Reviews Of Freelancers

This guy George Wells lives in Toronto at Bathurst/Bloor - george@georgewells.ca & Brain4Rent@georgewells.ca

07-06-07 - He responded to my ad to purchase my cell phone. He told me the amount he wanted to pay, I told him what I needed & then I told him I’d be in Toronto & meet up with him the following night. I was coming all the way from Brampton which if you know Toronto, is either 20-45 minutes away depending on where you are going to in Toronto.

He did not have a car, so I said I’d come meet him closer to where he is. I was being nice & yes of course I wanted the sale, but I didn’t have to drive to where he lived.

I called him to touch base before going into a store. I told him I’d be 20-30 minutes. I confirmed that my last price in the e-mail was fine & he said sure, no problem.

20-30 minutes later I called him, no answer. I called again when I got closer to where we were supposed to meet. Still no answer. I called him about 1 ½ hours later. No answer again.

This guy clearly plays games. He knew full well I was coming into town near him to meet up with him. I wasted my time & my gas & he just ignored my calls clearly knowing it was me & yes, I drove near his house or business which was about 30-40 minutes from where that store was that I had to go to.

Frank Galluzzo in Toronto area – Electrician/General Contractor

I found Frank from Home Depot when I had to go in & change a halogen light bulb. He tried getting me to hire him just to change a light bulb. Yeh yeh, I should have known at that point, but he seemed credible with his electrical license & all, so I kept his number.

I also should have known he wasn’t professional because he had no business cards, but I’m always making excuses for people because I know they aren’t me.

Does a blue collar worker who’s new to owning his own company really have the time to go out & get business cards I say? I guess I should toss them if they don’t.

Anyway, onto the story…

I called him because of that Rent to Own scam I was dealing with & my LONG list of problems with the house.

I needed someone to come over, look over the problems & state, “yes, these are real legitimate problems that any real contractor should have done properly the first time, or yes, they needed to be fixed & weren’t.” Then write up a letter stating as such.

He told me he had general contracting experience in his past, it was just that he decided to go the electrical route.

He quoted me $100 to come over & document the problems within the house. He came once & rushed through without looking at everything. When I called him on it, he said he got the idea of what was going on based on my list.

He was supposed to come back because he didn’t want to list the problems with the toilet without actually seeing the problems, so I had to make sure it was plugged up like it normally was, which wasn’t too hard, but we clearly needed a day or two & my son never liked using that bathroom.

I called him the next night, he didn’t come. If memory serves me, he was supposed to come, & then was working too late.

This happened one more time, & then he disappeared & I never heard from him for over a week. By this time I felt like I had been chasing him, so I started looking around for someone else.

When he called me he apologized, & I hadn’t found anyone as of yet, so I said fine, but I needed it done within 1-2 days because I was going to court & needed that information very quickly. He definitely knew how important this was, come on, it was court.

FINALLY, the night before court he tells me he’s going to come over. I tell him I have to go out & make copies of the disclosure, but to call me on my cell & I should be able to get back to the house by the time he arrived there.

He starts to write up the letter at guess what hour… 11:30 pm.

At this point I was exhausted. He calls me & starts reading to me what he wrote which became clear to me was partially a sales pitch for him doing the work to fix the problems.

I start getting agitated because it’s very late, & this is NOT what this letter was supposed to be all about. This letter was ONLY to detail what the issues were. I didn’t want the judge thinking he was making up issues just to get a job.

So, I told him that’s not how I wanted it. He started to get all frustrated saying he wasn’t going to change it, he was doing me some favour & that he was still at his parents place, it was going to take him a while to get over to my place, etc.

In the end he started raising his voice which caused me to raise my voice.

He started threatening me he wouldn’t complete the letter if I didn’t just accept it the way he wrote it up, & this was after I gave him TWO chances to come over, see the issues, write up the letter, & after he had been irresponsible & disappeared.

