Client Requesting a Refund

[bfell1618]

I signed on to an hourly contract to do some work which I did in good faith. As things have gone on it has become clear that this job/client was not a good fit for me. The client is not pleased with the work I have done, and I have politely requested that the contract be ended. They are now asking for (some kind of) refund. What can I do? The information on the site seems contradictory, some seems to say that once the money is paid that is it, and other information seems to say I will be required to give the refund.

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Brian,

Just to clarify that clients can't submit a refund request on hourly contracts, they can only dispute the freelancer hours. To learn more about disputing freelancers hours check out this Help Article, to learn more about how you`re protected under our hourly payment protection check out this Guide.

As a freelancer, you can refund funds on hourly contracts once they are available on your account. If you have any additional questions let me know, thank you.

[petra_r]

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Goran wrote:

Just to clarify that clients can't submit a refund request on hourly contracts, they can only dispute the freelancer hours.

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Since when? I think you are still mixing up "return of escrow funds" and "request a refund" - those are two very different functions. The former is only possible with fixed rate contracts that have money in escrow, the latter is available for both.

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Goran wrote:

As a freelancer, you can refund funds on hourly contracts once they are available on your account.

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He can (if he wants to, which it does not sound like) refund as soon as the client has been charged.

Brian, when did you log the time, and when you did, did you use the tracker or manual time? Did you have good activity levels in your work diary and meaningful work memos on the screenshots?

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Petra and Brian,

I`m sorry about the confusion, it was a misread on my end. Petra, thank you for the correction. 

Brian, in addition to Petra information please refer to this Help Article to learn more how you`re protected under our Hourly Payment Protection. 

[bfell1618]

For this particular project I was tracking with manual time. I last logged time 21 days ago.

[petra_r]

If the client disputes the contract, you will lose every last Cent of that one. Manual time is not protected, but Upwork will only look at the work diary up to 30 days prior to the dispute.

[bfell1618]

So if they are requesting only a partial refund, my best course of action is to pay and be done with it, yes?

[prestonhunter]

Upwork does not need a freelancer's permission to refund manually logged hours. They can just do it. Manual hours are not protected. If a client wants to dispute those hours, Upwork refunds them automatically.

So if you have logged ten manual hours, and a clent asks you to refund five hours... Then refund five hours and accept this as a "win."

On a related subject, can you tell us why you used manual time instead of using the time-tracker? There are situations where that is necessary, but typically we want to avoid that.

[722ee3d5]

Hi, I would just like to ask what will happen if I ignore the client's request for a refund on a weekly payment?

[petra_r]

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Marlon B wrote:

Hi, I would just like to ask what will happen if I ignore the client's request for a refund on a weekly payment?

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That depends on whether the client disputes or contacts Upwork, but if you know the client added the weekly paymen by accident, why would you try to keep money you know you are not entitled to?