I have a client who decided three-quarters of the way through our contract that she wanted to cancel due to my "poor communication skills" - which is how she chooses to refer to me not wishing to work for free. She started off on Day 1 with complaining about my pricing despite having already agreed to it and extending a contract, and ever since has asked for excessive changes or added on tasks that I said no to because she refused to compensate me for it. When I originally submitted a proposal I broke it into two parts - concept development and final files - and she extended a contract offering only a lump sum at the end without letting me know she took issue with it (1st red flag that I missed, I didn't even realize until I had already hit accept since the total was still the same). She also tried to berate me into covering the costs of stock imagery, and said "I need someone who understands the client is the client", so basically one of the types of people who expects their hire to bend over backwards for free and give up their earnings just to make sure they get good feedback. I started out going above and beyond, and as time went on I got tired of the price shaming and politely requested that she stop bringing it up as it made me feel as though my work was not valued, to which she accused me of poor communication and that I was "taking business too personally". She then said she would "pay me" not with money but with time by extending the deadline (which obviously does not pay my bills).
Now, four days into the project, after bullying me into shoving other projects aside and trying to meet her deadlines, she has requested a refund - I was never once rude nor disrespectful to her, but regardless of that; the work is almost done, and she thinks I deserve nothing for it now. The files are perfectly usable but she has basically admitted that she is going to start over with a new freelancer and change direction completely purely out of spite ("It's not about the money, only about your inability to communicate with me").
That being said, she has a concept moodboard, screenshots of most of the files I created, and a perfectly usable web banner that I made that she has already passed onto her web developer - none of which she has paid for. Even if I haven't given her the usable files, she can very easily take all of this material to someone else and ask them to duplicate my work as well. If anyone has any recommendations / advice for how to provide evidence that I completed the work or general tips on handling this dispute process for a favorable outcome, I would really appreciate it. I'm honestly thinking since Upwork doesn't actually get too involved unless arbitration is paid for, I have almost no chance of getting anywhere with her since she is willing to set back her project by weeks just to avoid compensating me for anything.
