Freelancer billed me for work not done

145d86f8 · ‎01-05-2022

A free lancer billed me for many months on work that was not done -

The freelancer admits he did this but cannot pay back funds unless its paid monthly at a very small

amount . Can upworks refund the money? The billing was fraud since freelancer admits the work was not done and not even agreed upon .. he had completed a very small job and then started billing me after it was completed for approx $150.00 a month for about 6 months. There was no contract for this work .

prestonhunter · ‎01-05-2022

re: "Freelancer billed me for work not done... There was no contract for this work."

Can you help us out, because this makes no sense to me.

I don't know how a freelancer can bill you, if there was no contract.

data_divas · ‎01-05-2022

You say "There was no contract for this work ", so there was no contract on Upwork for this work at all? In that case no because you made this deal outside of Upwork, Upwork has nothing to do with it.

prestonhunter · ‎01-05-2022

Julie:

I agree that if there was no Upwork contract, then Upwork has nothing to do with any of this.

But if the original poster is relatively new to using Upwork as a client, then he may be using some of these words and phrases in ways that we are not accustomed to.

For example, if the client had an official Upwork contract, but did not have a separate written contract, he may have written "There was no contract for this work." Without realizing that we might misinterpret what he meant.

Daniel:
We are a very talkative bunch and we would be very happy to help you out as much as possible. Feel free to return to clarify and ask as many questions as you want to ask.

For me, personally, I'm going to hold off on providing any more feedback to you directly, until we hear from you, because I don't believe I understand what really happened here.

data_divas · ‎01-05-2022

Preston, now that I re-read the post, I'm thinking he hired the freelancer for a small job and never closed it, the freelancer continued to bill on that job for 6 months. Maybe?

prestonhunter · ‎01-05-2022

Julie: You could totally be right about that.

If the client is getting billed by an Upwork contract for 6 months for no work being done... Then all he needs to do is close the contract, and he won't get billed any more. It's not complicated.

Whatever happened here, I prefer to think of it is being "100% the client's fault."

Just as if the freelancer had written to us, I would prefer to think of the problem as being "100% the freelancer's fault."

If it is MY fault, then I can fix the problem.

If it is SOMEBODY ELSE'S fault, then I might not be able to fix the problem.

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-06-2022

Preston H wrote:
If the client is getting billed by an Upwork contract for 6 months for no work being done... Then all he needs to do is close the contract, and he won't get billed any more. It's not complicated.

You're right, it's not complicated. If this was a legitimate project for another client and was accidentally billed to the wrong client, then the freelancer should request the back-pay ASAP from the correct client - who has surely been benefitting from all this work they've been receiving for the past six months, and no doubt wondering why they haven't been charged? Then he can easily give the OP a refund at once. If not, then Upwork should look very closely at this freelancer and prevent them from doing the same thing to another client.

145d86f8 · ‎01-05-2022

freelancer completed job ... and then started billing stating he thought he
was billing another client for a different job-and admits billed in error.

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-06-2022

daniel b wrote:
freelancer completed job ... and then started billing stating he thought he
was billing another client for a different job-and admits billed in error.

It sometimes happens that a freelancer might accidentally bill the wrong client, but for this to happen every month, for six months? Extremely unlikely. It's more likely that he was hoping you wouldn't notice, and it looks like he was correct. Was all of the time that he billed you manual time, or can you see screen captures in their work diary at all?

To any client who is reading this - this is why it's important to close your projects when they're finished, and pay attention to the work diary.

ashrafkhan81 · ‎01-05-2022

He most certainly means, technically there was an Upwork contract but there was no agreement between the two to do that work or charge the client!

145d86f8 · ‎01-05-2022

There was a contract for an original job of $25.00 that job was completed
and it was discovered
the freelancer was continuing to charge my account there afterwards up to
$150.00 a month, .. when discovered freeleancer stated he admits it
happened and blamed the the
upworks software - yet cannot pay it back the funds.

I have opened a support ticket but it's been 9 days now , so I will be
patient.

tagrendy · ‎01-07-2022

Pause the contract ( not close ) so the Freelancer cannot bill you any longer.

There might be time limit for refund - like how many days after billing Upwork will process refund. If that time limit has passed, refund request may automatically be rejected. Contact Upwork support and check if you're eligible for refund, if there is a time limit you need to be aware of.

