How FL.ru deceives users by selling one service twice, breaking their own rules

The story of how I am trying to defend my (and not only) rights and why I need to bypass the freelance resource “No. 1”.







I have been on FL.ru for over 13 years. During this time I saw free-lance.ru, blogs, contests, Vasily Voropaev, Irina Kotova, gatherings, monetization, failures, jambs, fraud and kidalovo. But most importantly, from scratch I went the way of a freelancer, from working for reviews, to several regular customers, who I work for now.



My nickname is Ikstro, profile www.fl.ru/users/ikstro , maybe even anyone remembers for a long time sawing blogs.



Since 2010, for me, paying a Pro account has been as ordinary as paying for a house or phone. For those who are not in the know, the Pro-account gives you some privileges, the main of which are Rating and Main specialization, thanks to which you are advantageously placed in the catalog.



By purchasing a Pro-account under the Agreement with FL.ru, I should receive: specializations - 1 main + 4 additional, rating + 20%



Although FL.ru has not been a platform for me to search for work and orders for 5 years, I continued to pay for the annual Pro-account. This pleasure is not cheap, 300-400 dollars a year, depending on specialization. But for some reason I thought that for the rating and portfolio this is a reasonable price, and suddenly someone from large customers will bite.



Everything went under its own power until this summer it received a message from the customer: “And we can’t find something on the first pages of FL.ru, in the specialty of“ Website Design ””.



I don’t understand anything, I go into my profile and let's sort it out, and there are two different specialties in “Website Design”. That is, I paid for a Pro-account in the specialty "Website Design". And there are two such specialties! One in the Design section, the second in Development. But most importantly - they are completely different, not mirror! There are different people, different ratings:







Freelancers catalog → Website development → Website design "Web designers, website design".



www.fl.ru/freelancers/web-dizajner-razrabotka-sajtov



Freelancers catalog → Design and Art → Website Design "Web designers, website design".

www.fl.ru/freelancers/web-dizajner-verstalschik-dizajn



4 years ago, I already paid attention to these duplicates, but then they were the same, I was even interested in support when changing specialties. To which he received a clear answer, these are the same specialties, in other words, mirror ones. Ticket 77692:







But now they are completely different, with different freelancers, different ratings. I turn now in support of the question of what happened, why different ratings in one specialty, how do specialties differ? Why do they have the same name? And I get the answer that I also need to buy accommodation in the second specialty. What is the difference no one can explain to me. Ticket 183646:







That is, I, having paid for the specialty “Website Design”, must once again buy “Website Design” as an Additional specialty. Fl.ru is trying to sell me the same thing twice.



True, looking at the rules of the site, it turns out that the "Additional Specialty" cannot be "Basic". That is, there cannot be two "Website Designs".







That is, Fl.ru itself violates its own rules in the pursuit of an extra penny. I'm not talking about the fact that all this contradicts the logic and decency of the resource. Especially which is related to your work and guarantees you a “Safe Deal”. What kind of "Safe Deal" can be discussed if the resource throws you.



I point out this support and ask for comment on this. Please freeze my Pro account until the problem is resolved. Here, support simply ignores and does not get in touch.



I create a couple more tickets in support, I write on Facebook - no answer. I'm waiting. A month later, Regina Dolganova, the head of the Fl.ru support service, contacts me. Where just trying to hush up this question somehow:

If you have duplicate (non-mirror) specializations, you are right, and we will solve this issue. They had their own history, there used to be a lot of mirror specializations, gradually they are removed from the catalog, some of them remain, including yours. The solution to this issue is one of the first, but alas, there are no exact dates yet.



FL is changing and will be actively changing in the near future. Changes will affect the functionality of reviews, and the profile page, and the catalog. Now the main priority is on the functionality of the interaction of the customer and the freelancer in the framework of the project, the order.



We would like to correct and take into account the wishes of users all at once, but the realities are as follows - we are moving gradually. The situation will definitely change, but I can’t guarantee you that this will happen in the near future.