I finally hung up the phone on him after it was clear he was bullying me, didn’t want to do the work, wasn’t professional enough to tell me this 2 weeks ago so I could find someone else, & was, in my opinion, a nasty person to leave a woman high & dry the night before. All this after he chased me for the work in the first place.

He didn’t care that he put me in a very very difficult situation &, he was trying to make this all about him giving me some deal because he was only charging me $100. He didn’t give me a deal, he gave me the price he wanted to give me because I told him $250 was too much. I never put a gun to his head & said you have to charge me $100.

Your choice if you want to use him, I won’t even tell you the hell I went through trying to find someone else at 12 midnight the night before court. Your imagination can fill in the blanks, & I never got any sleep either.

Grant Lam in the Toronto area
gmx526@gmail.com

Grant came to take down my patio blind & put it back up in my new house when I  moved.

I told him then I was thinking about getting drapes & would need him to come back once I settled in so he could put them up.

In fact he was anxious to do the work because he asked again when I was going to be getting the drapes.

So about 2 weeks after moving I finally settle down enough to order the drapes, then I had to wait for them to arrive.

After I spoke to the drapery company inquiring as to when it would probably be in, they told me tomorrow or the next day. I called Grant right away.

He said he could do it the next night after 10 pm. I said I didn’t know when they would be in, but would call him right away when they were.

So the day I get the call that they are in, I start calling his cell. It kept ringing & ringing, no voice mail.

I just think he’s busy with his day job working for Blinds to Go (a story there I won’t go into, I’ll put it on my other blog about company reviews).

My son continues to try & call him & thinks someone picks up & then hangs up on him.

Then clearly the person turned the phone off.

I never hear from Grant again.

I e-mail him the next night after trying to call to no avail, still no call, no return e-mail, NOTHING.

It’s clear at this point the guy strung me along & now I’m screwed with no way to get these drapes on the window.

He left me high & dry after telling me he wanted the job, & agreeing to it. Clearly I would have hired someone else had he just opened his mouth & said he couldn’t do the job.

Respect, that’s all I ever want.

Michelle

Phyllis Black - phyblack@gmail.com

Ok, I am trying to sell a fridge on Craig’s List & this weird woman starts asking me for my payment details.

I thought she was just confused since I feel alot of people on Craig’s List aren’t very intelligent, but I reposted the ad, so I’m pretty sure it’s someone trying to commit fraud.

Here’s what she writes to me…

Hi , Am glad to read back from you and i will be happy to have your
details for the payment via email money  transfer which is easy and
convinient payment method so that we can complete the payment
trasaction and also the pickup will be done from your place as soon as
you receive full payment . send me your details in this format below .

Full Name :
Email Address :
Bank Name :
I will be expecting your full details for the payment and also your
mobile number ,also the pickup location so that we can complete the
transaction asap and hope for future transaction .

Await your reply

Jill Merrell
Collinsville, Oklahoma - Phone Number: Can be provided if needed
merrellbob@yahoo.com

She responded to my ad for a Jr. Editor on www.Directfreelance.com

I’ve unfortunately had many many problems with editors.

They seem to have a lot of emotional issues and can be very nasty at the core. Why, I have no idea, but this has been my experience overall, although the odd one is nice.

When it came to filling out our online application, she didn’t do well, missing the entire top section of the page.

While it is common for average to below average people who work online to ignore 90% of what you send them because they really don’t care about anything but making a quick buck in the easiest way possible, from an editor one would logically expect them to be able to read everything in its entirety.

I was nothing but nice to her when I told her she didn’t follow the instructions on the application. I didn’t mean it in a nasty way at all, I was just being my casual self because I’m not an anal stuffed suit.

I even wished her well, BUT, this is the immature, insecure response I received back…

“Your (she can’t even spell here) absolutely right Michelle - I did bomb the reading on the ad. Fortunately for me, I do not want to work with someone that replies to other’s with words such as bombing. In this case it’s my gain and your loss.

Jill”

To top it all off, she then reports me to the site www.Directfreelance.com and instead of them investigating what happened, they booted me from their site for absolutely no reason.

