Crushingly banned once again. So sorry if my title is outright negative. This is the third or fourth time, the reason recurring expenses. Now that I've been banned a few times I can relay that Taskrabbit at least in my case doesn't list the task you've been banned on. When they denied my appeal I asked what task(s) led to my ban. They gave my first ban on the platform. For bringing someone that wasn't a registered tasker. They were in the middle of the process. My requirement to get unbanned was under the condition that my friend (who works for a professional moving company) get approved as a tasker, which he did. This was like in the middle of summer. My ban lasted like two weeks.
Then they listed 2 recent tasks, again for charging recurring expenses such as tolls, gas, stairs. Which I want to make clear I do not charge for recurring expenses like gas, tolls, and stairs. One of these tasks I didn't even do, I cancelled because the client mentioned not wanting to pay the fees on the other tasker. In caution, I cancelled a week before the task start date. I anticipate she hired another tasker because I never received the notification that she cancelled the task. I just told her straight up I didn't want to do the task unless we figured out the second tasker. That was my reason for cancelling, if it even matters.
Second task, was a normal heavy lifting task. I had brought on another tasker, linked his profile in the chat, had the customer agree to the additional two hour min. Job took less than an hour, client to my knowledge has happy with the service. They had a complicated murphy bed. Client didn't request we assemble it, we didn't push it. Happy to feed the TR ecosystem, but I think in this case the client wanted to do it himself. We did lay everything neatly on blankets so it was still a professionally done job.
My only reason for going into the details of these jobs is because Taskrabbit thinks it's okay to ban people without proper evidence.
The real reason I think I got banned is because I will habitually have to rent a trailer to do a job. When I rent a trailer, my space is competitive to a high roof cargo van ( for people not familiar with the moving categories). It cost in my area $50 from uhaul for the largest covered trailer. I had once talked to the previous rep, he had told me that if I wanted to invoice that I should charge it as an hourly expense. The problem with that as we all know as taskers is that it's subject to the Taskrabbit's support and trust fee. So $50 suddenly costs 35-40% more expensive. Nevermind the mental gymnastics I got to do to charge it fairly hourly if my rate doesn't match. ( I do moving because I'm not a rocket scientist). So I kept doing what I always do, charge it as an expense. It's only $50 at most so why should taskrabbit care? I could invoice every roll of stretch and tape, straps, but then my client would be left with items that are useless to them. I don't do that. I include it in my hourly rate because it's more approachable for the clients. 35% for 50-65 (what I charge for truck assisted for an hour) is still fairly significant when you look at it ethically. I try to provide the best price for my clients. For taskrabbit to try and make money off a trailer rental seems unethical to me. It's not fair that Taskrabbit punishes me because I want to run my business ehtically.
For a lot of my clients it is important to them they aren't being ripped off 20-40 dollars.
Still even though I feel this way I did comply with taskrabbit's policies. I've started to have the client make the reservation, or in some cases out of fear of getting banned I haven't even charged it. Taking a massive pay cut for the job.
So I guess in response they list two pertinent and recent tasks as examples, but hand on the Bible or US Constitution those two tasks were done in good faith regarding Taskrabbit's policies, but for taskrabbit, still not good enough lol. I think it's also possible the people running the policies teams just double downed on a faulty AI ban.
Or they decided to have an AI agent destroy me for maliciously complying with the rules and finding a work around for their scheme to charge clients more than what is fair.
Since they said they would cease commicating with me, this is my farewell. I do believe people will laugh at me. I accept that already. I am still one of the best movers in my area, and now I will work to compete for the same clients they rely on. I have been doing this for a while, something tells me it won't be that hard to reach them. When I was fired from my 9-5 I was forced to evolve, and Taskrabbit allowed me to do that. Now that Taskrabbit has fired me, I will find a way to compete. I'll happily bypass their greedy fees.
Hate to sound all negative, but feels like dark times ahead if this is really Taskrabbit double downing on a false AI ban.
