Refund a project when a freelancer did not meet the deadline and has been unproductive

[2a830e9e]

Hi,

How do we refund hours paid (full refund) when a freelancer has been unproductive from the very beginning, the 2 weeks deadline was not met, has logged full hours but was seen with bad or unproductive results. As we have been monitoring his progress for the past 2 weeks we have seen minimal code push, project not even 25% done after 2 weeks and has not been communicating for several days. After the 4th call out we have decided to cancel and request for a refund.

Refund was made the friday after the last invoice (Monday)

Questions:
1. After requesting refund for all invoices, should we close the contract?

2. Can we refund all of the invoices? 2 in total.
3. If he disputes how can we send evidences if ever required to show that he has not worked properly?

[prestonhunter]

re: "If he disputes how can we send evidences if ever required to show that he has not worked properly?"

You can try.

There are more details here:

Request a Refund

Jtb:

This is the wrong freelancer for your project.

The whole idea of a refund is largely irrelevent. The important thing is that you close the contract and work with other people.

Only work with people who provide the most value to your project.

The best way you could get a refund would be directly ask the freelancer to give you a refund.

Other than that, there is not really a basis for getting a refund, because with an hourly contract you are paying for the freelancer's time, not for a specific deliverable.

Refunds drag clients and their projects down. So the best thing you could do would be to manage your projects proactively. Quickly end contracts with under-performing freelancers. And decide in your own mind that refunds don't exist and do not provide a way to get money back.

[kat303]

For hourly contracts a freelancer is paid for the HOURS they worked, not for the quality they produced. You have 5 days to look over the screen shots and dispute any hours that show the freelancer was Not working or was doing something else besides working on your job. 

Tomorrow is the last day to dispute hours for the prior week. The time limit for the first invoice has passed.  

During the first week, when you saw that the freelancer was unproductive, you could have closed the contract right then and there. 

Answers to your questions.

1. Yes, otherwise, the freelancer can keep logging hours.

2. No, just the prior week 

3.You can dispute:--Manual hours and hours that show low activity, game playing, reading/responding to email, surfing the internet, and any other hours where the freelancer is not working on your job. (not the quality of the work) The evidence would be the screen shots showing the above. 

[AveryO]

Hi Jtb, 

I'm sorry to learn about your experience with this freelancer. You should be able to dispute the hours for this week, and you may refer to this article for more information about disputing hours logged on a contract. The dispute team will assist you further should you file a dispute. 

In the meantime, you may also refer to the article Preston has noted on his reply for more information about requesting a refund. Should you decide on closing the contract, you may leave appropriate feedback for the freelancer.

I will also go ahead and share your experience with the team so that they can assist you further with this contract.