand that the cost of sourcing customers is very high and we have a large team in the office to ensure that customers get a really good quality service - then, take away tax and VAT from what's left and it's not exactly the most profitable industry to be in. I write for the Company too, as well as working with them, and I wouldn't bother if I thought I was being ripped off.

I hope this is all helpful and I'm always glad to answer questions.

All of your credibility just flew out of the window. I've seen the pictures of good ol' Barclay outside of his massive house, sitting in his Lambo. Nice try. Do you want to start a collection pot for Barclay, too?

I think we've met before on these forums, WB. I'm not sure what you're suggesting here - are you saying that because Barclay lives in a nice house and drives a nice car, this shows we rip off writers? I can think of plenty of businessmen that live in nice houses and drive nice cars but don't rip people off.

My point was actually that the previous poster suggested we were paying writers a tiny fee and selling the work on for an enormous markup, thus bagging us a huge profit unfairly, but it's not like that at all. We invest a huge amount of money into gaining leads, marketing, training our staff and delivering a good quality service all round - and so there isn't a huge profit margin there. Certainly there are more profitable businesses to be in.

Regards,
Jennifer

I used to write for this company. To say that customers do not use this as their own work or if they do the company does not know that they do is a fallacy. If this were the case how come the quality control departments contact writers when customers have complained saying that the work did not receive the mark they expected and then the writer gets fined for supposedly submitting a piece of work that failed to score over 59%.

If the customer used the work as a guideline only then the score they receive is down to them alone. They can only assert the work did not get the score expected AND the writer is to blame IF they submitted the work WITHOUT making ANY alterations.

They OBVIOUSLY know that the customers submit this as their own OTHERWISE why do they make the writer GUARANTEE that the work IS to that standard and WHY do they fine the writer when the customer states that they did not get the mark they requested in their order.

Before Jennifer starts accusing me of having an axe to grind because I was dismissed I will put the record straight by letting you all know that I chose to leave I was not made to leave the company.

WOW!

If a customer complains and hasn't got someone to help them with putting together reasons for why their work is not to standard (a colleague or friend with experience, for example) we'll often pay for the work to be graded by another writer who has teaching/tutoring experience or works as a professional in that field. That'll be where your grade came from.

If you read our websites, we do explain that we can't guarantee the customer's final grade because the work they hand in is their own work and not ours. However, we can guarantee the quality of the work and so if a customer is unhappy with the quality, we work with them to set that straight. The Quality Team read through the work initially and then, as I said, if the customer can't identify exactly what they're not happy with (as we do realise they aren't experts and they have come to us for help) we have it graded by another expert in the field.

Of course, the work only has to make the grade the customer ordered. If they order a 2.2, it needs to be 50-59%, in line with standard university marking schemes in the UK. 2.1 is 60-69%, 1st is 70% and above, and so on. So if you had a penalty for submitting work that failed to score over 59%, the customer must have paid for 2.1 or 1st standard work.

There is always the problem that some students do hand in essays from us. This is inevitable. We can educate people on proper use, explain the benefits of using a model answer properly, explain the concepts of plagiarism and cheating, etc etc until we're blue in the face but the bottom line is, some students will choose to use the work improperly. Inevitably this also means that some students will get caught. Even if the work is 100% original, as a former lecturer, I can tell you that lecturers are not stupid - they know if someone in their class suddenly acquires a fantastic grasp of the subject that they didn't have last week, or writes in an entirely different style. So those students who do use us to cheat are risking their academic careers. How much better would it be if they took the model answer we provided them with, and did their own study, their own research and their own writing. They have benefited from an expert's opinion but they have done nothing dishonest - no different from reading a Q&A book from Blackstones or a handout from a lecturer.

Before this is deleted as 'self promotion', please consider that this applies throughout the industry - there is no doubt that model answers can be beneficial if used properly. As for many things in life, there is a proper use that benefits, and an improper use that doesn't. Unfortunately there is no easy way to ensure they are used properly, other than by educating customers.

model answers??

hahaha...if they needed a model answer they would use the Q and A book and not pay hundreds of pounds for a model answer written by your experts.If you are so ethical why don't you publish model answer books instead of advertising left,right and centre about your Monopoly.

