Freelancer did not respect milestone instruct...

39869555 · ‎03-04-2018

Hi everyone,

I've come into a bit of a dilemma with a freelancer and would like some advice on how to handle it.

The task was to add endscreens and cards on videos on my YouTube channel. Some earlier videos had annotations and are ineligible for endscreens. This means part of the freelancer's work was to find the videos eligible for endscreens and add them.

Since this is our first time working together, we divided the project into milestones, funded through Escrow:

Milestone 1: Find 1 video that can have endscreens. Add endscreens. Inform me so I can check and give feedback before proceeding to milestone #2. (This was funded at $10 in Escrow)

Milestone 2: ($65) Go through as many videos as possible with this budget and add endscreens. Let me know when the budget was reached and how many videos had been done.
Milestone 3: ($50) Decide together how many more videos are left to examine and possibly add endscreens to. Decide if this budget will cover it, or if we need to adjust.

We discussed this on Thursday over Skype, and I sent written instructions both in Skype chat and Upwork chat. The freelancer agreed to this, and I released the $10 for phase 1. Then, tonight, I get message from him saying "I've done all of your videos. Please release $125 for the project).

I checked a few of my videos on YouTube, and it appears he did indeed add endscreens, but I have no idea on which ones (like I said, only some of the videos were eligible), the freelancer can't tell me as he didn't keep track, and the endscreens are not done as I would have instructed, had I had the opportunity to give feedback after seeing a 1st video he did.

What should I do in this situation? Because although he did the work, it was not as requested, and I will need to hire someone to go back and correct the work that the original freelancer did. Help!

holymell · ‎03-04-2018

Kindly explain that the job was done incorrectly and don't release the milestone.

You don't have to accept the milestone. You can request revisions from your freelancer. If they did the first $10 properly, pay them that then explain what you need done and say that you'll release the milestone when the job is done properly. Just professionally communicate with your freelancer.

Did they officially submit the milestones? If so, request revisions. If not, communicate with them. If they're unreasonable, you can end the job.

bobafett999 · ‎03-04-2018

Do what Mellisa says. Seems to be a communication/understanding problem. The money invloved is peanuts. The freelancer, I suspect, is from a country where English is probably 3rd or 4th lanuguage. If you are happy with the results work with him or terminate the contract. But be reasonable. At $10/pop don't expect someone to work eons and eons.

It is also possible that he is trying to scam you.

39869555 · ‎03-04-2018

Hi Prashat,

Thanks for the input. I don't think he's trying to scam me, but at the same time, I do not feel that the work provided corresponds to the budget plan and procedures we had originally agreed to.
I've already paid the 1st $10 milestone, and would even release the 2nd $65 milestone to compensate for the time he spent on the work, but I do not feel that I should pay the entire price as the work done does not correspond to the work agreed on.
What do you think?

As you said, I don't expect him to spend a ton of time on this, as, like you said, the hourly rate is low, and English is not his first language. But at the same time, I do feel like we agreed to something, then he went ahead and just did the whole thing and now is asking for the entire $125 to be paid.

bobafett999 · ‎03-04-2018

Well Christina only you can judge the amount of work he has done and quality of work. All I was trying to say that be reasonable and understanding. Yes agree with you that giving him full project may not be appropriate - unless you believe he went through everything and did what you had envisioned. (It may buy him month or two worth of groceries).

Good karma always returns the favor.

jr-translation · ‎03-05-2018

My first reaction was that you could release the second milestone since the freelancer did the work, but not the way you wanted him to. The milestone was defined and he was to stop once it was reached. Every additional work was not covered. That is a lesson he has to learn. It is the client who defines the work to be done and when.

If you are happy with the rest of the performance you can discuss further milestones where you clearly state that you want e.g., endscreens 10 at a time so you can comment on them.

Being a freelancer I usually deliver the work and asked the client to check. If the money for the work has not been released I check back after a few days and ask if there are any issues. Some 10 days after delivery I request the release through the system. It just feel wrong to me to put pressure on the client.

As others wrote there is no time tracking on fixed prices project. If you want to know how long it takes you can make an hourly contract but freelancers could trick you there as well if they wanted to.

39869555 · ‎03-04-2018

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for this. As I explained in my response below, I released the $10 when we started the project, so that has been paid, and I'd be happy to pay the 2nd milestone, even, to compensate the freelancer for the time he spent. But because the work was not done as agreed, and now must be re-done, I do not feel that I should release the full price.

Also, what is strange is that when I check his work diary, there are no hours logged. Although I can see in my YouTube videos that he indeed added endscreens to the videos, he claims that it took 30-35 hours, but I have no way to know this, since there is no work logged in the work diary.

