Low pay for long hours, bad audio, flakey websites with lack of help.
Pros
If there are jobs available you can choose to work whenever you want. Can cancel jobs if they are too difficult. They hire from all over the world. You can take the tests again... if you want to spend many hours doing that again and again.
Cons
There is a rigorous testing procedure to go through before you get accepted at TranscribeMe. You must get extremely high scores to pass. To advance further in the company, or to take on more work, you must pass many more hours of testing, and achieve almost perfect results. Almost impossible. The pay is so insanely low. At previous positions at less strict transcribing companies, the work was adequately compensated. At TranscribeMe you can work for hours on hours and make little to no money. It's good for the company but awful for the workers. If you make a couple of minor errors the payment for your transcript may be cancelled. The script is kept, but you are not paid for it. The transcription rules are strict, but the guidelines do not provide enough examples to give accurate guidance. There is a lot of guesswork which may result in your transcription being rejected. Most of the time the audio is bad. Sometimes the audio is so bad it sounds like it was recorded in the dishwater of a busy restaurant kitchen. Most of the audio seems to be from a bad microphone placed next to a computer speaker, not directly from audio on the computer. You can hear people moving around, couching, popping bubble wrap??!!, and other distortions which make the speakers difficult to understand. Help sections and terms and conditions sections of the website seem to be inaccessible.
