Can i request Refund on poor quality work?

[marouane4d]

Hello,

A few days ago, i hired a freelancer to do some writing work for me about a certain topic.

However, when i checked his delivered work, not exaggerating here, it was horrible and it showed that he know nothing about what he was writing, no understanding or research whatsoever.

When i explained to him that i wasn't satisfied about the quality, i gave him another chance and delivered once again but with no significant improvement. I just can't use the material he delivered.

From what he told me, he is outsourcing the work to someone else, who is apparently doing a lousy job, apparently, he is not a writer himself.

Currently, our contract is a fixed price with 1 milestone, that i still haven't approved.

My question is, can i request a refund in this kind of circumstance?

Thank you for your guidance!

[yitwail]

Marouane, you can simply close the contract, and you will receive a full refund, unless the freelancer disputes this, and if he does dispute, the mediator should rule in your favor because the freelancer didn't inform you that he would outsource the job, which he's required to do before accepting an offer.

[pudingstudio]

Won't be the worst thing in the world if someone from UpWork could check that particular freelancer and this job.

I don't think it's fine to send proposal (and get the job) for something one can't do.
Would be awesome if freelancers are to represent themselves (and their work).

[marouane4d]

Thank you for your quick reply John!

I noticed that there are two different options for ending the contract, from the contract page there is "End Contract" and within the contract there is the button "Cancel Contract".

Are they the same? Which one should i use? (i want to make sure to do this right)

Thank you

[yitwail]

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Marouane H wrote:

Thank you for your quick reply John!

I noticed that there are two different options for ending the contract, from the contract page there is "End Contract" and within the contract there is the button "Cancel Contract".

Are they the same? Which one should i use? (i want to make sure to do this right)

Thank you

---

You're welcome, but not being a client, I'm not sure about what you should do. I would think Cancel Contract is correct, but maybe a moderator or a client reading this can confirm that.

[marouane4d]

Yeah, that's what i will do. Better be safe than sorry!

Hoping that one of the moderators will confirm this for us.

Thank you very much John for your follow up, i realy do appreciate it !

[AleksandarD]

Hi Marouane,

I'm sorry to hear about the bad experience you had. To request an escrow refund:

• Go to My Jobs to locate the contract
• Click the (...) options menu and select End contract
• Choose Pay nothing and request a refund or Pay another amount when ending the contract.

Feel free to check out these helpful articles for more information about getting an escrow refund and responding to an escrow dispute. Let us know if you have further questions.

Thank you.

[marouane4d]

Thank you very much Aleksandar. That's exactly what i needed to know. I shall proceed that way.

Thank you everybody for your help!

[prestonhunter]

Generally speaking, and not about any specific situation:

It is not Upwork's intention that a client receive a refund if the client delivers "poor quality work."

If a client hires a freelancer, and that freelancer does the work, then it is Upwork's intention that the freelancer be paid for his work. If the client doesn't like the work that the freelancer does, then the client should stop working with that freelancer as soon as possible. And the client should not hire that freelancer again.

But it IS possible to request a refund. A client can ALWAYS request a refund. There is a button that the client can click on to request a refund. But that does not mean a client SHOULD request a refund.

I think the most important point in situations where a client hires a freelancer who turns in poor quality work is this:
Is it worth my time as a client to mentor this freelancer?

At what point am I investing more time and energy in this freelancer than it is worth? I am not his college professor. So usually the most efficient thing is to simply stop working with the freelancer and be done with it. I will focus my time on moving forward with my project, working with the freelancers whose work I value, rather than trying to teach an underperforming freelancer a lesson or whatever.

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

Is it worth my time as a client to mentor this freelancer?

I will focus my time on moving forward with my project, working with the freelancers whose work I value, rather than trying to teach an underperforming freelancer a lesson or whatever.

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He doesn't want to "mentor" the freelancer. No client who asks the same question and whom you give the same answer about mentoring the freelancer wants to mentor the freelancer. Not a single one. They want their money back.

They also don't want to teach underperforming freelancers a lesson. They just want their money back.

[lysis10]

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John K wrote:

Marouane, you can simply close the contract, and you will receive a full refund, unless the freelancer disputes this, and if he does dispute, the mediator should rule in your favor because the freelancer didn't inform you that he would outsource the job, which he's required to do before accepting an offer.

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I would be very interested if this is true. The outsourcing thing is so blurry. I don't suppose we could get an accurate account from the client or the freelancer.  

I know ToS has changed on this, but I thought you can outsource on escrow? If that's so, then I believe mediation will continue as normal and quality would not be a factor in a decision. As a matter of fact, the only thing the mediator asks from the freelancer is to provide what they delivered. I assume this is because they just want to record that *something* was delivered, but quality and quantity aren't factored into anything during mediation.

The freelancer made a mistake admitting to outsourcing though. I'm curious how this turns out but I don't think we'll get anything other than "Upwork is siding with x" from both sides.