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3c5395a9
Community Member

Can I request a refund from a freelancer with hourly contract after he dropped the work?

Hello,

 

I am a client and have a question about requesting a refund from a freelancer. We have an hourly contract. He logged about one hour during the first week and quit without completing the work saying that the job was not what he expected. Can I request a refund from him for the amount he billed for the first week? The uncompleted work is not delivrable for our project.

 

Thanks.

 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

My advice for hiring a large number of freelancers is to have your project managers monitor the work that the freelancers do, especially at the beginning, and try to quickly identify sub-par freelancers. Close the contracts on the underperforming/low quality freelancers quickly. Don't continue communicating with them.

 

A good client EXPECTS a certain failure rate in hiring. This is a good sign. It is normal. Eventually you will know about what percent of hires will not work out for any given job niche and price point.

 

When freelancers submit poor quality work, don't try to train them how to do better. You are not their college professor or sensei. Just continue working with the freelancers who already know how to do a great job from the start. Never use refunds, disputes or arbitration. For successful clients, these things don't exist. If you decide for yourself that you will never ask for a refund or file a dispute, it will help you stay focused on the success of your project. You or your project managers will monitor the work because you know there is no "reset" button. You won't end up like some clients we read about who pay for work for months, without really checking it, and are then disappointed after paying out thousands for work they can't use.

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13 REPLIES 13
prestonhunter
Community Member

You may request a refund from a freelancer.

 

If you want to ask the freelancer for a refund, then go ahead and do so.

 

But it is more effective and more profitable to just stop working with underperforming freelancers, rather than to continue to spend time and energy on them.

 

As a general rule:

Refunds are harmful to clients.

Refund mentality is harmful to clients.

 

When you ask a freelancer for a refund because you don't like their work, it is like you are trying to help them by teaching them a lesson or balancing their karma. You end up putting the needs of the freelancer before your own needs.

Thank you for your reply. I just made a request and waiting for his reply. In the meanwhile, can I end the contract, or I need to wait until I hear back from him?

Should you end the contract?

 

If I was the client, I would have already ended the contract and probaby blocked the freelancer, because I have no time for his nonsense.

 

But you are interested in getting some money back. So this is a different situation.

 

If you want to work with the freelancer to ask for a refund, then obviously you will need to NOT block him. And it may be advantageous to you to have the contract still open until you can work out an agreement about getting a refund.

 

Am I understanding your original post correctly if I conclude that this freelancer logged a total of one hour on this contract?

Thank you for your advice. I took it seriously and asked for advice not just because of him. I'm going to hire a large number of freelancers on Upwork and would like to get prepared for all kinds of situations. This is my first time to set up an hourly contract and I do learn from dealing with this kind of situation.

My advice for hiring a large number of freelancers is to have your project managers monitor the work that the freelancers do, especially at the beginning, and try to quickly identify sub-par freelancers. Close the contracts on the underperforming/low quality freelancers quickly. Don't continue communicating with them.

 

A good client EXPECTS a certain failure rate in hiring. This is a good sign. It is normal. Eventually you will know about what percent of hires will not work out for any given job niche and price point.

 

When freelancers submit poor quality work, don't try to train them how to do better. You are not their college professor or sensei. Just continue working with the freelancers who already know how to do a great job from the start. Never use refunds, disputes or arbitration. For successful clients, these things don't exist. If you decide for yourself that you will never ask for a refund or file a dispute, it will help you stay focused on the success of your project. You or your project managers will monitor the work because you know there is no "reset" button. You won't end up like some clients we read about who pay for work for months, without really checking it, and are then disappointed after paying out thousands for work they can't use.

Can you help me with requesting refund for a poor quality work?

 

I cannot seem to find anyone to help me.  My website was remodeled by a well reviewed web devoloper.  In less than 1 month, it was down multiple times.  Now I cannot even get to the admin part of my WP to respond.  My web developer seem to be completely incompetant even though he has very impressive portfolio and I paid him a pretty penny for the work. 

 

Please help.  It has been over a month since the work was completed, but the problem started right away.

petra_r
Community Member


Nelly W wrote:

Hello,

 

I am a client and have a question about requesting a refund from a freelancer. We have an hourly contract. He logged about one hour during the first week and quit without completing the work saying that the job was not what he expected. Can I request a refund from him

 


You can "request" a refund from the freelancer, but hourly contract are paid based on the time worked, not a deliverable. So the premise is that if the freelancer worked for an hour, he gets paid for an hour. He's not getting that hour back either 😉

 

How much money are we talking about?

3c5395a9
Community Member

Thank you for your reply. You are right. Next time I will be careful about the contract type.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Nelly, 

Since it looks like you are new to the platform, I would recommend that you check out the client resources we have compiled to help you get started as a client on Upwork. If you have other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out here in the Community, and our Community Moderators and members will be happy to help you. 


~ Avery
Upwork
3c5395a9
Community Member

Thank you very much!

On my start I got dropped from a hourly contract because underprefrrming, Ok. but the fixed prices does not make my monthhly bills that finally I have, as does the hourly jobs. For one action, my entire wallet paid off. And prehaps, freelancers tend to underestimate the time requirements of certain fixed price projects, and ending up taking up twice the time that you projected: because there is fixed prices project, there is not that big concern of the client, but for the freelancer the personal payment dates comes accross without a cent to pay.

dc9440ed
Community Member

Can you help me with requesting refund for a poor quality work?

 

I have looked everywhere for some kind of admin help.  I had a working website that just needed updating.  I hired someone who with an impressive portfolio and I paid him $1800 USD.  In less than 1 month, it was down multiple times.  Now I cannot even get to the admin part of my WP to respond.  I have no faith that he will be able to fix it.  I now fear he has lost my entire web content that took me years to develop.

 

Please help.  It has been over a month since the work was completed, but the problem started right away.

Kitty:

You have a WordPress problem.

 

Not a refund problem.

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