OCUS Reviews 

I don’t know why, but the company is constantly changing its rules and operations. Now, they’ve shut down the ticket systems and started using some AI chatbot contraption—we can't even tell if it's actually working, and sometimes we don't even get a response. If you don't want to pay for travel expenses, at least just say it out loud: 'Dear photographers, we will no longer cover your travel costs.' It is truly astonishing to see a structure that is fed and sustained by photographers being managed this poorly. I'd like to say 'I hope it gets better,' but we just keep seeing them make one bad decision after another.

The company doesn't pay

J’ai travaillé comme photographe pour OCUS pendant près de deux ans, et cette expérience a été extrêmement décevante.

Tout d’abord, la rémunération proposée était très faible par rapport au temps investi, aux kilomètres parcourus, au matériel professionnel utilisé et au travail demandé. Malgré cela, j’ai toujours réalisé mes missions avec sérieux, ponctualité et professionnalisme afin de satisfaire les restaurants et de représenter correctement OCUS.

Le plus gros problème reste cependant le manque total d’organisation et de communication. À de nombreuses reprises, je me suis déplacé jusqu’aux restaurants pour découvrir que le responsable n’avait jamais été informé du rendez-vous. Certains établissements refusaient la séance photo, d’autres étaient fermés ou expliquaient simplement qu’ils n’avaient reçu aucune information de la part d’OCUS. J’ai ainsi perdu des heures de travail et effectué de longs trajets pour rien, sans être correctement indemnisé.

Les erreurs d’organisation et les manquements de communication d’OCUS sont systématiquement répercutés sur les photographes de terrain. Ce n’est pourtant pas au photographe d’assumer les conséquences des rendez-vous mal organisés ou des clients qui n’ont jamais été prévenus.

Le service d’assistance est tout aussi décevant. Les e-mails restent souvent sans réponse, il est extrêmement difficile d’obtenir un interlocuteur, et lorsqu’un problème survient, aucune solution concrète n’est apportée. On a le sentiment que les photographes sont laissés seuls face aux difficultés.

Après près de deux ans de collaboration, des dizaines de missions réalisées et des clients satisfaits, mon compte a finalement été suspendu définitivement pour une prétendue fraude, sans qu’aucune preuve technique concrète ne me soit communiquée. Je n’ai jamais eu la possibilité de me défendre, ni de consulter les éléments sur lesquels cette décision repose. Accuser un collaborateur de fraude sans lui permettre de répondre est une pratique inacceptable.

Le plus choquant est qu’OCUS n’a eu aucun problème à profiter de mon travail pendant près de deux ans malgré des rémunérations très faibles, mais lorsqu’il s’agit de communiquer, d’assumer ses propres erreurs d’organisation ou de traiter équitablement ses collaborateurs, l’entreprise est totalement absente.

Mon expérience montre un profond manque de respect envers les photographes, une communication défaillante, une organisation médiocre et un manque total de transparence dans les décisions prises.

Je ne recommande absolument pas cette entreprise aux photographes indépendants. Soyez extrêmement prudents avant d’accepter de travailler avec OCUS.

OCUS cada vez complica más las sesiones para los fotógrafos. Las “Campañas” de DoorDash fueron un desastre, buena idea pero pésimamente organizada, el recibir apoyo por el equipo era inútil por correo, solamente hablando por teléfono se resolvían temas relacionados y ahora deciden quitar el servicio de poyo por teléfono. Para pedir compensación por viaje era muy complicado, llenar una forma uno por uno, después de agendar el restaurante para luego ser rechazado porque ya habíamos muchos fotógrafos. Al final, después de un mes, todos los restaurantes de la campaña siguen en espera de fotos.

Ahora para empezar una sesión pedían foto, ahora un código que mandan por correo al contacto del restaurante que nunca encuentra. Al final siempre debo tomar una foto de fachada antes.

Su servicio At Home desapareció. Antes el voucher estaba disponible 12 horas antes, lo cambian a dos y varias veces tenía que llamar para que lo mandaran. Y quitan el servicio telefónico !

El tener que andar los videos usando un formato fuera de la plataforma no tiene sentido, luego piden incluir un screen shot para confirmar que lo mandamos pero nunca dicen por donde incluir esa imagen capturada. A ver cómo funciona el cambio de mandar los videos por la plataforma.