You wrote that you want to freeze PRO. We can interrupt its action with the return of the balance for the period from the moment of contacting your account. Please tell me, will this suit you?



Given that there is no operational solution to the issue that you raised, what options would be convenient for you?



They are also ready to provide you with a further bonus / discount on the purchase of PRO when you are ready to continue using it.



Regina Dolganova

Fl.ru Support Manager

That is, they recognize the problem, but will not solve it. Although they offer a discount on purchase. Then I inform the support manager that it is logical for Fl.ru to return all the money for the Pro service that was not fully provided. And not only to me in this specialty, but to all the victims, where there are clones.



Yes, yes, it turned out that such a fraud was introduced in all key specialties. That is, several "Printing Designs", "Packaging Designs", "Font Designs" ...



















I don’t really know how many such clones. Support refused to name all the clones, but gave the following answer:

I would not want to go round in circles on this issue, I understand that you expect radical decisions.



Therefore, I repeat on the situation:



- Mirror specializations will be removed? - yes, it is planned



- terms? - no deadlines yet



- will your profile be displayed as in the only specialization now? - No, your profile is displayed in the section of the catalog in which the PRO purchase was made.



- will there be a PRO return for the entire purchase period? - No, we can issue it only from the day you contacted us, when you informed us of the discrepancy between your expectations and the actual service provided.



Connection of additional specializations is available on the site for the possibility of freelancers to receive a profile display not only in the main specialization, but in others, including mirror ones.



Regina Dolganova

Fl.ru Support Manager

At the same time, Regina Dolganova reproaches me for not reading the conditions when making purchases:

If you make purchases, especially larger ones (in any service), please study the conditions for the provision of services, ask questions of support. This will save you from such situations.



Regina Dolganova

Fl.ru Support Manager

Although she herself saw and showed me my ticket, where it is clearly indicated that "Website Design" is the same mirror specializations, which are no different:







When asked why they do not want to return the money for a service that was not fully provided, they are silent. That is, they admit that the service did not work correctly, but they do not want to return money for this. But they offer me to pay for it again.



Moreover, this problem was reported earlier. When asked when Fl.ru first received complaints about the problem of different clones, FL.ru did not answer either.



All further communication with the support manager came down to the fact that Fl.ru is not obliged to inform the user, and the user himself must see the rules once a month!



But in the Rules and the FL.ru Agreement there is not a single word and notice that there have been changes to the catalog and mirror specializations have become with different contents and the same names.



The only thing I could achieve was the termination of the Pro account from the moment the first ticket was submitted. True, they have not returned the money yet, because this is done only by a written statement, which is unknown when and how it will come from Ukraine.



It turned out that this scam has been working since May 30, 2016. After interviewing colleagues, many do not even know that the mirror specialties have ceased to be like that, and the "Website Design" may be in several directories completely different in terms of rating and composition of freelancers.



But freelancers paying for a Pro account, because of this fraud, not only lose money for an un provisioned service, they also suffer losses due to the fact that customers do not know where to look for anyone now.



Because the problem is serious for freelancers, and the support and management of Fl.ru have nothing to solve or do not want, I decided to advertise the problem in blogs. I published a problem on several resources and received an official comment from FL.ru on one!

I honestly did not expect this. It seems that managers and support are not only not aware of what their resource is doing, but they have not even read their rules.



Here is an accurate commentary on the situation of the product manager at FL.ru:

Good day!



Eugene, my name is Maxim, product manager at FL.ru



I was also a freelancer on the stock exchange in 2014 and I understand your indignation. I apologize on behalf of FL.ru for the situation.



I want to clarify the case.



On classifieds / marketplaces, there is almost always a feature of the information model (the structure of the placement of goods and services), for example: smart watches should be in Digital gadgets or in Watches. And buyers / customers get confused when searching, and sellers / performers when placing a service / product / announcement. This is solved by tips in a smart search (like on Aliexpress, etc.), or a strong-willed decision is made that "yes, we will lose customers in some category, but iWatch will be in hours, not in Accessories for phones."



