Howard Davidson the pathetic thief and liar of Arlington Massachusetts

Howard Davidson, a so-called 'marketing professional' residing in Arlington, MA, is a thief, liar, and deadbeat customer.

I recently had the misfortune to encounter Mr. Davidson on oDesk, the world's largest freelancing platform.  He needed some simple script editing done, according to the job posting he made there.

I responded to his job posting as a potential candidate.  He messaged me and asked if I would do a portion of the job for free for him "as a sample", so he could select the best contractor for the job.

I told him that asking for 'free samples' violated the Terms of Service of oDesk, and that I don't do free samples, as I am a well-established provider with a rock-solid reputation and work history on that platform.

I explained I would be happy to do an extremely short test editing for $5 though, and he accepted this offer.

After delivering the content, he refused to pay.  He claimed that I had changed the 'message' of his copy or something, which I most assuredly did not. 

Now, I'm not trying to make an appeal to authority here, but I have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue as a writer, and have publicly available feedback for almost everything I've ever done.  My reputation is flawless.

He already has at least one other instance of failure to pay on his publically available employer history.

After speaking more with him, he discloses that he was upset because he didn't want his copy edited, he had only wanted it proofed.

I pointed out to him that the job posting and all his instruction and communications with me used the word 'edit', and that regardless of whether or not he was pleased with the creative deliverable, he still had to pay.

He didn't, and has just walked out on an open contract, closing it with no payment whatsoever.  I realize this is only over $5, but it's the whole principle of the thing that matters to me.  I don't like it when thieving little rats like this steal work from others; if he does it to me, he'll do it to others.

What really sealed the deal was when I Googled 'Howard Davidson Arlington' and found that Mr. Davidson already has been reported here before, for something a bit more risque.  Go read the report on him from when he was affiliated with piehead.com; YIKES!

Anyways, it looks like Mr. Davidson is having difficulties finding employment as a marketing professional, likely due to his behavior and reputation.  I hope this adds to that burden for him.

Oh, one more thing to any prospective employer; it looks like Mr. Davidson has been farming out most of the 'marketing' work he likely claims as his own to people in India and the third world for $2/hr.  He has hundreds of posted projects on oDesk.  He also recently paid someone to update his resume on that platform.  Beware!