Contena: Freelance Writing Scam?

If you have ever done a simple Google search for freelance writing, then you most likely came across an ad or review for Contena. First going over the reviews and even looking at the website makes this look like a great opportunity for any freelance writer, but is it really? I will go over my experience with applying with Contena and what unfolded after the fact.

When you first land on the website you are greeted with a statement stating this is the best website for writing professionals, but if they are professionals why would they need a website to help them out? That seemed a little fishy to, but I still pushed the big apply to join button. As soon as you push that button, you are greeted by a what are members are saying section to the right side of the screen. Most of these are most likely paid or just fake reviews to get you to trust this company. In fact most of the reviews you will find online seem to be faked or the person got paid to gush all about them. Like I said a little earlier, if this site is for writing pro's, then why are they on a website that will help them find writing jobs? One of the fake reviews said something like they had no experience with freelance writing and worked part time at a retail store. This is not relevant right at this second, but we will come back to this little part a little further on into this.

I decided that I wanted to apply for this and so I did. It's the basic full name, email address, etc. They ask how much you would like to earn a month and how much you are currently earning a month. After you get through all that, you get to a landing page that states your application is pending. They also want you to install Grammarly to your browser, which really isn't a big problem. You will have to wait to hear from them by email to get next steps and all that jazz.

Well the very next day I got an email that seemed like a copy and paste email. They stated that I would be a good fit in this website and that they are there to help me out with everything. They gave me links for the niches I picked in the application process and a writing niche link to help you out I guess. They said to reply and they would send more information. I replied and more information they did send. It's a bunch of onboarding emails that I will not get into. After you get through all those they send you another email to activate your Contena membership. This is where the scam like vibes come in.

When you click that link to activate your account, you are sent to a page to pay for the membership. Now this membership is nothing to gawk at, it's extremely expensive. $497/year or $997/2 years! Now I did not pay for this service because I cannot afford that with a wife and 2 kids running around. What I did do was interview an individual that bought the membership and was unsatisfied with it. This individual bought the membership and gained access to the job board, this job board is the same exact job board you will find on any other FREE writing job board site, but it's organized a little better. The one thing that you can't get on the free sites is an educational support system. They call it the Contena Academy, which he explained was a series of courses that helped you build your freelance writing business. So in reality you are paying five hundred dollars a year for education courses? That's a waste of money in my opinion!

Now going back to my earlier response about a member saying they had no experience and worked a part time retail job. If this person is working a part time retail job, how in the heck could they afford the membership costs on a part time income, and why would they spend that kind of money on education courses that you could get from YouTube? So what they are saying is that they spent about half of their months pay just to get on this website? That is really fishy and a big red flag for me.

The other red flags that I saw and learned from are as following. The reviews are most likely faked and scripted so the reviewer would receive affiliated income from that review. I hardly doubt that they found a high paying job from an overly expensive website that takes the very same jobs from the free writing job boards and just puts them behind a paywall. So they are just reviewing Contena highly to try to get some money from affiliated income to try to get that money back that they wasted. (They do have a 30 day money back guarantee, but they are allowed to deny it if they deem you didn't put effort into it or you have incomplete work.)

Contena seems like a very fishy website and I wouldn't trust a single review you see for that site. They don't give you much information about the website and you don't find out the cost of the membership until you are pretty far along in the onboarding emails. I stopped responding to those emails and even to this day I still get emails from them telling me to come back because they miss me and all that bullcrap. I don't see why people pay for this membership when they can get the same exact job listings on a free site, and even if they say it's for the Contena Academy, I bet there are hundreds of free videos on YouTube that give you the same exact information and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to see. Do not give this company money at all. There are so many good free freelance writing websites out there. If the membership prices were lower, then maybe this would be a good investment, but it only gives you access to an educational series that may or may not even be worth the price you pay. Thank you for reading.