Client Asking for Refund

[yossef-mohamed]

Hello , i have made some work for client with houlry automatic tracked time 

contract and the offer showing that he wants Illustration for a plane and sent me it to do it 

and after i made it he saw it he didin't send me any message and after 5 hours he said " no way man "

so i asked him what ? and told him you asked for illustrator for a ship with a black sky ?

did i make another thing ?

he didn't say another word / or ask for edit / or asked for some changes /

he just sent me another work to do and i have made it to him

and after a week he asked for refund " today " with reason "  Work not used "

so i told him " everything you asked for i did it " 

i mean what's my problem if you didn't use the work i made 

i should get paid for making the work you want 

if you didn't use it i think this up to you not me i guess

so i told him " i asked you since a week is there problem with the work " 

you didn't say any thing and just asked me for another work to do and i have did it too

so he just said " This is what it is. .... $5.00 " 

i don't want to refund i have worked for this and he just didn't use the work i made

i really need help 

[prestonhunter]

Are you saying that the client hired you to do a job, and then you did the job, and the client is asking you for a refund, claiming he didn't use the work?

That's funny.

But very silly.

Clients ARE NOT REQUIRED to use the work that they hure freelancers to create. But they still need to pay for the work.

Of course the client should not have asked for a refund.

This client is behaving in an unprofessional, immoral, unethical manner.

If you don't want to give this client a refund, you don't have to.

Don't argue with this client.

Don't defend yourself.

Don't say much at all.

If he has questions, tell him that he can ask his questions here:

community.Upwork.com

[yossef-mohamed]

yes this exactly what happened 

i don't want to give him that refund 

but now what will happen ? 

i'm afriad the after some days i see that the refund is done automatically 

so what i should do now ? what will happen ? 

[prestonhunter]

This is an hourly contract, right? You logged your time using the Desktop time-tracker application. The client's credit card will be charged for the time you logged and Upwork will send you the money.

The client pushed a button that ASKED you for a refund.

You can respond by telling the client that he can ask questions about getting a refund by going here:

community.Upwork.com

Be polite. Don't add fuel to the fire. Don't say much of anything.

If sounds like this client's request has no real power behind it. It's just a request. Like if your five-year-old niece asked you for a unicorn for her birthday.

[yossef-mohamed]

alright so now what will happen ? 

how i make sure it wont go as refund automatic to him after somedays ?

[prestonhunter]

What exactly did you receive? Just a message?

Is this contract still open? Or closed?

How much money in total are you receiving from this contract?

[yossef-mohamed]

yes only message as " UPWORK APP "  

**Edited for community guidelines**requested a refund.

[yossef-mohamed]

contract still open 

and i should receive in this contract 20 $

[prestonhunter]

There is no button for you to click to prevent a refund.

If you don't choose to send a refund, a refund won't automatically be taken from you.

[yossef-mohamed]

alright so now i should do nothing and the moeny after 5 days will be in my balance right ? 

also second question how i make sure that the client won't give me bad review after decline the refund ? what should i do if this happened ?

[prestonhunter]

Yeah... that's the problem.

This client is such a goofball... we're wondering what will happen with feedback.

I am going to bow out now. You'll have to wait for suggestions from other people.

[yossef-mohamed]

if i closed the contract this will help ? 

or if one of the help center talked to him would this help too ?

[JoanneP]

Hi Yossef,

I checked your account and it looks like you have multiple contracts with the same client. You might want to discuss the refund request with the client as this is for a different contract you have with them. You can politely offer to make changes to the submitted work if they are willing to consider that. If you prefer to refund your client, you can do so by following the steps below: 

1. Go to My Jobs > All Contracts and click on the contract title.
2. Click on the 'Give a refund' from the (...) options menu
3. Choose the invoice to be refunded and click on 'Give Refund'

Feel free to check out this help article for more information.

[yossef-mohamed]

i offered the help more than once and he said the reson of the refund " work not used " 

so i think this is not my problem if he didn't use the work 

that's way i don't want to refund 

[kinector]

Yossef, I think Preston did a great job in explaining how the system works. Kudos!! 👍👍

Now, my worry, and your heads-up, is that when you have multiple contracts with the SAME CLIENT you are exposing yourself to great danger. Even if things look good in the beginning...

Say, you did everything right and managed to help your client multiple times under several contracts, but the client is not a very solid professional and gets completely upset about something while all your contracts are still open. The client could then close ALL the contracts in anger, give you horrible feedback on ALL of them, and your JSS would sink so low we would need a shovel for digging deep to actually see it.

So, at this point, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about one refund if the amount is small in that particular contract. Giving the refund might save your Upwork future, no matter how wrong it might feel. Strange, right? But that's the reality. 😬

Everything now depends on how well you know your client, how good connection you have, and how (somehow!) you manage to make the client win... considering all contracts you have active. 👍👍

Making some kind of compromise that doesn't lead to bad feedback on all your active contracts might be your best option, regardless of what feels right. Think strategically and aim to make both sides win no matter the disagreement.


PS. I never have more than 1 contract per client active. Even if my contract was dormant and my client wanted to start something new instead, I would request a proper closer for the ongoing one. This way, my profile is as secure as it could be (which, over here, is not so secure unfortunately). Established Upworkers can take a blow every now and then without suffering much. But it is hard even for us longbeards to survive multiple hits at the same time... particularly when it is almost like an accidental business seppuku by your own hand. 🙄

[yossef-mohamed]

so now i have to accept the refund and all the time , work i went through will go for nothing 

just beacuse i'm afraid of his feedback ? how is that 

[yossef-mohamed]

second question : if i accepted the refund is this going to affect my account or jss or anything ?

also after i make the refund he maybe be able to give me bad feedback too how i prevent this ?

[AndreaG]

Hi Yossef,

If you fully refund a client the contract will not show on your profile. If the client leaves positive or no feedback on a no-earnings contract, then the contract will also be excluded from your JSS calculation.

[yossef-mohamed]

even if it's hourly automatic tracker contract ?

[uzochukwu_lee]

It's sad that Upwork is not taking serious action to prevent this. It would have been nice to have an Upwork representative mediate between them. If not, it would appear like an unregulated market where anyone can do whatever they want.