Client asking for refund.

[hitarth_patel]

I have a client for whom I had to make a project. I made the project but somehow the client was not happy. I asked him if he wants me to rework the project, he asked me to re do one slide and if he finds it worthwhile he will ask to do for the other slides as well. He was satisfied with the slide that i did and asked me to do the other as well. Now I have completed the slides and he has proposed for refund on upwork. He is not replying to my messages as well. 

Pl guide what should i do..? Should i give him refund or file for dispute.?

Also if i go for dispute , will it affect my JSS and can client give me negative feedback?

[chillynguyen]

Is it a fixed price contract? Have him funded the milestone yet? If yes, maybe you should submit the work through the submit button and  wait for 14 days, and hopefully he won't do anything else. The money will go into your account.

If you give him full refund, the job won't show in your feedback history, but the client stlil can leave you a private feedback, which results in JSS drop.

If you go for dispute and you "win", he will still can leave you negative feedback, which affects your JSS when he closes the contract.

Maybe after you "win" the dispute, you can close the contract yourself and  hopefully he won't leave any feedback; or leave the contract open and hope that the client won't bother to close it.

In case it's an hourly job, if you used the tracker, had qualified time working blocks and left memos correctly, when a dispute is filed, those money will go to you. Only unqualified time blocks would be refunded to him.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "I have a client for whom I had to make a project. I made the project but somehow the client was not happy."

You should not say that.

You don't know that the client was not happy.

You only know that the client SAID he was not happy.

What if the client loved your work? Was very happy with your work? But he TOLD you that he was not happy with it because he is trying to manipulate you into giving him a refund?

And remember this:
A client's emotional state is not a factor in calculating whether or not he has to pay you for your work.

A fixed-price contract means:
- A client hires you to do a task

- You do the task

- The client releases payment for the task

Note how there is no step in which "whether or not the client is happy" is a factor here.

Take this example:

A client names "Betty" hired "Sam" to install a garbage disposal in her kitchen.

Sam installed the garbage disposal. It was installed correctly and worked fine.

Then Betty said: "Well, I don't feel deliriously happy right now. So I don't think I should pay you."
Sam replied: "Here is the invoice. You may pay with cash or credit card."

The lesson here is clear: It really didn't matter if Betty said she was happy or not. She still needed to pay Sam for the work that he did.

re: "Now I have completed the slides and he has proposed for refund on upwork. He is not replying to my messages as well."

If this is a fixed-price contract.

Use the "Submit work for payment" button.

Don't send him any messages.

Don't attempt to communicate with him.

If he does nothing then all of the money in escrow will be released to you automatically.

If this is an hourly contract:
Do nothing.
You will automatically be paid for the time that you logged properly.

He is not communicating with you at this time. Good. Don't waste your time trying to communicate with him.