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eb29cd46
Community Member

How to file a freelancer complaint?

Hello, I am relatively new to UpWork and have already had a freelancer request double the contracted amount or refuse to proceed with the contract.  He would not negotiate in any way except to receive double the payment for the remaining two milestones. How do I file a complaint to UpWork about this freelancer? Thank you! 

33 REPLIES 33
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Michelle

 

I'm sorry about your experience with this freelancer. One of our team members will reach out to you directly and review your complaint and advise you about the options you have!

~ Bojan
Upwork

re: "...have already had a freelancer request double the contracted amount or refuse to proceed with the contract.  He would not negotiate in any way except to receive double the payment for the remaining two milestones. How do I file a complaint to UpWork about this freelancer?"

 

Michelle:

I am glad Bojan has offered Upwork's assistance in this matter.

 

But I'm not sure you need it.

 

From what you described, this freelancer is behaving in an unprofessional manner. It sounds like you already know you should stop working with him.

 

If he completed milestone 1 and delivered the work to you, and now wants to re-negotiate terms mid-stream - asking for double the payment... Why don't you simply tell him no and close the contract?

 

If you have not funded the remaining two milestones, then there should be no money on the line, and you can close the contract on your own. You don't need anybody's permission to do that.

 

If you have already funded the second milestone, and then the freelancer started behaving this way, then you could tell him "no, thank you," and you can use the client-side interface to request a full refund.

 

Only if he refuses to refund the money would you need to file a dispute.

3be0c234
Community Member

A freelancer built a website for me. I discovered she used stolen software and placed malicious code on my site. She now refuses to respond to me.

What is Upwork's policy on it's freelancer's criminal activity against clients?

 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ken,

 

I'm sorry about your experience with this freelancer. Our team will reach out to you directly to assist you with getting in touch with the freelancer and advise on further steps.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork
f462617a
Community Member

Hi Bojan, how do I file a complaint about a freelancer who did not address the request I made? I gave the freelancer some work to do. However, he solved something else - totally unrelated to the problem I asked him to solve. and now he is charging me. I feel cheated cos I have to do the work again on my own entirely. 

Oba, that contract was strictly between you and the freelancer. Upwork is not party to the contract. I  highly recommend that you review the Terms of Service to understand how this platform operates.

b99c8f02
Community Member

Hello,

 

How do I file a complaint about a freelancer that I dealt with on Upwork, but to continue for the next phase he asked me to go offline? I have a blackmail situation now on my hand where he has deleted the files from our system. 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

I'm sorry to hear that, Alex. 

 

I can see that this was already escalated to the correct team and one four agents just followed up with you to schedule a call in order to assist you further. Kindly, follow up with our agent and they'll be more than happy to address this report further and advise you on further steps regarding your project. You should also be able to access the ticket directly here.

~ Bojan
Upwork
9f392d98
Community Member

 hi...i had a similar issue with a freelancer...how can i complain about this...the freelancer did most of the job..then wanted more money to complete it and when he wasnt happy with what i offered..even though that was blackmail..he just stopped work and ended the contract leaving me hanging...thats crazy ..can u pl help me.

re: "i had a similar issue with a freelancer...how can i complain about this...the freelancer did most of the job..then wanted more money to complete it and when he wasnt happy with what i offered..even though that was blackmail..he just stopped work and ended the contract leaving me hanging...thats crazy ..can u pl help me."

 

I don't really see this as an Upwork issue.

 

It strikes me more as a "project management" or "freelancer management" issue.

 

What I advise is that you put YOURSELF and YOUR PROJECT first.

 

That means doing what is best for YOU.

 

Reporting somebody like this to Upwork is all about helping OTHER PEOPLE. If you want to help other people, that is fine, but that needs to come secondary to your responsibility to your project and the people in your own company.

 

If you have a freelancer on your team who wants more money, then YOU shouldl decide whether or not to pay that freelancer more money, or stop working with that freelancer. Do what is best for your project.

 

But if this freelancer has ALREADY ENDED THE CONTRACT....

Then it seems like the time for making that decision has already passed, hasn't it?

 

I suppose you could contact the freelancer and offer him more money. But you could ALSO move forward on the project WITHOUT that freelancer. You can assign the remaining work to other members of your team. Or hire new team members if necessary.

 

re: "can you please help me."

 

We can help you by providing advice.

