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da8833ef
Community Member

Freelancer adding irrelevant hours to the project

Hello, a freelancer started adding hours we didnt agree on doing on an exercise i sent him before 4 days. Without me knowing he started doing the exercise and by the time he sent it I have already submitted it.
So he added the paid hours he wanted, and by the time I informed him that I didnt want his work (Friday), he even added hours the next day! (Saturday)
I request not a single euro to pay to this guy. How can I do that?

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

8 REPLIES 8
prestonhunter
Community Member

Nikos, this is not complicated.

You need to pay the freelancer for the time he spends working on your behalf.

 

If you no longer want to work with this freelancer, then you need to close the contract.

 

Once you close the contract, then the freelancer can no longer log any time.

Do you think this is answering my question? Also, he started doing a project we never agreed on. So what you mean as a professional of Upwork, is that he can do as he likes, add hours and say "I watched youtube videos" and this is ok with Upwork. And idependently of what the freelancer do I have to pay him? So anything he sends me I have to accept??

No, that is not what I am saying.

 

You CAN dispute any hours from the past week, and Upwork will REMOVE those hours, and you will not need to pay for them... if those hours don't qualify for payment protection.


After a work week closes, you have five days to dispute a freelancer's hours.

 

Manual time? Upwork will automatically remove it.

Time segments with missing or inadequate memos? Upwork will automatically remove it.

Time segments with insufficient mouse/keyboard activity? Upwork will automatically remove it.

Work diary screenshots don't show freelancer working on your project? Upwork will remove these.

 

So there IS a way to dispute time and not pay for that time.

 

But the screenshot criteria... that can be subjective.

 

You do not want to assume that what you consider not working on your project will be something the Upwork reviewer will consider not working on your project.

 

And you really don't want to rely on disputes as a way to avoid paying for work that you don't want to pay for. This is a risky way to manage your project.

 

You should understand that if you hire a freelancer, and the freelancer logs time, Upwork's default action is to charge your credit card for all of the time logged by the freelancer.

 

So if you have a freelancer who is logging time in a way that does not please you, the wise course of action is to STOP WORKING WITH that freelancer. Close the contract and continue working only with freelancers whose work provides you with the most value and satisfaction.

Thank you for the answer. So for hours he added on Thursday, Friday Saturday, I couldn't dispute those hours.
Does the week have to end first? That's why I decided to send a message here. How can I dispute them now that I know they are not real?

You can definitely dispute hours added on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Those hours are part of the current work week. Today is Sunday.

 

The current work week ends today at midnight UTC. 11 hours from now.

 

I think you would need to wait until after the work week ends before you can dispute these hours with Upwork.

 

But here is a better thing to do:

 

Talk to the freelancer. Ask him nicely to remove those hours.

 

There is still time for him to do so.

 

If he does that, then you don't need to do anything.

Ask him nicely, and explain that you will appreciate it very much if he removes the hours he logged working on that other stuff.

 

It costs nothing to ask.

Already did ask him nicely to remove them I dont think he would like that


Nikos F wrote:
Already did ask him nicely to remove them I dont think he would like that

Also, in the future, don't send a contract until you are ready for the freelancer to start. Most freelancers start working right away on contracts they are hired for. I am also a client, and I don't send a contract offer until I'm ready for the freelancer to actually start working. So unless you are ready to start being billed, wait to send the contract. Hope this helps for future hires. 

Hi Nikos,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the freelancer. I checked and it seems that you already paused the contract. Please note that when the review period starts for this week, you can dispute the hours by following the steps in this help article. You will have from Monday at noon UTC until Friday at midnight UTC to review those hours and file a dispute if needed.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
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