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ce98208d
Community Member

When to release payment?

We hired a freelancer to build a wordpress website for around $2000.   We released the first half up front.  The website is now complete and she wants us to release the second half before she transfers the website to our wordpress hosting site.  My understanding is that we should release the payment only after we have the wordpress site in hand and verified that we are able to control and modify it.  However, she is insisting that we release payment before she transfers the website to us.  She said that if she fails to transfer the website after we release payment, we can open a dispute and get our money back, but Upwork support person told me that once we release payment, it is final, and recommended that we only release payment after the wordpress site has been delivered.  We are at a standstill.  Should we just release payment and hope everything goes OK, or should we follow Upwork's recommendation and release payment after receiving the website?  Is it standard to expect clients to release payment before the wordpress site is delivered?

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

Rex:

I am going to pretend that I did not read your post, and I am going to describe how Upwork intends for the system to be used. Hopefully that will provide you with some context. And in that way, I am not attacking or criticizing any specific freelancer.

 

Client wants a website created.

Client can hire freelancers using hourly contracts or fixed-price contracts. You chose fixed-price, so I'll talk about how to use those:

 

Client makes an agreement with a freelancer to do a specific task. That is called a "milestone." Client funds ALL of the money for that MILESTONE. (NOT the whole project, just the milestone.)

But the client does NOT release the money to the freelancer.

Client releases NO money up front to the freelancer.

Freelancer does the work for the milestone, and delivers ALL of it, completely functional, completely usable, to the client.

Client check to the work to make sure it is complete.

Client release the money to the freelancer.

 

That's it.
There is no "releasing money up front."

There is no "holding files hostage until payment has been received."


That is NOT how Upwork intends for its system to be used.

re: "Should we just release payment and hope everything goes OK, or should we follow Upwork's recommendation and release payment after receiving the website? Is it standard to expect clients to release payment before the wordpress site is delivered?"

 

There are only 3 possibilities here:

a) This freelancer is very ignorant about how Upwork functions, and is telling the client things that aren't true, or which run contrary to standard Upwork practices, out of ignorance.

 

b) This freelancer is quite familiar with how Upwork functions, and how Upwork expects its system to be used, but has chosen to work in a way contrary to that, and is trying to convince the client that her way (which is NOT what Upwork expects) is "normal."

 

c) This freelancer is simply a scammer who is not actually trying to create the project that the client wants, but is trying to get as much money as possible from the client while doing as little work as possible. The main reason that the freelancer has not released the site to the client is not that she is worried about the client avoiding payment, but because she knows the site is a mirage and would not be something that anyone would pay for.

I pointed her to the comments on this forum, but she continues to insist that we release payment before she delivers the files.  Any suggestions on what our next step should be?  Are we able to apply for a refund for the first half that we already released?

Tell her that I said this:

 

"Rex (the client) might be COMPLETELY WRONG. If the freelancer will come to this thread and share her position, then I will give her a fair listening to, as will everybody who participates in the thread. We will provide a free, impartial recommendation for what should be done."

 

You could tell her that you will go along with whatever the Community recommends.

 

If she has concerns, we will hear her concerns and address them. Once we hear her side of things, maybe I will change my mind. The people who participate in this Forum are Upwork employees (a few of them), SOME clients, but almost overwhelmingly we are freelancers. We do not "take sides" against freelancers.

 

Can not be any more fair than that.

re: "Are we able to apply for a refund for the first half that we already released?"

 

You probably can. But whether or not requesting a refund would result in you getting any money back is another question. Upwork probably doesn't have your money any longer.

 

The freelancer might be kicked off the platform if this went all the way to arbitration and she did not refund money if required to do so. I really do not want to see things go to that point. I would prefer to see this matter worked out amicably,

I have invited the freelancer to post her concerns to this discussion.  I hope she does!

tta192
Community Member

Is the remaining $1K currently in escrow under an already funded milestone? If it is the freelancer has no reason to fear not getting paid. You cannot get the money back without the freelancer's approval or without a dispute.

If the milestone is not yet funded then she's right not to deliver the product before payment.

You should also clarify whether she wants a payment or a funded milestone to exist.

 

Very important: Do you have proof the website is complete and works as expected? If you do believe it's done and all it needs is to be deployed to production maybe try and split the payment in two: before / after deployment.

ce98208d
Community Member

Yes, the remaining $1K is in escrow under an already funded milestone. Yes, the website seems to be done; she has provided us with a link to view a demo of it from her installation.  I am really hoping she just gives us the files so we can verify that we are able to control and modify the website, then we will pay her and not have to open a dispute.  Her reluctance to do so makes me concerned that perhaps there is a problem with her work...

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Rex, 


I checked your account, and your colleague's account and didn't see any support ticket that raised this concern. However, you may want to refer to this help article for more information about Upwork Payment Protection and how the fixed-price contract protects you and your freelancer.

 

In a fixed-price contract, clients will need to fund milestones, and freelancers will need to submit work by requesting payment through the Contract page/milestone-submission page. From there, the client will have 14-days to review the work, and request for change, or release the payment ahead of the 14-day review period. If the client doesn't come back within 14-days, the money in escrow is automatically paid to the freelancer's account. Freelancers will also have the opportunity to dispute a client's non-release of milestone payment. In this case, the client will have the opportunity to respond to the escrow dispute. 

 

Hopefully, this situation doesn't escalate to a dispute, and you and your freelancer are able to resolve it by further communicating with each other. If you need further help, you can let us know, and our team will try our best to assist you further.


~ Avery
Upwork
ce98208d
Community Member

Avery, thanks for your input.  The milestone is "completion of website"; in my interpretation, that means delivery of the files so we can verify that they are satisfactory.  But the freelancer is claiming that we must first release payment before she delivers the files.  Do you agree that the freelancer should deliver the files to us before we release payment of the final $1K?  Should I open a support ticket?

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