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abd2e460
Community Member

Dispute with freelance writer

Hi, I advertised for a freelancer to write a 30k novel, and received a number of replies.  I asked for some samples of their work to see their writng style.  After reviewing the samples, I chose one freelancer to write for me.  The first and second milestones were outlines, which I accepted and paid for.  The third milestone was the first 3,000 words of the novel. Here is where the issue arose.  The freelancer copied and pasted the first 6,000 words of one of her samples, changed the characters names and city location and then sent it to me.  I don't believe this is acceptable and am not happy with it.  I can only guess that the freelancer forgot they sent this work as a sample during the interview process.  When queried on this, the freelancer said that this is original work and to check any plagiarism tools to see that it has not been used before.  My issue is that I have no way of knowing and they have no way of proving that I am the only client that this sample has been sent to.  I certainly don't want to use it and I feel like it was very unprofessional of the freelancer.  Now the freelancer wants to get paid for this work that I will never use, and their defence is for me to check a plagiarism tool.  I do not want to work with them after this milestone is solved, but my question is do I have to pay for this milestone?  I have tried to report this issue to upwork but never received a reply.

4 REPLIES 4
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Robert,

 

I`m sorry to hear about the bad experience you had. Our team will reach out to you via ticket as soon as possible and will assist you further. You can access your tickets on this Link, thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
prestonhunter
Community Member

I do not doubt that you were disappointed by this freelancer's work.

 

But Upwork is not a book editor. And Upwork is not a project manager.

 

If you want to succeed as a client... if you want your project to be successful, then you need to learn how to use the tools available on the platform. You need to understand what services Upwork does and does not offer.

 

A successful client reviews the work that freelancers do and makes her own decisions about whether that work is good or bad. A successful client quickly ends contracts with underperforming freelancers and continues working only with freelancers who provide the most value for her project.

 

It is not useful for you to contact Upwork and point out when a freelancer has not performed to your expectations. Instead, you should end contracts and never work with such individuals again. You are able to end contracts at any time. You don't need to explain your reasons to anybody.

 

You are able to leave accurate feedback when you close a contract. That helps the whole platform.

 

Upwork Customer Support can not advise you about how to successfully hire freelancers for your project. But there ARE excellent resources you can read in the Upwork Help section, and there are threads you can read in the Forum, and you can directly seek advice in the Forum.

My question was not how do I become a successful hirer, it was do I have to pay for a copy and paste job. I am going to cancel the contract with the freelancer as soon as I know whether I must pay for the unprofessional work. 

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to get a specific reply to my actual question, when the upwork team contact me.

lysis10
Community Member


Robert D wrote:

My question was not how do I become a successful hirer, it was do I have to pay for a copy and paste job. I am going to cancel the contract with the freelancer as soon as I know whether I must pay for the unprofessional work. 

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to get a specific reply to my actual question, when the upwork team contact me.


If you cancel the contract and ask for a refund of the escrow, the freelancer can dispute where a mediator takes over and the two of you hash it out. If you can't come to an agreement, then you have to go into arbitration. There is lots of info about both procedures here. I recommend using Google to search and not the forum software.

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