Late milestone - How to freeze payment until work delivered?

[9cb24baa]

Hello

I hired someone for a job with 2 milestones 1 week ago. The job title does say in capital letter URGENT. I sent all the documents, explained everything 1 week ago. I didn't hear anything for the whole week. Today which was meant to be the delivery of milestone n*1, the person tells me he couldn't work on it much because of his internet connection and is asking if it can be postponed for 1-2 days. 

How do I make sure this freelancer does not get paid today for milestone n*1 as the money is in escrow? And I can't change the date of the milestone since it is today, how to adjust it? If the freelance doesn't deliver tomorrow, can I cancel the job?

Thanks

[youssefbahaa]

Hello Tiana, don't worry because the freelancer won't get paid unless you approve the milestone after you are satisfied with the submitted work regardless of the deadline.

In case the freelancer doesn't submit the work and you aren't willing to postpone the deadline, you can just close the job and request a refund, the freelance will have either to approve the refund or dispute.

I hope this answers your question : )

Best wishes,

Youssef Bahaa

[9cb24baa]

Thanks Youssef!

[prestonhunter]

A few points:

The deadline shown on a fixed-price milestone or contract is only a text string. It may mean something to you, but the Upwork software does not utilize that date.

There is no way to change that date.

Escrow money is not released automatically based on any deadline date or any other date shown on the contract. Escrow money is released by you, the client.

So money is not going to go to the freelancer automatically just because the date arrives.

But also, as a client, you have no way to unilaterally retrieve the money. Your initial options are to release the money to the freelancer, or to ask the freelancer to refund money to you. If you ask, the freelancer has the option to reject your request. If you formally ask for a refund via the user interface, and the freelancer rejects the request, then a formal dispute ensues. If the dispute process fails to resolve the matter, then the next step would be arbitration, which would cost you $291.

So is it possible to "cancel" the contract?
Yes.

Is it possible to cancel the contract unilaterally?
Yes, if you first release all escrow money to the freelancer.

Is it possible to cancel the contract unilaterally and get your money back?
No.

What about if the deadline has passed?

No, that is irrelevant as far as how the user interface works.

From a tactical perspective, if you actually have an important deadline... (and we are speaking about future projects of course, not your current project), then if you want to guarantee that you receive work by a deadline, you need to hire multiple freelancers - enough to hedge your bet - or you need to hire a freelancer you have worked with before and who you are certain will deliver by the deadline. If you hire using hourly contracts, then you can hire multiple freelancers without tying any money up.

Tactically speaking, there is no way to hire a single unknown freelancer and guarantee delivery of work by a specific deadline. Upwork does not guarantee that. Nor does any other freelance work platform.

[lysis10]

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Youssef B wrote:

Hello Tiana, don't worry because the freelancer won't get paid unless you approve the milestone after you are satisfied with the submitted work regardless of the deadline.

TFW: Milestone gets released in 14 days regardless of approval.