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sydneysstudio
Community Member

Can I cancel a fixed price contract without any negatives?

I accepted a fixed-price client that I would like to get rid of. She doesn’t seem to speak english very well or something (this is a US client) because she won’t respond to my questions that actually allow me to start the project. I’m just running around in circles at this point and it’s a huge waste of my time. She also does not want to communicate over Upwork, only email.

Will this hurt my JSS? Will she be able to just leave me negative feedback, even though we haven’t started anything yet?

Thank you.
ACCEPTED SOLUTION

re: "Will this hurt my JSS? Will she be able to just leave me negative feedback, even though we haven’t started anything yet?"

 

If you are not paid anything at all for this contract, then it will be impossible for the contract to appear on your profile page. There will be NO PUBLIC FEEDBACK from this in your work history.

 

BUT: Any private feedback she leaves you would have a negative impact on JSS.

 

For your JSS, you do NOT want to have zero-pay contracts.

 

It is best to not accept fixed-price contracts that you won't be able to finish. However, you know that your JSS is not determined based on a single contract. If this contract is costing you time and not worth it to you, then closing it and refunding all money in escrow IS an option that you have.

 

I don't know all the details of your contract, but if I had a project that I couldn't make any headway with because a client was incomprehensible, then I would certainly consider submitting the work I had done thus far, and asking for only a percentage of the agreed-upon payment.

 

"Josephine:

I completed 75% of the work. I am submitting all of that, and asking for only 25% payment. This is a good deal for you. If you accept this, then I will release $75 back to you now."

 

Doing something like this may be easier than trying to work on a project thorugh whatever communication barriers are present between you and this client.

 

But if you have not done ANY work... you are not in a position to ask for very much money. Or any money at all.

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6 REPLIES 6
prestonhunter
Community Member

Sydney:

For the future, I advise you to do what I do with fixed-price contracts:

 

I do not accept a fixed-price contract until I have all of the materials and all of the information necessary to complete the task, with ZERO further communication between myself and the client.

 

That way, after I am hired, if the client completely disappears, I am still able to complete the task, submit it, and get paid automatically.

 

If a project entails questions that need to be answered, then those questions must be answered BEFORE I accept the contract. Or those questions would occur BETWEEN the first and second milestone.

re: "Will this hurt my JSS? Will she be able to just leave me negative feedback, even though we haven’t started anything yet?"

 

If you are not paid anything at all for this contract, then it will be impossible for the contract to appear on your profile page. There will be NO PUBLIC FEEDBACK from this in your work history.

 

BUT: Any private feedback she leaves you would have a negative impact on JSS.

 

For your JSS, you do NOT want to have zero-pay contracts.

 

It is best to not accept fixed-price contracts that you won't be able to finish. However, you know that your JSS is not determined based on a single contract. If this contract is costing you time and not worth it to you, then closing it and refunding all money in escrow IS an option that you have.

 

I don't know all the details of your contract, but if I had a project that I couldn't make any headway with because a client was incomprehensible, then I would certainly consider submitting the work I had done thus far, and asking for only a percentage of the agreed-upon payment.

 

"Josephine:

I completed 75% of the work. I am submitting all of that, and asking for only 25% payment. This is a good deal for you. If you accept this, then I will release $75 back to you now."

 

Doing something like this may be easier than trying to work on a project thorugh whatever communication barriers are present between you and this client.

 

But if you have not done ANY work... you are not in a position to ask for very much money. Or any money at all.

I agree, I should be much more detailed about this. My issue with this is I do web development, so most my clients give me somewhat sensitive information (like login details or admin permissions) to their sites, which I feel shouldn't be asked until the contract has been established.

 

That is the case with my current client. I've asked twice now over a 1 week period for either admin permissions or login details to the website, so we can actually begin the project. She ignores my requests completely and schedules "conference calls" to discuss details we've already been over. It's very odd.

 

I might just stick it out, since I'm new to Upwork and only have a few feedbacks so far. I really don't want this to affect my score. Maybe one day the project will begin, but she put the due date at the end of August, so we'll see.

 

Thank you all for the advice.


Sydney B wrote:

I agree, I should be much more detailed about this. My issue with this is I do web development, so most my clients give me somewhat sensitive information (like login details or admin permissions) to their sites, which I feel shouldn't be asked until the contract has been established.

 

That is the case with my current client. I've asked twice now over a 1 week period for either admin permissions or login details to the website, so we can actually begin the project. She ignores my requests completely and schedules "conference calls" to discuss details we've already been over. It's very odd.

 

I might just stick it out, since I'm new to Upwork and only have a few feedbacks so far. I really don't want this to affect my score. Maybe one day the project will begin, but she put the due date at the end of August, so we'll see.

 

Thank you all for the advice.


Shoulda charged for the calls. 

re: "I agree, I should be much more detailed about this. My issue with this is I do web development, so most my clients give me somewhat sensitive information (like login details or admin permissions) to their sites, which I feel shouldn't be asked until the contract has been established."

 

Sydney:

I do a lot of web development. I accept both fixed-price and hourly contracts.

 

Either way... If I am being asked to work on an existing web site or database, then I ask the clients to provide me with the login credentials, OR I require that they send me the files. (Such as .sql export files, or source code files... whatever it is I would be working on.)

 

This does NOT pose a problem for me. Clients regularly provide me with these things so that I can look at what I'm getting into before agreeing to a contract.

 

If a client did not want to provide these things to me, then it would be an hourly contract.

 

This is not meant as criticism of anything you have been doing. But I hope you can see that it IS possible to get what you need BEFORE agreeing to a contract.

lysis10
Community Member


Sydney B wrote:

Will this hurt my JSS? Will she be able to just leave me negative feedback, even though we haven’t started anything yet?

Thank you.

Every contract affects your jss and yes she can leave you bad feedback if she wants.

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