Dear Readers,
(Last Updated April 16th, 2015 @ 6:35 pm EST) RC 7.0 MO
For this week’s “Scam Watch” feature. I thought I would tell you a little about the Internet service called JustAnswer.com JustAnswer.com is a Question/Answer site where you can go to ask any kind of question to a so called “Expert” Which is supposed to answer your question.On their homepage they claim their service works this way:
But for most users it is more like this: Ask a question, Make a user account, write a bit more about your problem, contact with the “Expert” then you choose what you want to pay him for his services. Like $10, $20 or $30 dollars USD, and they claim you will get much faster and better help if you pay more. Anyways, the next step, you pay, you wait, you wait more and then you wait a little more. Then you check your bank account and you might see that they have “taken out more money” than you actually agreed to pay for a service you never even received. On their site there is a complaint section, I have copied some of the post from the section (This complaint section has since been removed): “I needed some advice on a wound my cat received by a raccoon. I needed the information immediately and this seemed like a good option. I asked the question and was asked how much I would pay- I chose 13.00. It directed me immediately to Paypal where I paid the amount. in full using my bank acct. Received the receipt and waited. About an hour later I got an email that I had a response. I went to retrieve and it asked me to pay… I contacted customer service and they said I had not paid. Checked Paypal and it was received by them- also deducted from my bank acct. I sent them the receipt and went back and forth with about 20 emails. Got no where but the run around. I asked for a phone number – I called, no one answers… so left a message. 2 days later and have gotten nowhere. I am really ticked off- not even just the money- but the principal and the time I have taken on this! Ridiculous… DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY- YOU WILL BE SORRY!” “I clicked the $10.00 box that I am willing to pay for recommendation of a simple drawing software program. They charged me for $175.00. I sent them an email and claimed a refund. No response yet. I was in touch with their ‘Expert’ waiting for further advice because the first was not fully usable. I am waiting for both responses. 08 / May/ 2009″ “i did not accept any answer’s i received so they told me i would receive all my money back in my account in four days but instead the took twice as much more out and made my account over drawn by $148.00.” “I submitted a question to Justanswer and paid £6.30. I was told the money would only be taken from me if I accepted an answer. I haven’t had any answers at all but the money has been taken.” Also important to note that if you decide you want to exit their site. You end up getting this message:
WAIT! Your question has not been posted yet. This is what you get by placing a fully refundable deposit into your JustAnswer account:
* Experts are reassured that you are serious and are willing to reward them for a helpful answer.
* You will be able to preview and “Accept” your answer before deciding to pay for it.
* Deposits are fully refundable for any reason until you are happy. Satisfaction guaranteed!
Thank you,
JustAnswer
JustAnswer also tells you that if you are not satisfied with your experts answer. You do not need to pay, but how can this be when you need to pay to get in contact with the said “expert” ? I would highly recommend you stay away from this site. Now I am not saying that they only scam people. JustAnswer.com may help around 25% or so of people. But when someone loose $100 USD when they only choose to pay $6 USD something is very wrong ! From the comments I have read throughout the net it seems like around 50% actually get what they are told to they will get. It also seems like they have had some inside scamming themselves, people who claimed to be experts and were noting of the sort. ———————————————————————————————–
Now the link I am about to share with you all is 100% legit and is in fact on the JustAnswer.com website. Via the link we have provided for you. So you all can see how counter productive and really silly it seems. HELL…..I maybe DEAD wrong but you just need to click on the link and read the proceeding text to DECIDE FOR YOURSELF…… ———————————————————————————————–
One Of JustAnswers.com Claims: 
