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ChaCha Inc Don't work for ChaCha they won't pay you! Internet Internet
So I heard about ChaCha from a friend who only used their texting service to have questions answered. I found out that they also "hire" people to answer these text questions. So I signed up and took their tests and became a "Guide". I answered around 500 of these text questions at .20 cents a piece over the course of 23 hours 49 minutes and 1 second, earning 100.00.
Now their rules state that you have to earn 100.00 at least by the 15th of the month in order to receive a payout or the money will rollover to the next months payout schedule. I registered on July 14, 2008 and had earned the money by July 28, 2008 way before August 15th.
So before the 15th came I made sure that everything was set so that I would get paid. My bank account was registered and I was at 100.00. They say right on the payment area that it will take 5-7 business days from the 15th before money is processed for payment.
The 15th rolled around and a lot of people got paid, I continued to wait for the 7 business days but nothing happened, no payment, nothing. So on the 8th business day I contacted them at an email address I had for them. I waited a day so we are now on the 9th business day and tried again. Nothing. Later that day I posted a thread on the message board about not getting paid. I finally received a post back on it.
Now remember it said 5-7 business days in the payment area and also in the "Knowledge Base" an area to find all the answers to your questions. The post I received is "It takes 7-10 business days for a payment to be processed."
This was the last reply I have received from a "Moderator". So the 10th business day came and went and still nothing. So I posted another thread asking for an explanation as to why I hadn't been paid. No one from the actual company would reply to it. So I added "If I am not paid by Tuesday (which would be September 2, 2008) I will be contacting my state Labor Board."
Now this seemed to get a rise out of the "Super Moderators" they sent me a warning that I was threatening them and my post was deleted. (Seems more like they were afraid of other "Guides" getting any Ideas from it). So I replied in email to the "Super Moderator" and asked for a response as to why I wasn't getting paid.
No reply.
I again posted a thread asking for an explanation as to why I wasn't getting paid. I got an email telling me again that I was threatening them and my post was deleted.
So at this point I am pretty pissed.
I reply back again to the "Super Moderator" and inform them that because I can't post anything on the message boards about getting paid and finding out when I will get paid that I will be contacting the IC3 and my states Labor Board.
The reply I received was astounding. "You have been permanently banned from the message boards for violating the rules. You threatened a moderator in an email message."
How the heck did I threaten a moderator for telling them that if someone from ChaCha didn't reply with a valid reason as to why I wasn't getting paid I would report them?
Ok so now I am banned from what was the only method of communication to people over ChaCha that could do anything about this. Great.
What did I do?
I have currently filed a complaint with the IC3. Considering that it is Sunday and Monday is a holiday I will be unable to contact my states Labor Board until Tuesday. On Tuesday I plan on contacting the Utah State Labor Board and asking where I should go from here.
I will keep you posted.
(That is if ChaCha hasn't already taken over the world and deletes this post)
As for my recommendation about ChaCha. Go for it if you don't mind making them richer while you use your personal resources to do it and you not getting paid a dime for it (unless your one of the lucky ones).
It's not a bad job sure you get to work at home, (by the way you now only make .10 cents a message instead of .20, if you get paid.) you can work the hours you want, you get to sign on and off whenever you want, and best of all you get to do this all for FREE that's right you don't ever have to worry about making a dime!!!
Honestly I am not the only one with this problem there is a thread on people not getting paid that is reset every month that currently has 51 pages of people not getting paid at 10 posts a page. We're looking at 510 posts plus posts under those posts of people that haven't been paid.
How a business has gotten away with it this long beats the hell out of me.
Good luck to all those who are currently with ChaCha, I hope this is enough information for you to get some ideas about what steps to take to get the money you rightfully earned.
Fair warning to all those considering joining them, I wouldn't recommend it the stress and nightmare isn't worth your time.
Keep watching for the results of my legal battle against them!
Shad
Orem, Utah
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
jrs397
Evansville,Indiana,
United States of America
Better off not working for these jerks
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, January 22, 2011
I agree with what everyone has said so far. ChaCha is,by far,the biggest waste of time I have ever been involved with. I get a monthly disability check but was looking for a way to earn some side money,so I signed up back in November to be an Expeditor. I got 2 cents for every question I answered (not 10 or 20 as I have seen some people say in previous posts) or sent off to another guide. The thing that ticked me off about them was their performance guidelines. It's almost like they set the bar so high because they secretly hope you fail. I had to maintain a 95% or higher Expeditor quality score and a quick answer percentage of 58% or higher. The thing is,they didn't credit me for every answer I gave. Sometimes I would answer a question personally instead of passing it off to another guide and I would still get a 0% rating for that question. Then in some situations I would not know the answer to a question and would not be able to find one in their seemingly endless database of previous answers so I would pass it off to a guide. Again,I would get a 0% rating for this. After two months of working for these no good so-and-so's I received a message from them that my contract had been terminated. The reason cited was "Section 16 of the Independent Contractor Agreement," I went back and read this Section 16. It said nothing other than they or the contractors reserved the right to,at either of their discretions,terminate the arrangement between ChaCha and themselves. Call me crazy,but here in America "just because we can" or "we just felt like it" don't seem like valid excuses to be let go from a position. I e-mailed them asking for a specific reason why and so far have not received an answer. In any case,I'm glad I don't have to work for them anymore. They treat their employees like crap,the pay is a joke and I learned from this experience. If something seems too good to be true,it probably is.
