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rishipujara
Community Member

freelancer not responding

Hi My freelancer took a job with deadline of 2 weeks. More than 6 weeks have passed. In betwen she completed some work and asked for first milestone to be released. I did that in good faith. Now, the escrow period has completed and she was able to withdraw the payment to her bank (I think as per the policy of upwork I know of). 

 

She is still unresponsive.

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

You're doing this wrong.

 

As a client, there is a difference between how I handle a project that has a DEADLINE versus a project that has no deadline.

 

If I have an important deadline, then I do one of the following:

a) Work only with a freelancer that I have worked with before and I know for certain that he can finish the task the way I need it before the deadline

[or]

b) Hire multiple freelancers - using an hourly contract - enough to "hedge my bets" and ensure I get the work done in time.

 

If I am Riddy's supervisor... and I found out that Riddy hired a freelancer to do a task that needs to be finished in 2 weeks, and then Riddy was still wasting time with that freelancer six weeks later... Then I would take Riddy off of the project completely. I would put Saanvi on the project. Saanvi would hire 4 different freelancers for the project using hourly contracts, and one of those freelancers would complete the task in 24 hours. Then Saanvi would close the contracts on all of the freelancers, and provide us with the files we need. Saanvi is professional and nice, so if any of the freelancers didn't actually log any time, she would pay them a $5 bonus and thank them for their time. That way none of the freelancers would have any negative impact from a zero-pay contract. Two or three of the freelancers got free money and 5-star reviews without doing any work at all. Does Saanvi feel guilty about that? No. Did our company "waste" $15? No. We got important work done quickly. No money was wasted.

Thanks for the tution Preston. Unfortunately it doesnt solve my problem. the project was low on my radar.

 

But now I need to make sure that either its completed or I get my refund.

re: "But now I need to make sure that either its completed or I get my refund."

 

Close the current contract immediately.

Edit the amount of money that is to be released, changing it to zero.

This will cause a refund request to automatically be sent.

If the freelancer agrees to release that money to you, then you get the money back.

Separately, create an hourly contract to complete the project.

Hire 4 freelancers. Provide them with the files that the first freelancer completed.

Tell the freelancers that you want the project done as soon as possibly, preferably within the next 2 days.
Once you get the files that you need from one of them, close all of the contracts.


If I am the client, then I think to myself:
"I can see that an Upwork moderator has offered to help contact the original freelancer. But I have no interest in that. I am no longer interested in any work done by the original freelancer, and I am no longer interested in communicating with her in any way."

Preston, that's all well and good but dont you think it's not ethical? I am running a business here and as such I have to outsource a lot of work. 

 

I need to connect with good and ethical freelamncers I cannot be turning tricks on everyone of my project. 

 

I think this is an issue upwork should deal with.

re: "that's all well and good but dont you think it's not ethical?"

 

This is not unethical.

 

If you have a question about the ethical aspects of any of this, please ask.

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

I'm sorry about your experience with this freelancer, Rishi.

 

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 for reaching out to us. 

~ Bojan
Upwork

Apparently your support has sent only one email to me and the freelacner and are since unresponsive.

 

What's more? Because the freelancer realized the relaxed attitude of upwork's support they have not only ended the contract the very day upwork released their payment but have also blocked me from chat. So now I have no idea what kind of guarantee I have on this platform if you cannot even guarantee:

 

1. That freeelancer will communicate adn not block the client

2. Your customer support simply do not care enough to respond.

 

Sorry to say this but this has been a most frustrating experience. I have one more project running here after which I will think twice about using your services at all. Seems like once people know about your relaxed customer support and policy hacks they can easily scam clients.

 

Thanks Upwork!!!

Hi Rishi,

 

I will look into this further and will get back to you once I have more information.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Rishi:

Regardless of whatever help Upwork does or does not provide with this particular project...

Upwork genuinely DOES NOT see itself as being in the "project management" business.

 

Upwork really does not want to get involved in the specific details of how you work with your freelancer, other than to facilitate finding, hiring, and paying them.

 

What if you hire a freelancer and that freelancer stops responding? What does Upwork want you to do?
True answer: Not bother them about it.

 

Upwork employees and representatives are polite. They want to be helpful. But ultimately, Upwork freelancers don't work for Upwork. They use Upwork as a "lead generator." Upwork can't really force any freelancer to do anything.

 

I LIKE using Upwork as a client. I have hired over 100 freelancers on Upwork. I have been extremely pleased with how I have been able to use Upwork to get things done for my projects. But I would never think of contacting Upwork if a freelancer I had hired stopped responding to me, or if a freelancer did terrible work. Upwork provides me with the tools I need to handle those situations on my own, without needing to contact Customer Support.

Hi Rishi,

 

Thanks for your patience. I checked and see that your case has already been escalated to our Mediation team. They will be reviewing all the information available about the contract you're having issues with and will be assisting you directly via your support ticket.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
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