Client won't respond after I sent the finished job

[ivyllb]

My client is unresponsive. This is about a translation job I finished within 24 hours since I received the file to be translated. I messaged him here via chat, saying that I've finished the job. He told me to remit the file and he'll have me paid. I uploaded the translated file, and he was never heard from again. The client is Bob K***** and the transaction date was on May 10th.Please advice.

[chazgossmedia]

I believe as long as you have a contract and his payment is already submitted, you'll get paid. It will just have to reach a certain date before Upwork forces payment. But May 10th seems like a really long time to not get auto-payment from Upwork. I would contact Upwork directly.

[ivyllb]

Hey Charles,

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, it is my first Upwork project and I was naive and did not secure a contract with the client before giving him the finished project, or accepting the project file to begin with.I have contacted Upwork as well, and they said they'll look into it. 

Have a great year! CHeers 🙂

[voskerchian · Accepted solution]

Hi Ivy,

I know it sounds disappointing, but you are most likely scammed. I don't see any contract on your profile, which means that your client won't pay you. I hope Petra will appear with her magic pic, but keep this in mind for the future, always make sure to have a contract before you start any job.

[ivyllb]

Hello Hasmik,

It seems like I have been scammed. It was my first Upwork project, I did not know how to go about jobs in Upwork. I sent a proposal, we exchanged messages and sent me the file to be translated, and I thought that was it. 

Thanks for the response. Have a great year! 🙂

[kat303]

Ivy - When newfreelancers join this site, they have 2 options.

1. They can read some of the discussions here concerning scamming, go through the help section to learn the procedures of this site (it's the ? located at the top right of the home page). and read Upwork's TOS. Then by doing that they will know how to work properly here and what (scams) to look our for.

OR

2. They can just jump right in, not knowing anything. Most likely (and that is what most newbies do) they will be scammed. But by doing that, and that comes with a price to pay, such as losing hundreds of dollars and their time.theiy will learn "some" of the procedures and maybe a scam or 2 to look out for. Eventually, learning by experience, will finally pay off (but at what cost and time)

You picked #2 which is fine. Now you'll know you have to have a contract. There are a lot of other things to learn, such as escrow, tracker, and other scams. Will you learn those from following #1 or #2?

[prestonhunter]

Ivy, you say the client is non-responsive. That does not matter. Upwork freelancers get paid automatically when the client does not respond.

Your problem is not that a client was non-responsive.

Your problem is that you did not have a real contract with a real client. You simply did free work for a scammer.

You made mistakes. Upwork can not help you get paid for that work. If you want to contact Upwork to report a scammer client, you may do so.

But the most important things for you to do are to forget about trying to get paid for that work and learn what you did wrong.

Only if you learn from your mistakes will you be able to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

[ivyllb]

Hello Preston. I have contacted Upwork about this case, and yes, my mistake I did not have or ask for a contract with the client. It is my first Upwork job/project, so I didn't know how to go about it. I just jumped on the opportunity when I saw a suitable job that I could do. Sent him a proposal, he messaged me and gave me the file that needed translation, and I thought that was it.

Thank you for responding! Have a great year 🙂

Cheers!

[petra_r]

where is my money?

[ivyllb]

Thanks for the helpful flowchart, Petra! Have great year 🙂 Cheers!

[BojanS]

Hi Ivy,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, our team is looking into this and will review the client and will take action as per our internal processes. We have shared more information regarding your concern on Social, please refer to that conversation so we can avoid unnecessary delays and keep all the conversation in one place. 

In the future, please do not work on any project until a client has sent you an offer, you have accepted it, it's showing on your My Jobs page as an active contract, and the client's payment method is verified. 

[ivyllb]

Hello Bojan,

Thank you for responding. It was my mistake to not know the rules of doing jobs here in Upwork. It was my first project here, and I thought him messaging me and sending me the file was a confirmation that I got the job. He did say that he will pay me after I sent the finished file back. Oh well, lesson learned.

Have a great year! Cheers 🙂

[jr-translation]

You could search the internet for your translation. Since you did the work you might own the copyright (only if the copyright holder of the source text gave permission for the translation). It might be worth checking.
Ask your client once more in a very polite way to hire you and release the full payment in the next 1-2 days and inform him that you will contact the site's host provider with a DMC notice and have your content taken down if you find it online.

[642fa659]

Oh, this is very upsetting. Sorry to hear about your bad experience Ivy. Hope that all newbie readers learn from this post and hope that you get your next nice paying job on Upwork soon. Good Luck! 🙂