Freelancer keep asking extra money and postpone 8 months

[9c605be3]

Can someone contact me immediately? Or can we have realtime conversations? It's not fair! 
the freelancer haven't finished the task and ask for extra money!! He said I have to pay for extra task but those extra tasks are mentioned in the first draft or discussed in March. And he agreed to do. If not, I won't find him! 
now he can't complete the game. And I ask for refund. It's fair and reasonable!

[f24477b3]

hi, mr kai Ming C

No Upwork freelancer can ask for extra money, they will get the money they were hired for. You calculate how many hours he worked and how much he claimed per hour.

Thank you

[25005175]

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Sharzil Z wrote:

hi, mr kai Ming C

No Upwork freelancer can ask for extra money

---

Um, literally any worker (whether employee or contractor) can ask for extra money. There is simply no obligation on the part of the client to agree to that request.

[prestonhunter]

This freelancer is not the problem,

Your problem is with the project manager.

Your project manager is not managing this project properly.

Your project manager should hire multiple freelancers and keep the project on time and on budget,

It is not any freelancer developer's responsibility to keep the project on time and on budget. That is what the project manager does.

If any freelancers are not performing well, or if they are late in doing their assignments, or if they cost too much, then the project manager will fire them or use them less. The project manager will assign work to the freelancers on the team who provide the most value for the project.

[7feed026]

are you a hater to Clients ??

[df602768]

Can you just... dissapear from Upwork. Can a moderator ban you because you're destroying conversations?

Please!

[sullivanliz]

Preston IS a client. 

[f0ec0ca0]

If the request for bids includes the work to be done then it is the freelancer, not some imaginary project manager that is responsible to get the work done at the price agreed to.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Can someone contact me immediately?"

You will benefit more by NOT trying to contact somebody from Upwork Customer Support. You will benefit more by talking to people here in the Community Forum to learn what you did wrong, and to learn what you can do to achieve your goals.

re: "Or can we have realtime conversations?"

It is not Upwork's intention that you have realtime conversations with Customer Support personnel.

re: "the freelancer haven't finished the task and ask for extra money!! He said I have to pay for extra task but those extra tasks are mentioned in the first draft or discussed in March. And he agreed to do. If not, I won't find him! now he can't complete the game. And I ask for refund. It's fair and reasonable!"

Clients do not achieve their goals by asking for refunds.

If you want to achieve your goals, hire multiple freelancers to work for you, manage them effectively, and continue working only with the best freelancers on the team.

If you do not know how to manage freelancers effectively, then you need to:

a) hire a project manager

[or]

b) learn how to manage freelancers

The most important thing I can tell you right now is:

It is NOT the freelancer's responsibility to complete your project.

It is NOT your responsiblity.

It is not Upwork's responsibility.

It is the project manager's responsibility.

Until you understand this, you are unlikely to succeed in achieving your goals when it comes to commissioning development projects.

[9c605be3]

That freelancer's role is project manager because I pay him for the game project. Those greaphic, sounds, design should be made by him. And now he haven't  finished the game. And he ask me extra money becuase he finished extra task. In my view, he should say those task are extra task when I mentioned first time. Also, some of them are mentioned in the first draft (so it's not extra task). Now he didn't start working until I made the payment for him. And I already paid him around USD 24,000. And I got nothing now. No game launched. No game file made.

[prestonhunter]

re: "That freelancer's role is project manager because I pay him for the game project."

But that is simply a belief or a philosophy.

You are welcome to hold this belief in your mind. But the important thing is: Is this belief actually working for you?

re: "And I already paid him around USD 24,000. And I got nothing now. No game launched. No game file made."

It seems to me that your belief ("the freelance developer IS the project manager") is not helping you achieve your goals.

Rather than rail against my suggested alternative approach (the freelance developer is NOT the project manager), you could try one of the following:

a) try my suggestion; test it out; see if it helps you achieve your goals

b) Read books or other resources describing best practices for commissioning a complex development project. What do those resources suggest doing?

[9c605be3]

Please read the pdf to know more about the case. I need someone help because I just wasted USD24,000 due to this freelancer(project manager). And UPWORK doesn't like to protect its clients.  

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[prestonhunter]

re: "Please read the pdf to know more about the case. I need someone help because I just wasted USD24,000 due to this freelancer(project manager)."

Stating that a freelancer is the project manager does not make the freelancer a project manager.

If you wasted $24,00... that is not Upwork's fault. It is not the freelancer's fault. It is not your fault. It is the project manager's fault.

re: "And UPWORK doesn't like to protect its clients."

Upwork can not "protect" clients against the realities of how software engineering and development works.

Upwork can not "decide" that a developer is a project manager. Upwork has no control over the principles of how these things work in the real world.

I am so sorry about your situation. I know for certain that you are feeling frustrated and disappointment. But nobody at Upwork has any control over this: If you want a project like this to succeed, you need a project manager. That will be a project manager you hire. Or you will act as the project manager. Only about 30% of lead developers can successfully act as their own project manager. The one you hired is not among the 30%.

[759e32fa]

Hi Kai Ming,

I’m sorry but we won’t be able to assist you here further. Your ticket is assigned to the correct team, and they should be able to help you with your concern. I would recommend adding these to the same ticket thread so that the team has the correct information to assist you more efficiently. Please don’t hesitate to update the same ticket thread if you have further questions or concerns.

[25005175]

Preston's delivery style is brusque, but his advice is sound. I think he may go too far by seemingly absolving the freelancer of responsibility, but it is true that any perception that Upwork is responsible for making sure that the FL completed the job is incorrect (and usually assumed) according to the Upwork ToS and other published content. And Upwork is not alone in that - I have yet to see a marketplace offer that kind of protection. I'm not even sure that concierge/matchmaker services offer that kind of protection.