My latest batch of rejections from CrowdServer got me thinking: since Amazon refuses to involve itself in requester-worker disputes, who do you complain to when a requester rejects your work and refuses to respond to your messages? I did a little thinking and wrote the following E-mail to the Washington State Department of Labor, asking them if they have jurisdiction in this case. I am writing to ask you if your department has jurisdiction over the Amazon Mechanical Turk work market (http://www.mturk.com). The Amazon Mechanical Turk service is a marketplace in which independent contractors perform work (known as Human Intelligence Tasks, or HITs) for employers, know as "requesters", who advertise on the service. Amazon collects a fee from the requesters, which based on a percentage of the value of the work performed. Additionally, Amazon restricts the conditions under which completed work may be submitted to the requester, requiring that the work be submitted through the Amazon Mechanical Turk service. Amazon.com is a Washington corporation, and the Amazon Mechanical Turk Participation Agreement (https://www.mturk.com/mturk/conditionsofuse) specifically states that the laws of Washington state govern its agreement and all of its terms and conditions. Thank you for your time and attention. I'll wait for their response, then decide who I should next contact. I'm thinking either the US Department of Labor or the Washington State Attorney General's Office (specifically the Consumer Protection Division).
All this over rejections from which you should have used more caution in the first place? Put it like this no one "owes you anything" Amazon provides you with work through requestors although it's a good place to make change here and there their job isn't too coach or babysit your decision making and step in when you have a faulty one. One thing to remember is If you’re not paying for something then you’re not the customer… you’re the product, their rules have been simple and laid out for awhile now. it's your choice how you approach things.
You may need to write to the Department of Labor where Crowdserver is located. What you are kind of doing is complaining to the place a Job is posted (e.g. classified section of a newspaper) however, this is slightly different where Amazon is the middleman collecting and sending payments. Amazon is not doing the hiring, rejection or acceptance of work. I am not sure what happens when you work for someone like Sebastain Darr that is in Germany. Germany may have some laws under contractor. This may fall under Virginia laws as you (and I as well) are in Virginia. This may result in what jursdiction is the work being considered being done in. This could also be where you go paint someone's house, they tell you "paint it red" and you paint it pink. Owner of the house says "I am not paying you for this! - Get out" - which is legal as you did not do as requested. This is my speculation, and not legal advice, or not even worthy to review legal cases from the people's court.
Wow- What is the matter with you Chris? Um yes anyone who contracts you for a service DOES owe you. When you do the work- you deserve to be paid- He worked- He deserves payment period- He didn't do the work wrong- The company scammed him :/ You sound like a scammy requester. And if the labor board can find you- you can get in trouble. And companies like this can get into serious trouble in the USA for not paying people what they are owed- The good thing about Mturk is you have lots of proof for who you worked for and what you did. And it is a great thing to contact the labor board and other places so Amazon can shape up in the future- I was just posted this in a response yesterday, saying I think times for Amazon will change soon because many US workers will complain and they will have to start implementing new policies for requesters so workers have more protection. It is inevitable.
One thing that would have been a bit wise on your part is to do a few test hits before engaging in mass hits with a requester in time you will build confidence for that requester not jump all in at once blindly, always test the water, as far as writing people etc etc don't waste your time and keep turking, that's a battle you won't win.
Well the thing is...When you do not do work wrong and are rejected that is another matter- The great thing again is he has proof if his work is not wrong- Just because it is rejected does not mean it is wrong. It means the requester is a scammer who doesn't want to pay and wants to get stuff done for free. It will be harder when the requester is from another country but I think it is great you are contacting agencies about it. Change needs to happen on Amazon.
Exactly. More and more work that used to be done by temp agencies WILL be moving online. Amazon has an extraordinary opportunity here to lead the way in business ethics, etc. Right now, they just have little incentive to do so. The onus is on the workers to advocate for ourselves and provide those incentives - via legal mean, PR, whatever.