**Image directly taken from JustAnswer.com website ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justanswer.com **Link Provided By (CSW) -Moderator- Erin ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com Better Business Bureau (BBB) Profile: http://www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews/url/justanswer_com/ ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com Promo Link “The Shockingly Simple JustAnswer® Promise” – http://ww2.justanswer.com/shockingly-simple-justanswer-promise **Link Discovered By Nico ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com HELP And REFUND Section “Blackbelt Support” Quality. Access. Compassion – http://ww2.justanswer.com/help/topics/143 **Link Discovered By Nico ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com How Can I Request A REFUND ? Link – http://ww2.justanswer.com/help/how-can-i-request-refund Verification Status: Confirmed as a SAFE LINK. Confirmed via (CSW) readership as useful. But you must be registered to see page. JustAnswer.com REFUND Link – http://www.justanswer.com/refund/refund.aspx Verification Status: Confirmed as a SAFE LINK. Confirmed via (CSW) readership as useful. But you must be registered to see page. **Both JustAnswer REFUND LINKS Were Provided By Commenter Ethan ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com Customer Service E-Mail Address – cs@justanswer.com Verification Status: E-mail Address is Confirmed via (CSW) readership. **E-mail Address Provided By Commenter Ethan ———————————————————————————————–
JustAnswer.com Non-Corporate Customer Service Phone Numbers –
Toll-Free: 888-587-8220, 888-567-8220, 1-888-862-9212
Canadian Toll-Free Number: 1-888-587-8220
UK Toll-Free Number: 0-800-452-621
Australian Toll-Free Number: 1-800-679-634
New Zealand Toll-Free Number: 0-800-452-621
Intl: 650-385-2899 and 1-650-985-2899
From The Rest Of The World: 1-650-385-2899
Verification Status Of Non-Highlighted JustAnswer.com Customer Service Numbers: Confirmed by (CSW) readership.
Verification Status Of RED Highlighted JustAnswer.com Toll Free Customer Service Number: Confirmed via (CSW) readership and Scam Watch Team.
Verification Status Of Orange Highlighted JustAnswer.com Canadian Toll-Free Service Number: Confirmed via (CSW) readership and Scam Watch Team.
Verification Status Of Brown Highlighted JustAnswer.com Canadian Toll-Free Service Number: Are not confirmed via (CSW) readership and or Scam Watch Team.
Verification Status Of Blue Highlighted JustAnswer.com Toll-Free Service Number: Are not confirmed via (CSW) readership and or Scam Watch Team.
*Non-Corporate Customer Service Numbers Provided By Commenter Ethan
**Second Toll Free Number Customer Service Number Provided By Commenter Plain Jane
***Canadian Toll-Free Number Provided By Commenter Daniel
****All Numbers In Brown Were Provided By Commenter Mike H.
*****All Numbers In Blue Were Provided By Commenter Alan
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JustAnswer.com Direct Corporate Phone Numbers: 1-415-929-9923 Verification Status: Confirmed via (CSW) readership and Scam Watch Team. The 1-415-929-9923 corporate phone numbers above have been confirmed by both our “Scam Watch Team” and (CSW’s) readership. On a number of occasions. But please feel free to comment below if you have indeed called one or both of the above numbers and let us know if they are indeed helpful. In solving any issues you came across. *Phone Numbers Provided By Commenter James Fox ———————————————————————————————–
If you guys have any question regarding this or any other similar subject. Please don’t hesitate to comment or e-mail us @ computer.savvy@hotmail.com
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Important Side Note: Please guys could you speak English in the comments section. If you can’t speak English please use the following embedded link to GOOGLE TRANSLATOR. It’s 100% free and very easy to use. ———————————————————————————————–
DISCLAIMER: The Computer Savvy Weblog has no control over the ads Google decides to display on our blog/site. Due to the fact The Computer Savvy Weblog is using the free version of WordPress. Sorry for any inconvenience or possible misunderstandings this may of caused.
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Post Written By Nico And Scam Watch Feature Was Created By Remy “Se7en”
The Computer Savvy Weblog 
Just because Justanswer have been running for 10 years that doesn’t make what they r doing right that just means they have been scamming people for that long like I said that website needs to be closed down.
Unfortunately I didn’t read your site until after I had used Just Answer and had found that all the tricks that were described happened to me. So far nothing is showing except that they originally posted 5E and the confirmation came through as 45E is there any way in which one can prevent other monies being taken?
