Help regarding 14 day time limit for milestones.

[444dd685]

Hi. I'm a new client on upwork and I have an issue with my first contract.

When I made the contract, it gave me the option to set a due date. I did not realize this would create a milestone for that date which would pay the freelancer after 14 days from due date.

The milestone is fully funded with 100% of project funds in escrow (1050$). 

The freelancer keeps putting me off, and I became slightly suspicious about this due date. When I found out that the milestone funds will be released to the freelancer after 14 days from the due date (Jan 5) I became very concerned as he has not shown any evidence of progress on our project.

The only option I can see is to cancel the contract if it gets too close to the 14 day limit. Is there anything else I can do?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

There is no "14 day time limit."

You are the client.

You can do what you want.

You can give a freelancer a one-hour deadline.

Or a two-month deadline.

Whatever you want.

If a freelancer does not meet your needs, assign the work to other people.

The 14-day thing is the amount of time that must pass before an escrow payment is automatically released to a freelancer if a client does absolutely nothing. But a client can click a button to reset the countdown whenever he wants to.

So this 14-day thing has nothing to do with you.

The "due date" doesn't mean anything other than what YOU want it to mean. Upwork doesn't actually use the due date. And it has no connection to the 14-day auto-release countdown.

The countdown clock starts when the feeelancer clicks the "Submit work for payment" button. It has nothing to do with the "due date."

If you don't want to wait for this freelancer, then just hire someone else.

For future reference, if you don't want money tied up in escrow, then use hourly contracts. You can close hourly contracts easily, without paying freelancers a cent if they haven't logged time.

[prestonhunter]

If you want to end a fixed-price contract, you can close the contract and release any remaining escrow funds and that's it. There is nothing that a freelancer can do to block you from doing that. You don't even need to talk to them.

If you want to get money back, you may ask the freelancer for a refund. If a freelancer has not done any work on the project yet and is completely honorable, then the freelancer will immediately give you a full refund.

Read more here:

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

[444dd685]

Thank you for your excellent answer. I just re-read the terms, to quote the correct section (emphasis added):

'When your freelancer or agency submits a milestone for your approval, you have 14 days to review.'

Okay I did not realize (thanks for telling me this) there is a "Submit work for payment" button on their end, which then requires action on my end. This makes much more sense.

Whew I was a little worried there. Thanks!