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6f19f006
Community Member

Freelancer is unable to complete the project and negative attitude

Hello everyone, 

Over the last one week I am struggling with my freelancer. I have contracted him (with clear and well articulated scope of work) to develop a code for me. The deadline was 23 July 2020. However most recently while I started to review the deliverables, I found lots of gaps, issues and plaigrazing (privacy agreement etc). When I raised my comments and concerns to him, he started to react aggressively and negatively. I have raised a dispute but with deep respect is it s useless and it is not giving any opinion nor judgment based on the crystal clear facts provided by me and the fake claims the freelancer's making. I have even offered a bonus plus decreasing the scope of work but he is still playing games and not willing to complet ethe project. I have already paid two milestones plus one in escrow with a total value of 1900USD plus other third party costs. 

 

Kindly advise how to get the job done OR how to get my paid money for the previous milestones. 

11 REPLIES 11
slavkoa
Community Member

Just my thought about topic. If your freelancer struggling with task to be complete you may ask and bring another freelancer to project(invite) to help you to finish task in time , by introducing a new freelancer with a task then you decide to work with two freelancer or just one.

6f19f006
Community Member

thanks Slavko, I believe this is a good work around, I will try it in due time after Upwork clmpletes their mediation 

NikolaS
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Jawad,

 

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Our team will continue to assist you via the open ticket to resolve the situation. For more information about disputes, you can check out this Community thread. 

 

Thank you,

~ Nikola
Upwork
prestonhunter
Community Member

It is not really Upwork's intention to get directly involved with your projects. Upwork offers clients an opportunity to find, hire, and pay freelancers.

 

But Upwork does not offer free project management services.

If you rely on Upwork for project management, you will be disappointed and your project will fail.

 

In order to achieve success as a client, I strongly advise you to manage your projects yourself, in a proactive way, or hire an independent project manager. (You can hire a project manager on Upwork, or OFF the platform.)

@Preston, hello Preston, yes I know that there should be some inflence on both parties (freelancer as well as clients) in order to eliminate the semi frad deals. I know it is the cleint responsbility to choose and verify the freelancer before awarding the contract. As for project management, I have substabtial project management expereince (almost 20years) and that's not my issue. The isue is that the freelancer got substantial money for the first two milestones (out of 5) however these milestones are meaningless without the rest of the milestones. 

re: "I know it is the client responsbility to choose and verify the freelancer before awarding the contract."

 

There is no way to guarantee beforehand that a freelancer will work out.

I actually don't believe in spending very much time choosing freelancers.


I think it is more important to evaluate the work that freelancers do after you hire them, and evaluate whether or not each freelancer should be somebody you continue working with.

 

When an effective client hires using fixed-price contracts, she makes sure that each time a milestone is approved, she obtains and reviews the work. Each milestone should be something that is useful and usable on its own, in a modular way.

 

re: "The issue is that the freelancer got substantial money for the first two milestones (out of 5) however these milestones are meaningless without the rest of the milestones."

 

The money released for those first two milestones was released after the client received and evaluated the work done for those milestones.

 

That work has already been delivered to the client. That work can be shared with other team members. The remaining work (remaining 3 out of 5 milestones) can be done by other team members, or by newly-hired freelancers if necessary.

So, new to Upwork, i signed up in November, hired a Freelancer Resource in India, and he started working. I soon discovered, after wondering WHY he was having such problems undertanding English or delivering anything that worked, 

(a) that his Freelancer Profile is fake (i chose him out of many because his Upwork Profile stated that he had developed a particular application that i liked - **Edited for Community Guidelines**). He did not develop and is not the developer of the **Edited for Community Guidelines** app. 

(b) that his English language level is atrocious; simple communication became literally impossible.

(c) in frustration, on 31st December 2020, or 01.01.2021, i filed a Dispute, the outcome of which was the Freelancer getting docked for billing for work not done. Nothing else. 

(d) So, now, i am about $2000 in the red, no Web App, no Mobile App, Freelancer is quiet, and i should just walk away and lick my wounds?

 

I don't think so. I think i met Mr **Edited for Community Guidelines** on Upwork's Platform. I did not meet him in the street, or a bar. Secondly, I think Upwork has a RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that Freelancers do not post fake Profiles, which are then relied upon by Clients, who then get screwed BECAUSE the Freelancer put up a fake profile. No Judge will let Upwork off this primary responsibility. 

 

And yes, I am very curious about American No-Win-No-Fee lawyers to take on Upwork on this single, narrow point. I'm just a Google search away.

 

Tell me why it is ok for some guy, who only met me through and because of Upwork, walk away with my money and i am left holding nothing. 

 

Tell me why, please. 

 

Thanks .

