Upwork dispute memos error?

[748854eb]

Hello!

I hired a freelancer for an hourly contract that did something different than what he was supposed to (he misunderstood the task), charged me 750 dollars for it and never delivered. The time was tracked but there was no memos at all, which made it hard for me to follow his work. Of course I disputed this. The Upwork policy and numerous threads I have read seem to be pretty clear on disputes like this:

Upwork will remove the following when looking at your Work Diary:
1.	Any manual time.
2.	Any hour block that has more than 20 minutes of work activity lower than 5 and/or contains no work memos.
3.	Any hour block that has more than 10 minutes of activity not pertaining to the client's job.

It seems pretty clear to me that according to 2. the money should be refunded if no memos were made. Yet, I only received 60 dollars out of the 750. 

My question is: Is this some kind of error? and if so, how can I get a second review/correction?

[prestonhunter]

Martin:

You said you received $60 back, instead of $750, which is what you expected.

Is all the time that you were billed for ($750) for time that took place during the previous week?

When time is logged by a freelancer, the work week ends at midnight on Sunday, and then the client has five days during which the client can file a dispute against hourly time segments.

If you were trying to dispute time from weeks before the previous week, then your dispute wouldn't apply to that time.

============================

If that isn't the issue, then... yeah... It would seem there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

I think that Upwork's policies about Hourly Payment Protection are clear and straightforward.

It sounds like you have a good sense for the "Payment Protection Rules" that Upwork uses.

Your "number 2 rule" isn't how I typically think of Payment Protection:

"Any hour block that has more than 20 minutes of work activity lower than 5 and/or contains no work memos."

YOU MAY BE CORRECT.

But the way I typically think of it is this:

For a time segment to be protected, it must:

- have sufficient activity levels

- have sufficient written memos

- be logged by the desktop time-tracker

- have a screenshot that shows the freelancer working on the client's project

You may looking at more detailed information, with information given to Upwork employees/operatives... with internal instructions more detailed and nuanced than what we typically talk about.

I always think of ANY time segments as being invalid if they don't contain memos.

You are wondering why the amount of money that was refunded to is not as much as you thought you would receive.

If you disputed time segments which did not have memos, and those time segments were not removed from the time that you had to pay for, then I'm surprised to hear this. I have never heard of such a thing. From everything I have read, "no memos" means that disputed time won't be billed to the client.

I have never heard of a client getting "a second review/correction."

But if you are getting billed for disputed hourly time without memos, then a correction is certainly warranted.

[748854eb]

Hi Preston,

Many thanks for your feedback.

- The disputed (16,4) hours were for the previous week, so all of the disputed hours were made in the appropriate timeframe.

- The 60 dollars (1,3 hours) I received was for 'low activity', even though the remaining hours completely lacked memos.

I think the Upwork policies are pretty straightforward as well, and every single thread I have been looking at justifies me getting a refund. So, is it even possible to reverse the decision when an error like this is made?

[petra_r]

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Martin W wrote:

- The disputed (16,4) hours were for the previous week, so all of the disputed hours were made in the appropriate timeframe.

- The 60 dollars (1,3 hours) I received was for 'low activity', even though the remaining hours completely lacked memos.

---

If there really were no memos - ask for the matter to be escalated because someone messed up.

[748854eb]

Hi Petra,

Thanks for your answer. There is not a single memo, that is correct.

The problem is that I do not know WHERE to ask for this escalation. I just keep getting referred back to the same case from the support. Who has the mandate to escalate this issue?

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

---

Martin W wrote:

The problem is that I do not know WHERE to ask for this escalation. 

---

Let me flag your post so a moderator can check and make sure the issue is escalated to the right people for you.

Do come back and let us know how it is resolved, won't you 😉

[748854eb]

Thanks Petra! I will.

[748854eb]

Hi Petra!

Due to this forum post and your flagging, the case was handed over to a Upwork Escalation Specialist who contacted me almost immediately. He in turn took contact with the team leads of the Dispute and Mediation teams. Subsequently, I was assigned another dispute specialist that handled the escalation case. She made a second review and decided to refund me the full amount because the freelancer had not written any memos.

I am very greatful for the help to escalate this matter from the community. For future reference I think it would be great if Upworks support would escalate cases like these themselves at an earlier stage.

[prestonhunter]

It should not have been possible for a mistake like that to be made. If there are no memos, then there is no need for a human Upwork agent to review the matter. Software should have automatically processed the dispute.

[AleksandarD]

Hi Martin,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. One of our team members will reach out to you directly to assist you further.

Thank you.

[JoanneP]

Hi Martin,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. I can see that you already reached out to the team about this issue. Please know that your concern is being handled by the appropriate team. One of our disputes specialists will update you directly to assist you further. Thank you for your patience while the team reviews your case. 

[prestonhunter]

It is disrespectful for a freelancer to log time and not provide written memos.

A client has hired me.

He has provided his credit card number, to be charged automatically. This is real money that he is entrusting me with a contract for.

The least I can do is let him know, briefly, what he is paying for.