Is Codeable a rip off? The questions people ask before they find out.

Short answer, no. Codeable claims to offer a money back guarantee as a marketing tool to lure you in. However the reality is that there is no money back guarantee. That's because of a carefully worded message that says "if we do not live up to our high standard", then you can get money back. This is tricky because they refer to their own standards, not industry or any other standards. Also there is no clarification as to what their standards actually are.

Based on my experience, they have no standards. Also based on that vaguely worded claim on their website, they concur.

No, as of this writing Codeable deposits funds directly into their bank account which is not a legitimate 3rd party escrow service. Here is the proper definition of escrow: "a bond, deed, or other document kept in the custody of a third party, taking effect only when a specified condition has been fulfilled." Seems the folks at Codeable don't understand what a real escrow service is. They do however know how to mislead clients and keep their money.

Making clients believe there is a legitimate, fair and impartial dispute resolution process is deceitful. Codeable refers to their bank account as "Client's Escrow Account" which is untrue. What they really mean is "we got your money, also we will dispute any chargeback and we are in Denmark, so you'll never see any of your money again".

Ask if you can deposit funds into a real escrow service like escrow.com. Codeable will run for the hills. Just remember, you will almost for sure be treated unfairly when a dispute arises.

Sadly the short answer is nothing. If and when things go off the rails (as they likely will) Codeable will offer to have a different developer "take over". But as of this writing, there are no centralized project management tools or documentation standards in place.

In short, the transfer of knowledge from one disinterested developer to an equally disinterested developer does not happen. So the new guy has to figure out what the old guy screwed up. Eventually the old guy becomes another unsuspecting client's "new guy" and the client (aka you) loses time and money while Codeable gets paid.

Lastly you will get bounced around from dev to dev and the project will likely die right before your eyes.

Codeable is located in Denmark which is far, far away from any court that you can sue them in. Keep that in mind before you get ripped off.

They are literally all over the world because Codeable outsources your jobs to developers from anywhere. While that in itself is not a bad thing, it might be bad for your business. It's quite possible you will wind up with one developer in Spain and another in Russia. They will work on your project but never communicate since they might not even speak the same language.

Combine that with zero standards for inter-developer communications at Codeable and you have a complete mess.

Outsourcing is all they do, just like Upwork or any other outsourcing firm. However the big difference is that a company like Upwork is truly a 3rd party that provides a legitimate escrow service. Plus Upwork has a fair dispute resolution process.

Upwork will oftentimes side with you if the developers mess up the job, run behind schedule, misrepresent their skill set or become unresponsive.

Codeable on the other hand is teeny tiny and with an average job size of less than $200, they need every penny they can get their hands on. When a dispute arises Codeable will always side with the developers. They point their finger at you and deny everything. In the end, they will likely keep your money.

If you want to hear some great stories, just ask Codeable about their escrow service and ask how a dispute is handled. Ask for three referrals from actual clients who had job-ending disputes and received all their money back. They will either dodge the question or fake that the connection is bad: "sorry I can't hear you, what was that?".

Upwork is a way better option for too many reasons to list.

Most are not full time for a couple of reasons.

First off, Codeable is not a WordPress development company. Codeable just farms jobs out to a pool of poorly vetted developers who bid on your project.

The second reason is that a bunch of the Codeable outsourced developers use Codeable simply as a means to supplement their income. That means they have real jobs elsewhere and they work as few hours as they want.

This is all bad news because you might unknowingly hire someone who is moonlighting as a WordPress developer. They might in fact be disinterested in your project and do this only as a part time gig. Like how a struggling IT guy might supplement his income by being an Uber driver because he needs the extra cash.

Do you really believe any Uber driver wants to shuttle drunk people around at 2AM on a Sunday morning?

As much as I would love to say yes, the truth is that it's simply not possible. So no, not every developer at Codeable sucks, however Codeable still sucks.

The initial developers I worked with were super nice people but they did not have the development skills to finish my job, and Codeable even acknowledged that. After months wasted, I demanded to work with different "experts" (their marketing term for ill-equipped developers).

The first of the two new developers was neither highly skilled nor easy to work with. He was argumentative, combative, very disgruntled and constantly complained about not getting paid. He clearly should have been in a different line of work.

However the second of the two new developers was a pleasure to deal with. Sadly though he spent the majority of his time apologizing for the other developer, who was literally thousands of miles away from both of us and seemed hell bent on undermining the project.

You can try but it's likely you will lose. All Codeable has to do is tell the credit card company that the services were provided and the card company will usually side with them, even when they legitimately ripped you off. That's what they did to me.

Also note that most card networks only allow disputes within a limited window, often 60 to 120 days. If Codeable strings a project out past that window, your chargeback rights may be gone before you realize the project is dead.

As of this writing the minimum they are allowed to charge is $70/hr, and Codeable encourages them to charge as much as they can because that increases Codeable's commission. Rates have risen since then, so expect higher today.

You can find those same Codeable developers on Upwork charging far less. Likely more in line with a competitive rate for their part of the world. Regardless, Codeable requires that they charge no less than the platform minimum.

Why pay double for the exact same thing when you can use Upwork for half the price. Plus you get the protections of a real escrow service. There is also real dispute resolution and real ratings from real clients.

Add to that, the power of a company that has strong financials and a history of treating their clients fairly instead of ripping them off.

Hell no! Codeable does not allow you to rate a developer poorly if something goes wrong. Why not, you ask? Because that would reflect poorly on both the developer and Codeable.

Codeable will remove your access from their portal and block you from warning others or posting real reviews regarding your experience. That's exactly why this website exists. So if you got ripped off by Codeable, tell us so we can warn others!

There is no project management at Codeable. The most striking thing about Codeable is that there are no standards in place for anything. Only a portal that is just a dime store chat room with no real features.

Forget any essentials for managing a project. In my experience of dealing with several of their developers, not one of them used GitHub or Bitbucket. They all use different tools to manage projects ranging from Skype to Google Docs to email to absolutely nothing. Oddly, they avoid all of the industry standard project management tools and I suspect that's because those tools require discipline and create accountability.

Sadly this lack of centralized tools results in no transparency, massive disorganization, inefficiency, slow to no progress and most importantly, zero accountability.

Negative, Watson. Codeable's average job size is less than $200 and you can get the same thing on Upwork for half the price. Don't waste your time and take chances with your money. With an average job size that small, how would Codeable possibly be equipped to handle complex jobs?

Because they don't know any better or bother to read the fine print. Codeable has created a carefully curated image and they will continue to protect that image. They mislead new and existing clients.

It's a shame that Codeable took what seemed like a good idea and turned it into something so one-sided. Codeable is complicit in allowing developers to misrepresent their abilities.

The folks at Codeable also blindly side with their developers should a dispute arise. Then Codeable misleads potential clients with a fake escrow service. Fact is, Codeable likely has no intention of ever refunding any money, regardless of how badly your project gets mangled.

Save your time and money by using anyone other than Codeable. We strongly recommend Upwork over Codeable.