Freelancer logged more manual time

[tinydolphin]

I hired someone with over 20 years of experience to identify 6 types of knitwear stitching and source 6 schematic diagrams from a website. The task was straightforward, but I provided detailed illustrations and front and back view knit reference photos to make stitch identification easy. I needed it done within 1-2 hours to meet a deadline with one of my clients, and she delivered in 40 minutes from the moment we started our contract. However, I noticed a missing detail in the Excel file. The freelancer was away from her keyboard and informed me she would be back home soon. Once she got home, she sent a message saying she was starting the correction. She completed the correction within 8 minutes of sending that message but logged a total of 1.5 hours instead of the actual 48 minutes worked. I'm unsure how to address this discrepancy with her. I checked the time only because the 1.5 hours logged seemed exaggerated when I reviewed the work diary. I decided to check the timestamps from when we initially started the contract to the first delivery and then for the correction.

I'm a bit disappointed, especially since I'm just starting to build my own agency and don't have a knitwear specialist. She seemed like a great fit, but the manual time issue makes me question her trustworthiness and doubt the quality of the work she delivered.

[feed_my_eyes · Accepted solution]

How much money are we talking about? It sounds like she must have spent at least a bit of extra time discussing the project with you and messaging you while she was out? Time spent messaging a client counts as well. You can go ahead and bring it up with her, but if I found someone who did a great job and I wanted to work with them again, I would let it go (and I would have paid a bonus to someone who met my needs within 40 minutes of being hired). IMO, you were lucky to have found an experienced person who was willing to take on such a tiny job and deliver immediately. The next person might not have 20 years of experience and work a lot more slowly. 

BTW, hourly contracts are measured in 10 minute segments, so you're going to have to round this up by two minutes at the very least. And next time you hire someone, disable the use of manual time if it's going to be an issue.

[tinydolphin]

You are right, Christine! Thank you.

[erinvega2016]

Disable the manual time.

[freelancersifat]

That will be great, Only automatic time tracking with screenshot should be allowed.