re: "Now he has filed a dispute but when I try to address the dispute and submit my argument it will not load. I’m worried that in 5 days of me not being able to send my comments, they will give the freelancer the money that’s on hold. Who do I talk to if the system is not working?"
It sounds like there may be an actual physical problem with how a form is working. I recommend that you clear your browser cache. Also, try using a different browser entirely.
Also:
Did you receive an email message from an Upwork support person? You may be able to respond to that email message rather than using the dispute for.
Or, as I descibe below, you don't even need to participate in the dispute process. You can just let this go.
re: "Need help!!!"
Jade:
Relax.
I can assure you that you do not actually need help, much less help with three explanation points.
If you are new to using Upwork, what you need is ADVICE.
As a client, you have ALL THE POWER to handle things like this on your own, without needing to rely on other people to help you.
re: "My freelancer was not a professional."
Most Upwork freelancers are very professional.
As a client, I have hired over 100 freelancers on Upwork. Most have been great to work with. But not ALL of them were.
You do not need to be surprised or shocked if you hire a freelancer who doesn't live up to your expectations.
The good thing for you is this:
You don't owe a freelancer like that ANY of your time.
You don't need to continue working with ANY freelancer disappoints you.
Compare this to other situations, such as if this freelancer was your child. You can't just kick your child to the curb if he disappoints you. Or what if you were a teacher, and this is a student in your class and their writing is terrible? It would be your JOB to help them.
But as a client on Upwork?
You are not that freelancer's parent or teacher or mentor or pastor or rabbi or anything of the sort.
You don't owe that freelancer your time or energy.
I recommend that you put yourself and your project first.
Just stop working with that freelancer. It's not your job to train them how to be a better writer.
How much money was involved in ths contract, anyway? Based on your discription, it sounds like this was a fixed-price contract, and it sounds like you tried get money back. That is usually just a waste of time.
The best business decision in situations like this is to simply release any remaining escrow funds and close the contract. A freelancer CAN NOT DISPUTE ANYTHING if you do it that way. In fact, there is nothing the freelancer can do to block such an action by the client. Then you don't need to waste any of your time dealing with the contract any more. You can simply move on and focus on your project, with the help of the top performers on your freelancing team.
re: "Now he has filed a dispute..."
Well, yes... ANY time you hire a freelancer using a fixed-price contract, if you try to get money back that was funded in escrow, the possibility exists that the freelancer might dispute a client's refund request. If you want to avoid that, then you can:
a) use hourly contracts
[or]
b) make sure you don't fund escrow payments that you aren't willing to lose
Basically: If you want to use fixed-price contracts, that's fine. But never fund an esrow payment that you are not prepared to lose forever. Because the freelancer might complete the task, and then you're supposed to release the money to her. Or the freelancer might do the task in a way that you don't love, and you still may need to pay her. What if the freelancer does a terrible job, but disputes your refund request? You might never get that money back. So the simple thing is to just be prepared for all funded escrow payments to go to the freelancer.
If you are working with a freelancer you don't know well, then rather than funding $1000 for ALL steps in the project... fund $50 for the FIRST STEP only. And if you don't like that freelancer's work, then the most money you can lose is $50.