Like I said, I can see that the endscreens were added (though not as I would have liked, and I will likely hire a 2nd person to go in and fix them), but I have no way to know if he spent 5 hours or 35 hours... I do want to pay him for the time he spent on the job, but I also want to make sure that it's fair to both parties.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎03-04-2018

Christina, this is a dilemma primarily because you are an exceptionally patient and fair-minded person. I agree with Melissa's comments. Also...

On a fixed-price project, you are not paying for time spent, you are paying for results delivered. It is appropriate and professional for you as a client to be aware of the freelancer's time investment and willing to compensate him fairly for the work. But he hasn't done the work and doesn't deserve to be paid for it. You would be well within your rights to terminate the contract and find someone else to do (and re-do) the work. Especially since this FL started off the relationship by lying to you.

You clearly have a generous impulse about this, so if you have the time and patience, you could tell the freelancer that the work is not done to spec yet, explain exactly what needs to be done for the second milestone to be released, and give him a deadline. Then, if he musters his wherewithal and gets it done satisfactorily, you could proceed beyond that. It may cost him time but it gives him the opportunity to learn something about freelancing which, if he actually learns it, will be to his benefit.

jr-translation · ‎03-05-2018

@Phyllis G wrote:

Especially since this FL started off the relationship by lying to you.

I fail to see the lie.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎03-05-2018

@Jennifer R wrote:
@Phyllis G wrote:

Especially since this FL started off the relationship by lying to you.

I fail to see the lie.

You are right. (I confused this thread with a different one, where a freelancer specifically assured the client he had availability and no projects competing for his time, then missed the first deadline and the final one, and his excuse was that another project kept him tied up.)

jr-translation · ‎03-05-2018

@gilbert-phyllis wrote:
@Jennifer R wrote:
@Phyllis G wrote:

Especially since this FL started off the relationship by lying to you.

I fail to see the lie.
You are right. (I confused this thread with a different one, where a freelancer specifically assured the client he had availability and no projects competing for his time, then missed the first deadline and the final one, and his excuse was that another project kept him tied up.)

I am glad I am not the only person mixing up threads.

holymell · ‎03-04-2018

Well, you would only be able to see his work diary if you hired him for an hourly job.

Fixed rate jobs aren't tracked with the tracker like hourly jobs are.

He agreed to the fixed rate, correct? Or did you both agree you'd pay him a specific number of hours?

It doesn't really matter. Either he did the work, or he didn't. I've had clients ask me to make corrections before, or we've miscommunicated and had to re-do things. It happens 🙂 I always try to fix the issue. Every time. I don't ask for more money unless the client is asking for extra work. If I made an error--I fix it. End of story.

The price doesn't matter. If the freelancer agreed to do the job for that price, then he should do it for that price, and do it as he agreed he would. No, it's not much money. But I once edited a whole book for $100 to get started here. I put everything I had into that edit. Eight straight days and almost rewrote the whole thing. Agreeing to work for a low price is the freelancer's decision, and they should give it everything they've got since they agreed to that price.

Maybe you two can come to an agreement. It would be best to amicably try to work through this. Sometimes language barriers or misunderstandings happen.

If you didn't hire him on an hourly basis-- you don't have to pay him on an hourly basis. You are being fair. More than fair, actually, even though yes, you did have a low price range. Again, he should have done the job for that price if that's what he agreed to do.

You could tell him you'd be willing to do an hourly contract and pay him to correct the errors that way, but don't allow any manual hours. You can even limit the freelancer's hours. You can allow him five hours a week, or even less if you need to see if he's trustworthy. But if you don't trust him, yes, end the contract, pay him what you both agree is fair, and find someone to fix them.

joanbonjoc · ‎03-04-2018

Hi Christina,

Sorry to hear you encounter these issues. As what Melisa stated, you can communicate with them. If they're unreasonable, you can end the job. Hope this will be resolved between you and the freelancer soon.

~ Jo-An

davidd1008 · ‎03-05-2018

If you hired someone to paint your garage and they painted your entire house (badly), would you pay them whatever they asked?

When we work on fixed price contracts, we're quoting a price for the entirety of the project, regardless of the time spent so I wouldn't worry about compensating them "for their time." You agreed to terms based on the work that needed to be completed, not the amount of time.

I am both a freelancer and a client (though I work far more as a freelancer). Some of this seems to be a case of the freelancer not quite understanding the terms. Perhaps a language barrier? But the end result is that they didn't follow intructions that were agreed upon. Not only did they not follow instructions, you now have to pay someone else to fix what they did. I don't think you're under any obligation to pay more than the original $10 milestone. If your own peace of mind makes you think you should go a little more than that, I can understand that but I don't think you're obligated to.

Freelancer did not respect milestone instructions and did the entire project...wrongly! What to do?