Complaint Review: guru.com

Guru.com has what they call safepay.  It is a sort of escrow.  But how they define it and how they operate it, is internal (and thus not independent, and thus not really escrow) and it completely supports the freelancer, and allows the freelancer to easily get paid without having to provide the promised product. 

If you pay upfront you have zero recourse, even by guru.com statements.  For the money remaining in safepay escrow, if you pay money into safepay you better expect that it means that it is safe for the freelancer and guru, not the contractor who actually expects work to be done for his or her money, per the contract.  The freelancer will be allowed by guru.com to steal your money and never provide a product.  

Then guru will ask you to provide more money to even have the opportunity to get the product you originally contracted to receive.  Even if you receive a positive judgment, they will not refund all your money even if you have a contract where it says payment is provided only for a final complete product.   So all or much of the money in safepay is lost, even if the freelancer provides something useless, or doesn't provide what is contracted.  Guru will mandate that the freelancer is paid for work done, even if the contract says only payment on successful job completion, or if the work is pointless or not helpful.  I paid several thousand dollars and got nothing.  This place should be sued and put out of business.   Can anyone say class action lawsuit?