Freelancer milestone not delivered after payment

[1174aadc]

Hi.. we have encountered a problem with one of our freelancers. He requested for payment for the last milestone for his project, even if it is not yet complete, he just promised to deliver the remaining deliverables, so i just kept the contract open until he finished the task. And because I trust in his potential, I released the last milestones payment, so all milestones are released now..

But months have passed, he is still unable to finish the contract 😞 I'm worried now, because I don't know if he'll finish or run away. When i send message, he still responds but minimal to nothing, and is not giving any update, just excuses.

my question is, is there a way to make the freelancer refund the last released payment? or how can Upwork help in cases like this? Note that the project is fixed-price.

Please help.. thank you..

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Kimberly,

You can ask for a refund on the contract and the freelancer will have 7 days to respond, if the freelancers rejects or does not respond back on this a dispute will be open for both sides.
One of our team members will contact you directly via ticket and assist you further on this. Please take screenshots from your communication and the details for the project you have agreed to submit as evidence, and our team will review the freelancer further. If you need further help from me let me know.

[petra_r]

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@Goran V wrote:

Hi Kimberly,

You can ask for a refund on the contract and the freelancer will have 7 days to respond, if the freelancers rejects or does not respond back on this a dispute will be open for both sides.

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 No. The client has already RELEASED the final milestone and there are no funds left in Escrow, so no dispute and if the funds have been withdrawn, there is little that can be done.

By releasing a milestone the client indicates that the work as specified has been done, is complete and correct...

[g_vasilevski · Accepted solution]

Thank you for pointing this out Petra.

Im sorry about the confusion Kimberly, I have misread your post slightly.
Always make sure to release the funds in Escrow after you have reviewed the work delivered to you.
You can check out Fixed-Price Contracts- How it works and Best Practices to learn more about fixed price contracts and learn how to protect yourself.

[1174aadc]

Okay so, this means there could be no other way I can request for refund? by the way, the fund has been released long time ago, like October. But he is now responding to my messages, saying that he's still working on the remaining tasks.. I guess what I can do is wait for him to deliver it.. 😞

[yitwail]

Kimberly, I may be mistaken but you *could* ask the freelancer for a refund, and the freelancer *might* oblige you, but it would be a voluntary refund. At some point, you might consider closing the job and giving the freelancer appropriate feedback, and perhaps hiring someone else to complete the task. Perhaps you could ask for a deadline by which he will finish the job, and inform him that you will close the contract once the deadline passes -- that might motivate him to fulfill his obligations to you.