🐈
» Forums » Clients » Re: Find out when Freelancer was last online/...
Page options
2656a1fc
Community Member

Find out when Freelancer was last online/logged in?

Elance used to allow clients to see when their freelancer was last signed on to the system. I can't locate any such tool on Upwork. Does this feature exist here?

35 REPLIES 35
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Russ,

 

On Upwork, you won't be able to see when the freelancer was last online. However, you can check response time on their profile. It refers to the average time it takes the freelancer to respond to invites:

 

Screenshot_32.png

~ Valeria
Upwork

Really? That other thing doesn't help at all. My freelancer disappeared for 2 weeks, and was due back 3 days ago. I wanted to see if she'd been on recently. Average response time is irrelevant.

 

When will you be adding this feature? It's pretty important for clients to know when their hire has been active. It helps us gauge their involvement and work ethic too. Plus it helps us know they have seen our messages.

 

 

Hi Russ,

 

I'm sorry to hear you haven't heard from your freelancer for a while. Our support will try to get a hold of your freelancer and will update you directly about it.

 

Thank you.

~ Valeria
Upwork

re: "My freelancer disappeared for 2 weeks, and was due back 3 days ago"

 

Just have other people on the team do the work. Why wait for 2 weeks?

I have hired about 50 freelancers on Upwork.

 

I have never known, and never cared, when they are online or logged in.

 

I'm not sure how this is actually relevant to whether or not they're working on my project.

Agreed, it's not something I've ever worried about or felt the need to know. But then I've never had a freelancer disappear on me either.

I'm having this issue right now.   A freelancer was doing time sensitive work for me. They needed to fix issues in what they did. Then they dissappeard. I have left several messages over the last 2 1/2 weeks but there has been no response. If I knew thw last time they were online, I would know if they were just avoiding me, or if perhaps something has happened to them.

Hi Robert,

 

While this has been discussed before, this feature is still not available. If you need us to follow up with your freelancer on your behalf, let us know and we'll follow up with this freelancer for you.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

I have escallated this and your team has reached out and the freelancer is still not responsive.

 

Although they tried, I still don't know if the freelancer is simply avoiding me and the admins regarding this problem. Knowing if he's been on would allow me to know that he was avoiding me, or if maybe something had happened to him.

Hi Robert,

 

I'm sorry to know about your experience with your freelancer. I'll go ahead and look into this and see what else we can do from our end to assist you further.


~ Avery
Upwork

That wasn't really responsive to the fellow's question:and reasoning:

 

"When will you be adding this feature? It's pretty important for clients to know when their hire has been active. It helps us gauge their involvement and work ethic too. Plus it helps us know they have seen our messages."

"

I'd like to know the answer as well because this is a key feature that's missing.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Scott, 


While this has been discussed before, this feature is still not available. If you need us to follow up with your freelancer on your behalf, let us know and we'll follow up with this freelancer for you.


~ Avery
Upwork
63c00838
Community Member

Tell you how. I  am searching to find a link that lodge a complaint against my freelancer?

re: "I am searching to find a link that lodge a complaint against my freelancer?"

 

In the top right-hand corner of every freelancer's profile page is a button/link:

 

Screen Shot 2019-08-18 at 8.06.33 AM.png

 

There are various things you can flag a freelancer for with this:

 

Screen Shot 2019-08-18 at 8.07.06 AM.png

 

It is also possible to file a Customer Support ticket.

It is also possible to come here to the Community Forum and explain your situation.

 

But ALSO keep in mind this:

As a client, you have total control over your contracts. You can CLOSE A CONTRACT AT ANY TIME, and you don't need anybody's permission to do so.

 

If there are matters that may be of legitimate concern to Upwork, then you may indeed be assisting the platform as a whole by reporting a freelancer. For example, if a freelancer is representing himself fraudulently by claiming to live in the United States, when he really lives somewhere else... That is something you could report.

 

But there are other things that you may choose to NOT REPORT, and instead, just fire the freelancer. Perhaps you do planning sessions over Skype with the freelancer, and she always wears a funny hat. If you don't like funny hats, you could fire the freelancer and work only with freelancers who do not wear funny hats. But this would not be the basis for officially lodging a complaint.

I agree - I want to know this information too.

Hi, I haven't heard from my client for almost a week now... He just went silent. I have been sending messages but no reply comes forth yet He hired me and the contract is ongoing.. what can I do please

77e47098
Community Member

I have same problem with my client, it should be fix before anyone loss a big deal, Employee and Client disapear problem is small now but It will be huge for that who spent big amount in project, Kindly look into the matter and take serious action on it, We believe on upwork that They will find a way to solve this problem.

Suraj, when your client is online or logged into Upwork has nothing to do with you ability to do your work or get paid.

 

I get paid automatically whether or not clients go online.

