Abuse

[karinskold]

A client just called me idiot old witch. Fool.
Was after I asked questions what she meant. Asked for screenshots not my jpg sample files.

What can I say...
Never experienced something like this before here.
But guess it is people for everything.

[lysis10]

oh you haven't liiiiived until they call you a raging liberal and start quoting Winston Churchill to call you an idiot all because you tried to schedule a call for the next day using Skype and won't give them your phone number to call you at 9 at night. Upwork is like internet for schizoposters who like to call themselves entrepreneurs.

[joansands]

And that includes a recent client who gave me a rating of 3 for "deadline" when there was no deadline in the contract and he never said when he wanted the work done. Go figure.

[christine107]

When that happens, Joan, can you dispute it by providing evidence to Upwork of the conversations between you and the client?

[petra_r]

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Christine B wrote:

When that happens, Joan, can you dispute it by providing evidence to Upwork of the conversations between you and the client?

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No.

Upwork doesn't get into adjudicating feedback except in very rare circumstances if swear words or similar are used in the feedback, in which case they may take those out. 

[richardrader]

Idiot Old Witch ? 

Sounds like an insult my 4 year old niece would come up with. What an odd client. 

On another note I think it would be a pretty cool badge name.

[lysis10]

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Richard R wrote:

Idiot Old Witch ? 

Sounds like an insult my 4 year old niece would come up with. What an odd client. 

On another note I think it would be a pretty cool badge name.

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I keep begging to be labeled "troll" or "old troll" will work but the mods never give me what i want. 😞

[joansands]

Karin - I am wondering whether clients have to pass any kind of test or information before becoming a client - or whether just anyone can become a client.

[wlyonsatl]

It is possible to professionally describe unprofessional behavior. I hope you include that tidbit of information in your feedback for the client, Karin S.. 

Other freelancers will appreciate being told what they're in for if they take on such a client.

You might even scare off similar types of clients, which is also a plus as long as you don't alienate the vast majority of potential clients who are professional, reasonable, communicate well, etc., etc.

[mwiggenhorn]

Jennifer - you are too young to be an old troll.  That's my category.  Go find your own.

[r2streu]

If this client has paid you for the work you've done so far, I'd fire them. Milestones are useful for this sort of thing.

Life's too short to deal with bad clients. Personally, I get enough crap from my own kids without needing to babysit temperamental jerks at work. If I wanted to do that all day, I'd be in HR like my wife.

Eta: full disclosure, the closest I've come to having to deal with that was someone who tried to "haggle" me down to a third of my rate. Him: "well if you think you're worth more then $__!"

Me: I do. Best of luck, though.

[d3f5e8e0]

A scammer was having me do PR for him under his fake name and about two weeks in he was raging at me that I didn't get the press he expected, right after telling me by the way he will give me real real name to use now. I ended the job and did not even demand pay for my time just to be rid of him because he was so horrible. He is continuing to send me harassing messages and questioning my worth and abilities. I reported the messages to Upwork and so far nothing. Do we have no rights to be treated with respect here? 

[yitwail]

Marnie, that’s dreadful and the client should be banned. But if he’s harassing you through Upwork messaging, you should be able to block him.

[d3f5e8e0]

I just blocked him, thanks for the tip! Hopefully Upwork also removes him so he doesn't do this to other people. 

[AleksandarD]

Hi Marnie,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Could you please send me a private message with more information about the client so that I can check and send a report to the team for investigation?

Thank you.