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9ff52ae4
Community Member

Previously hired worker takes too long to respond

Hi,
The person we worked with previously - who was fantastic at answering our questions previously is suddenly taking 2 to 3 days to respond to SINGLE URGENT question (while constantly appearing online) and is trying to change contract terms to hourly contract after preparing the job for us on a fixed cost basis (saying he is the only one who can effectively change his code) - not a very professional way to handle client questions.
I wonder what can we do in this case?
Dmitry

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

It is not a bait and switch, you purchased his services at one rate in the past and are happy with the work. He has agreed to fix any errors you have found in the past work that you already paid for. He has since raised his rates since you last hired him, and he prefers to work on hourly bases as opposed to a fixed price basis. You can choose to hire him at his new rate or find someone else who fits your budget. You can't force a freelancer to work for you or accept any rate you offer for a new project. Just as you have the freedom to hire anyone you want, they also have the freedom to choose whom they work for and at what rate. 

 

It seems like you got an amazing deal the first time, probably because he was not aware of how much his work was worth, or he was new and hungry for an initial project to get ratings. 

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15
prestonhunter
Community Member

If you have questions for this freelancer, you should hire him using an hourly contract.

 

Are you talking about a business? Or some little hobby?

If this is my business then of course I have a freelancer who has knowledge and expertise that can help my business on an hourly contract. I know that every time I send a question, he is motivated to answer and help me out because he logs every minute he spends, and gets paid for that work.

 

In fact, I look at his profile page and see what he regularly charges other clients. And I insist that his contract with me pays ten dollars an hour more than his contracts with anyone else. I want to be number one in his mind.

why you think hourly contract is for serious business and fixed cost is for hobbies?

re: "Why do you think that an hourly contract is for serious business and a fixed-price contract is for hobbies?"

 

That's not what I think.

 

I think if you are serious about wanting a freelancer to help you, you should pay him for his work.

 

A freelancer who you once hired may have answered some of your questions in order to be nice. But he is under no obligation to do so.

 

By asking him for additional work, including asking him questions, when there is no contract in place to cover they work, you were violating Upwork prohibitions against asking for free work. This freelancer was being polite by not reporting you.

 

But let's set aside all considerations of rules and policies. Instead, I urge you to put yourself and your project first. The way to do that is to hire the freelancer using an hourly contract and put yourself at the front of the line when it comes to receiving his valuable attention.

jr-translation
Community Member


Dmitriy C wrote:

Hi,
The person we worked with previously - who was fantastic at answering our questions previously is suddenly taking 2 to 3 days to respond to SINGLE URGENT question (while constantly appearing online) and is trying to change contract terms to hourly contract after preparing the job for us on a fixed cost basis (saying he is the only one who can effectively change his code) - not a very professional way to handle client questions.
I wonder what can we do in this case?
Dmitry


Do you have his code or do you fully depend on him?

You could make it an hourly contract and limit the weekly hours to what you think is reasonable. If you feel you can not trust the freelancer, you can just end the contract or check the worksheets you get. You should also define the deliverable (eg. updated code after each change/week).

Here is a test that a client can do to see if a freelancer is obligated to answer a question as part of a fixed-price contract:

 

Is the contract closed?

Then the freelancer is not obligated to answer any questions.

 

Is there a funded milestone? 
If no, then the freelancer is not obligated to answer any questions.

 

If there IS a currently open contract, with a currently funded milestone, then look in the written description for that milestone task. Does the SPECIFIC question that you want to ask appear in the written description of the task [or] does the written task description specifically state that the work on this task includes answering any questions the client has pertaining to the project?

If the answer is no, then the freelancer is not obligated to answer the question.

 

MOST OF THE TIME freelancers are very happy to answer a client's questions and will be very accommodating. But this means that the freelancers are being generous. They are trying to provide good customer service. They are under no obligation to do so.

