I am an employer who attempted to use Guru, and actually awarded 3 projects, and paid for them all--only to get ripped off by the freelancer I hired. I hired someone in the US, and someone with high feedback. He never completed the work, made a gazillion excuses, lied and begged. At one point even held my site hostage for a pizza!!! When I turned to Guru for assistance, they were just as bad as the programmer. I thank heaven I paid with my Visa for at least part of the work, as that is the only recourse left to me. Guru locked me out of the site so I could not post honest feedback about the programmer and protect others from him. It was a total nightmare, and the Guru people, including Stacy Norman, Customer Service Manager, are some of the rudest and most dishonest people I have ever encountered. I have all of their lies in email. For example, they claim SafePay with their escrow offers the "HIGHEST" level of safety for paying for work, but it does not. In that case, the payer is screwed and subject to mediation assistance paid for by Guru. (Guess who will win that one?) Visa is the SAFEST way to go. Note: If you seek their assistance in resolving an issue with a programmer, Guru will demand that you sign a waiver of all rights with Visa. DO NOT DO THIS!!! Get this in writing (email) and send it to Visa. Once I was forced to file my dispute with Visa, I received email from Guru to the programmer stating he was screwed, as it is NOT Guru's policy to fight chargebacks. This is critical info for everyone. Know the risks you are accepting when you work through Guru. They are ripping everyone off.