An Exhaustive Review of WriterBay.Com - My Experience

Recently, through a Google search, I discovered WriterBay.Com. It is an online website that provides help to anyone who might wish a written report on just about any topic, for a fee. It also provides freelance online work to anyone who may wish to undertake such work. I applied to this website and have been with them for about a week at the time of writing this review. This review is based on my experience with them in this period.

Before writing this post, I grappled with the question if I should write a review at all because it has criticism. However, I decided in favor writing it so that it would help huge number of persons who scout for freelance online work as well as numerous students that approach this website for help. My criticism is a constructive one with suggestions for improvements. If Writer Bay took it in this light, this report shall help them to reinvent themselves into a productive outfit that helps the world rather than the other way around and thereby find long-term sustainable growth too.

I got involved with Writer Bay because a boy who works part time for me in my home and garden had noted that I write a lot of blogs for free in public service. He had bugged me for sometime that there are people who are making money writing for online websites and I must try it. Therefore based on that and some spiritual considerations, I reluctantly agreed. With help of Google searches I scanned for what all kind of online writing work may be available out there and zeroed in on writerbay.com.

At the outset, may I warn any reader seeking any sort of online work to be cautious. The numbers of scams out there far outweigh genuine work websites. There are websites that will collect a fee out front or direct you to a service that does, or your private details and then harm. Avoid outright any website that may wish for a fee in the beginning or even after a month of free trial. Avoid any that ask for bank or credit card details etc. outright. Do not trust reviews out there fully. An outfit ready to scam can easily get positive reviews posted on the web with little effort.

One needs one’s own judgment and help of the Lord to stay safe in this murky world. I discovered Writer Bay is none of these scams and therefore applied to work for them as a freelance writer. However, while not a scam of the type mentioned, my experience was a disappointing one. It needs to be told, so that students can take care before approaching them for help in their work and those seeking work may also take care not to waste their time and effort that might be utilized more productively elsewhere.

The Joining

Before, accepting any writer, writerbay.com has online tests to verify if a person has sufficient writing skills to be able to do their work. The tests were well designed and efficient and thus far the experience was good. They soon emailed back that I had been selected. However for me the goodness ended soon after. On informing a person that he is selected, writer bay sends excellent well crafted guidelines and asks the writer to login to their website and look through available orders. One applies to work on an order one finds suitable. Perhaps several freelance writers may apply for an order. The Writer Bay team selects one and assigns the order. The deadlines for completing work are included in the order and are usually reasonable.

First Problem

On logging in, when I clicked on orders, blank pages and forms opened up but no orders. I contacted support that is available online, informing them of the issue.  I was informed it is because my profile is not verified. What they meant to say is that my phone number is not verified but they did not speak straight as indeed many others might in today’s murky world. 

My first Recommendation to Writer Bay: If a phone number needs verification say so and preferably say that in the first email to the writer at the outset that they would need to verify phone number before they can begin work to save everyone agony and time.

There was a link asking to verify that supposedly sends a code on the phone.  One then types in the code to verify as indeed numerous other websites do. However repeated clicking on the link produced no code, so back to support. I was informed, that they would do a manual check by calling me in person. The support team member, Hector, was nice enough to inform that it happens to all. In fact if it was not for Hector at Writer Bay I may not have lasted this long at this outfit. It is likely a few persons like him that have kept Writer Bay from vanishing into the blue long ago.

Second Recommendation to Writer Bay:  Add a line under the phone verify link that says – Incase you do not receive verification code for any reason, contact support and request a manual check.

Well, well, the phone check was finally done. A sweet rep called that night to verify my phone. She also asked if I am available 24 x 7 and if they could call anytime. I said NO.

Beware writers out there, these folks seem to want robots that do not sleep at night or become zombies by being disturbed through the night.

However, to be fair, Ally, that was the person who called was sweet enough to understand that humans sleep, when I explained the matter to her. We had a good laugh over it on phone when I stumbled on my next problem. I did not know if to wish her goodnight or morning, not knowing where the outfit is located. The phone she called from was a 1-800 number so there was no country code to decipher. I could also not find out where they are located on their website. A Google search result said it is Philippines but the rep said it was UK, so here is my next recommendation

Third Recommendation: Please reveal your physical headquarters and address, real phone number, on your website as indeed any honorable outfit does. Fly by night operators on the web hide it and surely you are not one of them. Please include your address and the country you are located in on your website so as not to give an impression that you are trying to hide it.

