Dissatisfied with work! Do I have to pay to close the contract?

[3737ba86]

I hired a freelancer, gave an overview of what I wanted and then said I'd send the details in the morning (it was late, and I told her I'm going to bed). She proceeded to make changes to my wordpress site, without my permission, and without knowing my criteria. The result was shoddy -- she even misspelled my name in a huge font at the top of the page! 

I asked her to take down her changes, which she did.  I want to close the contract because I don't believe she has the capability of understanding what I want done. I do NOT want to pay her for the supposed ten hours she spent creating a miserable result. 

I put the contract on pause and let her know my dissatisfaction. If I end the contract now, will I be forced to pay her for those ten hours?

I've used Upwork a couple of times before, so I'm not brand new to the process. I've just never been dissatisfied with the result before. 😞

[petra_r]

Speak to the freelancer and try to reach an understanding. The freelancer should not have started working *if* it was clearly spelled out that she should not. If it was not clearly spelled out, maybe a compromise is in order.

When you create an hourly contract, you agree to pay for the time spent working.

That said, is the time the freelancer logged tracked properly? If the freelancer used manual time you would win a dispute. If the time was logged properly you will not.

You could discuss with the freelancer to pay her for some of her time, and that she delete the rest, so you will not get charged.

Remember to leave appropriate feedback when closing the contract.

[nkocendova]

Hi Cheryl,

The best thing to do would be to communicate with the freelancer and to try to come up with some sort of amicable agreement regarding this.

With an hourly contract you can only dispute hours worked, not the quality of the work. However, as Petra suggested, you can ask the freelancer to delete some or all of the time worked from the work diary so that you will not be charged for it.