Today I learned some absolutely horrific news: a job that I’d completed through Guru.com was paid for using fraudulent means, even though Guru’s escrow service was used.
It essentially means that I carried out a job for absolutely nothing, which I absolutely hate doing. Actually, I am out of pocket a little, because I had to buy a template from TemplateMonster (I think it’s called) to complete the project.
I’ve been informed that the credit card company involved in the transaction is doing a chargeback. I don’t know what this means for me yet; fortunately I hadn’t wired the money into my account, but had requested a cheque in US dollars. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my bank takes 4-6 weeks to claim money using other currencies, as it literally sends the cheque back to the US.
My initial thought is that the fault lies with Guru, as a company that handles (and takes a meaty cut of) payments through their escrow and invoicing services. If they are going to be handling large amounts of money like that, surely they should be doing checks on the people involved. I was told in no uncertain terms, before the project had started, that the “employer’s” credit card had been registered and was valid.
So, I’m not sure what’s going to happen right now, but I will keep anyone who is reading this posted.
Tags: Chargeback, Checks, Cheque, Credit Card Company, Currencies, Escrow Service, guru, Invoicing Services, job, money, people, Templatemonster, Uncertain Terms, What This Means
It is absolutely Gurus fault. The whole point of an escrow service is to prevent this. They should be underwriting the transaction, so don’t let them get away with it. That’s what they’re being paid a big cut for.