Hi All,
I'm reaching out to those with experience or a thorough understanding of the arbitration process. After reading a number of posts here on this topic things did not get clearer.
Summary: I completed and got paid on 2/3 milestones (a website build), the last payment was released on June 6. After completing the work for the third milestone and sending in the second round of revisions, the client became unresponsive and it took a month to get to chat with him. He said that he wanted a complete redesign of one page that was already approved. I prouced an estimate for this additional work, but he claimed that I should do it for free. I refused and he closed the contract and requested an escrow refund for the last $850 milestone. The mediation did not resolve anything and I'm thinking about the arbitration.
Questions:
1. How does one pay for the arbitration? I have not found any links, only a message saying that the client and I have until 8/31 to respond and pay. Is there a link to pay or do I need to respond to the mediator and get the link somehow later - what was your experience?
2. The deadline to agree/pay is set to 8/31. I read that this deadline is not enforced for the clients and they have an unknown amount of time to agree to the arbitration and pay - is this true? Is there any T&C link that you can share that allows a client to take extra time to agree to an arbitration?
3. During the mediation, the client requested a refund of the previous two milestones - the entire contract (though I disputed the request to release the money in the escrow for the last milestone, ). My understanding was that the milestones that have been paid can be disputed within 30 days only. But here I read that the clients have 180 days to dispute the entire contract regardless of the number of the milestones and the time passed since they were released. Is this true? Any T&C link you can point out to?
4. If I do nothing, the client will receive the $850 in the escrow back. Can they still go after the previously paid milestones (paid more that 2 months ago)? (Kinda reflects question 3 above).
5. If I pursue the arbitration and the client doesn't, or if I win it, what happens? Will the $850 funds in the escrow be paid to me or will they re-open the contract and revert to the previous state with the active last milestone where I would have to submit the work for payment and go through a new rigamarole in trying to get paid? (A reminder - the contract was closed before I submitted the official request for the payment of the last milestone).
Thanks for everyone's input!
