Client accepted and approved milestone for contract, now messaging me with continuous comments

[kellydj]

Hi. I have been with Upwork for several months and have had multiple clients. I have received only positive feedback from my clients. I have one that I submitted a completed job to last week. She sent me a message a couple of days later that said she did not like how I arranged edits and that she didn't use that particular format, but forgot to mention how she wanted it done. She said that she wasn't sure if she would pay, that she had to go back through the book and it was very tedious for her. She then a few minutes later approved the payment. I replied back that I wasn't aware she wanted the format of editing to be a certain way and that I wished she had contacted me sooner and I would have been happy to do it the way she is now requesting. Now she is responding that she is not happy with the job at all and after going over it yet again, is having to make more changes. She didn't like how it sounded, even though I advised her she had a lot of passive voice, etc. She also basically slammed my work, telling me that this may not be the career for me and advised me to look elsewhere for work. Like I said earlier, I have only received positive feedback until now and I did offer to review it again. Plus, she paid me. Why pay if not happy for the job? My question basically is if the client has waited almost a full week and is continuing to message about being unhappy, could she request and get a refund? I'm used to a world where if someone is not happy for services, then they bring that issue up and refuse to pay until they are satisfied. Thanks for any input.

[prestonhunter]

Kelly:
What you described is UNACCEPTABLE behavior on the part of this client.

When a client hires you with a fixed-price contract, NO CONTINUING COMMUNICATION IS implied.

You have many optoins:

- If the contract is already closed, you can simply BLOCK this client.

- If this contract is still open, then do this: Tell the client: "Jane, That's a great question. If you close the current contract, I will answer your question and I can continue to work on that." Then, if she closes the contract, you can offer to continue working with her using an hourly contract at a rate that you specify.

- Because you have already been paid, you can simply close the contract yourself. Then you can continue communicating with the client. After two weeks, the option to leave feedback will expire. If YOU close the contract and the client doesn't do anything for two weeks, you are free and clear from the possibility that the client leaves you any feedback.

Whatever you do, you need to understand that this client is behaving in a way that is unprofessional, unethical, and immoral. Your goal needs to be to get out of the situation as gracefully as possible, or charge her enough to justify your continued participation in this project.

But you SHOULD NOT work for free, which is what this client is asking you to do.

It is a violation of Upwork ToS for a client to ask a freelancer to work for free.

[kellydj]

Thanks for your response. I have already responded and apologized for my work not being what she was expecting and said that if she had contacted me before she spent so much time going over it herself I would have been happy to make any corrections. I then wished her well. With the way she is speaking to me, telling me to find another career, I feel like nothing I can say will make the situation any better. I honestly feel that it would make it worse to continue contact. She is not happy, but again, why pay when you aren't happy with the work and not even giving the opportunity to make corrections? I know my past clients have been happy with the work I have done or even have requested a few revisions and have given me the opportunity to do so. I feel she is bashing me and it's seeming personal and not professional and business-like. Should I close the contract or wait for her to close it? I don't want my stats going down because of this.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Should I close the contract or wait for her to close it?"

You are wasting your time with her.

Do you want to spend about five hours per day for the next 3 weeks getting bashed by her, only to end up with a 3-star rating?

Or do you want to end the contract now and receive the same rating?

I CAN NOT tell you what to do.

But I will tell you what I will do:

I am going to close the contract immediately.

And I hope that she doesn't leave feedback.

I am not going to mention to her that I am closing the contract. Maybe she won't notice.

re: "I don't want my stats going down because of this."

You have no choice in that matter.

But if you close the contract yourself, there is a chance that the client never leaves feedback.

If you close the contract, AND the client continues to talk to you, then in theory - while she has not yet left feedback - you could continue to communicate with her politely, and hope that she doesn't leave feedback.

[kellydj]

If you closed such a contract yourself, would you leave feedback explaining your part of the situation or just leave it blank? What rating would you give with working with the client?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "If you closed such a contract yourself, would you leave feedback explaining your part of the situation or just leave it blank? What rating would you give with working with the client?"

I am the freelancer.

I am dealing with a terrible, possibly irrational client.

I am going to close the contract now.

I could leave written feedback. Or I could leave that field blank.

How will I PERSONALLY BENEFIT from writing a whole essay about what a terrible this client was?

Future clients who might want to hire me can look at what I write. They will not be evaluating the client. They will be evaluating ME.

If I write a 10-paragraph essay going into detail abou tall the ways that this client is terrible... does that help me when those possible future clients read it? Or does it make me seem like a less desirable freelancer to work with?

If the client I am evaluating reads what I wrote, is she going to be more likely to drop matters? Or will she feel vengeful towards me?

[tlbp]

Upwork is a world like no other. The client may be trying to get the work for free or engaging in some other kind of shenanigans. It's best not to try to understand the why behind the behavior and just figure out your best course of action going forward. 

If you close the contract, I would suggestin that you leave a star rating but no commentary. Future clients are the ones who will read whatever you've written.