Refund Request

[57e39151]

Hi. How can I contact upwork to see my status on an upwork escrow refund for a freelancer not doing the job that was requested? He deleted his profile and haven't answered my escrow refund?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

You don't need to contact Upwork Customer Support.

If you hired a freelancer using a fixed-price contract, and then you clicked the button to formally request a refund of the money in escrow, then if the freelancer does nothing, Upwork will AUTOMATICALLY refund all of the escrow money to you in seven days.

So just be patient, and you will receive the money.

If you have any questions, just ask them here.

[57e39151]

Thanks for your help. If the payment was already released to the freelancer and I send to him the refund request and he hasn't repleyed and is not answering my messages. Upwork will still be making me the refund after the 7 days? Beacuse I havent received any notificacion from Upwork either.

[prestonhunter]

re: "If the payment was already released to the freelancer and I send to him the refund request and he hasn't replied and is not answering my messages."

That is a very different matter.

If payment was ALREADY RELEASED to the freelancer (and that money no longer shows up as being in escrow), then the money will not be automatically refunded to you when you close the contract and request a refund.

So it is important to know the difference.

If your credit card was already charged, and the money is STILL IN ESCROW, then you can close the contract, and edit the amount of money to be released, changing it to ZERO, and then all of the money will go back to YOU if the freelancer does nothing.

But if the money was already released to the freelancer, then it's a different matter. If the money was already released to the freelancer, then there is a 30-day period during which you may request help from Upwork to ask for the money back. But it really is Upwork's intention that you don't get money back once you release it.

[57e39151]

That is my case. The money was already released to the freelancer, beacuse the 5 day period already passed. The thing is I'm requesting a refund beacuse the freelancer didn't do the job. I selected on available actions on the contract and selected request refund, but the freelancer didn't reply and is not answering my messages. Can you please tell me the steps I should follow for Upwork to make me the refund?

[prestonhunter]

How much money in total did you pay to this freelancer?

Is the contract still open?

[57e39151]

300$

[prestonhunter]

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062088-Request-a-Refund

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062058-Get-an-Escrow-Refund

[57e39151]

Yes, that was exactly what I did. In the contract I selected request refund. But I have no answer from  Upwork nor the freelancer.

[prestonhunter]

Fixed-price payments do not simply get released to freelancers. When a freelancer does a fixed-price task, the money does NOT GO TO THE freelancer. The money stays in the escrow account controlled by the client. Until the client intentionally clicks a button that releases the money to the freelancer.

Unless the client decides to do nothing at all, and allows the money to be released automatically to the freelancer, which happens 14 days after the freelancer clicks the Submit button.

Here is how the Upwork system works:

Upwork believes that when you intentionally released $300 to this freelancer, you did so because:

- The freelancer did the task you hired him to do.

- The freelancer sent the files to you.

- You reviewed the work.

- You decided that the freelancer had completely finished the task.

- You wanted the $300 to be released to the freelancer.

That is what Upwork's records show, if I correctly understand what you told me.

You subsequently asked the freelancer to give the $300 back to you. The freelancer has declined to do so.

If these things that I said Upwork believes about you are not all correct, then it sounds like you used the Upwork tool incorrectly. You may need to ask questions about what you did incorrectly so that you can avoid making the same mistake in the future.

[57e39151]

Okay I undestand and thankyou for the help. This was not the case, the freelancer asked me for that part of the money to get the job started. He didn't do it and he is not answering me or replying to the refund request. So in this case there is no way to recover the money I paid to the freelancer?

[prestonhunter]

re: "This was not the case, the freelancer asked me for that part of the money to get the job started."

Sometimes bad people pretend to be freelancers and ask for an "upfront payment."

It is not Upwork's intention that clients pay "upfront payments" to freelancers.

Doing so negates the purpose of the escrow system.

re: "He didn't do it and he is not answering me or replying to the refund request."

I believe that this person is a scammer who tricked you.

re: "So in this case there is no way to recover the money I paid to the freelancer?"

You have already tried to ask the freelancer to give that money back to you. He does not want to.

You may try to work with Upwork Customer Support. I don't know if they will be able to help you. Based on what you said, the money has already been withdrawn from Upwork.

I will flag your original post to see if an Upwork moderator will be willing to help you.

But it is important for other people reading this to understand that releasing an upfront payment to a freelancer is NOT how to use the fixed-price contract model correctly, and clients usually will never get that money back, no matter what.

[57e39151]

Okay I get it. And yes if you can flag it to help me I would really appreciate it. I'm shocked and dissapointed about this, beacuse I got using upwork for this job beacuse it was supposed to be 100% secure and prevent people like this to do this scams through the app.

[petra_r]

---

Javier B wrote:

I'm shocked and dissapointed about this, beacuse I got using upwork for this job beacuse it was supposed to be 100% secure

---

It would have been safe had you used Upwork as it is intended to be used.

Just as your bank is safe provided you don't walk into the branch, withdraw the money and then throw it at a random stranger in the street. Would you blame the bank then, too?

[57e39151]

Yes I understand its my fault. I don't get is how the app permits this kind of people to work with the app.

Where can I contact customer support for this specific case? I wanted to report the freelancer to prevent other people for this not to happen to anyone else, but I don't have acces anymore to his profile.

[petra_r]

The freelancer no longer has a profile from what you said.

---

Javier B wrote:

Yes I understand its my fault. I don't get is how the app permits this kind of people to work with the app.

---

How could Upwork have known that the freelancer would do that?

---

Javier B wrote:

Where can I contact customer support for this specific case?

---

What for? The money is gone, so is the freelancer's account. Hire someone else.

[PradeepH]

Hi Javier,

Thank you for your message. I'll have one of our customer support agents reach out to you directly and assist you further.

Thank you

Pradeep