Client - Worker Relationship

[Abu R]

Hello, one of my clients used slang and i stopped working with him. later he gave me very bad feedback. I contacted upwork support and the support guy told me feedback is not editable. can upwork take any action who use slang or bad language?

[Avery O · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry to hear your experience, Abu.

I think you misunderstood the email sent to you by the team and I wanted to clarify. The Customer Support Agent noted that they cannot edit the feedback given to you. However, you may ask the client to edit it by enabling him/her to edit the feedback.

I went ahead and checked the messages you have exchanged with this client and forwarded it to the team so that it can be reviewed further.

[Preston H]

re: "can upwork take any action who use slang or bad language?"

Using vulgar, crude or profane language is unprofessional. Nobody should use such language... Not clients and definitely not freelancers.

But what exactly do you have in mind when you ask Upwork to take action? Do you want Upwork to arrest the client and put him in Word Jail?

As a practical matter, there is little Upwork can do to actually prevent clients from using bad language. I think this would primarily be something that clients and freelancers must manage themselves. If a client behaves inappropriately, such as by using slang words or by using some curse words, the main thing a freelancer can do is to ask the client to not use such language. Most people don't want to offend and would readily comply. If that doesn't work, the freelancer may wish to stop working for the client.

[Will L]

In mid-2017 I had a clown for a client who threatened me with bodily harm in multiple messages on Upwork's messaging system.

I reported the posts to Upwork. He is still an active client on Upwork, but my feedback might have been the reason he hasn't posted any jobs since.

[Vladimir G]

Hi Will,

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with the client you mentioned. If you like, you can pm me the ticket number so I can check the conversation you had with our team and confirm actions have been taken.

Note that while we don't allow such behaviour on our platform and directly address threats made by our users, each case is reviewed individually and removing a user from the platform is not the only action our team can take against the party who violated Upwork ToS.  

[Lisa D]

I am trying to land some paying work with details that I cannot even understand. I tried copy pase link for Upwork Messages but I couldn't find it. How do we speak to a potential client for clarification without sing 2 connects? First  off, out of 32 submissions since December 1 2018 I received NO reply. How do we contact them, or, do you contact them and you just did not have the time to either delete the jobs or to find time to re-arrange your communication paths betwen you, the employer and the employer and the contractor. Here you are asking thousands of questions where you could just simply go into the contractor's messages archive and see what he means if it was there. Did you need my permission to go in my messages? Ok. Here, you have my permission. Now I want you to give contractors permission to speak to anyone with evasive minds. Or, are they bots? FYM the guy says - he,s launching in french and be the first on the waiting list but in 2 sentences. Be the first to hear it French to another sentence. Join the waitlist. Waiting List is a slang then. WaitList is the IN-Word slang now.

[Abu R]

Hello Avery, 

I requested the client to change the public feedback but he did not agree.

The slang he used via email. Have you any way to change the feedback if I give you all screenshots and everything? 

[Jo-An B]

Hi Abu,

We are sorry to hear you had this experience. Please send a screenshot and the ticket number as what Vladimir advised through sending as direct message. Please click my profile and send message and we will check this for you. Thanks.

[Alan H]

I'm proud of you for standing up to a client using abusive language, Abu. A little friction can be expected from time to time, but when the counterparty behaves badly, it takes all your energies away from the good work you can do for your polite and collaborative clients. Wasting your energy on a bad actor or a bully is unfair to you and to the rest of your clients.

Regarding feedback, you have a time frame during which you can reply to the client's feedback, to tell your side of the story.