I had been working at mTurk since Jan 2009 and within a month had built up an impression that at last have got a genuine site to work for earning some money. However, they according to me are the biggest scamsters, even worse than the PPC site owners. mTurk can suspend your account any moment and forfeit all your money without even bothering to give proper justification. Simply, they will state that due to violation of their TOS, the account is suspended and all earnings are forfeited. If you claim the money earned prior to suspension, they will say that they can’t do any more business with people whose accounts are suspended. Here is a detail of the money which they claimto have sent, but i did not recieve any cheque. Out of my $4000 earned there, i recieved $2800 and they ate all my money towards the end. When i kept on asking for money, they suspended my account. Despite doing 80000 tasks there, my approval was a little over 99%. 12 Dec., 2009 AQLJEOT16YQWT-00000L7X You withdrew: US$ 147.00. The exchange rate applied was: INR 45.9348 per US Dollar The amount you will receive via cheque is: INR Rs 6752.41 29 Dec., 2009 AQLJEOT16YQWT-00000RBJ You withdrew: US$ 238.00. The exchange rate applied was: INR 46.1894 per US Dollar The amount you will receive via cheque is: INR Rs 10993.07 13 Jan., 2010 AQLJEOT16YQWT-00000UV5 You withdrew: US$ 264.00. The exchange rate applied was: INR 44.9842 per US Dollar The amount you will receive via cheque is: INR Rs 11875.84 28 Jan., 2010 AQLJEOT16YQWT-00000YQ2 You withdrew: US$ 217.00. The exchange rate applied was: INR 45.4959 per US Dollar The amount you will receive via cheque is: INR Rs 9872.61 13 Feb., 2010 AQLJEOT16YQWT-0000141S You withdrew: US$ 136.00. The exchange rate applied was: INR 45.7876 per US Dollar The amount you will receive via cheque is: INR Rs 6227.11 My account was suspended on Feb. 17th, 2010, and all the above mentioned money which i was supposed to get before suspension has also been forfeited. It’s understandable that they forfeit all earnings which has not been disbursed, but these cheaters can also forfeit all the earnings which has been disbursed. I would strongly ask newcomers to be careful about their autocratic nature and keep on withdrawing money at frequent intervals. There are much better places to work for like oDesk and elance.com where i work now and i fine that they are transparent and honest unlike mTurk. NOTE: From Aug, 2009 till Dec, 2009 i had not done a single HIT at mTurk and then till Feb 17., 2010 was not even blocked by a single requester. HELL WITH THE CROOKS OF mTURK SHAME ON AMAZON Here's the reply when i asked them to reissue the cheques. Greetings from Mechanical Turk. Because your account was suspended due to activity that we believe violates the Participation Agreement/Conditions of Use, any remaining funds on the account are forfeited. This suspension officially terminates all your activity on Mechanical Turk. Should you try to open another account, it too will be closed. I'm sorry that we're no longer able to do business with you through Mechanical Turk. Did I solve your problem?
What kind of HITs were you working on? The amount you withdrew just after a lapse of mere 2 weeks' interval seems rather massive & tends to sound a bit spooky.
The amount shown here is less than what i used to make earlier. I did most of the HITs which were reviewed manually, i was mostly into HITs of smartsheet.com, rewrite articles, casting words and above all aboutus, don't know how it sounds spooky. I held more than 90 qualifications there and my bonus amount was $800 in all. From Jan, 2009 to July2009 made $700 per month putting in a lot of hours and doing number of HITs, yes was blocked by 3 requesters, out of which one was for personal issues, but i was not suspended then. Then started out in Dec., 2009 and worked for two months and was not blocked by anyone. Suddenly when i started pressing for the above mentioned payments, my account was suspended. Don't know how could i get that worse suddenly. Have started out on oDesk http://www.odesk.com/users/Data-Ent...onal-With-Years-Experience_~~dbd74bfe6ab17780 I have several assignments running there so they won't show on my dashboard till they get completed. However, whatever is shown there does it point out to something spooky. The main point is how can they forfeit the money which was disbursed but somehow i didn't get. Once again i reiterate that the earnings not withdrawn getting forfeited is understandable.
Do you ask for the reason why they think that you violated term of service?.They would have given to you. Do you used any scripts?. Do you work privately for a requester?. What went wrong?. Did you emailed about this?
Maybe some of the checks are still in the mail? It can take 2 months for them to arrive. Otherwise my guess is that they think you were running a sweat shop because the amounts you say you earned in a relatively short period of time would mean you would have to be working 10 hours a day or so, given that the average pay on mturk is about $1.50/hour.