I am an American who truly believes in the freedom of speech and my rights under the constitution to express my beliefs. I have been an expert with JA since Sept 2008 and am unhappy with how the evolution of the site has changed it’s original model. I used to say “I have the best job in the world.”
I no longer feel appreciated and I am just not in tune with the new “model”. The site originated with “ask a question and pay a chosen value”. That is no longer the model and it pains me.
Experts are not appreciated. They started an “expert appreciation program” a week or so ago where the moderators choose their “favorites” and give them a gift card”. Big deal. I’m not a favorite because I have been very vocal about my dissatisfaction. But one thing I can assure the public, if you get “JUDITH” to answer your immigration question I give you my heart and soul, as well as my 37 years of experience and knowledge. You will get your money’s worth with my answer. I take pride in my ethics.
My account may be terminated for this post, but so be it. Life will go on. You can always google “Judith Ludwic” or “Askvisaquestions.com” and I am happy to help. Serving the immigrant population since 1978 has been my life’s mission.
Couldn’t agree more Judith. I remember when they used to respect experts. You could actually win cash and prizes on the wheel and I remember when they would have contests and give away ipads.
It is really sad that they now they have no respect for experts. Favor specific experts and give them priority access, and they don’t even give them priority access for the right reasons. They give priority access to the experts that make them the most money, it has nothing to do with quality.
Also very sad that you have to be worried about being removed from the site and they experts in fear of speaking out about the truth. I am sure the employees feel the same.
In all fairness, after my post my JA mod did reach out to me and we had a very long telephone discussion. My comments about the appreciation program were uninformed and incorrect. I do believe my concerns were truly welcomed and it was very encouraging to have had such a open exchange about expert issues. We will see. Indeed my morale has been lifted somewhat just by the reception. Thank you to my mod, you know who you are!
Judith, those are lovely sentiments. I tried to use them today to fill my gas tank…but, the pump kept telling me to insert my credit or debit card.
Oh well….
Jon, you have a great sense of humor! But I hear you!
I have had this happen before as well. Over the years I have spoken on the phone with many JA employees (most have quit by now) and they do have a way with making you feel like they care about what you are saying. They actually may care. The problem is the JA staff is so out of the loop and has control over nothing. They operate on a need to know basis. The higher ups are the ones really in charge and pulling the scams. As someone said above I would love to see one JA employee come here and explain why experts get priority access when everyone knows that the rating calculations are wrong, why they keep deposits, why they make it so difficult for experts to be paid and most of all why they go to great lengths to cover up bad reviews online.
Ya see I need to post this anonymously out of fear of being kicked off the site.
That said, I have spoken to employees over the years and they have all been really nice and seemed to show genuine concern for my issues or complaints with the site however nothing ever changed for the better, it just got worse.
Ok JA, enough already! Yes I am a disgruntled angry expert who is tired of you ripping off customers and experts. Could one person from Just Answer please come here and reply honestly? You don’t have to use your real name but give us the truth. I do believe some posts are from employees anyway but still I would like to hear more about why someone up there thinks it is ok to trick people out of money and experts out of time.
It is super common now for an expert to completely satisfy a customer only to have that customer refund because they did not know they signed up for a subscription.
Here is what I think is going down now. Just Answer is keeping the initial $5 deposit even when they do a refund unless the customer really complains. Since the customer likely got to the site through a google ad it may have only cost Just Answer $2 or so for that click. That means they are profiting on every question placed.
I’ve asked a long question on this site, and they almost immediately sent me to the PayPal site…..also the expert is a gold medal winning master of gastroenterology. ….and I’m asking a question about psychiatric medications……I’m glad I checked here first
So sad that Justanswer is taking customer payments and then not paying the experts who answer, only because the customer fails to rate the answer at all.
Experts do the work — Justanswer takes all the money. What a deal!
I am someone who worked for just answer for 3+ years, not an expert.
Here is a quick list on how things work over there.
Most staff does not understand how the site works and what kind of questions are placed and answered. They think it is just a simple question and answer site.
For example they think the majority of customers are asking things like “what is the best food to feed my snake?” or “What is the average mileage per tank of gas for my car?”