And by the way if they are meant to be model answers why don't you send a copy to turnitin.com before you "sell" your "model answers"!

It is obvious that they will get caught then if the student want to hand them in as they are.But no...this is just a legal loophole being used by most companies!

Very convenient indeed!

In the particular case I am referring to the quality control department wrote to me saying that the customer had been in contact with you and stated that they had submitted the essay to their university and DID not get the grade that they expected. The quality control department stated that the work was of adequate quality but because the customer had complained they had agreed to refund the money AND then fined ME 3 x the amount I was being paid for the work. Nice scam if you can get away with it, which is EXACTLY why i quit.

Yes exwriter I agree with you....they get away with more money than they give with their fancy legal clauses! Just like an expensive version of essaywriters.net....

Can I have the order number please, exwriter?

Jennifer, the longer you stay here, the worse things will get for your company. I haven't even posted any of MY information yet.

lol, WB, it's completely up to you if you do. I'm sorry if you don't like me being here, I quite like your friendly banter :-D

If you have a genuine complaint against us, why don't you just raise it with me? Give me details - an order number, a date - and I'll help you. If you're a genuine unhappy customer, I'm sure you won't mind giving me a few details. In fact, let's make this a challenge - you give me your order number and right here in this forum, we'll discuss openly in front of everyone else exactly why you're unhappy and what we can do for you (I'll keep all the details confidential, I promise). Isn't that fair? If you want people to take you seriously as a genuine customer of an essay company that's been ripped off, which is what this forum is for (presumably ripped off by us as you don't seem to like me very much :-) ) then why don't you show everyone that's exactly what you are, that you're 100% genuine, not just from another company or someone with a bee in their bonnet who gets pleasure from trying to take people down - but a genuine upset customer - and let's get it resolved for you. Can you say fairer than that? :-)

I really hope I can help you WB - that's a genuine offer and this site gets a lot of visitors so you'll have plenty of people who'll be reading this thread, waiting to hear exactly what your complaint is and how we deal with it for you.

Give me a break--you think I need the help of your crappy sites? I'm no customer.

You are here for one reason and one reason only--promotion. You poke your head in every so often and try to spin the newest complaints. Sorry, but it doesn't work.

And you're here for... ?

That's utterly irrelevant--I don't advertise. I uncover scams. I can also smell a promoter a mile away.

What so you can identify which writer I used to be and then make veiled threats against me for SUPPOSEDLY defaming your company (like you once did to another writer) I don't think so.

If WB or the other posters on here who are GENUINELY trying to stop scam companies like you want any further info on this order I will gladly supply by private message.

I am not in the habit of making assertions I cannot prove, and am also acutely aware that each writer is identifiable by the briefs they have written. I think I will kindly retain my anonymity thank you very much as I have seen the way your company operates when anyone dares to challenge their empire.

Wow...Jennifer is trying to be the Cat that settles differences between mice.

How clever....you really think that exwriter is silly enough to expose who she is so your revengeful company can chase her to the corner of the earth....Hope your monopoly breaks soon.

From what I have heard your company is the nastiest and most revengeful and mean employer ever.I mean look at your contract....who drafted this?Count Dracula????

and you know what?We (Me,WB and Exwriter) are here to help people against exploiters like you......and one of these days you will certainly be hearing from the Barcouncil.....(I hope and I pray so before BVC/LPC becomes a Joke) and we have illiterate.incompetent people who didn't draft their own opinions in the BVC exam,defending innocent people at court.

This certainly is the age of Pseudointellectualism!

Take a screen shot of this aswell for your records.....

I agree. The contract is full of veiled threats and penalties. I also found that working for this company was very stressful and feared any email from the quality department even though many times it was awarding me a bonus for scoring highly on my work. The very sight of quality emails had me taking a deep breath before opening in case the customer had complained and I was getting fined or made to do further work on the piece.

Since leaving I am so much more relaxed and can open my emails without trembling.