Even harder in services. In our case, there are 2 completely different categories: “Website Development” (1) and “Design and Art” (2). Both there and there, customers are looking for website designs, but for a different purpose: in the first, design is needed as part of a more complex task along with development. In the second, interest is directed to highly specialized design professionals. It’s like in design there is UX, but there is visual rendering, often different experts do it. And we have to either not divide it into categories at all (and then the customer will not be able to decide where to place the order where to place the order) or somehow divide them.



In the key above, which solutions are:



1. The first.



It is necessary to more specifically convey that these are different categories (“Website Development” and “Design and Art”). And the purchase of an account is possible with specialization in only one directory.



2. The second.



Transfer the “Website Design” subcategory to one category (“Design and Art” or “Website Development”), but then customers will no longer find specialists in one of the categories (all customers act differently), and the performers will lose some of their customers.



3. The third.



Providing freelancers with a “mirror” rating immediately in all categories where there is a “design”, however, this requires technical processing of the structure of the information model (this is planned, but considering that all service and monetization are built on this, it is difficult and long to change). This will upset the balance, as the purchase price of the specialization is calculated from the effective number of customer views in this category and the number of new projects. Or make the cost X times more expensive.



But then those freelancers who have specialization in one category (and they will buy it) will certainly be in a worse situation than those whose specialization is in several categories at once (bought in one category, but shown in several). The decision is ambiguous.



We know about the existence of such a task, it is in the plans, but from the point of view of logic (described above) so far, “the purchase of specialization is in one category”.



I apologize that this is not uniquely described in the rules of the service. It makes no sense to deceive someone, we are not interested in losing regular users like you. Thanks to you, our customers are always confident that they will find professional freelancers on FL.ru



For paid services, the data is as follows: users who buy additional services receive 15% more proposals for projects, and they are also 50% more likely to choose projects that they responded to.



We try to ensure that the average profit from the use of paid services repeatedly overlaps the cost.



The FL.ru team focuses more on the product and tasks for users, as part of this, we adjusted the "Safe Deal", and now freelancers pay only 1.5% for withdrawing funds from the transaction amount.



This was the # 1 pain for users, according to customer support. We have also launched a mobile application for customers, and we plan to finalize it for freelancers in the near future.

But there are not so many resources, you have to prioritize, so not all system legacy problems can be fixed quickly.



We will come to this soon and will be happy to provide a discount on the extension of any paid FL service if you decide to continue to use us.



Also, if you have questions, you can write a request to fl@free-lance.ru

And I will try to explain as much as possible all the issues so that the situation does not recur.

Okay, the manager does not understand what Site Design is. Still, the Website Design includes everything from discussing the task and goals, prototyping, UX and UI to the final visualization of the project.



The manager also has no idea how the customer behaves. For most, "Site Design" is a completely finished site, flooded with hosting. And the fact that FL.ru confuses customers with different categories with the same names is generally unacceptable for such a resource. Where should the customer go if he needs a landing? To Development or Design? He should go where he is more comfortable and find the Developer, and the Designer and Consultant there. All this is Webdesign.



Unfortunately, the manager does not even understand what will happen with a store in which the same model of Apple Watch will be in both Digital Gadgets and Watches, but it will differ in price and characteristics.



Those. the manager, who doesn’t seem to understand at all what his resource is doing, was tasked with drawing the FL.ru Rules to this problem and he issued this pearl.



But the Manager didn’t even understand that this situation is not with the “ Website Design” specialization, but we are talking about all the clones of FL.ru’s key specialties .



He won’t tell me that the specializations “Design Fonts”, “Packaging Design”, “Design Printing” (how many of these clones are incomprehensible) have clones so that customers look for work for different purposes. For example, some customers are looking for a Printing Design made in Photoshop on a Mac, while others are looking for a Printing Design in Illustrator on a PC? Or does someone need a font design for a booklet, but someone needs a font for an inscription on a wall, and that's why FL.ru made different specialties with the same name?



And the manager’s decisions themselves are so “strange” that they cause deep concern in the fate of FL.ru.



