A prospective client sent me a message but I cannot see it

[urbnowl]

A client sent me a message with a proposal. On their end it says we are in the interview process, but I have no message from this client in my Messages. 

Fortunately they are able to communicate with me outside of UpWork, but for logistical reasons with their company, all business and jobs have to go through UpWork platform and we're stuck at messages not sending/receiving. 

I have been unable to contact an actual person or agent and am losing patience. 

[AndreaG]

Hi Rachel,

Have you worked with this client through an Upwork contract? If not, please know communicating with a client before a contract is in place is againts the Terms of Service. Could you please try clearing your cache and cookies or logging in with a different browser to see if the issue persists?

Thanks!

[fatig]

Ah, great thing to say after someone just explicitly told you they can't use Upwork messaging, even though both sides want to do it, because Upwork is acting up. 👏 🙄

[gina-herrera]

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Iga F wrote:

Ah, great thing to say after someone just explicitly told you they can't use Upwork messaging, even though both sides want to do it, because Upwork is acting up. 👏 🙄

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Been in this situation multiple times, there is an exception to the rule that allows you outside contact it if is absolutely necessary to gather specs / info about what you would be doing for their project.

If the site is acting up I fail to see how this does not fit the exception. If a moderator has a solution for this, I would love to hear it since I have never been certain what to do in that scenario either - do you just tell the client, I'm sorry, but we need to hold off until the site starts working again?! and potentially lose a client...?

[VladimirG]

Hi Rachel,

I'm sorry about the miscommunication. I checked your account and it appears you're referring to the interview invite you recently received, displayed on your Proposals page, is that correct? You as a freelancer need to select the job title > select the green "Accept Interview" button on the right-hand side in order to submit a proposal and for a Message room to be created.

Please follow the steps shared above and let us know if you need further assistance.