One of the things that annoyed me about this incident is that I had renewed my Elance account two days before the insults started flying. Granted, I'd only gotten one job out of the three-month subscription, but it had earned me $52, and I'd only paid $25 for the subscription. And now that I actually had a job under my belt, maybe I'd have better luck getting more clients.

Both arguments to continue my membership fell apart when Bozo the Client demanded his money back and gave me a D+ feedback in one motion. My one other experience with Elance hadn't been that great for the contractor either; it was the time my boss hired someone to do some advertising and then never was able to decide what he actually wanted from her. Between those two incidents, I suddenly had very little faith that this site was worth even $25.

Unfortunately, it was too late to retract my subscription fee, no matter how much I suddenly wanted to -- I was stuck for another three months.

...Or was I? See, the resubscription process is pretty automated. I just say okay and they charge my credit card again. The same credit card I used last time. Last time being three months ago. As in, before this.

Yup, Elance came to me and let me know my credit card wasn't any good anymore, and would I please give them a valid number? I said no, goodbye, and terminated my account on the spot.