What if I find myself in a dispute with another Elance member?

In the unlikely event that you do encounter a dispute, you can follow these steps:

    * Try to contact the other party again using the private message board (PMB). They may not be responding for legitimate reasons or a problem may have risen due to miscommunication.

    * If your project uses the Elance Escrow payment feature, you are eligible to use the Elance Mediation  process.  Please click here for more details.

    * Always add a contract, including payment methods and terms on your private message board.  Please click here for sample contracts.

    * If the other party does not respond to your private message board postings, attach your contract terms and conditions to your private message board (PMB).  Make sure the contract documents have both parties' business names, business addresses, phone numbers and alternate/escalation phone numbers.  Once you upload the documents click on the 'Contact Us' link above and state what terms you believe the other party is breaking.  Provide complete details about the project and the dispute, including: your username, the username of the other party and the project name. Our Elance Dispute Assistnace Team will attempt to contact the other party to try to re-establish lines of communication and reach a quick resolution.  Please review the "NOTE:" items below regarding Elance's involvement after a project has been awarded.

    * If you are a service provider and dispute the project fee, go to your My Elance > Provider Activity > Accepted Projects, and click on the link to fill out Request Fee Adjustment form.

    * If you are involved in a dispute involving feedback, please refer to Elance Feedback Removal Policy to find out in what circumstances Elance will consider removing feedback. If the feedback does not violate any of the stated policies, Elance will consider removing feedback if presented with a court order.

Note:

The Elance site functions as a venue to connect buyers and service providers in a virtual workplace. As a neutral facilitator, Elance is not directly involved in the actual transactions between users of the site. As a result, Elance has no control over the truth, accuracy, quality, legality, or safety of postings made by users. Because verifying the identity of a user on the Internet is difficult, Elance cannot and does not confirm the identity of users. Elance also does not confirm nor verify the qualifications, background, or abilities of users. Therefore, we recommend that you be careful and exercise common sense and good judgment when dealing with any user on the site.

Always add a contract, including payment methods and terms on your private message board.

Your correspondence with merchants, advertisers, or users on the Site, including the development and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such merchant, advertiser, or user. You agree not to hold Elance liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such merchants, advertisers, or users on the Site.

Always add a contract, including payment methods and terms on your private message board.