Nope, I don’t take kindly to people who are nasty, vindictive and go around blaming others for their actions.

Clearly she isn’t one of those “star” workers us companies wish to hire. This shows not only in her spelling and lack of attention to detail, but also in personality as well.

Michelle

staff@virtualteam.ca
MyStaff@virtualteam.ca

416-861-0657
403-668-9327

Ok, I have no name for this person, but I’m almost 100% positive she’s a female.

Nothing irks me more than people who have no life and go around online trying to stir up trouble for no reason other than they can’t control how they feel when they don’t like something they read, AND they concern themselves with everyone’s business but their own.

I’m minding my own business placing an ad for a Canadian bookkeeper and this is the response I get from this so called professional…

“For someone who needs a bookkeeper 2 hours per month or less – don’t you think your expectations are a little ridiculous?

I could understand if your bookkeeping needs were at least 8 - 10 hours per month.

I have several clients that I have been providing virtual bookkeeping services to for 2 months to 3 years. Average hours per client are 25 hours per month, and I bill at a rate of $30 to $45 per hour.

Not a single client has ever requested the things you are requested.

2 hours per month – how could I take it seriously???”

So, based on her so called educated opinion and experience, a company should NOT screen bookkeepers because none of her clients have ever screened her, and because my work only takes approximately 2 hours per month, I should expect less quality and an independent contractor who is less skilled, than if I had work that equaled 8-10 hours.

I’m sorry, I have to laugh at the logic behind someone who clearly doesn’t know how to run a professional business, and thinks we should all just hire whomever comes along because Missy over here thinks we should.

She also speaks for the entire bookkeeping community when she says…

“Michelle,

Any qualified bookkeeper that saw your ad would also conclude that your expectation is a little ridiculous. Your response to my email says it all.

And I have no interest in applying for anything with your company.”

——————————

I won’t bore you with my thoughts, just beware of who you are hiring online.

It’s interesting to see what people do when they think no one is listening or watching & a few months after I got this response from her (I’m pretty sure she is a female, most men don’t pounce on people for no reason.), I decided I had enough of Canadian bookkeepers. The ones I have hired are nasty, immature, insecure, they don’t do the job properly, they didn’t return my e-mails promptly, they expected me to notify them when I was ready for month instead of them reminding me, & they think they are god’s gift to the work force.

I have decided to ONLY hire Americans now.

Karen Rojas (if you need to confirm her phone number, feel free to e-mail me.)
rojas_karen@hotmail.com

In the Toronto or Mississauga area.

She responds to an ad I have on Craig’s List to hire a cleaning lady.

She’s all nice, we confirm for Friday after I move.

On Monday I e-mail her telling her I need her to come on Thursday instead.

She calls me on Wedn. and we confirm that after her Dr.’s appointment on Thursday she will call me at 12 noon. At 12 noon I wait for 2 hours because I don’t have access to my computer to get her number. (remember I just moved).

No call from her.

I finally get into my computer and call her.

She claims she called me.

I asked did you leave a message? She said no (who doesn’t leave a message when trying to get in touch with someone?) At this point I didn’t think much of it just thinking she’s not very bright.

I said you could have called back, but anyway, yes, do come right over.

I mentioned we had been waiting to take a shower since we need her to clean the bathrooms.

She says she can come over right now. I say great. I give her the address, then she wants the postal code to look it up.

I say hang on, call out to my son to get me the postal code.

The next thing I know, the phone disconnects.

I think it’s the service in this new house, but as I find out later on, she hung up the phone.

I tried calling her cell many many times. It doesn’t even have a VM set up, it just says they aren’t around.

I call her house line and someone picks up & doesn’t say anything. That happened minimum 4 times.

When I called back an hour later thinking maybe, just maybe she had problems with her phone, she picks up the phone and when she hears me she hangs up AGAIN.

Very nice person she is, I won’t even try to figure out why she hung up and then proceeded to avoid my calls for the next 3 hours. Clearly she has some serious emotional issues.

