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1e7d2aa9
Community Member

Report an unresponsive freelancer

 
10 REPLIES 10
feed_my_eyes
Community Member

It sounds like he doesn't want to work on your project any more but isn't honest enough or professional enough to simply quit. He's hoping that you fire him first, and I'm wondering why you haven't done so? I'm afraid there's nothing that you or Upwork can do to force somebody to work harder or to be more responsive; it would be better to find somebody else to complete the job.

 

It's against the rules to name him in the forum, and I doubt that it would hurt him much even if you did so; few clients read forum posts.

 

Yeah, you are probably right. However, I would expect that if we agree on XYZ hours and/or what need to be completed in order to end the contract, I would expect all parties to respect that. He is getting paid by the hour though so I'm not sure why he wouldn't want to continue.. unless he's on a nother gig that pays him more. I'm paying from my own pocket and investing my savings, so it is extremely frustrating when there's radio silence all of a sudden that lasts for a week or so. That said, we do collaborate well when we work together!

 

I just wanted an input on your suggestion from freelancers on how to deal with situations like this, so thanks for you response. Appreciate that.

robin_hyman
Community Member

Ditch him and find another freelancer who will do the work on your timeline.  Good luck.

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Kaeson,

 

I'm sorry about your experience with this freelancer. Our team will reach out to you directly to assist you with getting in touch with the freelancer and advise on further steps.

 

Thank you.

~ Bojan
Upwork
yitwail
Community Member

Kaeson, if by developer you mean software developer, I can’t think of a reason he can’t work from home, unless he doesn’t own his own equipment, in which case you should work with someone who does.
__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce


John K wrote:
Kaeson, if by developer you mean software developer, I can’t think of a reason he can’t work from home, unless he doesn’t own his own equipment, ...

or the space from which he works.

Maybe he works from a cafe which has now been closed.

Just trying harrrd to make up excuses for this guy...

 

But for real, it's not implausible to think that COVID-19 might have disrupted the workflows of quite a few freelancers.

mtngigi
Community Member


Kaeson R wrote:

So, you have an existing hourly agreement with a freelancer. Everything is working great for a few weeks when all of a sudden he starts to be unresponsive for a few days. We've all met this type of developer -  he is "sick" or his wife is "sick" or his wife "left him" or.. yeah you know the drill. All possible explanations come into play and the developer is totally understanding if I need to ditch him.

Obviously, his explanations can, of course, be a true story, so all good. I'm being totally understanding that life sometimes comes in between. Back to work and everything works fine for another few days. And then, he vanishes again for another few days. This time around, he answers after one week(-ish) that he is afraid of the Coronavirus and getting outdoors. "Ok, so perhaps take this opportunity to stay at home and work instead then?", I responded. Yet again, he's playing the victim card and says that he totally understands if I want to ditch him. I'm starting to really sense that the work ethics this guy possesses is probably crap.

Third time around, he works a bit more for a few hours... Now he's gone again. It's almost like he is only doing stuff by the time he is going to get paid from Upwork. 

 

What does the community suggest I do here? There are just a few things left before the agreed project is completed. Worth mentioning is that I do most of the design myself so I am a bit depending on him "showing up at work". 

 

I will name his profile here in a few days unless he starts shaping up. 


It could be that he is not the one doing the work and is outsourcing - so he'd be dependent on someone else who might be screwing up. That's the first thought I had anyway.

Clients can hire whoever they want to hire, and clients can fire whoever they don't want to work with.

 

So there is literally never a reason why a client would need to "report" a freelancer for being responsive.

 

Personnel turnover is part of any significant project.

resultsassoc
Community Member

Kaeson,

 

Ask Upwork CS to request a health and welfare check on the freelancer. This is primarily because the freelancer may be in serious difficulty; the h&w check is conducted by local police, who typically do so for free and without complaint. I've requested police departments in seveal countries to do this regarding clients' other remote workers. If you have the worker's contact details, you can do this yourself. It seems a reasonable request of Upwork, which has in part created the situation by preventing clients from knowig their freelancers' contact details.

 

The other reason, of course, is that your messages can be safely ignored. The freelancer is unlikely to ignore a police officer knocking on his door. The police officer will not tell him to call you, that's not her job. The third time she is sent to the same address for a health and welfare check on the same individual, she's likely to tell him to answer his darned messages, because it's costing the police department money when he doesn't. Few people want a police department viewing them as a nuisance.

Perhaps Bill H. lives in the only known jurisdiction where the police are authorized to force freelancers to write blog articles for online clients selling shoes.

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