Preply blocked our accounts and withheld $7,400 of our earnings
Title: Preply blocked our accounts and withheld $7,400 of our earnings — has this happened to anyone else?
Hi everyone. I want to share what happened to a friend and me on Preply because I'd like to know whether other tutors have experienced something similar and whether they managed to recover their money.
I had been working on Preply for approximately 2 years and had around 40 active students when my account was blocked. At the time, I had approximately $400 in my balance, which Preply withheld. Fortunately, I used to withdraw my earnings approximately every three days, so I didn't normally keep a large amount of money in my Preply account.
However, the same thing happened to a friend of mine. He had been working on Preply for approximately 5 years and, unlike me, he didn't regularly withdraw his earnings. Instead, he left the money accumulating in his account. When his account was blocked, he had approximately $7,000, and that money was also withheld.
Between the two of us, that's approximately $7,400 in money earned from teaching lessons.
Apart from the money, in my case the suspension meant suddenly losing access to an account I had spent two years building and to around 40 active students.
So I'd really like to know whether this has happened to other tutors:
- Did Preply block or suspend your account and withhold the balance you had?
- How much money was involved in your case?
- Did you eventually manage to recover it?
- How long did it take?
- What process did you follow to make a complaint or claim your money?
I'm particularly concerned about my friend's situation because $7,000 is a significant amount of money earned after years of working on the platform.
I don't want to make any accusations that I can't substantiate. I simply want to explain exactly what happened to us, find out whether there are other similar cases, and understand what options we have to recover our money.
If you've experienced anything similar, I'd really appreciate hearing your story.