 

Upwork can't make that freelancer work for you any more if that freelancer is no longer interested in doing so.

 

And you shouldn't want that. As a client, your project is important to you, and you don't want anybody working on your important project who doesn't want to be there. You don't want somebody who resents having to do the work. That will not yield the quality results that you desire.

re: "the freelancer did most of the job... then wanted more money to complete it and when he wasn't happy with what i offered..even though that was blackmail"

 

I'm not sure why you used the word "blackmail."

 

When I hire somebody to work for me, I pay them money.

Then, if I want them to do more work, I pay them more money.

 

That is not "blackmail." That is how employment and freelancing works.

 

Any serious project is going to start out with certain goals in place. And we work on those, and achieve them. And then we see that there is more to do to fully realize our vision of the project. We work with freelancers to refine the project and make it better. And then we see some more things that can be done. And we work with freelancers to make it even better. And each time we do that, we pay the freelancers to do the work that we want done. That's how these things work.

a0be16c5
Community Member

Recently I hired a freelancer named.  After I hired this guy he said "His account was suspended by Upwork due to some violations. He is asking to pay using Paypal or else he won't start work. Ib already shared all the resources and my back end scripts. I don't know what to do. Can any please help me with this 

re: "Recently I hired a freelancer named. After I hired this guy he said 'His account was suspended by Upwork due to some violations. He is asking to pay using Paypal or else he won't start work. I already shared all the resources and my back end scripts. I don't know what to do. Can any please help me with this?"

 

It is a serious violation of Upwork ToS for a client to pay a freelancer directly using PayPal, or using any other method.

 

If a client is caught doing this, his Upwork account will be suspended. If a freelancer is caught accepting such payments, his account will be suspended.

 

But setting aside the rules entirely, you should know that this freelancer does not intend to actually do any work for you. He is trying to trick you into paying him money through PayPal, and then he plans to disappear. Of he may string you along if necessary by sending you source code or other files he downloaded from the Internet and didn't actually create, and which do not actually meet your needs.

 

So even if it were not against Upwork's rules, it would be a bad idea to pay this person any money.

 

My advice to you is to block communications with him entirely, in whatever tools you have been using to talk to him.

 

 

Yes, I'm not ready to pay him other than Upwork. This guy is forcing me because i shared my scripts with him. I want to raise a serious action against him.

 

re: "This guy is forcing me because i shared my scripts with him. I want to raise a serious action against him."

 

He is forcing you to do what?

He can't force you to pay him. He can't force you to work with him.

Just block him.

Don't waste your time with him.

 

Under some circumstances we would advise you to report him to Upwork. But he has already been removed from the platform.

I shared my backend work with him to develop a web site. Now I'm worried
about the work that i shared.

If you provided him with any passwords or usernames, then change them.

 

re: "what if I was hired outside of upwork but the company is registered here?"

 

What if you were hired outside of Upwork?
Then Upwork is not going to help you.

Sorry.

 

re: "I've been demanding my pay for this past month."

 

You need to stop doing that. This is over.

 

re" This company only employ people on facebook and employee referral. We don't have a way to demand it if they don't wanna give it"

 

You are correct. You have no way of getting money from them. You are only harming yourself be continuing to desire that money.

 

re "They always say next week. But next week, they won't pay you."

 

You are correct. They are not going to pay you.

 

re: "They are newly registered agency in here named**Edited for community guidelines**. Is there something we can do about it?"

 

No.

 

re: "I'm worried because we don't have contract."

 

Stop worrying.

 

re: "We were supposed to get paid weekly. They are always changing the schedule of payment. I'm not employed there already but they don't give me my last pay. I've worked for them as an appointment setter in"

 

I am sorry if you are disappointed by all this.

Learn from your mistakes.

Do not make the same mistakes again in the future.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Sonic, 


I'm sorry to learn that your having issues with your hired freelancer. Since their account was suspended for a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service, it would be best to discontinue any work and communication with the freelancer. As Preston has shared, if you need to update any login information/credentials, it would be best to do so. 


~ Avery
Upwork
webwithbenefits
Community Member

Hello, I need to file a formal complaint about a freelancer who wants to be paid for submitting this video as his work: 

**Edited for community guidelines**

This is clearly not what we're paying for. Can someone please contact me? This is unacceptable. He should not be scamming companies on Upwork like this.