A velocidade das respostas a questões que na antiga plataforma eram lentas e por muitas vezes sem resolução

Always happy with Ocus customer service. They always assist me quickly and kindly. Thank you

The good thing the fast for responding the issue ,,

Fair service, need to ameliorate communication, customer service

AVOID AT ALL COSTS – AN ABSOLUTELY PREDATORY COMPANY
If I could leave zero stars, I would. Ocus is an utterly unprofessional and exploitative organization that completely disrespects photographers.
Insulting Pay & Zero Support
They offer abysmal, poverty-level rates that are an absolute slap in the face to any working professional. To make matters worse, their "support" team is virtually non-existent.
No Compensation for Wasted Time
If a client decides to cancel a photoshoot at the last minute—and naturally, Ocus won't even bother to inform you—do not expect a single cent in compensation. They will not cover your transportation costs or your wasted time. You are completely on your own, and they simply do not care.
A Parasitic Business Model
Calling them a business is a stretch; they operate more like a legal scam. They shamelessly exploit your hard-earned skills, your expensive equipment, and your talent. They pocket the massive profits while throwing you a pathetic 1% of what your work is actually worth.
If you are a photographer, value yourself and your art. Do not let them use you. Good luck finding another fool to work under these atrocious conditions!

Fotoğraf çekimi zamanında ve başarılı.
Foğoğrafları indirmek istediğimde sayfada hata verdi. Mail atarak iletişime geçtim ama bakıcaz yapıyoruz diyerek ne kadar zaman geçmesine rağmen hata düzeltilmedi

Customer service, payment and solution to a problem.

Hope for more assignments in Hong Kong. Since there is a big decline of assignments for last 6 months.

Too many fake or invalid restaurant listings

I originally had a good experience with OCUS, but recently there has been a major issue with restaurant listings that appear to be fake or invalid. The DoorDash or Grubhub listing may look real online, but when you actually order from it or prepare for the shoot, the restaurant does not seem to exist at the listed address.

This has happened so often that it feels like the majority of available food photo assignments are not properly verified. I’m not sure where the bad listings are coming from, but OCUS needs to fix this before sending them to photographers.

These shoots already pay very little, and photographers still have to set aside time, prepare gear, lighting, backdrops, transportation, and sometimes order the food themselves. When the restaurant turns out not to exist, it becomes a huge waste of time and money.

OCUS can be a useful platform, but fake or unverified listings make the assignments extremely frustrating. Restaurant listings need to be checked before they are offered to photographers.

A plataforma não tem usabilidade, não é clara e os problemas são dificeis de serem relatados. Atendimento o cliente péssimo. Tenho uma pendencia de um cliente que no meio da sessão resolveu que queria adiar. Fiz a solicitação pela plataforma e já fazem 3 dias e a missão continua em aberto, o cliente não recbeu a confirmação da nova data ou contato da Ocus para verificação.

Ocus' customer service is always very kind and helpful each time I interact with them. I truly appreciate the thorough assistance they provide and quick response time to resolve any issues that arise. The team absolutely deserves 5 stars for the concerted efforts they provide.

I took away one star on this review because of the platform issues alone The platform has definitely come a long way. It would be awesome though if I could see the jobs I've accepted and scheduled on the map--perhaps with a different color icon--so that their proximity to other potential assignments is visible. It would also be awesome if my notes with client communication details were visible on each respective assignment itself and didn't disappear completely once I've entered a "help" ticket. It would be awesome if I could personally change the map to a light background. It would be awesome if videos could be uploaded directly on the platform. It would awesome to rename all image files with one button rather than clicking on each individual file.

This company always introduces new ways to delay payments and don’t know how to communicate or fix problems they have created themselves. Each month it’s an always something new they do and can’t fix, now each month invoices are delayed and the issue started last month and still continues even now.

A company that takes people serious, know an issue should happen once and solved immediately to avoid it from happening again. With Ocus you have to know they will show up with new problem every month. No smooth sailing and their financial team is so incompetent. Always new issues with them and they take more time to fix them. Don’t care in improving or what so ever

I have been shooting in the US for Ocus for about 4 and a half years now (near 100 shoots), and can honestly say that they have now sunk to a new low.
More photos, less pay, no live chat support, and a website that makes it very complicated to ask for travel expenses or cancellation fees.
I officially quit them today after going round and round about a cancellation that I reported on the same day, but was rejected because they are saying it was after the 24 hour window.
DoorDash should be ashamed to work with companies like this!!!
Good luck with the new business model!!!
And please don't bother with the "feel good" generated response...I'm over it!