What verified customer complaints and negative reviews exist for Mercor products and services?
Executive summary
Verified public complaints about Mercor include user reviews alleging scams and misleading “AI interviews” on Trustpilot and Medium, employee complaints on Glassdoor and Indeed about project cancellations and pay concerns, and a high-profile lawsuit from competitor Scale AI alleging misappropriation of trade secrets (TechCrunch). Trustpilot shows dozens of mixed reviews including accusations of scammy recruiting practices [1]; Glassdoor and Indeed contain anonymous employee reports of canceled projects and dissatisfaction [2] [3]; TechCrunch reports Scale AI’s September 2025 suit claiming stolen documents and alleged poaching [4].
1. Trustpilot and public user reviews: “They asked me to fill out an AI ‘interview’ — felt like a scam”
Several Trustpilot reviewers characterize Mercor as misleading or exploitative, saying the company reached out with job postings that led to online forms or AI interviews and that the experience felt like a data-harvesting exercise rather than a genuine hiring process [1]. Trustpilot lists about 47 reviews and contains both positive and negative first‑hand posts, with some users explicitly warning others about “scam” behavior after participating in Mercor’s AI-driven application flows [1].
2. Media and independent writers: “Is this about harvesting data?”
Independent reporting and essays raise the same theme: job postings and AI interviews that may collect responses without assuring hires. A Medium piece recounts an applicant’s experience applying to Mercor and concludes the process can look engineered to gather training data rather than to place candidates, framing the practice as an exploitation of job-seeker desperation [5]. A Substack post similarly warns that candidates “are unlikely to provide an actual job or any payment” and notes Mercor’s rapid interview volume without transparent hire rates [6].
3. Employees reporting operational issues: canceled projects and pay complaints
Anonymous employee reviews on Glassdoor describe situations where workers reported doing months of work, receiving strong QA, and then seeing projects canceled or replaced by lower‑paying assignments — language that reviewers called “scamming” or unfair operational behavior [2]. Indeed’s employer page shows a 4.0/5 aggregate score but includes mixed metrics for work-life balance and pay, indicating employee experiences vary and some report dissatisfaction [3].
4. Corporate conflict and legal exposure: Scale AI’s lawsuit
TechCrunch documents a major complaint from a corporate competitor: Scale AI sued a former employee and Mercor in September 2025 alleging that the employee stole “more than 100 confidential documents” and that Mercor attempted to pitch Scale’s customers using that information [4]. Mercor’s co‑founder denied using Scale’s data but acknowledged the employee may have had documents; the suit centers on alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and customer strategy materials [4].
5. Third‑party watchdog and review tools: contested legitimacy signals
Scamadviser runs a legitimacy check for mercor.com and flags the site for review; the page logs multiple analyses over time and encourages users to verify whether mercor.com is “legit and reliable,” indicating external services treat Mercor as worth scrutiny, though this is not a judicial finding of fraud [7]. G2 and other product review pages host business‑user reviews but show a mix of managed profiles and limited reviewer detail, meaning the enterprise‑facing feedback is present but not univocal [8].
6. What’s consistent, what’s disputed, and what sources don’t say
Consistent across sources: multiple users and employees complain about Mercor’s AI interview process, project stability, and transparency [1] [2] [5]. TechCrunch provides hard reporting on a legal complaint from Scale AI alleging stolen documents and misuse [4]. Competing viewpoints appear: some Trustpilot reviewers praise Mercor’s offers and experience [1], and Glassdoor’s overall employee rating is relatively positive in the aggregate even as specific negative reviews allege cancellations [9] [2]. Available sources do not mention independent audits that verify whether Mercor’s AI interviews are primarily intended to hire people versus collect model training data.
7. Practical takeaways for job seekers and buyers
Job seekers should document interactions, ask for clarity on whether interviews feed model training, and verify whether a posting guarantees compensation or only an application process [1] [5]. Employers considering Mercor should weigh the Scale AI lawsuit as a sign of competitive legal risk and vet vendor data‑handling practices [4]. Independent verification — such as requesting hire rates, data‑usage policies, and contract terms — is not covered exhaustively in current reporting and therefore is prudent [6] [4].
Limitations: this analysis is restricted to the provided sources and cites only those items; further investigative reporting or regulatory filings could add verifiable detail not present here.