Whatever Chris. Plenty of people have won battles and the first thing they did was take a step forward. Nothing is ever won by not doing anything. Stop telling him what to do. You sound like Sebastian Dar himself-You are on ignore. The first step into stopping stuff like this is to do things like this- It is how our nation won a lot of rights for workers and others as well frankly.
I think the problem is that you are technically freelancers, and being that the requester could have very well signed up with a fake name and stolen credit card, you may be shit out of luck. Next time don't dive in with both feet until you know a requester. I've heard of people complaining to authorities as high up as the FBI. Those people aren't around anymore. I agree, if you work you should be paid. And there should be more security measures in place for the workers. But the fact of the matter is, Amazon is NOT responsible for the requester and therefore why would anyone in Washington give a shit? For all you know the requester is in the Sahara desert in an army tent with a satellite. This is a self-policed community and you need to chalk this up as a loss and work your way back up. ETA: Your time would be better spent doing business cards than complaining. At least Oscar pays you, the authorities you contact won't.
Actually, I reported Mr Fake Submit Button to the FBI, and Mr Fake Submit Button did indeed go away! Might have been a coincidence, but I certainly don't regret putting forth my small effort!
It was a suggestion not a command, I think I can give a bit of advice to steer away from rejections seeing how I have 9 out of nearly 20,000 that's the problem not the requester, there's going to be scammers anywhere you go in life, do you complain every time you come across one and write "so in so at the labor board" or do you actually try to focus on steering clear of frauds and scammers?
Right on girl. Is Amazon based in the USA? This is how all companies have changed- People taking a step forward and fighting for rights. It paved the way for what we have now. A lot of rights- And it also introduced the labor boards- Which we would have not had without someone speaking up, and another, and another and so on. One voice can change things- It is how it starts. WTG Chuck!
E X A C T L Y. Instead of spending your time whining about how someone screwed you, why don't you PROACTIVELY try to NOT GET SCREWED. It's not hard nor is it hard to bounce back from such a measly batch of rejections -- complain when you get 200 rejections. I mean really? Writing to the labor board over like 25 cents?
The two options are not mutually exclusive. What you're doing is basic victim-blaming. It's the labor equivalent of "Well, that's what she gets for walking around in a dark ally at night dressed like that."
A few tips on not getting screwed: - New requesters that have exact same HITs as current janky requesters will screw you. - New requesters with batch HITs and huge rewards will probably screw you. - Requesters with very vague instructions that require very detailed work will probably screw you. - Requesters that ask you to buy/sign up for something will screw you. TIP OF THE DAY!! IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT PROBABLY IS.
You know, it really is possible to BOTH try to avoid becoming a victim AND advocate on behalf of victims. This seems so basic to me. Why the false dichotomy?
I think you're wrong. If I put forth an honest effort to do work for a requester, and there was no problem with my work product (i. e. it was done correctly and the results were accurate), then the requester has an obligation to accept my work and pay me. For example, if I was a contractor fixing someone's house, I could take out a mechanic's lien against their property and sue them in court if I did the work according to the contract specifications and they tried to stiff me at the end of the job. I could also do things like run a credit check on my prospective customer and see if they had a history of not paying their bills. Amazon doesn't do let me do that, and in fact they go out of their way to allow my prospective employers to hide their identities behind anonymous user names. (They're also supposed to only allow one user name per requester, just like with workers, but I suspect they're lax in enforcing that part of their Participation Agreement. One doesn't want to piss off the money, after all.) Also remember that Amazon isn't providing the Mechanical Turk service out of the goodness of their hearts or as a public service; they are making money from it. I think this obliges them to do a little more than just throw up their hands and say "we have nothing to do with it" when it suits them to do so, so my idea is to find out who has the power to hold their feet to the fire and get them to be a little more involved. I also may fire off an E-mail asking them under what conditions they will disgorge a requester's information (likely it would require filing a lawsuit and serving them with a subpoena).