Freelancer abandoned the job after cashing 50% milestone. Does not communicate at all. What can I

[2f44cfa0]

What a client can do with a Freelancer who got the 50% of pay after a milestone and "disappeared"?  Not responding to correspondence at all.   
It appears that If I will end the job now I will lose what I paide her.

[yitwail]

Wojtek, you might not want to hear this, but you shouldn’t have approved the milestone unless the freelancer completed roughly 50% of the job.

[9d6dfbcc]

That's a big problem withe the milestone business model. Once you OK the funds release from escrow it is gone forever regardless of the coder walking away from the job. IMO, the coder should be required to refund milestones if job not finished to employers satisfaction. If he/she fails to refund the money you would have legal recourse, plus Upwork can also ban account.

P.S. I don't put a value on FLs saying milestone #1 should not be approved unless code is done well because some FLs want 1 milestone as a down payment, or to start job however even if they start job and it looks good at that point in time there's no guaranty it will work in the end, and run as expected.

[gilbert-phyllis]

The absolutist approach doesn't make any sense to me because there's too much variability in projects.

If you hire someone to paint the interior of your house, you generally fork over some funds in advance so they can buy paint and spackle. After that, you pay them in mutually agreed increments until the job is complete. If they do a good job on the kitchen and dining room, it's fair to pay them for that work, even if they don't show up Monday to do the living room. The unpainted living room doesn't mean the kitchen and dining room will have to be repainted. You just have to find someone else to finish it (or do it yourself).

If you hire, a roofer, on the other hand, it's different. Still have to pay something up front to get them started. But in that case, it's smart not to pay anything else until the entire job is complete down to picking up every shingle nail from the driveway. Because if they cut corners at the end, it can render the whole job a shambles. But if you inspect the work and pay them, and then later it springs a leak, you may or may not be able to recover anything. So, if you aren't equipped yourself to monitor the work in progress and determine whether or not it's being done to your requirements, then you need a general contractor to do that for you. (Hence, my suggestion last week that if you can't vet your coder and effectively monitor work as it's completed, then you need a consultant or project manager in the mix who brings that expertise.)

So it just depends, and trying to engineer rules and infrastructure to accommodate just one kind of situation is not worthwhile. Clients and contractors have to take responsibility for their respective roles in each project.

[9d6dfbcc]

Your painter example does not seem to be relevant because it would be difficult to find a new coder who would like to finish a job based on anothers coding work as the coding technique and tools will likely be different. In fact, the cost may be higher using someone elses unfinished code, and not too likely at original cost or less.

[kat303]

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@Wojtek W wrote:

What a client can do with a Freelancer who got the 50% of pay after a milestone and "disappeared"?  Not responding to correspondence at all.   
It appears that If I will end the job now I will lose what I paide her.

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As for your situation right now. Unfortunately, there's no way of getting the money back that you've already paid. There's also nothing Upwork or you can do to force a freelancer to communicate with you and to finish a job. Once you release funds in escrow, it's gone. The only thing you can do is to report this freelance and hopefully their account will be suspended.

In the future, perhaps choose a freelancer who resides in the same country as you. Look at their profile to see the number of successfully completed jobs they've done and the feedback and reviews they've gotten. Have a Skype or phone conversation with them to not only find out if both of you are a good fit for working together, but to make sure both of you are on the same page as to understanding what's required, answering any questions, finalizing terms and tying up any loose ends.