Big Loophole & Unfair For the Freelancer

seo_by_pro · ‎04-06-2022

Hi,

I am a Top Rated Programmer on Upwork and enjoyed working here. The issue I recently had and it was really weird to be facing such a situation and losing hard-earned money when it was never your fault.

Situation :

I was hired by a client, whose issue I solved, I normally updated manual hours as I am very selective with people that I work with so I did not see any issues, I fixed the client's issues, and he was happy with the work, I updated the hours. after that, he ended the contract and left 5-star reviews.

Now after a week or so , I got a notification from upwork that amount has been refunded. Upon checking with the upwork staff they said its been reversed since they were not able to charge the client.

Now here's my situation, I completed the job and client had no problem with that , and rather was appreciative and left 5 stars for the job , but eventually the client left and is unreachable now , and the amount has been reversed.

This is really a bad situation on part of the freelancer who has worked hard to provide valuable service and ends up losing all that money because the system was made such that the other person can get away with all the work, and freelancers are left with nothing.

I would appreciate any help in this situation.

Thanks,
Syed

martina_plaschka · ‎04-06-2022

You should not use manual hours, only using the time tracker is payment-protected.

0e1846cf · ‎04-06-2022

Manual Hours always confuse me as well. The loyal UpWork buyers don't do this unethical practise but a few mal-intended new clients can misuse this service.

petra_r · ‎04-06-2022

Every time you add manual time you are told that there is no protection.
So I am not sure how it can come as a surprise to you.

It is very disappointing, of course, but ultimately it is a risk when working with clients you don't know.

seo_by_pro · ‎04-06-2022

If say , you are unable to provide a solution or there is a dispute by the client , then sure, you could think that you are at risk , but when the job went fine , client is happy he leaves you a good ratings for the job. Still you end up losing all your work, I hope you see the situation here.

moonraker · ‎04-06-2022

It has nothing to do with whether or not you did a good job.

You were scammed and did not use the time tracker to protect your earnings. If you did use the time tracker, then Upwork would have been scammed instead of you, and they would still lose out regardless of whether or not you did a good job.

seo_by_pro · ‎04-06-2022

The thing is , we are earning a living of this platform , and the ideal situation would be nobody would get scammed and everyone should be protected. Now , in this particular scenario , I don't understand the point of the # of hours showing up in your earning , if they are not actually collected , I believe , that upwork needs to fix this cause otherwise what is the point of having manual time option if that is flawed. The point is for us to fix things improve and move forward. Here if the client would have had any issue and raised concern , like adding extra hours , or work not getting done , that would have been a good enough reason for the user not being paid , but if everything has been done properly from the user end , its only fair , that he should be compensated.

An easy solution should be , that the # of hours which are decided at start of contract weekly hours should be escrowed so this won't happen again .

Flow could be like

When a contract started , a weekly amount is decided # of hours , the freelancer while accepting or buyer could mention that this week the freelancer will be working , so the # of hours mentioned should be escrowed .. and in future whenever the client wants to pause the contract they can. I believe that option is there.

petra_r · ‎04-06-2022

Syed T wrote:
If say , you are unable to provide a solution or there is a dispute by the client , then sure, you could think that you are at risk , but when the job went fine , client is happy he leaves you a good ratings for the job. Still you end up losing all your work, I hope you see the situation here.

If the client was so happy, why didn't they pay?

And be that as it may: When you agree that there is no protection for manual time, you agree not to get paid if the client, doesn't pay or disputes or does a chargeback.

There was a case of $12k chargeback not so long ago... All manual time.

df9f0910 · ‎04-06-2022

can anyone help explain the balance in the pending category?
does that mean the upwork has been successfully charge from the client or not if it's an hourly contract.

petra_r · ‎04-06-2022

Erinne S wrote:
can anyone help explain the balance in the pending category?
does that mean the upwork has been successfully charge from the client or not if it's an hourly contract.

No, it does not mean that the charge was successful. You'll only know for sure once it's available.