Exwriter, what's the defamation thing - I've never threatened anyone with a defamation claim lol

Mak, I'm not interested in personal or petty snipes - I'm just here to represent the company I work for and help people who have a genuine complaint :)

Clearly if people have a complaint and don't give us an order number, there's not much we can do for them - but that's fine, you don't have to reveal your identity or make any effort to resolve things with us - it's entirely your choice.

I do look forward to speaking with the Bar Council though!

:-)

There is no point in revealing the brief where a fine of 300% was added as this matter was already taken up with the quality department who replied by saying that I should be grateful that they were still allowing me to write for them since the customer was so disappointed with the essay. Yes I was so grateful I quit.

Glad your looking forward to hearing from the bar council since I was on the phone to them today and have just responded to an email from them directing them to your site. I'll keep everyone on here posted once they respond to me latest communication.

And THERE'S the arrogance for which Academic Answers is known!

WritersBeware, It is sad that you still have that much time to message on this forum as i thought that you' d be busy taking care of your grandchildren. They rot and starve out there whereas you actually act as a savior for all the people who need good essays =/. I still see that you have some affection with the ********* people. Do you still get paid by them ? I mean its been ages since i left them ? The problems I had with them, remember ? Man they ll screw you too trust me :/ Hope you leave them soon

Your Savior

Jack Logan

Lostsaad, everything you post is either complete nonsense or blatant lies. That's a fact. In your post above, you've typed 2 pieces of sheer nonsense and 6 lies. Take a hike, you festering chunk of monkey dung.

I wouldn't write for UK Essays or Academic Knowledge. They treat their writers with barely concealed contempt, and exercise and stretch the rules as they see fit, and always to their advantage. There are plenty other options available. If you want to feel constantly uncomfortable as a writer then UKEssays or Academic Knowledge is the place to be. Then there's this JenniferAA on these boards, the self-proclaimed 'lawyer' with her 'lols' and her 'smilies' to counter all the various criticisms and convince people that all is well.

academic knowledge/uk essays pay only 1/3rd of the essay fee to a writer and treat writers like ****. they don't have basic hr/pr skills. they are ripping off both writers and customers. all companies should pay at least half the fee to writers.

Sounds like a real scam company, they are pretty shameful! Making loads of profits off the back of the hard work of writers, Im not sure I would want to apply to this company. Seems that customers are also dissatisfied too, so bad deal for both parties!

So hard trying to find a company that some one has a good word to say about them

Hi all

I just stumbled across this after a google search or two... Anyhow I've been writing for AK for nearly 2 years now and up until now I've found them to be pretty good. Frustrating at times with a very slow response to any query you make for your benefit i.e. relating to payment but expecting double quick responses to amendment queries etc.

But in the last month or so they have got a lot worse. I'm not sure if it's an economic climate thing that has caused the company to try and get back as much money from writers as they can or whether there has been a change in the quality department which has resulted in quite a bit of incompetence. I do believe that it is just that rather than a deliberate attempt to swindle but at the end of the day the result is the same.

I'm currently having a battle over 2 'penalties' both of which I don't think should have been applied as all instructions were followed and it's clear that the client is just after a refund. Apparently AK have refunded but if they give in when the writer has followed every request / amendment to the letter I don't see why the writer should suffer.

The real annoyance is the fact that one of these penalties has been applied twice and one four times so I am now down a total of nearly £1300 over what should be at most a £500 penalty (and that I dispute). On pointing this out to the quality team you get a curt and totally useless response of 'tough that's our decision'.

Jennifer is looking into it and I must say that she has always been really helpful and responsive so hopefully I'll be able to report back with some good news :-) I do think that the main problem comes from the total lack of thought that the quality team seem to throw at situations, even with amendments they simply seem to cut and paste responses without actually reading them which is infuriating at best.

What I'm trying to say is that there is a pocket of total annoyance (quality) and it is a monthly battle to get the correct invoice agreed which is very irritating but if you can learn to take a deep breath and try to realise that it really is just down to a lot of thoughtless button pressing from some individuals then they can be a good company to work for. Rates are pretty good and there is a reasonably constant flow of work.

