Freelancer stopped responding in the middle o...

extrapalantine · ‎05-08-2023

I've hired a freelancer who has stopped responding in the middle of the project. She agreed to make changes to some images she designed, then simply stopped responding. Hiring a different designer at this stage would be difficult, because she has also not sent me the Photoshop files for the designs she created. It's been several weeks now. I'm just trying to get in touch with her and get the Photoshop files, at the very least.

prestonhunter · ‎05-08-2023

re: "Freelancer stopped responding in the middle of a project"

This is normal.

As clients, we assume that this will happen sometimes, and we plan accordingly.

re: "I've hired a freelancer who has stopped responding in the middle of the project."

Yes, this happens.

re: "She agreed to make changes to some images she designed, then simply stopped responding."

Yes, this happens.

re: "Hiring a different designer at this stage would be difficult, because she has also not sent me the Photoshop files for the designs she created."

When I hire designers, they send me files regularly. Otherwise, I end the contract.

So I DO NOT NEED TO WORRY about a freelancer disappearing in the middle of a project.

If a freelancer DIES, then I simply assign another freelancer to continue the work.

re: "It's been several weeks now. I'm just trying to get in touch with her and get the Photoshop files, at the very least."

Well... Upwork doesn't have your Photoshop files.

Why didn't you provide the freelancer with the Dropbox location or FTP directory or email address for submitting her files on a regular basis?

You know, I use Upwork as both a freelancer and a client. As a freelancer, I don't even need to send files to clients. Because I do all of my work on a central location, and the client has the access credentials. So if I DIE, then the client already has ALL of the work I have done.

m_terrazas · ‎05-09-2023

Preston H wrote:
re: "Freelancer stopped responding in the middle of a project"

This is normal.

As clients, we assume that this will happen sometimes, and we plan accordingly.

re: "I've hired a freelancer who has stopped responding in the middle of the project."
Yes, this happens.

re: "She agreed to make changes to some images she designed, then simply stopped responding."
Yes, this happens.

re: "Hiring a different designer at this stage would be difficult, because she has also not sent me the Photoshop files for the designs she created."

When I hire designers, they send me files regularly. Otherwise, I end the contract.
So I DO NOT NEED TO WORRY about a freelancer disappearing in the middle of a project.
If a freelancer DIES, then I simply assign another freelancer to continue the work.

re: "It's been several weeks now. I'm just trying to get in touch with her and get the Photoshop files, at the very least."

Well... Upwork doesn't have your Photoshop files.
Why didn't you provide the freelancer with the Dropbox location or FTP directory or email address for submitting her files on a regular basis?

You know, I use Upwork as both a freelancer and a client. As a freelancer, I don't even need to send files to clients. Because I do all of my work on a central location, and the client has the access credentials. So if I DIE, then the client already has ALL of the work I have done.

Preston, OP really don't have to have any other way to receive the files than through Upwork unless they exceed the allowed size.
If that freelancer doesn't respond (unless they died), it doesn't matter if they use Upwork or Dropbox or any other method. They have no intention of delivering anything else.
OP may be partly to blame for not having the final files, but any responsible freelancer would send those files at the end of the job or ask if the client wants to have them.
I do that. Some clients are not interested in the original files, I usually keep them in case they are needed later.

2a05aa63 · ‎05-08-2023

You can ask the support to send her an email or call her.

25005175 · ‎05-09-2023

Support is uninterested in this. No fraud has been committed, nor violations of the ToS. OP just needs to move on. Life happens - there is no telling what happened to the Freelancer.

2a05aa63 · ‎05-09-2023

I got a call from support once after I declined an offer from a client I didn't want to work with and banned them.
It's worth a shot if he just wants the files shared.

25005175 · ‎05-09-2023

Banning = ToS was violated in some way.

Work not completed =/= ToS violation.

2a05aa63 · ‎05-09-2023

The client was annoying so I banned (blocked) them. They didn't violate anything regarding the TOS.
Clients don't have direct access to freelancers emails and phone numbers. That's when the support can connect them directly. This doesn't mean they will respond and come back. But that's the only thing left to do.

25005175 · ‎05-11-2023

The client was annoying so I banned (blocked) them.

Ban & block are VERY different. Do you understand why I responded the way that I did earlier?

2a05aa63 · ‎05-14-2023

Yeah, but I cannot "ban" people from upwork anyway only from sending you messages.

25005175 · ‎05-15-2023

Viacheslav K wrote:
Yeah, but I cannot "ban" people from upwork anyway only from sending you messages.

Exactly. Banning can only be done by Upwork staff, whether it is the Community account or your marketplace account. So, when you said that your Client got banned, myself and others interpreted it to mean that Upwork suspended the Client from the platform.

sajal36 · ‎05-09-2023

Ben - I have seen these mistake so many times from many clients. I believe client need to have an effective project management when they are hiring someone for the job. I believe the most important thing is to have the Admin rights to all the shared storage, cloud account, google drive acct and others. The freelancer or hire must be given the standard priviledges even it required to be given admin privleges than user creation / deletion must always be with the client.

For all my clients, I ensure that client have the shared storage, Github etc. and keep admin rights to himself, have standard emails and communication tools ids created for freelancer. If you are safeguarding your interest than even if you have attrition in project, you can easily manage the same by hiring someone else.

prestonhunter · ‎05-09-2023

Great tips from Sajal.

I agree that a great freelancer will be proactive about doing these things.

But as Sajal pointed out, it is ultimately the client's responsibilty.

if a freelancer does some work and gets paid for her work, then she has achieved her goal.

If a client does not receive the files, then the client has not achieved his goal.

This has nothing to do with Upwork. This is all about proper project management.

Project management isn't Upwork's responsibility. Not the freelancer's responsibility.
Entirely the project manager's responsibility.

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-11-2023

Was this an hourly project, or fixed price? Did you release any payments?

You must have seen the images that she designed, since you requested changes. Can't you give these images to another designer to re-do, instead of starting over?