How can I report a freelancer?

[8a170d63]

So, I had social media issues. I asked a freelancer for help, they did amazing and got the job done. But when it came to the payment, they became unprofessional communcation wise. 

Issues on my end prevents me from getting the needed funds and I told them what was going on. But they swore and threatened to hack my email account and my secondary social media account more if I don't have the payment soon. I have photo for proof

[AndreaG]

Hi Twinky,

I'm sorry to hear what happened! Could you please confirm if this communication was in Upwork Messages? If so, please know that you can flag specific messages for our Trust and Safety team to review, here's how.

[prestonhunter]

You can report a freelancer by navigating to the freelancer's profile page, and clicking on the "Flag as inappropriate" link.

If you don't immediately see that link/button, then look for it under the "Three Dots" icon.

But as a general principle, and not referring to your particular situation... I don't need to "report freelancers."
As a client, I have hired over 180 freelancers on Upwork.
If I don't love their work, or if I don't love working with them, I can simply fire them.

You apparently really did like this freelancer's work, but your complaint is related to how the freelancer behaved when it came to payment (and, specifically, how the freelancer reacted when you didn't pay him). This is a bit confusing to me. Because in all my experience as an Upwork client, payment is simply automatic. I don't do anything. I don't take steps to "pay" freelancers. My credit card is charged automatically, and they get paid, and they're fine.

Maybe there is a point of confusion on your part about how payments are handled through the Upwork platform. Would you like to provide more detail so we can better advise you?

[8a170d63]

Yes, they did well. But it's the fact that their threatening me is the problem. I hoped they would understand as I have a set back financial wise. But they ended up getting agressive with me

[bobafett999]

How can they believe you?  If you couldn't pay, why did you hire them? How much money is involved?

[8a170d63]

I didn't take my account back yet, I told them they can keep a hold on it until I can get the funds together in a few days. Then that's when they flipped out. 200 is involved

[8a170d63]

I would have had it easily but a few financial set backs on my end is making it delay 😩

[bobafett999]

can you offer them half to build trust? and other half by some date in NEAR future.

[bobafett999]

Well most freelancers are burned by buyers not paying them.  Thet did the work, you liked it so now pay.  It really is not their problem.  When you post a job, you have to have enough funds available to pay.

Freelancers don't work on buy now pay later plan.

[tomzilla1]

As a freelancer, it's not professional or ethical to hack your account or threaten you or anyone. However,.. you also have an issue here you need to fix, you promised $X for XYZ work. Freelancer delivered it (he shouldn't have worked on it honestly if I were him knowing your payment has issues), so my personal thought is you should get the payment to the freelancer as soon as possible through Upwork, but secure your accounts to prevent the threat. I'm not sure if Upwork makes you go through escrow deposit when you post a job, but ... something should've been in place to prevent this in the first place.

As for reporting a freelancer - that's your call. I think it's extremely unethical for him/her to even threaten you, but again, he/she may really have put their heart into this and ending up with empty promise. If I were you, I would tell the freelancer an exact date that you will be able to pay them, and perhaps tip them for the late payment to smooth things out.

[bobafett999]

Well Tom Z it is easier for you to say that.  I admire your success on Upwork.  You wouldn't lift a finger for $200 in your world.  However, for many freelancers from less fortunate countries it meana a lot and 200 goes a long way.

Buyers on Upwork have become very creative in cheating freelancers.   For a moment I don't believe that buyer's situation changed so rapidly that they can't afford $200.

Let us entertain this scenerio.  That the buyer is a very experienced buyer and knows which buttons to push to get the freelancer excited.  They are expert in choosing their words such that they appear as victims**Edited for Community Guidelines**.  So here, the buyer 'fingered' the freelancer to say things that are unprofessional.  Now they can come to Upwork and complain about that freelancer and have him kicked off the platform.  That way they don't have to PAY!!!!

[prestonhunter]

We don't know what all happened in the original poster's situation.

But here are some general principles for clients to keep in mind:

- If you hire a freelancer and pay the freelancer, it is best to think of that money as gone forever. It is highly unlikely that you you can pay money to a freelancer and then get that money back.

- If you hire a freelancer and the freelancer turns in work that you don't love, or if the freelancer acts in a way that you don't approve of, then the main thing for you to do is to fire the freelancer. Reporting the freelancer doesn't help you. Reporting the freelancer may help other clients. So reporting may indeed be the right thing to do. But reporting isn't going to help move your project forward.

- Although it is indeed possible to report a freelancer, keep in mind that most things that a client doesn't like are not things that a client can legitimately report a freelancer for. If you don't like a freelancer's art style, or if the freelancer wears an ugly hat, or if the freelancer shows up late for meetings, and most other offenses: The "remedy" for the client is to fire the freelancer. Not report the freelancer.

- If you hire a freelancer to work on your website, and then you don't pay the freelancer for his work, it is not okay for the freelancer to sabotage your website. But if you hire a freelancer to work on your website and then don't pay the freelancer, the freelancer might sabotage your website.

- If you pay the freelancer to create something for you (such as a blog article or a brand new website), and then you don't pay the freelancer for that work, then the website doesn't actually belong to you. The freelancer can do whatever he wants to the website, because the website belongs to him.

[tomzilla1]

I have no idea what you just said there but thank you for your compliments I worked very hard and continue to work hard. By buyer I assume you mean client. A very experienced client I assume you mean a client who is very good at playing whatever system you are talking about. I have no idea what the situation is. I've already said in my original post what I would do.

Are there bad clients? Sure. Are there bad freelancers, absolutely. As a freelancer, I personally assume any failure in a project because I failed to interview the client in the first place and let myself in such a bad position. I would try to make the best of it, and learn from my failure. And yes, I don't typically lift my finger for $200, but there's a reason for that.

Also, I don't see the world as fortunate or unfortunate. Life is not equal. I believe in god helps those who help themselves, and use what you are born with, use what you are born into. I grew up very poor, but early on I decided to make changes. If say I was born in a country with average wage of $1. Yes, $200 would seem like a lot but I would still have my own guiding principles when interviewing the client. I don't care if they paid me $20,000 if the project seems unreasonable and the client seems difficult to work with.

[penngrp]

Sorry, but it is difficult for me to give you credibility **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[penngrp]

Why does my post say "Edited for Community Guidelines when I said it was hard to give them credibility in a business environment?  Was it because I said using that name? Why would it be edited when the name is mentioned several times in the thread. I highly doubt it is their name, and my issue is why do we have to use our names, but a client can just use some obscure made up name. 

[jeremiah-brown]

1. Is your real name "Twinky"?
2. Why would social media affect your payment?  Payment is supposed to happen on Upwork, not external social media sites.
3. Hacking your email account would be wrong, but it also means you gave it to them and have taken things off Upwork's site.  The best way to protect yourself is to keep as much you can on Upwork to rpevent issues like this.
4. Why is the money not in Upwork's escrow?  If it was hourly, the freelancer likely would not be upset about it due to payment protection.  Not saying the freelancer is right, but look at it from their point of view - they worked hard to deliver an end product and now it seems that all that work is lost on someone who [may or may not] be able to pay.  I have been there a few times on this site - there is no shortage of clients trying to screw freelancers, that is fact.

Tell the freelancer you are working on it, maybe share a screenshot of you reaching out to contact Upwork to reassure them, and try to get the issue fixed.