This event all started because I happened to read a post on a well known copywriter’s forum from a jr. copywriter that she was starting in the copywriting industry.

I had decided that I wanted to find an apprentice who is nice, wants to learn, isn’t insecure (TONS OF EGO), won’t charge me a fortune, they get to learn new skills via the tools I purchase for them, and grow as an independent contractor, AND I get webcopy at a price I can live with. It’s a win win for both of us.

So I PM (private message) this jr. copywriter to offer her the position while mentioning that we’d have to discuss her rates (all apprentices are paid a lower rate) although I had no idea what her rates were, so they may have been exactly in line with what I was willing to pay.

I didn’t think much of my PM to her because I’m sooo busy as usual. I wouldn’t even have remembered I wrote her since I barely go on that copywriter’s message board unless I have a question I need help with.

But that week I did have a few questions, so I was back on there a day or two after my PM to this jr. copywriter.

For some reason I was drawn to click on a post labeled… “You won’t believe what happened!” - at least she was good with headlines.

Then next thing I know, my body is reacting to what I’m reading.

This jr. editor who clearly has issues, is freaking out because I wrote to her LOL

She’s all in a tizzy about what to do, asking the entire forum how she should handle me, being that I’m an entrepreneur and one of my businesses is in the adult entertainment industry. I think she even stated that I was trying to get her to work for us in an “adult” context, so I was shocked that she would twist my words & blatantly lie. Remember, I had done nothing to this girl, all I did was make a connection & offer her a writing job.

So here I am being nice and offering her a great copywriting opportunity, and she’s freaking out and blasting me to the entire message board.

Then I start reading the responses and I recognize one of the Avatars from one of the posters. I have been a member of that copywriter’s forum for quite a while now, and he seems like he’s always posting to any thread I happen to read.

Do I know anyone on there? Nope, not really.

From time to time I may see one of the aforementioned copywriters I just outed in my blog, but that’s about it.

So the next thing I know, it’s clear I’m being strung up and burned at the stake by people I don’t even know.

This one here Suzanne Ryan from http://www.prolificpro.com alludes that I wouldn’t dare go near her because I would already know what I’d get.

I have no clue who Suzanne from http://www.prolificpro.com is, LOL, nor do I know what I would get (she must know me from another lifetime) and if I even get a whiff that someone is a mean spirited person deep down inside, I would never hire them anyway, so she is absolutely right, I won’t be hiring her any time in this life time.

When I go post and get upset by the lies being written about me, that one copywriter who lives on the message board states that my defense just proves how guilty I am.

LOL, ummm, how does one defending oneself and getting upset about something that isn’t true prove that the person is guilty?

This guy was claiming I don’t pay my bills.

So once again, someone who doesn’t even know me, who probably listened to lies from one of the copywriters I just outed, is making false accusations about me because this “clique of copywriters” all stick together. They sit around with nothing better to do with their lives. They bash people they don’t like or who are different than they are.

I was in the middle of posting a 2nd time when the thread got deleted.

I was challenging him to prove I don’t pay my bills & the challenge is still open to him.

How can he even know this if I’ve never hired him before?

You would think people have better things to do with their time than go around witch hunting, but it’s clear this is how they get their daily entertainment.

In fact another copywriter I had talked to last year, from another business type forum, (I couldn’t afford him in the end) told me that he NEVER goes on there.

He says all they do is say one negative thing after another.

It’s a bunch of immature males (you see the odd female on there) all sticking together like a gang.

At the time I was shocked to hear a copywriter talking about his co-workers like that, but after experiencing everything I did, it’s clear he was right.

This bashing of innocent people has been going on for years now. This isn’t something I just experienced yesterday.

Finally I decided to put my foot down and yes, invest time and even money, because I feel other people starting a business online, or maybe even people new to this area of doing business online have a right to know what other people have experienced. Another person’s point of view.

If I can help one person by making them aware, perhaps they won’t go through what I went through.

