How Do I file a complaint against one of the free lancers?

[b387df0d]

I want to file a complaint against a free lancer that we have been working with on our project. He promised to write the code in PHP from scratch and instead used code igniter. He lied from the begining. Using code igniter is not coding from scratch. The organization of the files are terrible, even if I hired another developer will be almost impossible to correct or find/fix any issues. The quality of his work is poor. The site functionality is poor. It has been over a year and the website is still incomplete. He disaapeared for weeks at a time. We are having alot of issues with the site and he ended the contract. He would ignore messages and concerns. His communication is terrible. The project also went over budget and he demanded more money to correct his own mistakes and for items that were in the scope of work. We were his biggest $ project to date and he treated us horribly. He kept rushing us to pay each milestone even there were issues. He promised he would correct all issues and he did not . I want a full refund cause I have to do the site complete over because we are having way too many issues. If this freelancer does not refund me I will take other measures through my credit card company.
His name: 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Let me know if you need the contract ID

Thanks Eric

[allpurposewriter]

I hate to say this, Eric, but welcome to the club. I've run into several wholly unethical clients -- and what can I do about it? I can write them a horrible review. That's true. But this will alert my next client to the fact that I am someone willing to publically berate a client if I don't like the way the job went. I'm a little too old school for that. Businesses include risk and I want to start the next client/freelancer relationship with trust, not with intimidation -- like, "mess with me and I'll tell the entire world you're a screw up."

Yes, some clients never pay. Some add on extra work  beyond the scope of the contract, then threaten with a bad rating if you don't pull through. Some communicate horribly and then blame you when things go wrong. Some, simply, don't honor their half of the contract in other ways. The list goes on and on.

That's what freelancers are up against. So, what can you do about this freelancer? You can dump them and move on. It's part of the price of doing business. You have to accept the idea that there's a risk involved, a margin of error. Yes, this freelancer sounds like he or she is trying to get away with something. But don't obsess on it. Go for a long run or a walk, come back, shower, eat a nice dinner, forget about it. Breathe in. Breathe out. Move on. 

The next time, put in a few more check points, so you can catch a bad freelancer earlier, before they've taken you for a long ride.

[b387df0d]

Im a developer also, this person had excellent feedback. Its not about the money. Its about the time. What you are saying makes no sense. I paid for something and it should have been completed in a timely fashion. I never screw my clients and I dont even except full money until the Job is complete. This free lancer had a 99% approval rating but it was for small Jobs. He lied from the begining. For you to say just take it on the chin and move on.. I want to file a dispute and a refund. Ill just do a charge back and let him figure it out.

[joansands]

The freelancer you mention does have a high Upwork rating - but you can always file a dispute.

[b387df0d]

How do I file a dispute?

[prestonhunter]

Eric, putting aside all issues relating to the first freelancer you hired...

If you want to have a website developed in PHP from scratch, that's a very valid choice.

That's actually the kind of work that I do (but I'm not available for hire, because I don't solicit work in the Forum).

As you move forward with your project, you really need to REPLACE YOUR PROJECT MANAGER. Or get a project manager if you didn't have one.

Because the difference between developing a website or information system using the CodeIgniter framework, or ANY framework... versus developing a system from scratch... is HUGE. Any competent project manager would have noticed the difference immediately. This whole mess could have been avoided.

This in no way exonerates the original developer that you hired. What that person did was preposterous, and you SHOULD NOT WORK with that freelancer any further.

But you basically allowed that developer to serve as his own project manager, which clearly was a mistake in this case. It is ALWAYS better to have a project manager who is separate from the lead dev. And only about 25% of lead devs can actually function as their own project manager (PM). Because your lead dev was NOT one of these 25%, you spent a lot of time and expense on work that is probably not usable at all.

Every project of this size and scope has a project manager. You either:

a) hire an independent project manager

b) serve as the project manager yourself

[or]

c) the lead dev is the project manager

Because you did not do (a) or (b), you defaulted to (c).

[kat303]

Upwork provides what I call check points throughout a job. For this job, you've had several milestones. Upwork provides a period of 14 days in which to evaluate the work that was delivered before you fund the next milestone. If you don't have the experience to evaluate a freelancers work then hire a project manager who can keep track of that the freelancer is doing and to make sure the work is evolving the way it should. And if the freelancer is badgering you to release money even before you look or test the work, you have the right to end/close the contract (as Preston says) at any time, for any reason or even no reason at all. When work is not what you required, if the freelancer is not communicating or taking weeks to answer, if he is ignoring messages and concerns and if he is treating you badly, you do NOT work with him for OVER a year. 

What you can do at this point is to start a dispute but if all funds are already paid out, even if you win, there's nothing to give you. (if it's been over 30 days since your last payout then time is over for any kind of dispute or arbitration.  And if you start a chargeback, then Upwork will suspend your contract on this site and you will not be able to hire any other freelancers here.

[b387df0d]

This is the last time I am using upwork anyway. So be it

[JoanneP]

Hi Erik,

Sorry to hear about your experience with this freelancer. I've shared this with the team and one of our team members will reach out to directly and assist you further with this issue. Thank you!

[b387df0d]

Thank you

[prestonhunter]

re: "This is the guy..."

I'm very sorry that this freelancer lied to you. But virtually everything about this freelancer's profile tells you that he doesn't develop PHP from scratch. I could copy the entire profile to demonstrate that point, but people can click through to see his profile, and they'll see for themselves.

Just look at his profile headline and the first sentence of his overview text...

...I don't think there's a "PHP from scratch" bone in his body.

Which may mean that this freelancer is exactly the right developer for many, many projects. But he was the wrong fit for the original poster's project.

[shefen]

---

Preston H wrote:

re: "This is the guy..."

I'm very sorry that this freelancer lied to you. But virtually everything about this freelancer's profile tells you that he doesn't develop PHP from scratch. I could copy the entire profile to demonstrate that point, but people can click through to see his profile, and they'll see for themselves.

Just look at his profile headline and the first sentence of his overview text...

...I don't think there's a "PHP from scratch" bone in his body.

Which may mean that this freelancer is exactly the right developer for many, many projects. But he was the wrong fit for the original poster's project.

---

I looked at the freelancer's profile and job post. On the job post, the only place I see the word "scratch" is in this: "One-TIme Project: Develop website from scratch".

I take that to mean a new site with new HTML, CSS, PHP, etc. And PHP is NOT listed under Skills and Expertise. 

After reading the specs provided in the job post I would have chosen to use a framework like CodeIgniter too. The site is way too involved to do completely from scratch. The end result would have been a maintenance nightmare and I've seen more than a few of them. I probably would have mentioned all this in the proposal. The use of a framework does not mean I can't write PHP. I use frameworks every day and write or edit PHP code every day.

The comment that "the organization of the files are terrible" sounds to me like someone unfamiliar with frameworks has looked at the code. Frameworks take some getting used to but once you understand how they work they can save a lot of development time.

I'm not saying this programmer was qualified for the project. It's a big project. I'm just saying that chosing to use CodeIgniter was not the worst thing he did.