 

A wise client knows that he doesn't have time and money to waste on having people working on his project for free.

yitwail
Community Member


Dmitriy C wrote:

Hi,
The person we worked with previously...  is trying to change contract terms to hourly contract after preparing the job for us on a fixed cost basis


Dmitriy, trying to change contract terms is known as "bait and switch", and it's inexcusable. Unless you've already paid a lot of money to the freelancer, you should end the contract and hire someone else in my opinion.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce

The original poster's wording does not really indicate that he has an open contract with the freelancer. He refers to a "previously hired" freelancer. It was my impression that there is currently no open contract.

 

Ultimately, whether or not there is a currently an open fixed-price contract is mostly irrelevant. The original poster has already been advised how to put his project first and achieve success.

9ff52ae4
Community Member

yes he did a gerat job of coding for a fixed price (200 USD for a script) before and now he says he is the ONLY one who can effectively change the code..He worked as a fixed contract before and now insists on hourly rate for only 2 features - he made ike 20 featrues at fixed cost before. Here is his last reply....I am new to this place and was thought it was full of decent coders....with some integrity...

 

I do not refuse my promise to correct errors in the script, let me know if you'll find some.
 If you do not agree with this, I see no reason to discuss new features. I can’t work for free.

 

I am not offerign to work for free - I am paying 30 usd for 2 features fixed-cost (20 features were made for 200 usd before)!

This freelancer has acted professionally, has demonstrated considerable skill, and has also been very patient with the client.

 

The freelancer has already explained to you what your options are if you want to hire him. He is not available at this time for you to hire using a fixed-price contract.

 

It is not accurate to say that only this freelancer can make changes to the current source code. The freelancer has delivered the source code to you. You are welcome to hire anybody you want to make further changes to it.

 

Do you have any other questions?


Maybe this conversation is not serving your needs. Maybe you can tell us what it is that you want to hear?

It is not a bait and switch, you purchased his services at one rate in the past and are happy with the work. He has agreed to fix any errors you have found in the past work that you already paid for. He has since raised his rates since you last hired him, and he prefers to work on hourly bases as opposed to a fixed price basis. You can choose to hire him at his new rate or find someone else who fits your budget. You can't force a freelancer to work for you or accept any rate you offer for a new project. Just as you have the freedom to hire anyone you want, they also have the freedom to choose whom they work for and at what rate. 

 

It seems like you got an amazing deal the first time, probably because he was not aware of how much his work was worth, or he was new and hungry for an initial project to get ratings. 


Dmitriy C wrote:

yes he did a gerat job of coding for a fixed price (200 USD for a script) before and now he says he is the ONLY one who can effectively change the code.


If he has really written the code in such a way that it's impossible or very difficult for another programmer to change it, then he didn't do a professional job. However, it's possible he felt that the price you were paying him did not justify the time it would take to write professional-quality, adaptable code. Perhaps you prioritized a low price over code quality and adaptability.

The purpose of a fixed-price contract is to know ahead of time what the cost will be. Many clients also choose fixed-price contracts speciifically to control costs.

 

Code quality is not a reason for choosing fixed-price contracts.


Richard W wrote:

Dmitriy C wrote:

yes he did a gerat job of coding for a fixed price (200 USD for a script) before and now he says he is the ONLY one who can effectively change the code.


If he has really written the code in such a way that it's impossible or very difficult for another programmer to change it, then he didn't do a professional job. However, it's possible he felt that the price you were paying him did not justify the time it would take to write professional-quality, adaptable code. Perhaps you prioritized a low price over code quality and adaptability.


The freelancer may be right in saying he's the only one now to (cost) effectively change the code. That says nothing about quality. In fact one can only assume the quality is not that bad: if the code was low-quality it wouldn't matter much who works on it, it would still take ages to add new stuff.

 

"Adaptable" code means it's fast & easy to maintain & develop. However, bear in mind you first have to get to know the project, which takes a fixed amount of time. The original freelancer might need just a few hours to implement the 2 features, whereas a new person could take a whole day just to know the code, then a few more hours to do the job.

Excellent points by Andrei.

 

I don't know for certain that the freelancer ever said: "I am the only person who can modify this source code."


He might may have simpy pointed out to the client what Andrei said.

You are overly protective of the worker and imply that I did not understand what he meant - he meant that he is best positioned to change his code fast and therefore I will have to pay him by the hour and much more than before....this is what he meant and this is utterly unprofessional.

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