Of course the choice is always yours, and not everyone will have the same experience I had because we are all different

So after all you can see I’ve gone through, I’m back looking for someone new because after all of this, I still don’t have copy, or ARs that are increasing my sales.

It’s just NUTS the attitude, insecurity (that’s what I call major ego because it is), unprofessionalism and scams that are clearly going around online with these so called copywriters.

People need to be aware of what is going on here.

These copywriters charge a fortune, and in the end the guy who didn’t know anything about ARs probably did more for me at a cheaper price than any of these guys who should know more. Although, I still feel it’s his job to know about all of this (Auto responders, list building) if he is going to hang his shingle and call himself an experienced website copywriter.

Trust me, what I paid was nothing. A lot of copywriters charge $3-7k/site, but I’m not a large biz, and I don’t have that kind of money saved up for this, and after my experiences, who would trust anyone with that kind of money?

No wonder a lot of them want 100% upfront.

They don’t want you complaining later on, and then refusing to pay the balance.

So, that’s my story about copywriters, and a warning to everyone to be very very careful about these people who don’t do what they say they will, claim they are great at what they do (the proof is always in the sales), or they string you along for weeks, sometimes months while you waste your precious time.

They figure if you aren’t a HUGE corporation who’s going to pay them the HUGE bucks you aren’t worth much to them.

The arrogance and lack of customer service is disgusting.

I’m much more educated now, and I will be very blunt in my questions from now on. Question is, will they even be willing to be interviewed thinking that an interview is beneath their royalness?

Thanks for listening and if you have similar stories about scam website copywriters, please post away.

All the best

This LAST copywriter I hired - Dale Davis I had problems with.

He charged me $700 each for a rewrite of 2 sites (that’s $1,400).

Then he charged me another $1,400 to edit 6 auto responder series I had written myself, and then he would write another 7 auto responders from scratch for the other site.

My copy is so long on both sites, so I never bothered to see what he changed. I just got my website coder to make the changes.

It was he who told me the changes were easy because there were hardly any of them which is when I started freaking out.

I still haven’t 100% calculated how much of the copy he did change even after paying people to compare the changes, but I think he changed maybe 2-7% of the entire copy.

So maybe he thought the copy was sooo great and if it was, then why are my conversions soooo low?

When I finally got around to inputting all the ARs into 1SC, it looked like the auto responders I had written myself had barely been changed.

Then the ones he created from scratch were very very short. I didn’t expect very long, but not 3-4 paragraphs per e-mail.

They are supposed to be free lessons of some kind that the potential customer would feel is worth something.

On top of that, his last 1-2 auto responders he had created from scratch had no content at all to them. They were just a “remember I sent you that info a few days ago, well buy now” sales pitch.

It was embarrassing.

So I told him how I felt (yup, as a client I have EVERY right to say how I feel), and what does he do, he starts giving me shit.

He says, “I’m a small business, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve been brainwashed by all these internet marketing gurus, etc.”

Then at the end of his response back he tells me (get a load of this), that he just wasted his time answering my questions (I had other questions in the e-mail I sent him, not just my complaint).

He also complained that it has taken me too long to get the new site and auto responders set up and that normally he charges $XXXX and he gave me a discount blah blah.

Once again, his decision, I never put a gun to his head. I had told him right off the bat when he quoted me that I wasn’t going to pay his rates. That is when he proposed a discount.

I wrote back and told him I won’t be talked to this way, and I haven’t heard from him since!

I never paid him the last amount thank god because for what I got, what I did pay him $1,400 it wasn’t even worth it.

Later on I went through everything with a fine tooth comb.

It took me HOURS AND HOURS wasting my time after I paid this guy.

I even made a list of all the mistakes he made because he made factual mistakes, he made promises I could never keep, or just weren’t true, he made tons of grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes.

I also paid 2 editors to go through his work plus all the countless hours I spent editing things myself.

In the end the auto responders haven’t made me a dime.

Not the ones I wrote up and he supposedly edited, nor the ones he created from scratch.