What annoys me the most are clients who are slow to respond after accepting your proposal, reading through it all, and sending a message to potentially hire you for the job. I understand that everyone gets busy and emergencies do happen more often than you think. But if the client doesn't respond after you reply to them with everything that they need to know, it's a slap on the face. I have a client right now asking me things that I already answered in my cover message. I replied politely because it was a potential job opportunity. However, I replied four hours after due to living in different time zones as I was asleep when I first received the message. Then there was no reply for three days. So I sent a message, asking the client questions about the job that was unclear in the description. No response. I sent a message again for the next two days. Nothing. Even though you can tell when they're online as their chat status is green for certain hours every day, they don't respond. When they finally did respond, they answered my questions and asked for samples of my work, all of which were in my cover letter already. But they didn't want the links to those sample works and wanted them as attachments instead. Fair enough. So I sent it all to them. It's been two days since and there's no response yet again. I only got a total of two messages from them in almost ten days. To others, this probably isn't that long. But to me, and plenty of other freelancers, it is. That's a third of the month gone waiting whether or not you're going to get the job or not. For reference, I was the only person they were interviewing for the job among the many other applicants. Maybe they have other jobs open that have more applicants that they to reply to. Or they're just really taking their time trying to select the right person for the job. Sure, we can go with those reasons. But at the very least, let the freelancer know about it. Or better yet, just make a little bit of time, especially if you both are online so that you can exchange all the necessary information. It irks me to read some of the freelancers' reviews about this client, how they're unresponsive and don't hold up their end of the bargain. The pay is the minimal amount most are willing to accept and yet, some experience receiving work from them just once a month and with not much communication at all. If you're curious about what kind of work this is, it involves writing articles for their blog. Additionally, this client hates tardiness when it comes to submitting the work and they want it to have the necessary amount of words at all times, even though the discrepancy isn't that much. I understand why though because they want to receive what they're going to pay for. But if they can't uphold the same strictness and discipline to themselves, then they don't have the right to judge others harshly in their reviews. One freelancer even did more work than usual and despite all that, he only got paid the same amount as always, even though that was not what they agreed on initially. It's disheartening to know that this is not the first or the last type of client on the platform. What's worse is that freelancers can't do much about it, especially those who are beginners or struggling to make ends meet. They just have to accept it and move on. Hopefully, clients become more aware that they're not just dealing with freelancers, but fellow humans as well. There needs to be a healthy relationship between the two. I hope that Upwork better addresses these kinds of issues, and many others, in the future. And for those clients who treat freelancers as equal partners in getting a job done, I thank you very much. I hope that you all continue to build and foster a healthy relationship with us freelancers. After all, this argument can go both ways too. I just need to get this off of my chest. Thank you.
