๐Ÿˆ
ยป Forums ยป Clients ยป How long after ending the contract, can I ask...
Page options
Priya's avatar
Priya T Community Member

How long after ending the contract, can I ask the freelancer to help with the project?

My webpage broke due to plugin issue or something else, im not sure and I asked the freelancer to look at it, but she is being unresponsive. I ended the contract only a few days ago. Is there apolicy on upwork for freelancers to provide support upto a certain number of days after they deliver the project and contract ends.

5 REPLIES 5
John's avatar
John K Community Member

Priya, once you've closed a contract, the freelancer isn't obligated to provide support. I suppose you could try and dispute the payment you made, but that won't fix your website. If getting it fixed is your priority, you might ask the freelancer if they'll fix it for a fee, and if they still don't respond, then you might have to create another job to fix your website. FYI, if I had worked on the website, I would have fixed it as a courtesy if it was my oversight or if not, I would have at least explained to you why it's broken now. 

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Never ask a freelancer to work for free.

 

Because you don't want people on your team who are working for free. They have no motivation to make your project a priority.


Whenever you ask a freelancer to help you, always start out this way: "Can I pay you to...?"

 

Priya's avatar
Priya T Community Member

It happened barely days after the contract was ended by me. Wordpress had a new version released and the plugins might have acted up because of that. Even during the contract period the freelancer was hard to reach and prompt communication was always a problem. After the contract ended and I asked her if she can look into it, she did reply to me - do not worry, I will look into it. And then a deafening silence from then on. Now why do I remember seeing this somewhere on upwork that they are supposed to support us after upto 14 days of delivering the project for minor tweaks or changes. Can someone help me point to that page or share the link. 

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

My time as a client is valuable.

 

Even if there was a rule at Upwork that said a freelancer must give free support or whatever, I would still contact any freelancer by saying "Hello, Jane! Thank you for your work on my project. Can I hire you to do some additional work?"

 

I WANT to put any freelancer who is working on my system under contract.

Because I WANT them to put forth their best effort and I WANT them to know that my project is important.

 

That way I can get the work done as quickly as possible and I can get the work done with thoughtfulness and consideration. I WANT to re-hire the freelancer using an hourly contract. NOT because I'm "nice", but because I'm selfish and I want what is best for my project.

 

If a freelancer is not available to work on the project on MY schedule, then I will hire somebody else.

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member

You remember wrong, that doesn't exist. You might mean that the client has 14 days to request changes when a fixed price job is submitted by the freelancer, but that means the contract is still open. When you closed it, there is no period to request changes. If it was hourly, nothing of the above applies. 

Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths