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d9b5eecd
Community Member

Freelance has disappeared

My freelance has completed my project and I am ready to pay him and get the source files to be uploaded to hosting server. I am ready to launch the site in 3 days time. He has disappeared for 2 weeks. Does anyone know and advise If I need to pay my freelancer first before I get the source files, please?

9 REPLIES 9
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "My freelance has completed my project and I am ready to pay him and get the source files to be uploaded to hosting server. I am ready to launch the site in 3 days time. He has disappeared for 2 weeks. Does anyone know and advise If I need to pay my freelancer first before I get the source files, please?"

 

That particular freelancer may not be interested in working on your project any more. You should continue working only with the freelancers on your team who provide the most value to your project, and who are engaged in the work.

 

Do you need to pay the freelancer first?

No.

This is a fixed-price contract, correct?

You release payment to the freelancer AFTER the work has been done, and AFTER you have received and inspected the files.

 

If it was ME, personally, who was the client on this project, then I would immediately go to the contract and use the "three dots" icon to "close" or "cancel" the contract. I would request a full refund for the work.

 

The freelancer is apparently no longer interested in the project. He will probably do one of the following:

a) click a button to immediately allow the refund of money back to you

[or]

b) do nothing, which means the money will be refunded to you automatically after a few days.

 

Basically, you are looking for one of two results:

You get your money back.

Or you get the files you hired the freelancer to create.

 

I don't think the freelancer is interested in this project any more. I don't think he has created what you need, and I don't think he ever will. But IF the freelancer has actually created the website, and actually wants to get paid for that work, then he will contact you. He will say that he does not want to refund the money, in which case you will say: "Okay, then can you provide the files?"

 

But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Thanks for the advice. He has completed my project already with the link in his hosting server for review to me. His last reply to me in 2 weeks ago was "Please close this project". 

And I am ready to pay him too if he sends me the files, but I have not heard from him for 2 weeks. 

mtngigi
Community Member


Nicholas T wrote:

My freelance has completed my project and I am ready to pay him and get the source files to be uploaded to hosting server. I am ready to launch the site in 3 days time. He has disappeared for 2 weeks. Does anyone know and advise If I need to pay my freelancer first before I get the source files, please?


No, you most certainly do not need to pay up front - not before you've had a chance to evaluate the work. I've flagged your post so hopefully a mod will come along to help you.

For your future work as a client on Upwork, I am going to provide an additional tip. I will tell how I, personally, work as a freelancer when creating websites for clients. (NOTE that I am NOT available for hire through the Forum, so this would be a tip that you can use only with OTHER freelancers. Not me.)

 

When I am hired by a client, I immediately set up a development server for the client, and I provide the client ALL of the access credentials.. the same credentials that I have. I do ALL of my work on the development server. The client has CONTINUOUS, real-time access to all of the work being done on the project.

 

I send periodic updates to the client, that the client can look at, and test for himself. Also, the client may log into the server at any time, and check on the progress. The client may copy the files to his own servers or destinations at any time.

 

I do this for HOURLY CONTRACTS AND ALSO FOR FIXED-PRICE CONTRACTS.

 

So there is never a "mystery" about where the project is, and there is no danger that we get closer and closer to a deadline without any work actually being done, or without the work being accessible.

 

If you have important work you are hiring freelancers to do for you, you should work with them in a way similar to this. You should be able to RECEIVE and REVIEW and TEST the work regularly, and not wait until the day that the website is scheduled to "go live."

d9b5eecd
Community Member

Gotcha! Thank you. I shall wait for the freelance to appear again. 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Nicholas,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. Our team will reach out to you directly via support ticket to assist you to get in touch with the freelancer and gladly advise on further steps.

 

Thank you.

~ Bojan
Upwork
d9b5eecd
Community Member

Brillant! Shall wait for your good news. 

re: "He has completed my project already with the link in his hosting server for review to me. His last reply to me in 2 weeks ago was 'Please close this project'. And I am ready to pay him too if he sends me the files, but I have not heard from him for 2 weeks."

 

That is very good if he has actually completed the project.

 

But as a client, I can't use the work if it is simply a website on HIS hosting server.

 

As a client, I need the files secured in a place that the freelancer can NOT access them, and I need the files running on my own hosting account, something that I have complete control over.

 

If the freelancer hasn't provided this, then it may be due to a misunderstanding on his part about the timing of things - about when files are delivered and when payment is released.

 

Maybe the freelancer simply needs to come to this thread and ask any questions he has, if he is not sure about how these things work. If he is worried that you are trying to get his files without paying for them, we can provide information to him about how this process works. We can help him use Upwork properly.

 

If the freelancer's contract does not state that he will set up the site on a hosting service that you have secured separately, that's okay! You can hire somebody else to do that. Or you can create a new contract to pay the freelancer to do that. Or you can do that yourself. But he DOES need to provide you with the files that you could use to set this up on your own server.


Or at the very least, he needs to provide you with full root-level access to the hosting account he put the files on, so that you or someone on your team may copy the files to your own location.

florydev
Community Member

Truly sorry this happened to you.  You have obviously engaged with someone who is completely unprofessional.

 

I would not pay them until you get the source, depending on what they have done, I might not pay them at all.  If you actually get the source I would seriously consider having someone evalute what was done first and see if it is worth even paying for.

 

In the future, I think Preston's advice is good.  Another thing I would do is setup a cloud based source control system and insist that they check their code into that.  This way you can actually review that there is at least activity and also you have a way to get the souce code that they cannot interfere with.  

 

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