And the main question, in 2007, for the convenience of customers, to make it easier for them to search, some specialties were duplicated in categories similar to specialization.



Those. Website Design could be found in both Development and Design. And they were full takes, which was logical and convenient.



Explain why on May 30, 2016, the Dublin stopped being mirrored?



Thinking over this story, I imagine if I were selling design like that. The same design would be sold to several customers. And if one of them was indignant, he would offer to buy it again.

Why is this whole article and what should the victims do?

I don’t know how this scam occurred to managers or FL.ru management, I’m even afraid to guess. The resource has been sold more than once. Maybe the founders don’t have enough money, maybe something else.

But the main thing is different. The whole post with a bunch of text, and even on Habré, primarily in order to convey the problem to the victims, most are still confident that these are mirror specialties.



There is a lot of evidence that FL.ru flagrantly violated its own rules:

• The key main specialties of the Freelancer are clones with the same name, in which users are not displayed according to the rules of the Pro account.
  
  Neither specialization nor rating was granted according to the rules of FL.ru.
  
  By purchasing a Pro account under the Agreement with FL.ru, I must receive:
  
  specializations - 1 main * + 4 additional, rating + 20%.
  
  Link: feedback.fl.ru/knowledge-bases/2/articles/17270-akkaunt-pro-frilansera ?
  
  
• Confirmation four years ago by the support of Fl.ru that the two "Website Designs" are mirror specialties. That is, no differences.
• The absence of notifications to the user, notifications on the site that there have been changes to the catalog since May 30, 2016, and mirror specializations have become with different contents and same names.
• Violations of the site’s rules themselves, since on the site you can choose the main specialty (that is, with the exact same name) as an additional specialty, although this is clearly prohibited by the site’s rules. An additional specialty can be: any specializations, except for its main one, that is, “Website Design” cannot be both a main and an additional specialty.
• And in support tickets, both the head of the support department and the manager Maxim themselves admitted that different clones of specialties are a mistake. They even promised to fix it in the near future, which also proves the incorrectness of the service.
• Deliberate misrepresentation by support, which forces you to buy the same profession twice. Since “Website Design” - means only “Website Design”, regardless of the ranking of the placement in the catalog. A profession with the same name cannot provide different services.
• Correspondence with the head of support for Fl.ru is more than enough to understand that the service is provided incorrectly, where they first acknowledge the error and try to pay off with a bonus or discount, and then try to somehow brush the rules for errors. That is, first Fl.ru offers compensation and a bonus, and then tries to adjust the resource rules to the problem.
• Freelancers were not informed that the Clones of Specialties appeared, this led to losses, as because of the Clones, no one knows where to look, whom to look for and where to be located. Which is completely unacceptable on such a resource.

If you are interested in compensation, with all this evidence you need to write an appeal to management, support does not solve anything. Demand a refund for low-quality provision of services, according to their Agreement, paragraphs 5.5–5.7.





You can write in tickets at fl@free-lance.ru, but as I understood from the support answer, they often ignore them, so it’s better to immediately write them in a letter to the address: 129223, Moscow, PO Box 33, to whom - VAAN LLC. Before sending, it is recommended to send a completed application for verification in order to avoid misunderstandings, although this is ridiculous.



Of course I hope that the real management of FL.ru will pay attention to the problem and try to fix and compensate for everything. But if you have to collect a class action lawsuit, it’s better to spend the money not on a Pro account, but on a good lawyer.

Total

Here is such a sad fate of the once the best exchange of Runet. Support is silent. The leadership is silent. Freelancers in the dark. This is a complete failure.



Will I buy Pro in the future? Until the issue of clones of specialties and the deceit of freelancers are resolved, it is definitely not. I can’t even imagine what FL.ru needs to do to restore its reputation. How can you trust money and a deal, a Safe Deal (protection from scammers), a resource that throws users itself.



Now the purchase of Pro is just money in the trash for a beautiful nameplate, where more than 50% of customers will simply not see you, because they will be looking in the wrong category.