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nkatla
Community Member

Am I right or wrong to ask a client to release final milestone before making their website live?

Hello!

 

So My client and I are not on good terms. The project is to redesign their website and it started out well and they released Ist milestone as per agreement but soon after that they started demanding updates which were not listed in the document that they sent me before hiring which contains specific no. of pages and features they requested.

 

I did few of those extra updates but then refused to do any further changes that were not listed in that document. They threatened me to file a complaint to upwork but I still refused to do those changes and then they told me to just complete the work as per the document. 

 

Now I have completed the work and requested them to release the final milestone but they refused to do that and asked me to make the website live on their hosting first but I simply don't trust them anymore as I fear they will start demanding changes or worse change their hosting credentials.

 

I also understand that they haven't got a single file from me and they already paid half of the milestone so I offered to send them a backup that I took when they released first milestone or even offered them to make that backup live somewhere on their hosting but they refused.

 

The 2nd solution I proposed to them is that they can keep some % of the milestone and release rest of the money and when I'll make the website live they can release that remaining money but they again refused.

 

So now they are threatening me again to file a complaint against me to upwork.

 

Sorry for such a long post 🙂 I wanted to explain the matter as clearly as possible. So am I wrong or right please let me know? 

 

Thanks

6 REPLIES 6
petra_r
Community Member


Navdeep k wrote:

So am I wrong or right please let me know? 


At the moment, the client hasn't got anything- They can't test anything. How can you possibly expect them to release the money?

 

Give the client their website and request payment.

 


Navdeep k wrote:

....soon after that they started demanding updates which were not listed in the document that they sent me before hiring which contains specific no. of pages and features they requested.

 

I did few of those extra updates but then refused to do any further changes that were not listed in that document. ks


That's the wrong way to go about handling extra requests. 

One (of several) right ways is to enthusiastically agree to the extra stuff and put a price on it. "That's a great idea, Jack. Of course I can do that, it'll be  $ XXX. Would you like to set a new milestone for that or pay as a bonus upfront?"

nkatla
Community Member

Thanks for replying, regarding this -

 

"

At the moment, the client hasn't got anything- They can't test anything. How can you possibly expect them to release the money?

Give the client their website and request payment.

"

Actually they can see the progress live on my subdomain and as I mentioned in my post I offered to send them a backup which I took when they released the first milestone.

 

Regarding "

That's the wrong way to go about handling extra requests. 

One (of several) right ways is to enthusiastically agree to the extra stuff and put a price on it. "That's a great idea, Jack. Of course I can do that, it'll be  $ XXX. Would you like to set a new milestone for that or pay as a bonus upfront?"

 

I wanted to be as short as possible with my post so I didn't mentioned that I offered them extra changes for some price but they refused to pay.

"

 

petra_r
Community Member


Navdeep k wrote:

Actually they can see the progress live on my subdomain and as I mentioned in my post I offered to send them a backup which I took when they released the first milestone.


Being able to "see progress" isn't the same as having it. The general order is

  1. Client funds milestone
  2. Freelancer does the work
  3. Freelancer hands the work over to the client and requests payment
  4. Client checks or tests the work and releases payment (or requests changes)

You are missing step 3 and if there is a dispute, the first question will be if you have handed over the work. At this stage, the client has paid half already and has actually nothing at all......

 

Why would the client release all payment when they have received 0? 

nkatla
Community Member


Petra R wrote:

Navdeep k wrote:

Actually they can see the progress live on my subdomain and as I mentioned in my post I offered to send them a backup which I took when they released the first milestone.


Being able to "see progress" isn't the same as having it. The general order is

  1. Client funds milestone
  2. Freelancer does the work
  3. Freelancer hands the work over to the client and requests payment
  4. Client checks or tests the work and releases payment (or requests changes)

You are missing step 3 and if there is a dispute, the first question will be if you have handed over the work. At this stage, the client has paid half already and has actually nothing at all......

 

Why would the client release all payment when they have received 0?

 


I understand what you're saying, I am going to deliver the work but I told client that I am going to remove freebies(that extra work) and there was one more extra page I created, for that, client had created a new milestone which can't be funded(upwork feature) as previous main milestone needs to be released. I told him I'll remove that page too from the outcome and submit the originally asked work , once previous milestone is cleared and they funded that new milestone , I will include that extra page and then after testing they can release that new milestone also.

 

But now client is saying they won't pay me anything if I don't include that extra page, so client is now going against upwork policies, they can't ask me to include the work for which they didn't funded yet right?

 

I am still going to deliver originally asked work though and then I'll request release of milestone. I guess from that point dispute will be official as client clearly said they are not going to pay and I don't think client will wait 14 days to reject my funds release request.

 

Thanks

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Stand your ground, Navdeep K.,

 

Fortunately, many Upwork clIents don't understand the work they need done. In some cases, if they did they wouldnt need to hire a freelancer.

 

Unfortunately, when this type of client discovers what they didn't know, some figure they can simply increase their demands for work to be done by a freelancer without also increasing their payments to the freelancer.

 

It looks like your client is one of those.

 

If you have completed the agreed work product the client should pay you in full. There is every reason in the world to agree to provide a small amount of extra work for a client - creating goodwill, etc. - but that idea has its limits.

 

 

nkatla
Community Member

Thanks Will!

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