How can I get a refund for work not completed by unethical freelancer?

[annanorthey]

Hi everyone, 

I'm hoping someone can help as I am getting lost in a sea of legal words and am hearing nothing from the freelancer I hired, nor UpWork.

I hired an agency to complete a project. Yet, after several delays - approaching three times the timeframe the freelancer originally supplied - the project has not progressed. It appears that they do not have the skills to complete the project so are just delaying and delaying, promising fixes, wasting more time, etc.

I have now asked for a full refund for the project from the freelancer so that I can hire another supplier with the skills necessary. However, I haven't heard anything in response. Nor have I heard from UpWork, who I also messaged.

I have part of the total amount in the fixed-price contract -  US $2K from US $3.5K which is incidentally all of the my own money I had saved for this project. As far as I can tell this is not in Escrow.

So my question is, can I get this money refunded? The freelancer has clearly been unethical taking a project on that they cannot complete and now this may have ruined me. Do they really get to keep the money after delivering nothing?

I am very worried that all of my money will be lost. And this project was being completed as part of a charity organisation I am affiliated with. Quite a devastating outcome.

Anna

[AveryO]

Hi Anna, 

I'm sorry to learn about your experience with your freelancer. I checked your account and can see that you have an open ticket regarding your concern, and the team handling your case has already responded to you. I defintely recommend that you continue communicating with the team through the support ticket so that they can let you know how you can move forward with this.