They do not realize that people come to the site for much more than that. Customers seem to want full on repairs on cars or computers or cures from doctors. They do not simply come for advice from an expert.
So the simple questions are few and far between however most people who work there think that the simple questions are what is coming through or that the customers want advice from an expert. The reality the customers think they will get a full on solution to whatever the problem may be and will only pay the expert if the issue is 100% resolved. So in short the people who work there do not know how the site operates and with such high turn over usually the people are new and on average last about a year.
The people who create the ads to bring in customers are only concerned with conversion. A conversion is not customer places a question, receives answer, rates expert but simply customer places question. So the ads are meant to get the credit card and hopefully JA will get to keep the deposit and the expert will get nothing.
The rating system, this was put into place for a few reasons. They thought it would improve quality of answers by experts however they could have easily left the accept button and added the rating system after the accept to still get an idea of how the experts were performing. They did not do this because they wanted to keep more money so they tied ratings to payment.
Experts do get priority access (3 to 5 minute jump on new questions), not because they have the best rating but because they answer a lot of questions and spend 10 or more hours a day on the site. Remember JA takes the full deposit on expert reply so it makes sense for them to give experts who will reply to any question quickly a head start on all questions leaving the scraps for the other experts who do not have priority access.
Experts have been lied to many times so has the staff.
The site is purposely designed to be confusing for customers in order to get their money and get them to subscribe.
Scripting is a real thing that was happening however when scripters were caught (usually by other experts) JA never removed them. Why you ask? Because they didn’t care, as long as the questions receive a reply everything is good.
Years back when they claimed to remove all the scripters it was done because they knew they had to cut back on experts so they removed a bunch and claimed they were scripters which none of them were but they thought this would also raise morale among the remaining experts
There was never a tool that removed unwarranted negative ratings.
Expert rating scores are still incorrect as I am sure all you experts know.
Google ads that drive customers to the site are misleading on purpose and do not give customers a realistic expectation of what they can expect.
Pearl was cancelled because they broke googles advertising terms by double serving which is the practice of running ads for two separate sites which are really the same and pay the same entity.
So in this situation they were running ads for pearl and JA but pearl was the same site as JA, just a different name and design that sent users to JA. This made it impossible to run google ads for pearl so the whole thing was scrapped once google caught on and they would never be able get any customers on pearl without google ads.
Double serving is not allowed to prevent say a site like amazon from building a new site that does exactly the same thing but just has a different name and design but pays the same company.
Remember, most employees of JA as well as mods have no idea about this stuff and just do as they’re told. Also any employee who would speak up about the very shady things going on to upper management at JA would be potentially fired. If you play ball then you are OK but if you speak out about things that are unethical, bad choices, or really anything that the higher ups want to do you will likely be fired. It is not a friendly work environment as much as they may pretend it is.
Most online positive reviews are fake and made by JA staff.
The A+ BBB rating is because they have a staff member monitoring it and will always give a refund.
The bottom line is, they lie to staff, experts, and customers and look at one metric, the one which shows how much money they have coming in. They have been on the verge of bankruptcy multiple times and likely still are. They are not growing after all these years but rather trying to stay afloat.
I must say I am happy this post is here and people are speaking out, keep it up!
The biggest issue I have with JA, as an expert, is the non-rating, non payment. By my estimate that happens 15-20% of the time. Then they tell me experts aren’t allowed to ask the customer to rate. Moreover, I know that after any answer is provided, the customer is charged the full value of the question. So my question to you is – where does that money go. I know the customer isn’t getting a refund, and experts aren’t getting it either. Which, that leaves JA getting 100% of the value of around 15-20% of the questions answered…is that the case…and if so how are they losing money while doing this?
To answer your question just answer keeps the 100% of the money when you are not rated. That is the whole thing in a nutshell. They try and keep experts at around a 50% accept rate, the rest of the time they keep the money.