I share same concern with you. I have lost 2600USD with a guy in Albania (**Edited for Community Guidelines**). After I made the payment, he disppeared, his account been decativated and website along with mobile app has not been transferred to me. Upwork is passive when it comes to arbitration, they just wanted to take their share and not bothered with any subsequent issues.... 

re: "I share same concern with you. I have lost 2600USD with a guy... After I made the payment, he disppeared, his account been decativated and website along with mobile app has not been transferred to me."

 

Clients are supposed to receive and review the files before releasing payment.

$2600 is a lot of money. I am sorry that you had a disappointing experience while using Upwork.

 

If clients use Upwork as intended, along with best practices, then the largest amount of money a client will lose in situations like this is around $100.

re: "So, now, I am about $2000 in the red, no Web App, no Mobile App, Freelancer is quiet, and I should just walk away and lick my wounds?"

 

I am sorry that you had a disappointing experience while using Upwork.

 

If used properly, the largest amount of money that a client can expect to lose in situations such as the one you describe is about $100.

 

You should absolutely feel free to use the Community Forum, including this very thread, to ask questions in order to help you understand the mistakes that you made so that you can avoid making those same mistakes again in the future.

 

But to help you out, I will provide some information even before you ask additional questions:

 

re: "So, new to Upwork, I signed up in November, hired a Freelancer Resource in India, and he started working."

 

Why did you only hire one freelancer?

That was a mistake for a project this large.

How did you expect to compare the work done by different people if you only hired one?

 

This was for a mobile app and a web app? But you didn't hire an independent project manager?

That was a mistake.

 

A project of this scope and size is quite significant. It is highly unlikely that the project will succeed unless you have an independent project manager working on it.

 

All projects of this size have a project manager. If you (as the project owner) do not hire an independent project manager, and if you don't act as the project manager yourself, then the project manager by default is the lead developer. But only about 20% of lead developers can function as project manager. So if you hired one of the 80% who can't, then it means (by definition) that your project will fail.

 

re: "I soon discovered, after wondering WHY he was having such problems understanding English or delivering anything that worked..."

 

If you felt that understanding English and/or delivering something that works were important characteristics in a freelancer working on this project, then why did you continue working with this freelancer when you found that he lacked these characteristics?

 

re: "in frustration, on 31st December 2020, or 01.01.2021, i filed a dispute"


I don't blame you for becoming frustrated. For future reference, plan to never file a dispute. The concept of a "dispute" leads clients to have a false sense of security, as if they have some kind of "get out of jail free" card. But disputes don't help clients create mobile apps and web apps. Disputes just waste a client's time. The dispute process is primarily meant to be used by freelancers, not by clients.

 

A better approach is this mantra:

"I am the client. I have total control over my project and who works on it. I will never file a dispute. Instead, I will have my project manager proactively review the work submitted by all freelancers, especially when they are new on the project. If any freelancer's work doesn't measure up, then I will stop working with them."

 

In other words: Don't send money to freelancers and then ask for the money back. Instead: Fire underperforming freelancers and don't send them that money in the first place.

 

This is more easily done if you hire using hourly contracts or small initial fixed-price contracts. You don't need to set up a $1000 contract with a freelancer you have never worked with before. Instead, set up a $50 contract to do the first step. The freelancer understands that this is the first step in a $1000 project. She submits the first step, your project manager reviews it, and if you love it, you fund the next step. If you don't love the work, then you thank the freelancer for her time and end the contract.

 

re: "And yes, I am very curious about American No-Win-No-Fee lawyers to take on Upwork on this single, narrow point. I'm just a Google search away."

 

You may indeed be able to find an attorney who will work for you on an hourly basis. You will not find an attorney who will work on this case on a "no-win-no-fee" basis. Because attorneys want to be get paid for their time, and no attorney is going to believe there is any way that she can earn any money from this case on a no-win-no-fee basis. Moreover, no attorney will take this case on a pro-bono basis.

 

re: "Tell me why it is ok for some guy, who only met me through and because of Upwork, walk away with my money and I am left holding nothing. Tell me why, please."

 

It is NOT okay.

 

Nobody here is going to defend a freelancer who behaved inappropriately. It is highly likely that you encountered a bad freelancer.

 

But if you spent $2000 and received nothing, it is because you used the Upwork platform incorrectly.

 

Upwork set up a system specifically to prevent what you describe from happening. For hourly contracts, clients are able to review work every week and dispute inappopriately billed hours or ANY manually-logged time. Clients can end a contract AT ANY TIME for ANY REASON. Clients can pause a contract at any time to prevent additional billing. For fixed-price contracts, clients can review the work submitted and NOT PAY until they are satisfied that the the work has been completed properly.

 

Why did you decide to NOT use the client protections built into the system?

 

You may read more about your situation here:

Is Upwork's messaging to clients inadequate? Causing problems?

Hi Ken,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience working with a freelancer. One of our team members already reached out to you directly to assist you further.

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
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