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06b2051e
Community Member

Agency Won't Pay Me

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed?  I've been waiting for over a month for payment from my agency, and after several email reminders and responses to the effect "Oh, yes, I forgot ... I'll take care of it this week," I still haven't received anything. Now the agency is simply not responsive.  Advice? 

22 REPLIES 22
petra_r
Community Member


Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?

 


 


Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


Christine A wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


exactly.


Christine A wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


Yes. The agency pays the freelancer outside of upwork whichever percentage they agree on, which assumes that the freelancer knows the agency owner personally and trusts him, otherwise the freelancer risks - see above. 


Martina P wrote:

Christine A wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


Yes. The agency pays the freelancer outside of upwork whichever percentage they agree on, which assumes that the freelancer knows the agency owner personally and trusts him, otherwise the freelancer risks - see above. 


Wow. So tell me again why these agencies exist? There seems to be no benefit for the client nor the agency's members.


Christine A wrote:

Martina P wrote:

Christine A wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


Yes. The agency pays the freelancer outside of upwork whichever percentage they agree on, which assumes that the freelancer knows the agency owner personally and trusts him, otherwise the freelancer risks - see above. 


Wow. So tell me again why these agencies exist? There seems to be no benefit for the client nor the agency's members.


I am as baffled as you are. 


Christine A wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Patrick G wrote:

What recourse does a freelancer have if the agency won't pay for the job performed? 


None.

What prompted you to join an agency?


Lemme get this straight. So if you join an agency, you still need to be hired as an individual freelancer, but the client doesn't pay you as an individual freelancer - they pay the agency owner? Is that correct?


And then as I understand it, the agency owner doesn't even transfer the funds through Upwork--they're responsible for paying you directly.

That is correct, which is what takes any dispute with the agency outside of Upwork.

prestonhunter
Community Member

Patrick:

This has nothing to do with Upwork. This is strictly a matter between you and your agency.


Sorry.

cmdcodemaster
Community Member

Talk to your agency.


John L wrote:

Talk to your agency.


Which part of "the agency is not responding" didn't you understand?

06b2051e
Community Member

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback.  I simply needed to know whether Upwork had a dispute resolution mechanism for issues arising between agencies and freelancers.  The short answer is that there isn't one.  

Sorry, Patrick - I can't believe the way that these agencies work!

This is the closest result that I've got so far related to my agency not paying and it seems that agencies in Upwork are not monitored and regulated. It means that agency may scam you and Upwork won't do anything. How about canceling their agency status in Upwork, would it not be enough? I gave my all during that hard-earned work and ended not receiving any payment at all. 

Upwork doesn't micromanage agencies.

Upwork lets them work the way that they want to operate.

 

If you don't want to work for any agency, then don't want to work for an agency.

 

This is a non-issue.

It's not about micromanaging these agencies it's about regulating these agencies and making them liable for their wrongdoings. Setting up certain guidelines so that these agencies won't violate the rights of the freelance agents.

I worked for that agency because I thought that they are also regulated and get liable when it comes to this kind of issue but they're not. It really shows that they won't be liable and indeed their SCHEME will continue because it's beyond Upwork's scope even though in the first place the agency is operating IN Upwork. So we should just accept this FACT and move on, and not get paid and learn the lesson not to work for an agency since this is a non-issue for Upwork. 

Thank you for enlightening me! Have a great day/evening!


Preston H wrote:

Upwork doesn't micromanage agencies.

Upwork lets them work the way that they want to operate.

 

If you don't want to work for any agency, then don't want to work for an agency.

 

This is a non-issue.


Well, the OP did work for an agency that did not pay him, so it is in fact an issue, because I firmly believe the OP fully expected to be paid- which makes **Edited for Community Guidelines**


Mark Kim V wrote:

It saddens me to know that agencies won't be liable for not paying the freelance agents, they can still operate and do the same scheme, and you having the same answer from their customer support. The agency will receive the payment and you who do the actual job won't receive any payment. Should this fall under fraud or scam already? How can Upwork let this kind of cycle continue? 


Mark, you know you didn't have a contract with the agency, and just a little bit of reading would tell you the money goes to the agency bank account and you have to settle up outside of that. 

 

It is your responsibility to vet any agency you choose to work with and get a contract with them on the terms of payment, etc. It sounds to me like you joined an agency without really knowing those people. That was an unwise choice. But it's not Upwork's job to babysit you through your business decisions. 

It saddens me to know that agencies won't be liable for not paying the freelance agents, they can still operate and do the same scheme, and you having the same answer from their customer support. The agency will receive the payment and you who do the actual job won't receive any payment. Should this fall under fraud or scam already? How can Upwork let this kind of cycle continue? 


Mark Kim V wrote:

It saddens me to know that agencies won't be liable for not paying the freelance agents, they can still operate and do the same scheme, and you having the same answer from their customer support. The agency will receive the payment and you who do the actual job won't receive any payment. Should this fall under fraud or scam already? How can Upwork let this kind of cycle continue? 


I don't believe agencies are a scam in general. Only agencies that don't pay their freelancers are, possibly, scams. 

The premise is that a freelancer joins an agency of people he knows very well and trusts. Plus, I never understood why a freelancer would want to do that, I see no advantage in working in an agency, as opposed to being an independent freelancer. 

Agencies are indeed as scam. I joined Upwork last year and my "friend" put me as exclusive under his agency, paid me 2/3 of my billing and when I called him out on it, he offered to "sell" me back my freedom as a freelancer for $35k. He also has yet to pay me for my last week worked. He locked me out of my account (although temporarily) and I had to work with Upwork support to get my profile back. BTW, Upwork support is awesome.

I always thought a freelancer can leave an agency from his side. 

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