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Richard Mark's avatar
Richard Mark S Community Member

Automatic Refund

Dears,

 

First my contract was suspended. The suspension was initiated every week on Friday. But now it took so long. And then this morning I was shocked that I received an email that I refunded some amount of my previous earnings even though I didn't initiate anything.

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Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Richard Mark S wrote:

First my contract was suspended. The suspension was initiated every week on Friday. 


That would have been a warning that the client didn't pay Upwork until their account was suspended on a regular basis.

 


Richard Mark S wrote:

And then this morning I was shocked that I received an email that I refunded some amount of my previous earnings even though I didn't initiate anything.


That means the client still hasn't paid for your hours. It's not a real refund, it's a reversal of a theoretical transaction that never happened.

 

If your hours qualify for protection, Upwork pay you out of their own pocket.

It seems your hours didn't qualify. (manual time, low activity levels, missing memo all lead to time not being protected)

 

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Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Richard Mark S wrote:

First my contract was suspended. The suspension was initiated every week on Friday. 


That would have been a warning that the client didn't pay Upwork until their account was suspended on a regular basis.

 


Richard Mark S wrote:

And then this morning I was shocked that I received an email that I refunded some amount of my previous earnings even though I didn't initiate anything.


That means the client still hasn't paid for your hours. It's not a real refund, it's a reversal of a theoretical transaction that never happened.

 

If your hours qualify for protection, Upwork pay you out of their own pocket.

It seems your hours didn't qualify. (manual time, low activity levels, missing memo all lead to time not being protected)

 

Richard Mark's avatar
Richard Mark S Community Member

My client sent me this. He said he paid all and upwork is causing him trouble for his card

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Richard Mark S wrote:

My client sent me this. He said he paid all and upwork is causing him trouble for his card


That's because when Upwork reversed the money the client never paid, his due balance went to $ 0

 

Say we're talking about 20 hours at $ 6... - The client was billed $ 120 - their payment method repeatedly declined, so Upwork never got the money.

Yesterday, the unpaid transaction was reversed, so instead of showing $ 120 outstanding, it shows $ 0.

 

What the client needs to do now is pay you whatever you are owed as a bonus. Then you have to hope that the charge goes through this time.

 

If the contract has been reactivated, you need to make sure that you log time in line with the terms of the hourly protection, which means using the tracker, decent activity levels and meaningful work memos in future

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Richard:

The client knows there is a problem with his credit card. He even TOLD you that there is a problem with his credit card.

 

If he truly wants to make sure you will get paid, he will provide Upwork with a valid, usable credit card.

 

There is really nothing you can do at this point. Don't do any more work for this client.

 

And for future reference, keep in mind the benefits of Upwork Payment Protection. Last week I was in a situation very similar to yours. I had worked for a client whose credit card had problems. But because my work qualified for Upwork Payment Protection, Upwork proactively sent me a note telling me that I was getting paid for all of my time, even though they had not been able to charge the client's card.

In the future, if you follow all the rules for logging time in a protected way, you won't have to worry about a client's credit card problems.

Joanne's avatar
Joanne P Retired Team Member

Hi Richard Mark,

 

One of our team members will reach out and assist you further regarding this issue. Thank you.

~ Joanne
Upwork