Well, all said and done, I logged in and this time when I opened an order, lo and behold, it opened up revealing details in full glory. I found that most of the orders were from students needing help in their term work. However one important detail was missing – Country. Thus if there was someone asking you to write about something in taxation law, one might write on the taxation law of Timbaktoo whereas what was required was an answer on the tax laws of Antigooo stupid. So here goes my fourth recommendation

Fourth Recommendation for Writer bay: Please include country a writing order originates from on the order form as an essential piece of information

However, to my delight, my first assigned order was on problems caused by huge number of immigrant foreign-born physicians. It was therefore clear that the order had come from either the UK or USA. I circumvented the issue by writing cleverly about both UK and US. But another problem arose. A one-page write-up was required in APA format. It is a format that requires at least four pages, even for one-page orders, a title page, an abstract page, the content and a reference page in prescribed formats. I did all that submitting the 200 words content as required. However since the content was only 200 words the abstract was understandably much shorter. The team at Writer Bay then kept writing back saying the order needed revision, and as I kept sending back through the night, they kept emailing back that order needs revision, finally revealing that abstract must be 150 –200 words.

LOL, LOL, LOL I shall not be surprised if soon I get a 100 word writing order from writerbay.com next that needs a 200 word abstract!

Fifth Recommendation for Writerbay.com: Please educate all concerned that an abstract is a brief summary and has to be considerably briefer than the article it is about.

However, not having the time to argue or educate the staff at Writer Bay, I recopied most of the article in abstract and resubmitted it. The order finally went through and I received two congratulation emails from writerbay.com complimenting me on my proficiency : -)

Having discussed all the minor issues that arose in my dealings with writerbay.com, that can be fixed with ease following the preceding five recommendations, now the two most important issues that will need a little more effort and reflection to fix, first for students that might approach writer bay to get an assignment done, and next for writerbay.com

For Students 

Dear students when a professor or teacher gives you an assignment to do, a thesis or paper to write, it is to help you learn the subject being taught. If you approach Writer Bay and pay to get it done, you shall learn nothing and cheat yourself as well as your professor by lying to him or giving him the impression that you have done it yourself.

Please note that it is not wrong to seek guidance from tutors or others, even Writer Bay but the final submission must be your own work to avoid cheating. Please use the work from Writer Bay as a guide, template or illustration and redo the final submission yourself

Sixth recommendation for writerbay.com:

Please include the above message to students on your website, else you shall likely be  willfully aiding the act.

However, it is possible that a student will just submit what he receives from writer bay nevertheless and cheat. But that is something Writer Bay shall not be responsible for provided they have included the message as stated.

Now For Writer Bay, most important issue

It must be noted that writers seek to work for writerbay.com to earn some money not for fun or to while away time. The compensations paid at Writer Bay are very low, in fact pitiable. A task that requires a day’s work may pay only four dollars. That is something much less that what the lowest page workers; a laborer on a construction site gets in India for a day’s work.

To compound the problem, Writer Bay also has bidding as in fish markets in the East. Work orders contain notices that if they bid a lower amount they are more likely to get the order. It is disgusting to bid lower on already such low rates and while I applied for any orders that appeared interesting on writerbay.com, I did not enter bidding so guess what happened? I did not get any. The two orders I did at Writer Bay was because first was an introductory one that was allotted right away and second from one of their team members, Hector, because I mentioned that if no orders are forthcoming I should quit the website.

Seventh Recommendation for Writer Bay: While Writer Bay may not be able to fix its compensations structures right away; it must immediately cease the bidding process. When an order is delayed or assigned to the lowest bidder rather than the most competent or deserving one, the client may end up with crap. It will destroy sustainability of business. It is clear that it is an attempt to satisfy someone’s greed for more profits but it is not from endless greed that businesses succeed; rather they do from sustainable and worthy models of business.

There are several other suggestions I could offer to Writer Bay, but this is enough for now. I might, if I learn in future that they have implemented or not implemented the essential ones of this note.

In the meantime, my best wishes are for all the freelance writers seeking work out there, for all who own and work for WriterBay.Com and the many students and other clients who approach Writer Bay for help with their work.

Concluding Remarks

Someone may ask, with all those issues, how come Writer Bay has been doing business for so long? Well it is because there is a need for their services out there and they have a large amount of support staff that keeps up their tirade of sooth saying to keep workers hanging for a bit. I received a huge number of emails saying nice things from them to keep me engaged. Finally when a freelance worker throws up their hands and leaves, others join in to become suckers similarly, and the music goes on. Besides writer bay likely maintains a small core group of writers that they treat properly and keeps their business alive

In conclusion, may I apologize to Writer Bay for the criticism, it is frank but it has been put out to protect the public at large and because there is opportunity for writerbay.com to reinvent and become a leading service in the world in the area of their operation if followed through as suggested. 

It may be pointed out, I have never hesitated from criticism because of being a professor and followers of spiritual masters who recommended,

Do not hesitate from reproof. The fool will hate you for it and move away and you shall be well rid but the wise man shall love you for it and your words shall add beauty and goodness to the world.

It is because of a similar even more critical note earlier this year in this blog,( see here:
https://steamcenter.blogspot.com/2018/02/microsoft-please-call-spade-spade.html) to Microsoft that they revised a decades old silly practice in nomenclatures of their products such as Windows 10. Such changes help the entire world.