Yes, asked them several times but got just one message from them, the one which i posted above. Nothing was wrong according to me, in fact i was inactive from late Aug to beginning of Dec. The issue here is ok fine, no problem with suspending the acount, as i have better avenues to work for where the things are transparent unlike mTurk, and forfeiting the earnings without a warning, but my point is this is unethical and a blatant case of autocracy that they forfeited my earnings which according to them were disbursed. I have recieved a total of around $2800 from Jan, 2009 to Aug, 2009. Sweat shop, yes it was a one man sweat shop, and on an average i used to work around 10 hours or sometimes much more.
You should keep writing to them. Try to be very polite even if you don't feel like it. Ask them the reason why the account was suspended, which conditions you violated. Tell them what you told us, that you did work 10 hours a day and that you're not doing anything illegal etc. Keep writing them, try to get into a dialogue with them. It sometimes takes time for them to respond. What I find weird is that your account was suspended on 17th Feb and the checks you draw 2 months prior also didn't arrive?
Thanks buddy for the kind words. It's fine, they have not responded to any of my queries, just got the last one which said "due to suspension of your acct., we can no longer do any business with you". Yes it's weird that how can they forfeit the earnings which they had sent but somehow did not reach me. The problem started when i started pressing for the cheque dtd. 12th Dec. In fact, earlier too on several occasions they had to reissue the cheque to me. Maybe they were frustrated with that, as apart from that there is no other valid reason. I used to get 3 cheques in time out of 10 issued with them. Still, it's totally unfair and shameful on their part.
Sorry for saying that, but it surely sounded spooky as hell. Maybe because I've never ever made that much amount in such a short period. I feel that you shouldn't have withdrawn such huge sums at such short intervals. You should have made withdrawals only after you received your cheque. That is, you withdraw, receive your cheque (not just the confirmation mail from them that the cheque has been sent) & then & only then the next withdrawal. I know, its your earnings & you've full right to withdraw it whenever the heck you want, but sometimes you can't have things the way you want. Sometimes you've to play it the world's way, like it or not. Finally, if you've done nothing wrong & its your honest earning, how can you simply let it go??? If nothing else, I'd at least give the fockers one hell of a time. Seems you're blessed with the virtue of "forgive & forget". I wish I had that, too, instead of my frigging "Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon." approach (a bit exaggerated maybe, but almost close to that).
Hi All, The exchange of communication a couple of hours before my suspension. ( NO EDITING ) I have left everything as it was. From: "Amazon.com Customer Service" <cust.service03@amazon.com> | Add to Address book |This is spam To: "amiteshkoomar@rediffmail.com" <amiteshkoomar@rediffmail.com> Subject: Your Amazon.com Inquiry Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:20:07 IST Hello, I'm sorry for the delay in responding, and for any misunderstanding, as 8 of the 11 checks we have sent have not arrived. We did investigate the mailing of your checks, and at this point we need you to provide an updated mailing address as the international mailing for your checks is working. At this time I see your address is listed as: Amitesh Kumar Flat No.A-4,Heera Apartments,Manoram Nagar Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826001 India If you don't have another business or relatives address you can offer I would suggest using the steps below to update the address so "Manoram Nagar" is on the second line and if needed "Dhanbad, Jharkhand" could move to the third. This may be enough to make this work. 1. Go to your address book on the Amazon.com site (https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/account/address/view.html) 2. Sign in with the same email address and password from your Mechanical Turk account. 3. Click the "Edit" button below your address, and make the needed updates. 4. Return to the Mechanical Turk site and sign in again. (If you aren't asked to sign in automatically, you may need to click "Sign Out" at the top of the page.) Please write back to us and let know when this is done to reissue your payments. You can write back through our online contact form: http://www.mturk.com/mturk/contactus Thank you very much for participating in Mechanical Turk. Did I solve your problem? If yes, please click here: http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=bvfxcxch3362662241 If no, please click here: http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=bvfxcxch3362662241 Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site. Best regards, Shane M. Amazon.com We're Building Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company http://www.amazon.com/your-account ---- Original message: ---- CUSTOMER: Amitesh Kumar COMM ID:axvxbxxh3356304929 EMAIL: amiteshkoomar@rediffmail.com COMMENTS: Your Message: If you plan to move to a new country, you will need to sign up for a new Mechanical Turk account and close your other account. We are not able to resend you your payment as several checks have not been received. My Reply: Dear Sir, I am mentally sound enough that even if i change my address, leave alone the country, i need to do the necessary update or change the account if possible. The address which was listed in your records is where i have received 30% of checks on first instance of sending at your end and 30% at second attempt. My place of residence is very much intact and i recieve all my mails and important documents, the only problematic thing is your checks. I would suggest you please ensure that you actually despatched the checks or the only other reason might be it's getting lost in the way, after all, it's a general mail, the worst possible method for sending docs. imaginable. Thanks and Sorry This mTurk thing is heavily loaded in favor of the people who run them and the requesters. I don't know what i can do in this case, i can only use whatever SEO skills i possess to highlight this case. I know it will be a time wasting exercise, as Amazon is such a huge corpn, that such little things don't matter to them. Also i have always requested withdrawls every 15 days from them, the amounts were more earlier. However, my point is how can these shameless creatures forfeit my earnings which they had disbursed prior to my suspension. In any case, i had left working on mTurk since 7th or 8th Feb. as have gained a foothold at oDesk and one leading SEO company so am least bothered about suspension. However, it hurts that they have forfeited my earnings which is my well deserved money.