Keep in mind that both clients and freelancers can use the "invisible" mode when they are online and logged into Upwork.

 

This is not a browser feature. It is an actual Upwork setting. Invisible versus visible... A way that Upwork users can log in, look at messages, etc. without signaling to anyone the fact that thay are logged into Upwork.

 

So "stalking" someone on Upwork to try to see when they are online may not yield information that is accurate 


@Preston H wrote:

Keep in mind that both clients and freelancers can use the "invisible" mode when they are online and logged into Upwork.

 

This is not a browser feature. It is an actual Upwork setting. Invisible versus visible... A way that Upwork users can log in, look at messages, etc. without signaling to anyone the fact that thay are logged into Upwork.

 

So "stalking" someone on Upwork to try to see when they are online may not yield information that is accurate 


 Which is awesome, because the last thing we need is to bring Upwork interactions down to the level of high school Facebook drama (OMG! He's been online for two hours and posted three stupid videos and he hasn't even read my message!!!!! He commented on Sylvie's post! What should I do?)

Showing whether or not your message has been read is becoming a basic business requirement these days. Now email clients/apps do this. It's extremely helpful to gauge a situation and help make a business decision.

9b431c19
Community Member

I support this. I sent invite messages to 4 freelancers this weekend. There is no "average response time" for them because none of them had a project before, it would be the first time any of them was officially hired here. That is, if they accept. Maybe they put up those postings ages ago and dont come to upork anymore. Maybe they will see the invitation, maybe they wont. It does bother me that I'll have to wait for hours or maybe days or maybe over a week to find that out. Atleast add a "last visible on" feature if you are bothered about privacy, and dont update it if they chose to remain invisible for whatsoever funny reason. I personally think that this is not a social network website where people are stalking each other. We are looking to get our work done here.

yitwail
Community Member

Ankit, if you’re concerned about invitation response time, I don’t understand why you’re inviting freelancers who do not have fast average response time in their profile. But knowing if a freelancer is online won’t be as useful as you think because many freelancers, including me, never log off the site, but that doesn’t mean they’re looking at the site or looking at your messages.
__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce

And why do you care?  If they don't respond they are:

 

a: not interested in your job/your price

b. Like John and Me who never logoff, but don't check site every min.

c. They are lazy or do not know.

 

There is no requirement that THEY MUST RESPOND TO EACH AND EVERY INVITATION.

 

You don;t respond to every proposal, do you?

 

If they don'y respond move on


@Ankit P wrote:

I support this. I sent invite messages to 4 freelancers this weekend. There is no "average response time" for them because none of them had a project before, it would be the first time any of them was officially hired here. That is, if they accept. Maybe they put up those postings ages ago and dont come to upork anymore. Maybe they will see the invitation, maybe they wont. It does bother me that I'll have to wait for hours or maybe days or maybe over a week to find that out. Atleast add a "last visible on" feature if you are bothered about privacy, and dont update it if they chose to remain invisible for whatsoever funny reason. I personally think that this is not a social network website where people are stalking each other. We are looking to get our work done here.


 ________________________________

 

There are two sides to this story Ankit.

 

We freelancers spend our connects (a limited number) sending proposals that have taken some time to formulate to totally unresponsive clients. Freelancers would love it if clients (particularly those who invite us to interview) actually had the manners to reply, even if it is to refuse the proposal. 

 

 Serious freelancers want to work. So I would suggest that you are fishing in the wrong pool of freelancers. It is absurd to want to see if the freelancers you wish to hire are online or not, because even if you could, what can you do about it? They may simply have chosen not to reply to your invitation.

 

That said, the fact that they don't respond, could possibly mean that they are not active on Upwork, as we have a responsiveness score, that drops if we do not respond to an invitation within 24 hours, whether to accept or to reject it. 

 

Knowing when your freelancer or Project owner is online seams resonable to me. I'd happy for my freelancers to know when im online and woudl also like to know when they are online (and were last onliene). Especially where working with oneone new... It would be very useful to know whether thay have been: online, working on someone elses job or have just fallen of the twig.

I'm currently experianceing this porject on a project with a 1 week timframe and my freelancer has  been unresponsive for 4 days.

By the feel of other comments, just make it fair, visability from both sides.

re: "I'm currently experianceing this porject on a project with a 1 week timframe and my freelancer has been unresponsive for 4 days."

 

If you have a 1 week timeframe, why do you have only one freelancer - a freelancer who is unresponsive - working on this?

 

If I have a tight timeframe, then I hire multiple freelancers - or I hire a reliable freelancer I have worked with before - in order to ensure that I get the work done in time.

