Late reply to dispute

[d156ccb7]

What to di if I've been late to respond in dispute within 2 days? Should I open a new or that one still on?

[prestonhunter]

re: "What should I do if I've been late to respond in dispute within 2 days? Should I open a new or that one still on?"

That dispute is probably closed now. It is likely that a time window has now passed and no further action is necessary or possible.

The simplest thing would be to not worry about it.

But it is probably possible to reply to the existing dispute and ask the Upwork representative what you are able to do now.

Is this a dispute that you filed as a client? Or was this a dispute files against you? How much money was at stake?

[d156ccb7]

I opened dispute as a client and I'm requesting a refund from the freelancer who did a poor job.

I also replied to the group and to the freelancer window but nothing happening so far...

[d156ccb7]

I was paying freelancer weekly and spent 1500$

I would like of course to get all money back but don't know if it's possible...

[lysis10]

I'll assume you are the client since this is a client account. And then I would ask you if it's really been two days, because IME the mediator ALWAYS gives clients an extra couple of days  to respond.

[d156ccb7]

Yes, I'm a client and today is the 5th day when I replied. But nothing happening so far

[lysis10]

They will email you, so you have to reply to the email when a mediator contacts you.

[d156ccb7]

I replay to the main group chat and agent chat but i will replay also to the email now

[AveryO]

Hi Valentin, 

I'm sorry to learn that you missed the given time to respond to a dispute ticket. I will go ahead and look into this and get back to you once I have more information. 

ETA: Hi Valentin, the team has reached out to you through a support ticket with more information about your concern. 

[d156ccb7]

Hi Avery,

Is it possible to open another dispute?

[prestonhunter]

Valentin, why do you want to open ANOTHER dispute?

You are the client. Clients don't need to open disputes.

All you need to do is monitor the work you receive from freelancers and close the contracts on any freelancer whose work doesn't measure up.

You can end a contract with a freelancer AT ANY TIME.

Instead of paying people money and then going through a complicated process whereby you try to get some of it back and maybe you succeed and maybe you don't... just don't give them any more money if they are not doing an awesome job for you. Much simpler that way.

[d156ccb7]

I paid a freelancer 1500 and I would like to get a refund that's why. 

Also, there is no option for the me only request a refund and freelancer doesn't reply to me

[d156ccb7]

I want to open a new dispute about a freelancer because the last one been closed for the late reply. Is it possible to open a new one with the same request?

[prestonhunter]

re: "I paid a freelancer 1500 and I would like to get a refund that's why."

I understand that, and I really do hope things work out for with regards to this situation.

But for the future, keep in mind that you don't need to pay any freelancer $1500 if you don't like their work. If you don't like the work a freelancer is doing for you, then just stop paying him.

You told us that you were paying the freelancer weekly.

And eventually the payments added up to $1500.

With an hourly contract, you can see work diaries in real time.

In the future, let the freelancer work a couple hours, and then review the work. Require the freelancer to send you the files. Pause the contract until he does so. If you like the work, then let him keep working. If you don't like the work, then stop.

Right now, Upwork might be wondering why you want all $1500 back. That is not how their dispute system is set up. Upwork might be saying to itself: "The client liked the freelancer's work for four weeks, and is using that work now. But then the client decided he did not want to continue working with the freelancer. That is fine, but why did he ask for all the money back."

And then when you filed a dispute, you did not respond to Upwork's questions, and that made Upwork think the matter was over, and they closed the dispute.

I am wondering if you have Upwork confused.

[d156ccb7]

Dear Preston,

Thank you for the explanation. But in this case the freelancer was doing SEO job and SEO requires time. 

He was promising the results from one month, then same story with the 2nd and 3rd months. Till today day google analytics shows 0 traffic.

Now I understand why he was asking me for the hourly contract because get refund from the hourly contract is way harder than the fixed price.

I didn't reply to the dispute because I get sick for a few days.

Please let me know if I have a chance, in this case, to get my money and I'm not gonna bother your community anymore?

**Edited for community guidelines**

[prestonhunter]

I am sorry that you were sick.

I do not blame you if you feel that is unfair if the dispute was closed without you being able to respond due to your illness.

I hope that I did not give you the impression that Upwork is "my" company, or that I speak for Upwork. I am simply an Upwork user. I work as a freelancer. And I have hired about 100 freelancers on the platform, so I have some experience as a client, primarily hiring for short-term projects.

I have no way of knowing if you have a chance to get your money back.

But I know what it is not really Upwork's intention that clients hire freelancers and then get their money back. Their business model is based on clients hiring money, and not asking for money back.

I think that you DID have a bad experience in hiring a freelancer to do SEO work.

In the screenshots you posted, I can see that the freelancer you hired worked at a rate of $10/hour for many hours, over a period of months, on your behalf. If he did not achieve the results you were hoping for, it is possible that he was in over his head. It seems likely that this was not the right freelancer for your job.

If you choose to not use Upwork because of this, I will completely understand.

Personally, I find Upwork a very useful tool. I hired a freelancer just yesterday, and got help with something I couldn't do on my own.

If you still want freelancers to help you with SEO work, you might try hiring other people here. Or you might try hiring freelancers on another platform. Even if you use another platform, the same types of problems that happened here could happen on other platforms.

Feel free to ask questions specifically about good strategies for hiring SEO help. I don't have experience in that area, but many regular Forum participants are quite knowledgeable.

[d156ccb7]

Thank you Preston I will ask your help when I will discuss with my partner what to do next. Because we have some construction projects going on now and what to do with digital marketing we still have to plan. But SEO we have to do better sooner than later. 

Do you mean if need any help with SEO or any other hiring freelancers job I have to ask you personally or the community?

[prestonhunter]

re: "Do you mean if need any help with SEO or any other hiring freelancers job I have to ask you personally or the community?"

You would not ask me personally.

You could post questions about hiring for SEO in the Forum in a public post. In this thread or (probably better) a brand new thread.

We have had many discussions in the Forum about hiring for SEO, and sometimes we even get into more specific details about successful SEO details.

You would not want to rely on the Forum as a replacement for hiring SEO consultants. But you CAN glean a lot of useful information here if you ask about the topic.

There are OTHER Forum regulars who routinely provide excellent insight on this topic. Sometimes it may take a few days to get input from everybody who is likely to participate.

Beyond that, it can often be useful to hire a number of actual professionals using Upwork contracts, but do so for consultation only.

If you hired 6 different SEO consultants who charge an average of $50/hour, then you could talk to them for 30 minuts each, get a varity of perspectives on successful SEO strategies, and that endeavor would only cost $150 in total.

For that amount, you will have talked to SIX people (not just one) who work at a rate five times the rate that your earlier freelancer was paid.