John
Carmel,Indiana,
U.S.A.
ChaCha Response
#7UPDATE Employee
Tue, December 02, 2008
ChaCha provides work at home opportunities for those wishing to work as individual contractors and has successfully provided income for thousands of people. We take great pride in our text message product and our guide contractors who support the business.
The options provided for payment are pay me now for those wishing to access their funds anytime, sending funds to the First Internet Bank of Indiana following a guide initiation of account set up and the bank's issuance of a debit card. The other option, pay me monthly provides a single payment when account balance exceeds $100. The funds are deposited by electronic transfer to the guide's pre designated checking account.
Thousands of guides are paid monthly. There are over 35,000 guides and the vast majority of the payments are processed without issue. ChaCha's Guide Support team follows up proactively with Guides whose payments did not process due to incorrect account numbers or discrepancies in personal data. The completion rate is particularly successful given the mobile nature of our workforce (for example, students and others with personal information changes).
Impacts to payment completion can vary, but common impacts to timely payment are guides not entering correct account information upon set up of their banking information, failing to complete W-9 information required as an independent contractor, or not providing the First Internet Bank of Indiana with additional information as required by the Patriot Act when setting up their pay me now account.
For guides who are no longer independent contractors with ChaCha, or in rare cases where a manual payment must be processed, a check is forwarded to the guide address on file. Again, as in the payment methods outlined here, most checks are timely, received, and cashed. There are occasions where checks are returned by the postal service due to wrong or insufficient address based on the information provided initially by the guide. In those cases, without contact by the guide awaiting payment, ChaCha holds the check and funds until hearing from the guide through our reporting system.
We encourage guides with payment issues to contact us to reconcile pay issues through an internal issue notification process located in our guide accessible application and KnowledgeBase. While the process is sometimes more time consuming and less seamless then the normal pay processes, ChaCha does make every effort to resolve and pay guides in a timely manner.
In this particular Guide's case, follow up was initiated by ChaCha as the payment was forwarded via manual check in September. Our records indicate this manual check is still outstanding. Attempts to determine current status were unsuccessful due to the guide's refusal to discuss the situation with a representative of ChaCha.
Sally Lynn Walker
Long Island City,Nebraska,
U.S.A.
Incorrect information
#7UPDATE Employee
Tue, December 02, 2008
ChaCha hires independent contractors (guides) to answer questions at the rate of .10 or .20 cents per question answered. Never in my experience with ChaCha have they denied payment to anybody. I have been paid on the 15th of every month since I have been using ChaCha, and friends of mine who also "guide" have never reported any problems with payment.
Most payment problems generally stem from user error; either missing or incomplete account information. Perhaps this user should look at all of the details he/she entered and check them for 100 percent accuracy, as he/she is quite alone in this experience.
Concerned
Chattanooga,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
chacha search rippoff big time
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, November 21, 2008
Im disabled and tried most of these work at home scams and chacha.com is one of the worst. I worked for this company for over 3 months, had great feedback and worked long hours. But recieved $56 at the end of 3 months. Buts its not just me, look at the forums at Wahm.com. which btw is another waste of anyones time , especially those looking for at home work.
Concerned
Chattanooga,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
chacha search rippoff big time
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, November 21, 2008
Im disabled and tried most of these work at home scams and chacha.com is one of the worst. I worked for this company for over 3 months, had great feedback and worked long hours. But recieved $56 at the end of 3 months. Buts its not just me, look at the forums at Wahm.com. which btw is another waste of anyones time , especially those looking for at home work.
Julie
Minneola,Florida,
U.S.A.
ChaCha
#7UPDATE Employee
Thu, September 25, 2008
Wow,
I am sorry to hear you had such terrible experience with ChaCha. I have been working with them since June of 2008 and have had very few problems. First of all I don't like anyone having access to my bank account. I chose the pay me now option so I could get paid anytime I wanted. It's also instant. I had an issue on time but still got my money. They even fixed it so the correct amount reflected my earnings. It took a few days but it was taken care of. They were having trouble with the system and it was on the banks end of it. I guess I'm lucky. Did you ever try to switch your payment method? I know this takes a while like 30 days or something. That's horrible if you never got you money. I would be upset too.
It seems they have made some changes since you quit working for them.
As for the only getting .10/question now that's true. However, to make top guide you must complete 200 questions/wk with a 95% accuracy to make .20/week. That's a snap in about 3 days work. I was very upset at first like a lot of other people.
Personally though I love ChaCha and it has allowed me to pay extra bills and pay for extra stuff I normally didn't have the money for. Good luck and I hope you get your money.