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beziermagic
Community Member

Client asking a refund.

Hi everyone,

 

The contract is fixed price. The client asked some designes. We discussed the requinments. I did them and sent him some variants. I was expecting he will chose the designs he like. Or maybe he aks for revisions.

 

But he asked for refund and wrote me this message: Thanks for your time, but we decided to go with a different illustrator. Can you cancel/decline the contract and refund the money please? Thanks.

Then he closed the contract himself.

 

I am honestly confused. This is the first time in my time at UpWork the clinet did something like that. What would be the best option for me to solve this situation? Can I report the client ot give him a negative feedback?

 

Aslo, I have attched his statictics. It should have made me suspect that something was wrong.Screenshot 2020-08-30 at 21.34.09.png

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks!

11 REPLIES 11
yitwail
Community Member

Anastasia, the client is trying to get free work without paying you so do not refund and instead dispute their request. It’s possible you could receive poor feedback, but you’re Top Rated so you might be able to use your perk to remove the feedback if it’s poor. And for what it’s worth, I think this client will do the same thing to the other freelancer they hired. Good luck!
__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
prestonhunter
Community Member

Anastasia: I am sorry to hear about what this client did. It is completely inappropriate.

 

Of course a client has every right to go with another freelancer. But he still needs to pay you for the work that you did.

 

Maybe the client is simply unaware of how the system works. I always recommend that freelancers give clients the opportunity to do the right thing.


If the client had not already closed the contract, then...


You could tell the client: "Thank you for your note. I believe that a client should be able to close a contract at any time. I wish you well with the freelancers you have chosen. I can not close the contract properly on my end, but if you navigate to the contract listing, and then click on the three dots icon, you can close the contract from your end. If you release any remaining escrow funds then the contract will be closed and you will not be charged any more."

 

If the client does as you instruct then he can indeed end the contract, and you will be paid for your work. There will be no need for a dispute.

 

If the client doesn't do that... then I recommend you come to this thread and tell us what he did.

Hi Preston,

 

The client already closed the contract. He asked the refund. He want me to approve it. And I don't know what can I do. 

re: "The client already closed the contract. He asked the refund. He want me to approve it. And I don't know what can I do."

 

The situation is different because the client already closed the contract.

 

I recommend that you decline to refund the client any money.

 

Remember that the client has ALREADY left feedback. You can see what that feedback is. You may as well do everything you can at this point to get paid as much as possible for the work that you did.

 

If you decline to refund the money to him, then a dispute will be created. That means he can't get any money back unless he comes to an agreement with you. An Upwork employee will serve as a mediator to facilitate communications. You can tell the mediator that the client did not know how to use Upwork properly, but that you will forgive him if he agrees to release all of the money to you. That would be my suggestion as an opening offer.

 

How much money in total was in escrow when the client closed the contract? Did you previously earn any money from this same contract?


Preston H wrote:

How much money in total was in escrow when the client closed the contract? Did you previously earn any money from this same contract?


It's $30 only. There was only one milestone. I didn't earn anything.

 

I am thinking about approving the refund. Because the $30 is not worth for me to fight for. But I am so angry at his behavior. 

Yeah... $30 is not something I would go to war over.

 

If it was me, I would refund the $30 and keep the work, and post the work in my portfolio. I would thank the client for the opportunity to do so.

 

Is this something that you can reasonably post in your portfolio? If the client doesn't pay for it, he has no ownership of it. Unpaid work belongs to the freelancer.

 

Keep in mind that zero-pay contracts are harmful to JSS. But personally, I have so many completed jobs that I can easily afford to take the hit from a few full refunds.

 

On the other hand, maybe the client really didn't know that he wasn't supposed to do this. If you straight up tell the mediator that you want him to ask the client to release the $30 to you and you forgive the client for mistakenly asking for a refund, then maybe the client will either say yes, realizing it is the right thing to do, or be too embarrassed to say anything at all and let the money go to you by virtue of his silence.


Anastasia Y wrote:

Preston H wrote:

How much money in total was in escrow when the client closed the contract? Did you previously earn any money from this same contract?


It's $30 only. There was only one milestone. I didn't earn anything.

 

I am thinking about approving the refund. Because the $30 is not worth for me to fight for. But I am so angry at his behavior.


Only you can decide what's best for you, but if you approve the refund, you're encouraging the client to do the same thing to other freelancers, and as Preston pointed out, a closed contract with no payment could lower your JSS.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce

Whichever option I chose, my JSS score will lower. Or because the refund approval or because the possible bad feedback from client after the dispute. Thats so unfair! I didn't do anything wrong.

I would file a dispute. This guy needs to learn a lesson. 

Upwork will probably just pay you out. Might as well get some dispute experience.


Anastasia Y wrote:

Hi Preston,

 

The client already closed the contract. He asked the refund. He want me to approve it. And I don't know what can I do. 


You can file a dispute instead. Since the contract is closed, he already rated you so just have it removed if you want with the perk and go for some money.

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