Client Ended The Contract

[kashafshamim]

Hey,

The issue is related to the contract. In less than 24 hours, my client terminated the contract without speaking to me or discussing the matter. The work was almost done, and I assured him that I would submit it before the 25th hour. In response, he misbehaved, blocked me, and requested a refund. Now, should I file a dispute or approve it? It was so repulsive what he said. I've all the screenshots, can anyone from the Upwork support team contact me?

Thanks

[petra_r]

How much money is involved?

[kashafshamim]

Total $35, but he added $18 in Escrow as a Milestone. 

[petra_r]

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Kashaf S wrote:

Total $35, but he added $18 in Escrow as a Milestone. 

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Then the most you could get in a dispute is $18. That's if the client concedes the dispute. Is it worth the hassle to you? Only you can decide that.

Clients can end contracts any time and no more need the permission of the freelancer than the other way around.

[kashafshamim]

It's not even worth the dispute, and to be honest, I don't even want the money. The fact that he misbehaved without a good reason upsets me. My question is if I accept the refund request, will it affect my JSS? I'm a top-rated freelancer.  

[martina_plaschka]

No. If he left bad private feedback, that has already happened. 

[tlbp]

If the client has closed the contract, then they have already left the feedback that will impact  your JSS. You are top rated, so I would think the impact would be minimal (if any). On an unpaid contract, only negative private feedback is applied to your JSS, so there may be no impact at all. 

Wait until your next JSS calcuation to see what effect this contract has had. If this contract does substantial damage, you can use your top rated perk if you have it available. 

FYI The link in your Tale of Two O's portfolio piece takes me to a 404. 😞

[kashafshamim]

Loved the reply, thanks, Tonya! 

[eeb179a1]

**Edited for Community Guidelines** Sometimes it's not about the money, but do realize that, when the client behaves like this, very most likely they will leave a horrible feedback to the freelancer. And then who will suffer after that? The JSS of the freelancer will go down, but for what reason? For the fact that the client misbehaved? **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[wlyonsatl · Accepted solution]

Kashaf,

Once you agree to a contract with a client on Upwork that client has a permanent ability to leave both public and the all-important private feedback for you, regardless whether the job ends due to completion of your work, cancellation by you or the client, a dispute, etc., etc.

When you refund money due to you that only removes public client feedback. It has no effect on the client's private feedback.

But keep in mind Upwork has clearly said the following about excluding feedback from certain clients when calculating a freelancers' Job Success Score:

"We understand that some projects have bad outcomes because the client is difficult to work with. So we track freelancer feedback of clients and flag those clients with a history of poor collaboration. If one of your clients has been flagged (or has been suspended for Terms of Service violations), then the client's feedback will not count against your score."

I assume "the client's feedback" includes both private and public feedback, but we have no way to know which clients this applies to.

Good luck!