What happens if the problem at hand is not solved?

[9bf6a906]

What happens if I hire a freelancer with an hourly contract and he/she can not solve the given problem? Will I get my money back in such a case? Is it up to the freelancer?

Thanks!

[yofazza]

Immediately close the contract.

You paid for their time, so ethically you don't ask for a moneyback.

[prestonhunter]

Radia:
I agree with you.

But it is not just a matter of ethics.

If a client has no ethics at all, he should still not ask for money back.

Refund thinking hurts clients. When a client thinks that he can get money back from a freelancer if things don't go his way, then the client ends up losing money in the long run. Because asking a freelancer for money is a gamble. It MIGHT work. But usually it doesn't work, and a client ends up losing money.

So if a client care ONLY about himself, and does NOT care about freelancers, a client should proactively decide to never ask freelancers for money. That will help the client save money.

So instead of thinking about "refunds", do this:
Monitor a freelancer's work. Especially early on. If you don't love the freelancer's work, then fire the freelancer. Do this BEFORE giving him a bunch of money.

[prestonhunter]

Andreas:

Your questions are freelancer-centric.

As a general concept, you should put yourself and your project first. Don't focus on individual freelancers.

re: "What happens if the problem at hand is not solved?"

Then that means your problem has not been solved yet.

What happens next?
You should assign the work to other members of your team. If necessary, hire other freelancers.

I advise you to NOT continue trying to get one particular freelancer to solve the problem if they are not up to it. You are not their mentor. If it takes 1 freelancer or 10 freelancers, that is not the important thing. The important thing is solving the problem.

re: "What happens if I hire a freelancer with an hourly contract and he/she can not solve the given problem?"

That happens. I have hired 183 freelancers. A big part of why I am successful as a client is that I EXPECT some hired to not work out. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. I just fire them and assign the work to someone else.

re: "Will I get my money back in such a case?"

No.

re: "Is it up to the freelancer?"

This is your problem.

You are the one who needs a solution.

Don't focus on the freelancer. I am not interested in the freelancer who can't figure out how to do this task. If they can't do it, then they can't do it.

[bobafett999]

Gosh another one who thinks that Upwork is a vending machine.  You plop few coins and here comes my bag of chips.

Remember you are the one who is hiring them bassed on whatever matrix you have designed.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Is it up to the freelancer?"

Andreas:
I do not know what type of project you want to hire freelancers to work on.

So what I will present next may or may not apply precisely to you, but simpy understanding these concepts can help ANY client hiring for ANY project.

Question: I am a client. I want to hire freelancers on Upwork to create a web application that includes certain complex operations. Who is responsible for making sure that this project succeeds?

Answer: It is not the responsibility of any individual freelance developer to make sure your project succeeds.

It is not Upwork's responsibility to make sure that your project succeeds.

Ultimately, it is not even the lead developer's responsibility to make sure that the project succeeds.

It is not the client's responsibility to make sure that the project succeeds.

Whose responsibility is it?
It is the responsibility of the PROJECT MANAGER to make sure that the project succeeds.

Question: But what if I have not hired a project manager for the project?
Answer: Then your project will probably not succeed.

Question: I can't afford to hire a project manger.
Answer: If you care about whether or not your project succeeds, then you can't afford to NOT have a project manager.

Question: Can I act as my own project manager?
Answer: Yes.

Question: Well, that's simple. I'll just be the project manager myself.
Answer: Hold on there. You can't just "declare" yourself the project manager. You must actually do the work of a project manager. If you don't do the work that a project manager would do, then your project doesn't "really" have a project manager. If you don't know how to be a project manager, and you have not hired an independent project manager, then your project doesn't have a project manager.

Question: What do I have to do to be a project manager?
Answer: It is beyond the scope of this post to explain everything that a project manager does. But among the most important tasks are assigning work to team members (e.g., freelancers and others), evaluating their work, and firing underperforming freelancers. If you are NOT activing firing people, then you are probably NOT doing the work of a project manager.

Question: Can the lead developer of my project serve as the project manager?
Answer: Maybe. Approximately 20 to 25% of lead developers can successfully serve as project manager. If you hire one of those, then your project will probably succeed. But if your lead developer is not one of those, then your project will fail.