Also you hit the nail on the head of how just answer got into this whole scam business. They realized that people were asking questions and not paying experts and not asking for refunds. So instead of doing the right thing which would be alert the customer that they need to accept their answer or get a refund they kept the money. This painted them into a corner of continuing to scam people to stay afloat. Nowadays they do everything possible to make sure they take 100% of the deposit.
If they wanted experts to be paid they would make it clear to the customer as to what to expect and how to pay yet they stick to a rating system which never made sense.
They continue to lose money by never assessing what will happen in the long term for any decision they make. For example they gave certain experts a 5 minute jump on questions which pushed away a lot of experts. So now they have too many questions going unanswered and customers can self refund and many do. That is money wasted since most customers come in through google ads which cost money for every click whether or not the person asks a question or not. So think of how many people probably click their ads and don’t place a question, that is money down the drain.
Back in 2014 I believe they laid off 50% of the company. They will likely lay off more.
If you have been around awhile you will have noticed the many drastic changes that have taken place since 2011 or so.
They will tell the experts that they want them to get paid but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They want the experts to be paid enough to keep them answering and that is it.
Experts on average are making about 90% less than they were in 2011. The ones with priority access will make a bit more but still nowhere close to what they were making 5 or 6 years back.
When I use JA, I always pay the minimum amount. However, I only use JA for questions I have a hard time finding on the internet and I’m the kind of person that pays for convenience. I get good answers.
December 15, 2016. I am a customer and I was “scammed” as well. I thought I was only paying $5.00 but an additional $17 was taken out of my credit card without any mention of this on the website. When I tried to get a refund all I got was an argument!
I don’t deny the expert his/her payment, and I would have paid that, but Just Answer stole it from me and was very sneaky about it.
As an expert, to answer the question, is the website a scam? – No it’s not. The experts truly do care about and attempt to answer questions for all customers. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the website owner(s) and operators have decided they need to trick people into buying subscriptions and/or additional services to pump up the profits. I’ve never used the website as a customer, but it appears that a lot of people are pulled into it not understanding the terms, getting pulled into subscriptions and offered unnecessary services like phone calls for an additional charge without explanation and/appearing as a mandatory choice to stay on the website.
Likewise, experts are not paid much of the time because the site requires the customer to rate the answer provided in order for the expert to be paid. Otherwise the website keeps all the money from the question. Experts cannot ask for the payment when the customer does not rate, and they essentially eat the cost of that transaction. The website claims to make every attempt to get customers to rate, but that’s a lie they tell experts to appease them. The website in fact doesn’t collect any contact information from customers to even contact them to encourage rating. If the customer doesn’t rate or get a refund within 30 days the website owner(s) take that money and at that point, from my understanding, customers essentially need to threaten them with a BBB report to get the $ refund…as the only thing JA really fears is bad publicity.
So, my advice to any current or potential customer – 1) JA does provide a market niche. You will never get lawyer’s or doctor’s eval or advice anywhere for $40. Even if it just puts you on the right track or satisfies a concern. That was the original intent of the website, which unfortunately has been tainted by business motives; 2) know what you are buying – read the fine print, it is not free, you are charged the full value of the question after ANY answer is given, subscriptions and extras are routinely added into the fray in the fine print; 3) do rate your expert positively if you are satisfied that the expert gave you an accurate and honest response or, if not, get your full refund before the 30 days or they will be bear to recover from. They do honor those refunds quite regularly in the 30 days.
A fair summary by anon, in my opinion.
To balance out the argument, I asked a question about my vehicle. Paid my money up front with PayPal (never hand over my credit card details over the net !!), got a response from a mechanic, put into action his recommendations which unfortunately were not helpful, then after asking for followup was ignored. So I got onto Justanswer.com and asked for a refund. The process took about 2 minutes and I was presented with an email from Paypal that I had received a full credit. Now you lot have all had bad experiences with this site … and I’m not excusing any of it … but I see no scam with these guys. Certainly if my “expert” could have solved my problem I would have been extremely impressed … the problem was not with the site or the process … just the lack of enthusiasm to solve my problem … and that was the “experts” fault … and just to be clear, this was just one example … I am certain after reading your comments that there are credible “experts” on this site …