NEED RESPONSE: Action Required. Temporary Account Hold

[b716e636]

I received an email impying that I offered to pay or paid a freelancer outside of Upwork. I have one project posted. I hired a freelancer who blew off scheduled phone calls, was unresponsive, and just today backed out of the project that was supposed to start yesterday. I never offered to pay him (or anyone else) outside of Upwork, but this guy, for reasons unknown to me, sent me a message yesterday asking if I tried to pay him via PayPal. He then said he sent that message in error, despite referring to me by name in that same message. I have no clue if this is related to that strange chat exchange, but I'd really like an explanation. I did not offer to pay him (or anyone else) off the platform.

I extended an offer to another freelancer, but now my account is in limbo while I wait for Trust and Safety to respond to my email (I replied to their suspension email within moments of receiving it).

This is beyond frustrating. If there's anyone with Upwork who can escalate this I would appreciate it. As it is, I've lost three weeks thanks to a freelancer stringing me along until bailing out when asked, now this. I've already contacted chat, but they apparently had no means of contacting T&S.

[AveryO]

Hi Rob, 

I'm sorry to learn that this has inconvenienced you in any way. I will go ahead and follow up your ticket with the team so that they can get back to you the soonest, and resolve the temporary limitation to your account.