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hound93
Community Member

Unresponsive and unpaying client

My client has been ignoring me, my messages on may platforms and he has not paid me at all. I was supposed to get paid more than a month ago and he's just not showing up. I have proof that he can see my messages but doesn't answer them. This happened before. Everytime that a payment was on discussion, my client would ignore the subject. He as not activated the remaining milestone, I would like to get paid and end the contract. What could I do?

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martina_plaschka
Community Member


@Agustin M wrote:

My client has been ignoring me for a while now. He see's my messages via whatsapp, skype or upwork, in fact he's connected right now, but decides to ignore them, I was supposed to get paid on september 15th, bu he has not activated the milestone. So, I cannot get paid. He has done this before and I am really tired of working my ass off and having to deal with guys like this.
 I was told by upwork via email that they'll try to send him a message to remind him. I don't think that'll work at all

 

Here's the link to the contract:

https://www.upwork.com/ab/f/contracts/20620742#milestones%2F20180820%2F20180918

 

And the amount of messages I have sent him via upwork and skype 


 Well, your client could possibly see your message here, do you think he will be more likely to be responsive, or less likely? Potential clients could also see this post, do you think they will me more likely or less likely to hire you?

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6 REPLIES 6
martina_plaschka
Community Member


@Agustin M wrote:

My client has been ignoring me for a while now. He see's my messages via whatsapp, skype or upwork, in fact he's connected right now, but decides to ignore them, I was supposed to get paid on september 15th, bu he has not activated the milestone. So, I cannot get paid. He has done this before and I am really tired of working my ass off and having to deal with guys like this.
 I was told by upwork via email that they'll try to send him a message to remind him. I don't think that'll work at all

 

Here's the link to the contract:

https://www.upwork.com/ab/f/contracts/20620742#milestones%2F20180820%2F20180918

 

And the amount of messages I have sent him via upwork and skype 


 Well, your client could possibly see your message here, do you think he will be more likely to be responsive, or less likely? Potential clients could also see this post, do you think they will me more likely or less likely to hire you?

Well, it's been more than a month and my client insulted me because I asked many times to get paid, and he said that I should not care about getting paid, but care about his project, that working on a game is not about money, that is about the well being of the project and I worked many extra hours on the project that I never even asked to get paid for, I did it becaus I love what I do and I always commit to my clients and deliver the best product I can make and try to make the best impression I can. But pretending for someone to not get mad because they are not getting paid for months, that is really unprofessional more so if the person that is working for you shows such devotion as I did. Many days I worked from 8 am to 1 am on his project just because I liked to


@Agustin M wrote:

Well, it's been more than a month and my client insulted me because I asked many times to get paid, and he said that I should not care about getting paid, but care about his project, that working on a game is not about money, that is about the well being of the project and I worked many extra hours on the project that I never even asked to get paid for, I did it becaus I love what I do and I always commit to my clients and deliver the best product I can make and try to make the best impression I can. But pretending for someone to not get mad because they are not getting paid for months, that is really unprofessional more so if the person that is working for you shows such devotion as I did. Many days I worked from 8 am to 1 am on his project just because I liked to


 If you like working for free, then you should not complain about it later. 

Be professional at all times, and if a project does not work out as expected, you need to end it and move on. 

I understand that you need to vent, but this is not the place to do it, because the whole world can see it and it can be detrimental to the image you want to present. 

Thank you Martina. You have been very helpful

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "My client has been ignoring me, my messages on may platforms and he has not paid me at all. I was supposed to get paid more than a month ago and he's just not showing up."

 

This means that you are using Upwork incorrectly.

 

When we use Upwork properly, we get paid automatically.

 

On Upwork, if you did work more than a month ago and haven't received payment, it means you (the freelancer) did something wrong.

 

The thing for you to do is to learn what you are doing wrong. Once you learn this... once you learn how to properly set up fixed-price contracts and milestones, and how to properly submit your work, then you won't have this problem.

colettelewis
Community Member

Agustin,

If you had an official contract in place and the client funded the first milestone, the client has 14 days to review your work before releasing the amount in escrow. If the client does not react at all during this time, then  Upwork will automatically release the funds into your account.

 

However, if you keep hitting the "submit" and "release funds" buttons, then the whole process starts again. You only need to do this once.

 

As to subsequent milestones, do not submit any further work to the client until the milestone is funded into escrow.  

 

You will only get paid for the amount that was paid into escrow on your first milestone.For subsequent milestones, make sure they are funded before doing or delivering any further work. 

 

Don't end the contract until you are sure that the first payment is in your account.  If you end a contract before you have been paid, any money in escrow will automatically revert to the client.