Hi, here is my honest review of Remote Leverage, after spending $11,148 with them and losing everything in less than one month. I have included screenshots of emails and receipts to verify that this is a genuine review based on my actual experience with the company. I am writing this review because, when I was researching Remote Leverage, I could not find any detailed, independent reviews from real clients. Most of what I saw were polished testimonials posted by the company itself. I want to share my full experience—good and bad—so others can have a clearer, honest perspective before making a decision.
How It Started
I am a physician based in Ankeny, IA, and run a weight loss and medspa center, as well as a Christian ministry. I frequently hire freelancers through Upwork to manage many aspects of our businesses, including virtual assistants (VAs). This time, I wanted to hire a more permanent assistant to support both my medical business and Christian ministry. I specifically sought a professional company to help me find a vetted overseas VA from South America.
My medspa was scheduled to launch in January, and I urgently needed a VA to also cover ministry tasks during the launch. I didn’t want to screen candidates myself, so I started looking for a VA hiring agency.
I stumbled across Remote Leverage, read about their system of vetting candidates through multiple interview rounds, and it sounded impressive. I quietly booked a consultation and on December 24, 2024, I met with Cruz Martinez. He reiterated their process of carefully selecting the best VAs and presenting them to me for interviews. I thought that was an excellent process that would save me the headache of vetting candidates myself.
I looked for honest online reviews but could hardly find any. I found a Reddit post with someone asking about Remote Leverage but no helpful replies. The only “reviews” were videos of happy clients posted on their website or Facebook page—that was my first red flag, which I completely ignored, believing in their process.
During the consultation, they requested a $500 deposit, fully refundable (receipt below). Cruz introduced me to my hiring manager, Princess, and assured me they had a system to replace any VAs within 6 months at no additional charge.
I must say, working with Cruz and Princess was absolutely fantastic. Both were very professional, and I was pleased with their service at the start. Here’s an excellent introductory email from Princess explaining their system, which, I must say, sounds very impressive on paper—if everything works as promised.
Pressed for time, Princess went straight to work and vetted candidates for my Christian ministry VA position. They personally reviewed and selected candidates, ensuring English proficiency and qualifications, and then presented the list to me. I reviewed, selected a few for interviews, and conducted rounds of Zoom interviews.
However, I quickly noticed the quality of the candidates was not as high as expected—not significantly better than what I find on Upwork. Regardless, I finally chose one, and then came the pricing:
Remote Leverage charges 1/3( or something close, can’t remember the exact number) of the candidate’s annual full-time salary as their fee. For this first VA, the total invoice was $6,780, completed on January 17, 2025.
I didn’t mind paying this, hoping for better talent and time savings. I paid the fee (receipt below).
They offered to waive my $500 deposit if I recorded a video testimonial for them. I declined, telling them I would leave a review only after actually working with the VAs. I am very glad I made that decision.
I then decided to hire a second VA for my medical business, specifically for video editing. I needed only a part-time VA, but Remote Leverage only hires full-time VAs. After rounds of interviews, I found a suitable candidate. They gave me a 50% discount on the service fee since it was my second hire. Still, the total due was $4,368, paid on January 23, 2025.
After hiring both VAs, I began onboarding. That’s when the real problems began.
What Went Wrong
- The first VA, hired for my Christian ministry, did not have the skills reflected on her CV or during interviews. I paid her for about a week just to familiarize her with our tools. Quickly, she stopped responding to messages about tutorials and courses. Eventually, she disappeared entirely and has not been heard from since.
- The second VA, hired for video editing, told me he found a full-time job elsewhere and could no longer continue—this happened while still onboarding.
Here I was—having paid $11,148—with no VAs at the critical launch of my medspa in January.
The quality of the VAs, the hefty service fees, and the time investment required to hire them through Remote Leverage created serious barriers.
In hindsight, hiring through Upwork would have required similar time and produced similar quality candidates—without the massive fees.
My Attempts to Resolve the Situation
I reported the issue on February 9, 2025 (email evidence below). Princess responded and promised quick replacements.
Because my business needed immediate support, I had no choice but to go back to Upwork and hire new VAs, while still hoping Remote Leverage would provide replacements.
However, 19 days passed without a replacement. I followed up on February 28, and Princess responded on March 3 reassuring me they were “working on it.”
Please note the dates circled in red.
By then, it was clear: no serious solution was coming.
Tasks in a business cannot wait for weeks. I filled the role by hiring VAs myself via Upwork and have been working with them successfully since. In hindsight, that is what I should have done or continue to do.
On March 4, Princess finally sent a list of new candidates for interviews.
But by that time, I was deeply concerned:
- About the money ($11,148) I had paid.
- About the personal time lost interviewing poor candidates.
- About the business work that was delayed.
Although they stated they do not offer refunds, they promised replacements within 6 months. At that point, I didn’t want any further association with Remote Leverage or their candidates.
And Princess correctly explained their guarantee that Remote Leverage has:
She is correct—in part—but Remote Leverage’s position on this is grossly inadequate and unfair considering the premium fees they charge. You cannot charge one-third of a VA’s full-time annual salary as a service fee and then tell clients you cannot guarantee whether the hire will succeed or simply just replace them. Who wants a bad hire to be replaced by another bad hire? If success cannot be reasonably assured, what exactly are clients paying for? When I hire through Upwork and pay a nominal fee, I fully understand that the platform does not guarantee outcomes. However, when a recruiting company charges such a significant premium, a higher level of accountability is expected.
Final Thoughts
Looking back, I do not think Remote Leverage is a scam.
They are a legitimate business with a beautiful-looking system on paper but with high risk and poor execution in practice.
If I pay $11,148 in service fees to hire VAs, I expect top-tier quality and a service that relieves me from the hiring burden.
Instead, I received candidates of the same quality I could find myself on Upwork—without paying a massive premium.
Their insistence on only replacing VAs after failures (rather than taking responsibility) is, in my opinion, avoiding accountability. Clients pay not only for a list of candidates but for successful hiring outcomes.
My Rating
⭐️⭐️ 2 out of 5 stars.
- Remote Leverage is not a scam.
- Use them at your own risk.
- Do not believe the marketing claims about vetting the best VAs.
- Instead of paying 1/3 of a VA’s full salary as a service fee for such candidates, I recommend you keep your money and hire through Upwork or similar platforms. You’ll likely go through the same time and process, but without the expensive service fee and wasting your precious time as a business owner.