 

re: "I need to file a formal complaint about a freelancer who wants to be paid for submitting this video as his work"

 

Sarah:

As a client, you have ALL THE POWER.


Why do you think you need to file a complaint about a freelancer?
If you don't like his work, just stop working with him.

 

It is not Upwork's intention that clients "file a complaint" if they don't like a freelancer's work.

Clients may fire freelancers whenever they want to. You don't need to ask anybody's permission for that.

 

It is not Upwork's intention to watch a video that you send, and then make a decision based on what they see in a video, about what they are supposed to do with a freelancer. Upwork doesn't want its personnel watching random, out-of-context videos sent in by users. Upwork wants clients to use their platform to find, hire, and pay freelancers. Upwork wants clients to use all of the freedom they have been given as CLIENTS (far more freedom than "employers" have) to manage their projects and to manage the freelancers they hire.

 

As a client I have hired over 150 freelancers on Upwork.

Most do great work. Some do subpar work. Some do no work. I expect that.

 

If I don't like a freelancer's work, I throw it away and use the work from the members of the team whose work I do like. And I stop working with underperforming freelancers.

 

If you really want to take your time to go through a formal refund process, you can:

 

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

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062088-Request-a-Refund

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062158-Dispute-a-Freelancer-s-Hours

 

But usually the most business-expedient thing to do is not even bother with any of that. You're not required to request a refund or dispute a freelancer's hours.

 

If you want to, before you even do any of that, you could simply send a message to the freelancer, telling him that you can't use his work, and asking him for a refund.

>> And I stop working with underperforming freelancers.

 

Bingo!  Simple, quick and easy solution.

 

Can't help but wonder whether the proverb that 'cheap can quickly become expensive' might also apply here, as well.

Hi Sarah,

 

One of our agents will reach out to you directly via support ticket to look into your report and advise you on further steps.

 

Thank you! 

~ Bojan
Upwork
1b9026a9
Community Member

Hi Bojan,

 

How can I provide feedback for an unprofessional freelancer? A warning of some kind for other clients? This freelancer I was discussing with cancelled a discussion 30 minutes before we had scheduled it about a week earlier. My team had planned and created a keynote specifically for that discussion.

 

When I asked him if we could reschedule, he offered no apology and said he was too busy with other clients. He has clearly demonstrated a poor understanding and respect of people’s time, but am surprised there is no way to provide this feedback for others interested in offering him contracts...

 

yofazza
Community Member

You can't leave a feedback if you're still in the interview phase.

 

I know it's annoying but I think you need to get used to it because that's how it works. I've had clients reschedule a meeting 15 minutes before the time, and then ghosted me.

 

You need to spend time and maybe some money at the beginning, to interview and maybe pay a few freelancers for test works (or small parts of actual work) to find the good ones.

 

Don't put 100% trust on profiles.

cynco
Community Member

I hired a freelancer to build a website for me. After finishing about half of it, I made a payment. Afterwards he said he didn't know how to finish it and correct the exsisting bugs so we agreed to end the contract. Months later he came back and said he wanted more money. When I refused he broke into my hosting and deleted my website. What can I do about this?

 

cynco
Community Member

I hired a freelancer to build a website for me. He did about half of the work, I made a payment to him and then he never finished the website. What I got was a partially finished website with lots of bugs. We agreed to end the contract. Later he sent me a new contract request for the remaining balance even though he did no additional work on the website or even fixed the bugs on what was there. When I did not accept the second contract, in retaliation he got into my hosting account and deleted all of my files.  Is there something I can do about this? 

re: "What can I do about this?"


In the future:

After a freelancer is no longer part of your team, you are supposed to CHANGE the credentials. So that he can't access your site.

 

For right now:
The web hosting provider has backups of your site.

You are the paying client.

So contact them.
Explain that you need to restore the site from backup.

And then change the credentials.

5be821a9
Community Member

I hired a freelancer to develop an APP, I was pretty much satisfied with the quality and the test. But when I paid full payment, the developer is not responding anymore and on me several requests, he is not handing over the source files. Please advise what to do. 

362b92a2
Community Member

my freelancer is not doing the work properly and when i am asking her to make changes she is refusing

re: "my freelancer is not doing the work properly and when i am asking her to make changes she is refusing"

 

This means that she is no longer part of your team.

 

Stop asking her to make changes.

 

Assign the work to other members of your team.

You can just end the contract if she is refusing to work and you can hire someother freelancer 

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