Advice on canceling hourly contract

[ejagos]

I have been working for a client for a few weeks now. We got off to a rocky start, but have sort of settled down. The first task was very rough and he was expecting much more than we had agreed that I would do for the rate he was paying. We had several messages go back and forth about it. The next two tasks have been better.

However, I really do not like working for him. He is curt in his communications and doesn't really answer questions quickly or well. He is creating materials for college-level educational courses and does not like to have factual errors pointed out. This is what bugs me the most. I know I should just proofread, but it is so unethical to let these errors go (especially since they are in my area of training), and he is not paying me anywhere near enough to write/rewrite for college-level material.

How do I get out of this contract without getting bad feedback? If I cancel the contract, is he able to leave feedback? At this point, I'd rather no feedback over negative feedback, which I'm fairly sure he will give me. He has four or maybe six of us doing the same type of work so he would not be short-handed and I have finished and turned in the last task he gave me.

Thanks for any advice on how I should handle this.

Emily

[kat303 · Accepted solution]

You (or any freelancer or client) can cancel a contract at any time for any reason. I just wish that freelancers are not held captive concerning their JSS score. 

In your case, you are Top Rated. Should you get a negative feedback review or your JSS drops right after ending a job, you can use your Top Rated perk to delete both the Public and Private feedback.

As for your thoughts that you'll rather receive no feedback then negative feedback, -  to receive no feedback, would be to refund ALL moneys received and any in escrow (if fixed rate job.) And doing that would amount to a hit on your JSS. 

At this point just leave a professional message and be done with it, If you do get negative feedback, you can use (as stated above) your top rated perk and have it removed. 

Hi XXX I have finished the requirements of the last milestone and have sent you the deliverables. I am finding it difficult on my part to continue working on this contract. Because of that, I am ending the contract. It would be to your advantage to find a freelancers who is a better fit for you. 

[ejagos]

Hi Kathy,

Thank you so much for explaining about the Top Rated perk. I have only been Top Rated for a few weeks and didn't really understand what it meant when it said I had more control over my JSS.

I appreciate the suggested wording for a message to him. I agree that it's always best to just be polite and professional, no matter how I really feel about the job. 

Emily

[richardsmith94]

Hi XXX I have finished the requirements of the last milestone and have sent you the deliverables. I am finding it difficult on my part to continue working on this contract. Because of that, I am ending the contract. It would be to your advantage to find a freelancers who is a better fit for you. 

Hi Emily, I think Kathy T's advice is spot on. Try and be as pleasant as possible and get the client to end the contract - if they leave negative feedback, so be it, you can't do anything about that if they choose to, so don't worry about it. You have a great profile with consistently positive feedback and other potential clients will see it was a job that just didn't work out (whatever the comments left). You would soon get your JSS back up.

[ejagos]

Hi Richard, Thank you. Yes, I see your point that I should get him to end the contract. Also, I'll try not to worry too much about my score. I'll just do my best with this one. I know it can always go back up.

[lysis10]

After you click accept on an offer, it affects your JSS. The only thing you can do is sweet talk your way out of bad feedback, which probably won't happen if you're abruptly saying "LOL you suck I'm out." You could close it yourself and hope they don't leave feedback. That's the best outcome in this case.

[richardsmith94]

After you click accept on an offer, it affects your JSS. The only thing you can do is sweet talk your way out of bad feedback, which probably won't happen if you're abruptly saying "LOL you suck I'm out." You could close it yourself and hope they don't leave feedback. That's the best outcome in this case.

Hi Jennifer. Are you always this negative about things ('most freelancers on this site suck' etc), or just having a bad day? It's entirely possible that the client may end the contract and leave positive feedback for Emily, unless you're some sort of mystic?

[lysis10]

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Richard S wrote:

Hi Jennifer. Are you always this negative about things ('most freelancers on this site suck' etc), or just having a bad day? It's entirely possible that the client may end the contract and leave positive feedback for Emily, unless you're some sort of mystic?

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Right, it's totally possible that she'll get positive feedback when she's prematurely bailing and openly admits they have issues since the start. Let's stay positive and then when she QQs about her JSS because OMG IT WAS THE CLIENT BAD UPWORK SAVE ME we should just say the JSS is unfair.

eta: she's top rated so she can just have it yanked anyway so it's like it never happened. 

[richardsmith94]

Right, it's totally possible that she'll get positive feedback when she's prematurely bailing and openly admits they have issues since the start. Let's stay positive and then when she QQs about her JSS because OMG IT WAS THE CLIENT BAD UPWORK SAVE ME we should just say the JSS is unfair.

Thanks for confirming what I thought.

[lysis10]

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Richard S wrote:

Thanks for confirming what I thought.

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😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄

[richardsmith94]