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4d3cce4e
Community Member

Irritated I can't just email customer service. How do I deal with plagiarism?

I scanned the content I received from my freelancer, and Grammarly caught 7% plagiarism. I discussed getting unique content that I own the rights to upon completion of the job via messages on the Upwork website. I'm a little annoyed I have to post in a forum to get help regarding this topic. I already closed the job and left her a good review, but I just found this so not sure how to go about it. I plan on publishing this content to Amazon KDP platform and don't know if I need to create a bibliography now and doing a whole bunch of research so I don't get the hammer. 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
petra_r
Community Member

OK, So was this an hourly contract or a fixed rate one?

 

Plagiarism is never OK, obviously (that goes without saying) and needs to be fixed, but let's just figure out exactly what is what.

 

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petra_r
Community Member

Your freelancer is your first point of contact, so what is she saying about this?

 

How long ago did you release the final milestone?

 

 

4d3cce4e
Community Member

Thanks for responding. I closed out the project about 12 hours ago and just caught it. This is my first time using the Upwork website, and I was under the impression they would settle disputes like this. It's late, and I just messaged her about it but didn't get a response because she's probably asleep. I asked her nicely to tell me where she got the content from. I found a website with matching text, but I don't know if that website is plagiarized too. I'm just confused and almost regretting not doing this job myself. 

 

I was grateful for her work initially. I still am, didn't expect to have to deal with plagiarism. It's a set of instructions that was copy & pasted about how to submit a book to Amazon KDP. I told her I wanted to pay her today and she suggested I give her a bonus for the payment, and she said she'd cancel her hours worked. I read on the site that hours couldn't be edited after the job was closed, so I didn't know if she was trying to pull one over on me. Just not used to not having customer service to resolve my issues. 

 

Thanks for your help, and sorry if I sound flustered and all over the place. 

petra_r
Community Member

OK, So was this an hourly contract or a fixed rate one?

 

Plagiarism is never OK, obviously (that goes without saying) and needs to be fixed, but let's just figure out exactly what is what.

 

4d3cce4e
Community Member

It was hourly and I had turned off manual time initially. She messaged me asking me to turn it on because she did a lot of stuff offline like brainstorming, etc. I turned it on for her. I asked her to only log 10 hours, and she did. The thing is ALL her logged time is manual time so I had a hard time tracking her work. She also submitted the work to me a day after she said she would and said she lost track of time. I gave her a 4.85 rating. Wish I could take it back.
petra_r
Community Member


@Yohance W wrote:
It was hourly and I had turned off manual time initially. She messaged me asking me to turn it on because she did a lot of stuff offline like brainstorming, etc. I turned it on for her. I asked her to only log 10 hours, and she did. The thing is ALL her logged time is manual time so I had a hard time tracking her work. She also submitted the work to me a day after she said she would and said she lost track of time. I gave her a 4.85 rating. Wish I could take it back.

 OK, so all the time was manual time?

In that case you can dispute tomorrow (Monday) afternoon UTC - a button will appear on the contract.

You will win the dispute by default.

 

I am a little confused because you said initially that you paid by bonus? (" I told her I wanted to pay her today and she suggested I give her a bonus for the payment, and she said she'd cancel her hours worked. ")  Have you checked her work diary whether the hours are still there or not?

 

4d3cce4e
Community Member

I did not pay her by bonus. I wanted to pay her immediately (today), but didn't know how the payment system worked on Upwork. I was looking for a pay button. I asked her because I was afraid to click end contract because I thought it might cancel the job. She suggested I pay her the full amount via bonus pay and she said she would delete the hours. I had already ended the contract though, and remember seeing that hours may not be edited after a contract is closed.

Also, I won't be available Monday because I'm in the military and will be unavailable for a couple weeks. That's why I wanted to handle her payment today.

It's all okay. I will just finish the work on my end when I get back and let her get paid. It is MY book after all.

Thanks
petra_r
Community Member


@Yohance W wrote:
I did not pay her by bonus. I wanted to pay her immediately (today), but didn't know how the payment system worked on Upwork. I was looking for a pay button. I asked her because I was afraid to click end contract because I thought it might cancel the job. She suggested I pay her the full amount via bonus pay and she said she would delete the hours. I had already ended the contract though, and remember seeing that hours may not be edited after a contract is closed.

Also, I won't be available Monday because I'm in the military and will be unavailable for a couple weeks. That's why I wanted to handle her payment today.

It's all okay. I will just finish the work on my end when I get back and let her get paid. It is MY book after all.

 You will get charged automatically for all the hours logged this week tomorrow. You have from tomorrow afternoon (UTC) to Friday night (UTC) to dispute.

 

If you do NOT dispute between tomorrow afternoon (UTC) and Friday night (UTC) - the money goes to the freelancer.


And no, you can not dispute today.

 

 

4d3cce4e
Community Member

The freelancer replied to me and said her P.A. did that portion of the work. She said she will have it fixed after a day or two.
petra_r
Community Member


@Yohance W wrote:
The freelancer replied to me and said her P.A. did that portion of the work. She said she will have it fixed after a day or two.

 I am not buying the "my PA bla bla" but that is neither here nor there.

Tell the freelancer to fix it today or you'll be forced to dispute tomorrow.

 

4d3cce4e
Community Member

Yea I know. I'm still being nice to her because arguing gets us nowhere. She said I'd have it in my inbox by the time I get back. I'll message her later today. Not sure if I can dispute with my phone. It will end up working out though. Thank you for all your help.

Also, your Einstein quote is awesome. It reminded me to stay chill because I'm a pretty positive person.
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