Unhappy with quality of work from elance

What are my options?

[jmorgan]

I am frustrated by the quality of work I have received after contracting out work for content writing on elance. I believed the person I hired to do the job was an Australian but it appears that he has sub-contracted the work out to non-native English speakers. No offense to the non-native English readers out there, but the level of English grammar used in the work submitted is really quite appalling.

I have made a downpayment of half the agreed payment. Is there any way I can get out of paying the rest seeing that what I have been given is subpar and may have a detrimental effect on the long-term viability of my site due to its low quality?

[edited by: engine at 3:44 pm (utc) on Oct. 27, 2006]

[Harry]

Can't you demand a rewrite?

[jmorgan]

I would rather not bother with requesting a rewrite as it would probably be more of the same.

[engine]

So, you've paid half, with the intention of doing what with the material?

I'd go for the re-write request explaining the reasons for the dissatisfaction.

[Syzygy]

Indeed, ask for a rewrite. If the work remains substandard (as it probably will) then do not pay the outstanding balance; the supplier has failed to deliver a service of a desired quality. Tell the supplier that the work is not fit for purpose.

I see no reason why you should pay any amount in advance to a writer (sorry, writers!). Always insist that payment is upon delivery, or within your standard invoicing terms. If the writer doesn't like those terms, find a different one.

Unless you have the determination and funds to chase through the courts, you've just paid out something and got nothing in return. Don't do it again :-)

Syzygy

[axgrindr]

I would never pay 1/2 up front for a job. After being burned a couple of times I *only* use the escrow services and only release the escrow when the job is 100% delivered and working on my servers.

I have noticed that some contractors on the freelence sites will accept a job like yours with no intention of doing the job themselves. They turn around and post the project on another freelancer site and get it done for even cheaper then keep the difference.

If I were you I would not pay them the rest of money and I would ask for my deposit back. If they refuse I would send them a copy of the negative review and feedback that you will be giving them on the freelancer site. Freelancers hate bad reviews and ratings. It really effects how many jobs they win.

[Whitey]

I think you can request a refund for the services not being up to scratch and discuss it with Paypal.

With payments through your credit card, it's easy enough to say that you haven't received the services and have the transaction reversed. The onus is on the merchant to prove otherwise, and it should be easy enough for you to demonstrate the issues.

If you partially use the services then you could make a payment on account to settle, then seperately go to an editor to have it rectified.

[seoartix]

"I see no reason why you should pay any amount in advance to a writer (sorry, writers!). Always insist that payment is upon delivery, or within your standard invoicing terms. If the writer doesn't like those terms, find a different one."

I believe advance payment does make sense if you ordered articles in bulk, say 50-500.