Client delaying payment and asking for extra tasks which are not a part of the contract.

[ahmedmkamal]

Hi,
I've had a job with that client and he asked me to fix some bugs at his app which wasn't a part of the initial contract, I accepted and fixed this bug, then I requested a new milestone for the extra work and he accepted my milestone request, and paid me and gave me five stars review and everything was just fine, now I have a new job with the same client and again he asked for some extra work but this time he told me that he's doing this job for another client and he won't get paid for it so I can "kindly" do it for free, I said okay and did that task and submitted it to Upwork using the official "submit work for payment" button, but this time I didn't ask for extra money but I mentioned at the description that I did extra work, but for some reason he started to ask for more work and again the excuses were "he won't get paid for that", "please be kind and help" and things like that, and when I said no he started to not respond to my messages and when he respond, he told me that he can't test my work because of the other parts are not working (those are not in our contract) I asked him how much time he need to test my tasks but again he didn't respond, no I feal that my efforts may go for no reason, what should I do in this situation?

[hoyle_editing]

I'm sure things are a little different in software development to my work, but by the sounds of it i would just submit the request once (assuming you have done 100% of the agreed milestone work) and if he asks for anything else i'd point out that you have already done "extra" work for free and but cant continue to do that without a new milestone and agreement in place. 

after 14 days the monery in escrow should be released to you anyway if he decides not to respond. 

[ahmedmkamal]

Is that gonna hurt my JSS?

[hoyle_editing]

I guess that depends on the public and private feedback that the client leaves you, but assuming they dont leave great feedback i guess it will. However, you shouldnt let that force you into doing free work

[hoyle_editing]

Though it doesnt look like you have a JSS yet? so im not sure how that works with getting rising talent etc in the future?

[ahmedmkamal]

Yeah, I'm asking because I'm just starting out, I got all five stars at all of my previous jobs, and it's going very well with my current clients, and don't want this job affect my profile in the future.

[petra_r]

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Ahmed K wrote:

Is that gonna hurt my JSS?

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No, unless the client leaves poor feedback.

[ahmedmkamal]

Just for the future reference, What if the client leaves me poor feedback that I don't deserve?

[hoyle_editing]

in a word TOUGH! as far as im aware anyway.

[hoyle_editing]

Also worth noting, even if clients leave you a 5 star rating, they also leave private feedback for upwork that can directly effect JSS.

[ahmedmkamal]

Yeah, I noticed that they also asking me for private feedback.

[wlyonsatl]

Ahmed,

In reply to a similar situation for another freelancer, an Upwork employee (moderator) said the following on this board in regards to including in JSS calculations consistenly negative feedback from the same client -

"We exclude clients whose freelancers report a history of unreasonable feedback so their scores won't count against you...”

Unfortunately, you will never know what clients' feedback this applies to. And these clients continue to hire, making freelancers worry unnecessarily about the feedback the clients provide.

Good luck.

[petra_r]

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Will L wrote:

"We exclude clients whose freelancers report a history of unreasonable feedback so their scores won't count against you...”

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Officially this is

"We understand that some projects have bad outcomes because the client is difficult to work with. So we track freelancer feedback of clients and flag those clients with a history of poor collaboration. If one of your clients has been flagged (or has been suspended for Terms of Service violations), then the client's feedback will not count against your score."

It has nothing to do with "freelancers reporting" as has been clarified before. Let's not keep quoting the bit with the "reporting" or countless freelancers will waste their time trying to report their clients for poor feedback.

It's automatic.

Also at this point there is no real reason to assume that Ahmed might end up with poor feedback anyway.

[wlyonsatl]

The quote is directly from an Upwork employee, Petra, and whether she used the word "reporting" or "complaining," she clearly believes Upwork takes patterns of negative feedback by clients into account when calculating freelancers' JSS. But if freelancers don't complain, then Upwork is unlikely to take any interest or notice, just as Upwork doesn't review freelancers' booking of hourly work unless a client complains or a client doesn't pay Upwork and Upwork wants to see if it can claw back some money from the freelancer to offset any losses on the clients's non-payment.

This does not mean a freelancer should expect Upwork will individually investigate each complaint, which would be a silly expectation. But an algorithm-driven company like Upwork could easily track this particular pattern of behavior, as it does with so many other elements of its business.

And just because you "clarify" something here doesn't mean your opinion is the last word.

[petra_r]

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 But an algorithm-driven company like Upwork could easily track this particular pattern of behavior, as it does with so many other elements of its business.

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That is exactly what they do, which is why there is no need to "report" it.

When the client's "history of poor collaboration" reaches some point or the other, their contracts are excluded.

You didn't think that was done by hand, did you?

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The quote is directly from an Upwork employee, Petra, and whether she used the word "reporting" or "complaining," she clearly believes Upwork takes patterns of negative feedback by clients into account when calculating freelancers' JSS.

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Well, obviously.

That is exactly what the part I quoted from Upwork's documentation on the matter says.

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But if freelancers don't complain, then Upwork is unlikely to take any interest or notice,

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It's automatically flagged.