>>>This mTurk thing is heavily loaded in favor of the people who run them and the requesters. <<< You're absolutely right there. I can only urge you to keep writing to them in spite of the initial "Sorry, can't do anything for you" response. I have read more than once that people have made some progress when repeatedly sending inquiries to them, explaining the situation, demanding an explanation etc. Even mention your lawyer, just mentioning might help. My guess is that at first a simple mturk employee responds with the cut/paste answer but if you continue to use the "Did I solve your problem? - If no click here" button , eventually someone higher up in the hirarchy has a look at the case. Again: good luck! Don't give up just yet!
Yes, Tiger I will keep on trying and despite a completely different set of words going on in my mind while writing to them, have been carefully penning down my words, while requesting the payments which they had disbursed. Have been doing this, but till date no response from them.
I think MTurk is suspicious with the high number of hits and amounts withdrawn by you. I had previously inquired whether Indians can have two accounts from the same IP address. They had replied that there was no problem till there wasn't any suspicious activity. Suspicious activity - meaning raking up hits from morning to nights in high numbers. Maybe that raised a red flag.
Maybe, but in that case they should have suspended me between Feb, 2009- July 2009 when i was withdrawing 300-400 USD every 15 days, and was doing much more HITs than i did in Dec., 2009 and Jan 2010. I worked for just 7 days in Feb, 2010 and that too not that much as it used to be. You are absolutely right and i will digest your point but this in itself is terrible on the part of mTurk if they suspended me for reasons you pointed out that one can get suspended after 8 months for activities on Mechanical Turk. I am least bothered about suspension, as anyhow i have started to gain some credibility at oDesk since beginning of Feb., 2010 the only thing i am bothered is "How can they forfeit the earnings which they had disbursed earlier, which i never recieved, and now no response from them when i ask for reissue of cheques". And also, will they take any action against Requesters who went over the board and paid me something around $400-450 as bonus in appreciation of my work for them and this they had not mentioned in their HITs, here i am not mentioning the around $400 bonus in all which normally is attached with the job in HITs like that of aboutus. I am a mature person, know my limits regarding the skills i possess, there are quite a few requesters who used to take my suggestions. If anybody knows about oDesk, one can see my profile and i have 100% positive feedback not even 99% as it was with me at mTurk after 80000 HITs, and i guess people are sensible enough that if i am a spammer or automated bot producing junk i would not have got 100% positive feedback which is 5/5 there at oDesk.
This is exactly the kind of argumentation you should email them. Tell them which requesters had given you high bonuses and why. Include a link to your odesk profile, etc. Tell them you're not working as a group, nor with bots etc. Tell them which HITs you did and how you came to make so much money in such a short time. I hope they will listen to you. The reason why they did not flag you previously (in the first half of 2009) is maybe because there was a big discovery of sweat shop operations in India in (I think) September or October 2009. Since then they have become very suspicious and strict. But obviously they are going overboard with their caution. What is especially shameful is that they don't even inform you of your alleged offence, and don't seek a dialogue with you.
Well, Thanks Tiger, but so far no response, i don't think they will ever reply as most probably the numerous cheques pending at their end was the sole reason for suspending my account. This is horrible on their part, that they can eat the money which they say had been sent. SHAME AMAZON
Too bad you're having trouble getting your pending checks. Why don't you try and contact Spamgirl or Ergo? They might help you with this problem. All the best
They disabled the link for customer support for me at amazon.com. So that's it, they can do this. They can swallow your earnings earned by you and disbursed by them but not recieved by you. SHAME
Dear Friends, I have made 4932 USD till now from Mtruk. In 2009, my earnings were 1675 USD and today they stand at 4932 USD. That means in the four months, I have made 3560 USD [ = 815 per month], which is when I worked only for 20-23 days a month. So i do not think that Amazon is trying to eat your money because I have made more money than you and Yeas I work 10 hours a day and I have received all my checks ranging from 67$ to 836 $. The problem could be real, not that I doubt you, but there must be valid reasons that's why they have blocked you. Now if you actually want your money, then you must write to them and try to know the real reason for your ban. Patience is a virtue and Honesty is the Best Policy, keep trying, you will definitely get the checks. Once I got my second check before my first check and probably that could be the problem here. Regards TG