If you receive information that it's too late for refund, contact your Freelancer, let them know that if they fail to refund you by a deadline that seems realistic for you - you will report their account to Upwork for fraud and leave them a horrible review.

I do not believe the Freelancer did mistake here. 6 months is too long of a mistake.

145d86f8 · ‎01-05-2022

really? upworks paid the contractor

prestonhunter · ‎01-05-2022

re: "upworks paid the contractor"

Daniel:

This means that there WAS INDEED a contract in place.

It is impossible for Upwork to bill you and pay a freelancer unless an Upwork contract is in place.

You simply are not accustomed to the way that we use the word "contract."

All you need to do is close the contract and Upwork will stop charging you or paying the freelancer using your money. This is very simple.

Do you have any other questions at this time?

AndreaG · ‎01-05-2022

Hi Daniel,

I can see you were able to submit a support ticket with our team regarding this. Please allow some time for our team to review your latest reply and they will update you directly via ticket as soon as possible.

~Andrea

145d86f8 · ‎01-24-2022

Does upworks tolerate fraud from freelancers? I had a $30 job done by a free lancer.

the job was completed and so i had no concern since the vendor was paid. The vendor though

billed $50.00 the following month and then up to $150.00 a month for approx 6 months.

Upworks was unable to respond to my complaint , so 14 days later i contact my bank .

the vendor though did send a message to me an admits he billed me and recieved the funds but is could not pay back the amount now since he is out of work and taking care of a child . I would think a reputable company would not allow this and be responsible to collect from the vendor . Upworks told me to not contact my bank an intiate a charge back.- my bank says that is not legal for them to say that they cannot help me if I contact my bank to look into this case.

. Of course the lesson learned is cancel the freelancer access to billing you after a job is done.

my concern is that Upworks was unwilling to prosecute this fraud. The did try to reach the vendor but the vendor did not respond.

petra_r · ‎01-24-2022

Presumably this is the same situation you mentioned in your last thread?

daniel b wrote:
I would think a reputable company would not allow this

Upwork didn't "allow" this.
You did.

daniel b wrote:
and be responsible to collect from the vendor

Upwork aren't responsible for this, you are.

daniel b wrote:
Upworks told me to not contact my bank an intiate a charge back.

You agreed not to do so when you accepted the terms of service.

daniel b wrote:
my bank says that is not legal for them to say that

There is nothing illegal about it.

daniel b wrote:
my concern is that Upworks was unwilling to prosecute this fraud. The did try to reach the vendor but the vendor did not respond.

The contract is between you and the freelancer you hired. At most, Upwork can suspend the freelancer's account, but that doesn't get your money back. Beyond contacting the freelancer, there is nothing more they can do. I assume you don't expect them to hop on a plane and knock on the guy's front door?

AveryO · ‎01-24-2022

Hi Daniel,

I looked into this for you, and I can see that this has already been resolved through this support ticket. The agent handling your account concern has also shared what actions have been taken based on your report and what you can do moving forward.

If there's anything else you would like to follow up on regarding the same concern, please don't hesitate to update the same ticket thread so that you can be assisted further.

~ Avery

prestonhunter · ‎01-24-2022

re: "Of course the lesson learned is cancel the freelancer access to billing you after a job is done. "

That is correct.

I have hired over 150 freelancers on Upwork. I don't have extra money to spare. So once a freelancer has finished his task or submitted the files I hired her to create, I close the contract immediately. Within minutes.

I assumed that was what all frugal clients do.

aitringo · ‎01-24-2022

I think there is a solution, but it may take some time: Daniel can start by initiating a refund request up to what is refundable on one hand. Then agree with the freelancer to reimburse the rest.
And since the freelancer says he billed with the wrong contract, he can always ask for the total payment from the client to whom he had to invoice and reimburse the totality to Daniel.

Please correct me if I'm missing something.

petra_r · ‎01-24-2022

Mohamed A. A wrote:
I think there is a solution, but it may take some time: Daniel can start by initiating a refund request up to what is refundable on one hand.

A refund request does absolutely nothing. It's too late to dispute.

Mohamed A. A wrote:
Then agree with the freelancer to reimburse the rest.

The freelancer says he has no money

Mohamed A. A wrote:
And since the freelancer says he billed with the wrong contract.

That was a lie.