I'm not sure if this is the best platform for asking questions like these, but I didn't know where else to go.
I'm relatively new in Canada, and in the past I used my Upwork account a lot, but not so much recently. Then I decided to revive it to make some extra bucks. Upwork asked me to verify my identity, and I submitted my driver's license, they sent me an email telling me that they are suspending my account permanently due to falsification of information. I'm pretty sure that's this is a false positive, but no matter what I say, all I get in response is "Our decision is final".
I don't want to lose my 10 years old Upwork account which has thousands of hours on it. I wanted to kind of force them so that a human can verify my documents. How can I do that? Perhaps I'll a lawyer, if anyone who had similar experience before, please recommend one.
* see if I knew anyone on the inside (linkedin, slacks) who could shed more light
* see if there was a government agency with authority. I've had luck using this avenues to get bigcos to pay attention
* make a stink (publish a blog post, tag them on twitter) as best as you can. Don't be mean or childish, but bad press is no fun for a bigco.
* review the terms of service carefully yourself and see if there are any ways to escalate
* reach out to past happy customers on the platform and let them know of your issue. They might be able to send a message in support.
If you have money to spend, you could ask a lawyer to review terms and conditions, but my guess is they're pretty airtight.
As painful as this is.. you need to move on. 10 years doesn't get lost it gets put on your resume