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276d6c20
Community Member

Freelancer no longer available on Upwork

Hi,

I have hired someone to do critical project work and Upwork says the person is no longer available (looks like removed from Upwork altogether). I have hired her for major projects before with great results, so it’s odd that mid-contract she would leave Upwork. I’ve already paid partial. How should I handle this? Just hire someone else? I’m guessing I’m out the initial investment regardless.
6 REPLIES 6
AleksandarD
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi John,

 

Could you please send me a private message with more information on the freelancer you are trying to hire so that I can check and assist you further?

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
prestonhunter
Community Member

John, you do not need the assistance of anybody from Upwork Customer Support. You can handle this on your own.

 

Assign the remaining work to the other members of your team. Hire additional freelancers if necessary.

mferdous1096
Community Member

Yes, You better hire someone else ! Who have the skills related to your projects 🙂

re: "I have hired someone to do critical project work and Upwork says the person is no longer available..."

 

From a project management perspective... it does not ACTUALLY matter why this person is no longer unavailable.

 

The fact is, she isn't available.

This is normal.

Any project of significant scope and size experiences personnel turnover.

 

A team member die.
A team member may win the lottery and decide to quit working.
A team member may decide to adopt a puppy.
A team member may decide she no longer believes in hats. And your company sells hats.

These things happen. And when they do, the effective project manager is prepared. The resources are all in place. The files are all secured. There are other team members who are cross-trained sufficiently in order to be able to take over that person's responsibilities.

Thank you.

In this case, the person has collected on portion of payment but not provided the agreed upon product. My question is, am I able to get either the product or refund or is it just An acceptable Practice on Upwork to bail without providing the product? If so, that’s good to know as well.

re: "I’ve already paid partial... I’m guessing I’m out the initial investment regardless."

 

If you made an escrow payment, then all you need to do is close the contract. EDIT the amount of money to be released, changing it to zero. Then continue to close. This will send a request to the freelancer to agree to the refund. If the freelancer is really gone - and does nothing - then ALL OF THE MONEY in escrow will be refunded back to you automatically.

 

John:

It will be helpful for you to understand what Upwork does and does not provide.

 

Upwork does not provide websites or illustrations or blog articles or anything of the sort.

 

Upwork provides an opportunity for clients to find, hire, and pay freelancers.

 

If you have a disagreement about the work done by a freelancer, then that is a matter between yourself and the freelancer. Upwork is not a party to your contract.

 

 

There ARE ways for clients to get refunds, but that really has nothing to do with your website or project. In most cases, refunds are a waste of time for clients to consider. The refund process is really meant for freelancers to use, as far as I am concerned. I frequently state that effective clients plan to never use refunds. Instead, they manage their projects proactively. Effective clients review the work being submitted by freelancers, and quickly close the contracts on underperforming freelancers. Thinking about refunds is counter-productive.

 

If you made an escrow payment, and the freelancer has disappeared without doing the work, it is pretty easy to get that money back. You don't even need help from Customer Support. You can do this on your own.

 

But as a general concept, whenever you fund an escrow payment, it is good to assume that you will never get that money back. After all: That is the most likely, best-case scenario: The freelancer does the work and you release the payment to the freelancer and you don't get the money back. Even if the freelancer doesn't do the work as you expected, it is certainly possible for that money to be gone forever. (For example: You wanted the freelancer to create an M-11 file, and she DOES.... but then you realize that you actually needed an M-12 file. You THOUGHT you had asked for an M-12 file, but when you look at the agreement in the contract, it says M-11. You did NOT get what you expected, but you will not get the money back. This is just one of many ways in which a client may fund an escrow payment and NOT get what they wanted, but still NOT get any money back.)


If you want to learn more about refunds, there are good resources:

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062088-Request-a-Refund

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062058-Get-an-Escrow-Refund

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062158-Dispute-a-Freelancer-s-Hours

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