Sue upwork

2a4411df · ‎11-19-2019

So i hired a freelancer early this year to build a product hourly rate and half way into the contract the freelancers account got suspended by upwork and the freelancers disappeard now leaving me stranded with no products and lots of money alreaady invested into this development and now upwork is not been helpful.

Trying to figure out how to recover all the money invested at this point and if not possibly going ahead to sue

michael_skaggs · ‎11-19-2019

Because immediately threatening to lawyer-up is totally going to make someone want to work with you.

And doing so on a public community forum is sure to reach the right person to even deal with the matter.

AveryO · ‎11-19-2019

Hi Joshua,

Please give me some time to look into your case and review it with the teams involved and I will come back here once I have more information.

~ Avery

2a4411df · ‎11-21-2019

Thanks Avery

AveryO · ‎11-22-2019

Hi Joshua,

I apologise for the delay in my reply as I had to review this together with the team. A member of the team willl reach out to you to assist you further with your concern.

Thank you for your patience!

~ Avery

0814a04f · ‎12-16-2019

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Clients/Sue-Upwork/td-p/680223

prestonhunter · ‎12-17-2019

re: "So i hired a freelancer early this year to build a product hourly rate and half way into the contract the freelancers account got suspended by upwork and the freelancers disappeard now leaving me stranded with no products and lots of money alreaady invested into this development and now upwork is not been helpful."

It sounds like the project was poorly managed.

There is no basis for "suing" anyone if a specific member of the team can no longer continue working on the project. What if the freelancer had been eaten by a shark while surfing? Would you sue the shark?

If I am managing a project, then I routinely acquire and review the assets being submitted by each team member. If a team member quits or dies or gets sick or adopts puppies or falls in love or whatever, then I reassign their responsibilities to the other team members. Sometimes I may need to hire new individuals to continue the work. Turnover is normal. How does someone not know that?

prestonhunter · ‎08-29-2021

re: "I read your project management responses on a number of forums and your advice is 0% helpful."

That is not correct.

My advice is helpful.

It is grounded in extensive experience and based on real-world situations that clients have faced repeatedly.

Telling somebody to "shut up" is not an argument or point. If you find a flaw in any of my posts, please reply to them in their their respective thread and provide your viewpoint.

re: "What do you do for a living? Attack people who have already lost invested money?"

You are using the word "attack." That is not the correct word.

My advice empowers clients.

Empowering somebody is not the same thing as attacking them.

This is a very simple concept:

When you face a problem that is not your fault, then what can you do? If the environment you are in is out of your control, and you can't do anything about it, or if other people are solely responsible for your fate... Then what can you do? What hope is there?

But if YOU are responsible for what happens to you... Then it means YOU have the power.

My advice is based on giving clients their power back by telling them what THEY can do to succeed.

re: "You seem... pessimistic. Go speak positivity into the world or don’t say anything at all."

Some people read posts by clients who have lost money and they see a "victim." I don't encourage clients to see themselves as "victims." A victim is not somebody who rises to the top and succeeds. I prefer to see clients as people with all the power to accomplish their goals. Clients who have "lost" some money due to their lack of understanding of project management or the Upwork platform are better off understanding themselves as empowered businesspeople who have learned from their mistakes.

This is a very positive message. I understand that there are messages I post which people might find surprsing, or which they might disagree with. Based on what I have actually written, I would understand it if someone accused me of being Pollyannaish. But to characterize my advice as "pessimistic" strikes me as surprising.

If a client feels that they have lost money, and the come to the Forum seeking help, I provide detailed information and/or links to help them get money back if it possible to do so. But it doesn't help any client to placate them by telling them will get money back if they really can't do so. Clients are always going to be better off if they receive the truth (even if it is not what they were hoping to hear) and if they are provided with more effective strategies to use in the future.

a_lipsey · ‎08-29-2021

Preston H wrote:
re: "I read your project management responses on a number of forums and your advice is 0% helpful."

That is not correct.
My advice is helpful.
It is grounded in extensive experience and based on real-world situations that clients have faced repeatedly.

Telling somebody to "shut up" is not an argument or point. If you find a flaw in any of my posts, please reply to them in their their respective thread and provide your viewpoint.

re: "What do you do for a living? Attack people who have already lost invested money?"

You are using the word "attack." That is not the correct word.
My advice empowers clients.
Empowering somebody is not the same thing as attacking them.

This is a very simple concept:
When you face a problem that is not your fault, then what can you do? If the environment you are in is out of your control, and you can't do anything about it, or if other people are solely responsible for your fate... Then what can you do? What hope is there?

But if YOU are responsible for what happens to you... Then it means YOU have the power.

My advice is based on giving clients their power back by telling them what THEY can do to succeed.

re: "You seem... pessimistic. Go speak positivity into the world or don’t say anything at all."

Some people read posts by clients who have lost money and they see a "victim." I don't encourage clients to see themselves as "victims." A victim is not somebody who rises to the top and succeeds. I prefer to see clients as people with all the power to accomplish their goals. Clients who have "lost" some money due to their lack of understanding of project management or the Upwork platform are better off understanding themselves as empowered businesspeople who have learned from their mistakes.

This is a very positive message. I understand that there are messages I post which people might find surprsing, or which they might disagree with. Based on what I have actually written, I would understand it if someone accused me of being Pollyannaish. But to characterize my advice as "pessimistic" strikes me as surprising.

If a client feels that they have lost money, and the come to the Forum seeking help, I provide detailed information and/or links to help them get money back if it possible to do so. But it doesn't help any client to placate them by telling them will get money back if they really can't do so. Clients are always going to be better off if they receive the truth (even if it is not what they were hoping to hear) and if they are provided with more effective strategies to use in the future.

Preston, whether or not it's helpful is up to the person asking for help, and many times they do not find your diatribes about how they shouldn't ask for refunds unhelpful. But furthermore, posting 2-3x in a row to someone going on and on about how they SHOULD have run their projects comes off as unhelpful and judgemental. If someone asks how to raise a dispute or get a refund, and you post a wall of text that does not answer that question (which you often do) it often comes off as antagonistic and unhelpful. If it were me, I would reconsider the context of my replies and whether the person had actually asked how they can manage their projects better.

Of course it's a public forum and you can answer however you want and however many times you want. But if the point is to help, then you need to understand what help actually is. Help is not forcing advice they didn't ask for on them, repeatedly, with 3 posts that are walls of text (which you have done recently). Help is answering their question first, then if you can do it succinctly, it may be welcome to provide some follow-up suggestions for the future. But your comments are often viewed as unhelpful because you start with the unsolicited instead of the solicited. First answer the actual question, then add your opinion, and people would view it as helpful instead of antagonistic.

NikolaS · ‎08-29-2021

Hi All,

A post has been removed from this thread for Community Guidelines. We encourage our Community members to be professional and respectful to one another when posting here. Please, be mindful of the Community Guidelines and avoid making personal attacks.

~ Nikola

prestonhunter · ‎08-29-2021

Amanda:

Thank you for your post, and for you helpful advice.

For what it's worth, I have been consciously working to do many of the things you referred to. Other Forum participants have also provided helpful advice about advising clients who ask for advice about losing money, which I am incorporating in how I post here.

A lot of similar information is provided over and over again. I can start linking to a single consolidated thread in the Forum, which clients can read or not read, as they prefer. That will solve the "wall of text" problem that has been criticized in some of my posts.