PRO account on free-lance.ru: return unused funds

Recent changes on free-lance.ru have created a lot of discontent among freelancers.
Many voiced their intention to go to other exchanges. Quite often the question was “How can I get a refund for a PRO account?”
The rules of the site free-lance.ru state that the funds credited to the account are not returned.

However, as practice shows, you can return the money.

The process is quite simple and intuitive, but, just in case, I describe in detail. Suddenly useful to the doubters and lazy.

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Step one. Application for return of unused funds

Go to the Support page. You can get here from the main one by clicking on the “Help” link in the menu, and then selecting “Write to support service”.
Select the item "Financial issue".
We write the text of the message, we describe the reasons for which we want to return unused funds. In my case, the text of the message looked like this:

Hello.

I have been a user of your resource for several years. Thanks to your resource, I found more than a dozen customers. Not all your innovations pleased, but I understand that monetization is important for any commercial project, so I never complained. Without a doubt, paid a PRO-account, considering this fee fair for the services you provide. Unfortunately, the recent changes (work only through the Security Council, the ban on the exchange of contact information, monitoring the correspondence of site staff) make it impossible to continue work.

I made earlier attempts to work through the SBS: customers do not want to shine their data and bother with documents. The inability to share contact information reduces the list of possible means of communication and reduces the usability. Access by unauthorized persons to information containing commercial secrets and intellectual property is unacceptable for most professionals.

At the time of payment of the PRO-account, I could expect a certain service from the site free-lance.ru. I had a clear vision of the process of work, due to the traditions and rules of the site. After the rule changes, the situation has changed completely and does not meet my expectations and requirements.

In this situation, I have to send a request for a refund of funds spent on the PRO-account. Please refund me the amount equivalent to the value of the unused (paid in advance) PRO-account.

I know that on your site it says "no funds are returned." However, I should note that the list of services provided by your website, which influenced my decision to pay for a PRO-account, changed after the payment of an account.
Thus, the services currently provided do not meet expectations.

Also, as an additional argument, I want to point out the fact that the fb-group wrote about the possibility of a refund.

Link: www.facebook.com/freelance//posts/379209808814601

The screenshot is attached and saved locally.

We send request, we wait for the answer.

Step two. the confirmation

About an hour and a half after sending the application, an email arrived with the following content:

Good day.
If you finally decide to return the funds, the purchase will be canceled within 24 hours, we will indicate the amount that you will have frozen for a refund.
For a refund you need to write an official letter. The letter is written in the name of the gene. directors and the original is sent by mail to any of the following postal addresses:
129223, Moscow, POB 33;
190031, St. Petersburg, Sennaya Square, 13/52, PO Box 427;
420032, Kazan, POB 624;
454014, Chelyabinsk - 14, PO Box 2710.

Do you cancel purchase of pro?
Do you submit a sample application?

Please do not change the subject of the letter when answering our letters.

My answer was simple: “Yes, please cancel the purchase of the PRO-account and send a sample application”

Step three. Cancel PRO. Statement

The second answer had to wait until lunch the next day.

Return amount 3660 rub.
The service has been canceled.
We send you a sample letter (the text that is highlighted in red, you need to fill in your information). Refunds are not made to the details of third parties, but only to the details from which it was replenished.
Please, before sending the original letter, send us a scanned copy of the letter for verification, then Fm - the money in the account will be blocked for return.
We remind you that the letter is written in the name of the gene. directors and the original is sent by mail to any of the following postal addresses:
129223, Moscow, POB 33;
190031, St. Petersburg, Sennaya Square, 13/52, PO Box 427;
420032, Kazan, POB 624;
454014, Chelyabinsk - 14, PO Box 2710.
In the "To" field, be sure to select LLC "Vahan"
If you want to deliver the letter in person, you need to drive to the office at www.free-lance.ru/press/contacts on weekdays from 10 to 18.
Please check the correctness of your data (details, registration address, if you are legal, then the name of the company).
As soon as we receive the letter, we will write to you.

Please do not change the subject of the letter when answering our letters.

The letter is written, it remains to go to the post office and send it.

findings

Summarizing the above, I would like to point out the key points:

1. You can return unused funds
2. The support service does not prevent the receipt of funds, for which she thanks a lot. I was pleasantly surprised - a spoon of honey in a barrel of tar
3. Funds are returned only to those details from which there was a replenishment. If the customer paid you with FM, he will get the funds back
4. They say that the main income of free-lance.ru is made up of PRO-accounts. Perhaps a massive refund will tell the management of the company that the recent changes are absolutely not satisfied with many freelancers