We had an account under the name EmbeddedWorks on rentacoder website starting back in 2005 or maybe even earlier. As a team of two people we were using rarely their services in last two years. Occasionaly we hired designers for our projects and that was what we used mostly in we went thru payment verifications and we had enough posts to have our projects posted immediately online, which means we posted before and paid developers for our projects and got a positive buyer rating. As sellers, we were costantly somewhere between places 400-300 even if we were not doing any project in last years.
We got from our partner company a web site project featuring designing of couple of web pages and therefore we went to rentacoder website and posted it to get in touch with a designer and get the template done as quick as possible. We were not looking for quality at that moment, anything decent goes.
After one day we decided to start working with somebody from Pakistan (if I recall correctly) and we accepted his bid. Since we haven't use their services as seller recently we had our account balance empty. We noticed that they have now PayPal option to deposit funds and we decided to give it a try because we had funds available on PayPal.
First attempt to pay $10 was rejected because the PayPal account used was not verified by PayPal. Not a big issue, I used mines which was verified and I got a phone call from Exhedra to verify if I am the owner. Since the phone number on our account page was of my friend I said that he's not available and told her that we're a team of two people and it's not a problem if she tell me what she needs to verify. She insisted to talk to owner of the PayPal account and I told her to call later when my friend will come back.
After couple of minutes we received an email telling that we got a refund for $10 from Exhedra. Since it was so much trouble to use PayPal we were looking to use one of the credit cards but this method does not sounds good since withdraw money from PayPal to fill credit card comes at a charge. It was obvious that because we already have funds available at PayPal it would be the cheapest method for us to pay using this method.
While we was thinking of what to do we received the following message from a person called Ashely O'Dell ([email protected]) with the following message:
Original Message — From: "Ashley O'Dell" To: "Blaj Marius" Sent: Wednesday, August 26 4:35 PM Subject: Rent A Coder Posting Issue
Dear Blaj Marius, I have linked your account to the account below. Https://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/DotNet/SoftwareCoders/ShowBioInfo. Aspx? LngAuthorId=813864 This account was previously banned due to a high lost arbitration ratio. Unfortunately, this means that you may not continue on the RAC site. Please note that we do have various mechanisms for tracking accounts and that all accounts found to be linked to another account onsite will be banned as well. If we do find that you have opened yet another account despite this warning, you will not receive payment for any funds earned on RAC, as they will be returned to the buyers of the projects. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you and wish you the best of luck elsewhere. Sincerely, Angelina Joliet Exhedra Solutions, Inc. Rent a Coder Content Manager [email protected] http://www.RentACoder.com &
Your name: Blaj Marius — (Screen Name: Embedded Works) Email: [email protected] — PersonId: 1265004 Sent: 8/26 9:35: 28 AM EDT
Now that was a complete non-sense. We were not using our account for anything at all, no bids or what-so-ever, nothing seller related but just that project where we were buyers not sellers. And we were not using that account since long time ago.
I placed a phone call overseas and get in touch at Exhedra by someone whom didn't state who she is but when asking to talk to Ashely Odell she tolds me that it was her. I told her the story and she told me that they have evidence that we are using our account linked to others accounts. I told her that it's a non-sense and it's probably related to our attempt to pay someone. She tolds me that she did took care of rejecting our PayPal. It was a bit weird because on the webpage it was a different name who seemed to take care of it. She said that she will not undisclose any information about linked accounts and I am free to email them to get an explanation. I asked to get in contact by phone with any superior or anyone else at Exhedra but there was no one else.
We were not really surprised. Long time ago we had the feeling that there are just two, maybe three people running the entire company and signing under different names. If you look closely even at the email we received you'll notice that it's signed by two identities.
We send them two email immediately to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] asking about our issue and that we have a stalling business now due their mistake but we never got any reply. According to what is state in the "About" page, they are a verified member of BBB Accredited Business http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/About/default.Asp and according to that:
"Commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve legitimate consumer complaints. Receives regular BBB accreditation review and monitoring. All customer issues addressed within 2 days Openly disclosed pricing and return policies Superior selling track record "
We had/have our account frozen with an absolutely stupid reason which was one hundred percent invented by a person that you will never be sure that is who pretend to be.
We're still looking forward to get a decent explanation of what happened. We're willing to accept their appologies, we're all prone and likely to make mistakes in our professional lives, despite our efforts to avoid them; but it takes a great deal of courage to admit when we do so. So far being honest is not something common at Exhedra Solutions Inc.
Best regards,
Cornel I. Marius B.
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