Communication

[624ba49e]

Hello, I am currently having a freelancer work on my project. Over time commutation and efforts to keep the project steadily progressing has seemed to be less of a priority to the freelancer. I am wondering what solutions you may have. Thank you for your time 

[petra_r]

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@Stefan F wrote:

Hello, I am currently having a freelancer work on my project. Over time commutation and efforts to keep the project steadily progressing has seemed to be less of a priority to the freelancer. I am wondering what solutions you may have. Thank you for your time 

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•  Hourly contract or fixed rate?
• What is the quality of the work like?
• Are you paying the freelancer a rate that warrants the "commutation and efforts" you are expecting?
• What does your freelancer say when you asked them about it?

[624ba49e]

Our project is a fixed rate with two times to pay. Half of payment received before project and second half payed upon finished project. The quality of work is good but is very infrequent. I told him before we started the project that I required communication to be held at a standard. He replied that communication is very important but has not displayed actions showing that. When I confront my freelancer about this problem he says that he is having errors receiving messages and casually says sorry. I stated that I was looking for not inky a freelancer but a team of people. He said that he in fact does have a team but have been reluctant to send conctact information for them. In the beginning he had wonderful displayment of effort and priority. It seems that this project has not only been placed on a back burner but completely off the stove. He estimated a time of 3 months for this project. He completely stopped progress of this project for 2 weeks due to him not replying to my messages. Thank you so much for your time and suggestions. It means a lot. -Stefan 

[petra_r]

Stefan, please don't tell me you paid half the contract value before work ever even started?

What is the freelancer's Upwork history (Feedback, Job Success Score?)

[624ba49e]

I did pay half as one of the two miles stones for our project. His upwork historynis very good which is why I’m so caught off guard by these actions

[colettelewis]

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@Stefan F wrote:

I did pay half as one of the two miles stones for our project. His upwork historynis very good which is why I’m so caught off guard by these actions

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 _______________________

I may be quite, quite wrong, but it seems to me that your freelancer is outsourcing, which could account for the first part of your project being good. If this is the case, and the person who did the work for you intially, has gone under the radar, this might also account for the uncommunicativeness of your freelancer.  

It is difficult, but I would still close the contract and find someone else. I think your freelancer needs a wake-up call. 

[colettelewis]

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@Stefan F wrote:

Our project is a fixed rate with two times to pay. Half of payment received before project and second half payed upon finished project. The quality of work is good but is very infrequent. I told him before we started the project that I required communication to be held at a standard. He replied that communication is very important but has not displayed actions showing that. When I confront my freelancer about this problem he says that he is having errors receiving messages and casually says sorry. I stated that I was looking for not inky a freelancer but a team of people. He said that he in fact does have a team but have been reluctant to send conctact information for them. In the beginning he had wonderful displayment of effort and priority. It seems that this project has not only been placed on a back burner but completely off the stove. He estimated a time of 3 months for this project. He completely stopped progress of this project for 2 weeks due to him not replying to my messages. Thank you so much for your time and suggestions. It means a lot. -Stefan 

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Stefan,

I understand from your post that you have already paid the freelancer up front for the work done so far. I don't know what sort of work you have hired him for, but if this were me, I would  close the contract and find someone else to finish the job.

 Also, if I were looking for a team of people for my business, I would definitely hire an office manager first, to find, and to then keep control of the people I hired. This might be expensive, but in the long run would be worth the outlay. 

It is true, that sometimes messaging is difficult on Upwork, but for a long-term job there should always be at least an offsite email address to fall back on, so that when these glitches happen, communication and delivery are still possible - particularly on fixed-rate jobs. 

I do hope you can resolve this, but IMO, you should not continue with this freelancer. 

[624ba49e]

I would like to have him continue the work if possible just because in the beginning he did do a lot of work for me but gradually declined. He stated he was an executive producer for his production team. I requested proof and he stated that his site was still in development as they were still new and referred me to his old site to view past work. I do not believe all lack of communication is based on the upwork servers being faulty but human error on his part. He says he is working on things but doesn’t provide any proof as to how. Thank you so much - hope to hear from you soon -Stefan 

[624ba49e]

I would like to have him continue the work if possible just because in the beginning he did do a lot of work for me but gradually declined. He stated he was an executive producer for his production team. I requested proof and he stated that his site was still in development as they were still new and referred me to his old site to view past work. I do not believe all lack of communication is based on the upwork servers being faulty but human error on his part. He says he is working on things but doesn’t provide any proof as to how. Thank you so much - hope to hear from you soon -Stefan 

[kat303]

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@Stefan F wrote:

I would like to have him continue the work if possible just because in the beginning he did do a lot of work for me but gradually declined. He stated he was an executive producer for his production team. I requested proof and he stated that his site was still in development as they were still new and referred me to his old site to view past work. I do not believe all lack of communication is based on the upwork servers being faulty but human error on his part. He says he is working on things but doesn’t provide any proof as to how. Thank you so much - hope to hear from you soon -Stefan 

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 This freelancers work has gradually declined - You asked for proof that he was an executive producer, but was directed to an old site - you believe his lack of communication is due to human error on his part - you are not getting any work from him - you are not getting proof that he is work. 

and

YOU WANT TO CONTINUE WITH THIS FREELANCER?

[624ba49e]

you Make a very good point, Do you know how I can start a process in which to get a refund for the work which was promised but not provided. After reaching out to the upwork community it is easy to see this is not a good fit. Thanks again -Stefan 

[kat303]

Stefan -  You can't get back any funds that you've already released/paid this freelancer. That's why it's stressed that client's shouldn't pay for work before they receive the required work. In fact, even after a client has received work, they have 14 days in which to look it over, and test it out before they release any funds in escrow. That is what escrow is for, - to hold a client's money until the client received work, then the client approves that work and the funds are released. 

If you have funds still in escrow, you can close the contract and ask for a refund. The freelancer can either approve that request or dispute it. If they dispute it, you'll go into mediation and possibly arbitration.