I will keep you all updated as to how this progresses. Naturally if they attempt to enforce the 2x penalty and the 4x penalty I will be pursuing it so much as I hope I don't become a test case we may get to find out how enforceable those clauses are!! ;-)

Quick update - through much correspondance they have taken off the duplicate for one brief, the original penalty is still there (was taken last month) and the 400% penalty for the second one is apparently going to stand.

I've given up this end and passed it to credit control to go through debt recovery and small claims if necessary - I will let you know what the final decision is on having such large penalties as it could be of interest to many on this forum.

N

dont work for them whatever you do, there are 2 things this company is good at, ripping of customers and writers but they will never ever dip into their own kitty , they are greedy B's, dont work for them whatever you do

Frustrated new writer (my first assignment from Academic Knowledge)

Received my first assignment from Academic Knowledge, and was given 16 hours to review, edit and critique a 10 page law paper. The problem - which i immediately communicated to the company - was as follows: the question presented was a request for legal advice based on a specific set of facts relating to topic A; the essay was a theoretical discussion of relevant law regarding topic B. Needless to say, topics A and B had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Moreover, the the essay never mentioned the relevant fact pattern. I sent 2 messages to the company, and in the interim reviewed the paper based on its content - without regard to the initial question. It was horrifically written, and took hours to rework. I sent in the heavily edited paper on time along with another message regarding the disconnect (which the company claims not to have received). The only response I have received (after the deadline) stated that the client provided the question, instructions and the essay, and that should be enough. Thereupon, I revised my critique to give the paper a "fail" grade for unresponsiveness. Is this kind of thing the norm? Any advice as to how I should/could have handled it differently? I found the company's response, or lack thereof, infuriating.

Hi,

You are not expected to re-write the whole paper, think of it as a marking job. Some of these papers are truly horrific and need to be done again, if that is the case just say so on the sheet. Its the comments on the marking sheet that are most important, you are expected to edit with track changes but only to a reasonable level for the fee.

Hope that helps.

No. the company has to bear some of the risk being the middle man. After all, you can always reassign the paper to another writer and still get your hefty cut of the profits. Do not try to fool anyone. You are making is sound like you don't make a cent in the deal when the truth is, you get the lion's share of the profit. Your company can bear the full cost for the writer if you so choose to. The company yo work for an afford it.

Can you come back to this thread and explain why the site has been under an Access Denied warning for more than a year now? What is going on? The company is still actively listed in search engines but the page itself is non-functioning. Why not just take it offline and release the url? It is pointless to have students visit a site that does not offer any services at all.

@noted
Been looking at this site for some time but today I decided to register to reply to your comment.
I am in the UK and have no problem in accessing the website https://www.ukessays.com
Are you so afraid of competition that you have to post such rubbish.

I don't believe that Noted deliberately posted anything that's inaccurate, much less because he's "afraid of competition" from your site. He probably went to the website and, for whatever reason, it just didn't load for him. There'd really be no point to falsely posting that a site isn't working if that's not true, because it would be far too easy for anybody else to simply try the url for himself. Noted, I also want to apologize for our recent misunderstanding: I wasn't looking to pick a fight with you at all. Your wording in that post where you were only attempting to defend me against this (same) perpetual nuisance just didn't read to me like a defense; it read to me more like a complaint about my promotional efforts that are perfectly within the rules of this forum. Anyway, I think you provide a valuable service identifying fraudulent and unreliable essay sites, which means we're actually on the same side of things here. While I'm here (admittedly) mainly to promote my own totally legitimate business, there's really no reason that we should have a conflict when the real enemies here are the fraudulent essay companies and those whose representatives think that "competition" means fraudulently defaming and posting completely untrue fabricated accusations about other companies or writers that have been doing nothing but providing reliable high-quality essays to readers of this forum for close to a decade and a half. For my part, I'd like to bury the hatchet with you.

@writerUK No lies here. Screenshot image proves it cannot be accessed. For some reason the image did not load. Working on it.

@Freelanwriter Hatched buried. Apology accepted.