Wow. Blame me for not hiring 5 people just in case 4 of them jump ship. It wasn't a one week timeframe in total. The last step was only one week when he was supposed to deliver the final project. I had been working with him for a couple months. Then he delivered one day before the deadline and the work was no good. I sent he a list, which he requested of all the problems that needede resolving. That was the last I heard from him. I had told him that since we already missed my deadline, it wasn't a rush anymore, but I just needed the corrections to be made. He never responded and still hasn't. That was October 31st.

Robert:

There is no blame involved.

 

I often describe strategies that successful clients can use in order to achieve their goals.

 

If I have achieved my goals, even if I have used strategies which may seem "unorthodox" or which rely on "lowering my expectations," then I have achieved my goals. That is what is important.


Sometimes I am able to achieve my goals by understanding the limitations of Upwork as a platform.

 

One of the things I understand is that Upwork does NOT provide programming. It does NOT provide websites, or logos, or graphic design, or any other type of work.

 

It does, however, provide an excellent way to find freelancers. I can take into account the fact that these freelancers may be imperfect, and that Upwork itself does not guarantee delivery of any work.


If a client does NOT do these things, I don't consider it a moral failing on their part. Nor would I say that they are a "bad client." So I am not blaming anyone or saying anybody did something "wrong."

 

But I can recommend effective ways to understand what Upwork does and how to take that information into account in order to help ensure a desired outcome.

 

Personally, if I needed corrections done on a project, and a freelancer who I wanted to work on those corrections did not respond, then I would hire somebody else to do the work.

It still stands that if Upwork still had the feature where you could see the last time a freelancer you are working with was online, I would know if my freelancer was simply avoiding me, or if perhaps something serious had happened to them. This can radically affect the feedback that I would give a freelancer and would be in their best interest...unless they were, in fact, avoiding me, in which case I would know that bad feedback was justified.

 

I don't see why that would be so crazy.

 

My conversations with the freelancer were good, and although I was disappointed in what he gave me as a finished product, I was still willing to give him the opportunity to complete the job to my satisfation. He agreed, and then I never heard from him again. I want to know if that's intentional. If so, I need to leave feedback expessing that so others don't waste their time with this freelancer.

 

So again, when will that feature be available again?

Hi Robert, 

I apologise for missing to answer that question. Please know that this feature is not available, and I'm not sure if it will be available in the future. However, I will go ahead and share this with the team for their consideration. Should it become available, we'll make sure to share it here with the Community.


~ Avery
Upwork
mtngigi
Community Member


@AveryO wrote:

Hi Robert, 

I apologise for missing to answer that question. Please know that this feature is not available, and I'm not sure if it will be available in the future. However, I will go ahead and share this with the team for their consideration. Should it become available, we'll make sure to share it here with the Community.

 

 

Fingers crossed that Upwork will never put this feature in place. It serves no useful purpose.

 

To quote John K's statement: "... knowing if a freelancer is online won’t be as useful as you think because many freelancers, including me, never log off the site, but that doesn’t mean they’re looking at the site or looking at your messages"

 

It is no one's business but mine where I am or what I'm doing at any given time. Work with professional freelancers and communication should never be a problem.


 

Robert:

You provided a very clear, logical reason why you want this information.

 

I don't think your question is at all "crazy."

 

The information you are looking for is not currently provided.

 

If you want to close this contract (which is a GOOD thing to do), then you will need to leave feedback without having as complete a picture as you would have hoped.

 

My suggestion is to put aside any considerations about "when this freelancer last logged into Upwork", and leave feedback based on what you DO know.

I have read this entire thread and agree with some and disagree with others.

 

IMO - this would be a good feature. Let me give an example.

 

I think this could be solved differently and is a common feature in many messaging and collaboration applications. Simply show a status of your messages as sent, delivered, and read.

 

This gives everybody all the information they need to make informed decisions.

 

If I had an upworker who went dark for 2 weeks and was msising previsouly agreed upon deadlines, then that is grounds for to recoupe monies if spent, switch to alternative upworker, and provide appropriate feedback as that upworker cannot be trusted to handle important projects. Even if they had legitimate reason, not communicating is not acceptable.

lysis10
Community Member


Shawn B wrote:

I have read this entire thread and agree with some and disagree with others.

 

IMO - this would be a good feature. Let me give an example.

 

I think this could be solved differently and is a common feature in many messaging and collaboration applications. Simply show a status of your messages as sent, delivered, and read.

 

This gives everybody all the information they need to make informed decisions.

 

If I had an upworker who went dark for 2 weeks and was msising previsouly agreed upon deadlines, then that is grounds for to recoupe monies if spent, switch to alternative upworker, and provide appropriate feedback as that upworker cannot be trusted to handle important projects. Even if they had legitimate reason, not communicating is not acceptable.


No. Just because I read your message doesn't mean I have the time to deal with it right away. 

 

Terrible idea.

Latest Articles
Learning Paths