Client did not paid the hourly job.

[Vincent John A]

Hi. I've finished the job successfully but on the other day, the client's account has been suspended. I though the hours billed will be safe. but unfortunately, the amount has been refunded from my pending earnings. Please help.

[Emily F]

Hi Vincent, Hourly jobs are guaranteed by oDesk ONLY if the client's payment method is VERIFIED. If this is the case, there is no way your pending earnings vanished. Gee, I would be super mad if this had happened to me. I'm quite new on oDesk but one thing is for sure, do not mess with the money I earned by working hard. So, the only thing I can suggest, is that you contact the support team and they will get back to you by email. I have had an issue with a client who had not paid me on a fixed budget contract and despite oDesk not guaranteeing this kind of contract, the support team has been great. They contacted the client and as he went Missing in Action, he has had his account suspended. I take this as a lesson but I'm happy that this crook won't fool anyone else in the near future. Good luck, Emily.

[Najie B]

Maybe it would be good to read the TOS first, after you read it then implement those things you learned from reading the TOS. Also as much as possible look for reputable clients, I mean the one who are willing to pay higher and already set their reputation here in oDesk. It doesn't mean that it is an hourly job you'll be safe, always pay attention for it. I was scammed also before but unlike you my contract was a fixed price.

[Md A]

Hi, Recently i have done a fixed job and client also pay for this, but it did not shows on pending or available.

[Preston H]

Md A:
If your client just paid you, then the money should NOT be in Pending or Available.
Money For fixed rate jobs starts out in Work In Progress, then you submit your work and client pays you, and money first goes to In Review, and THEN to Pending, and finally to Available.

[David G]

I think fixed-price jobs skip the "In Review" stage. It goes from "Work in Progress" straight to "Pending".

[Preston H]

Whoops... It has been a few weeks since I was paid for a fixed rate job.... But I think David G is right. If a client releases fixed rate funds, then there would be not reason for money to go to In Review stage, because client's release of the funds would signify that the work was reviewed and accepted.

[Roszhane Joy C]

Has anyone of you experienced this? I had a client asking me to design a brochure for him, it's an hourly work, then i do the job for 15 hours then submitted him the output? He said, he's not satisfied and wants a refund, i said no, i worked for it and we both agreed with the agreement, he told me that he's going to file a dispute so i said ok. Then i waited for the dispute until today he didn't take any action. I just found out that he's having trouble with his account thats why i cant view his profile in odesk. Im afraid if i will be paid or not. What might happen next? I guess that's his other way of not paying me, to just cancel his account but im wondering about the upwork hourly protection, will i still get paid?

[Shane B]

As long as he is payment method verified, and you have detailed memos in your hourly screenshots, and you are doing what you are working for (example, don't have a screenshot with you on facebook when you are supposed to be designing) and importantly have a high activity level in your timer when you are working. I think upwork prefers it to be about 6 or higher out of 10 minutes.

If you have all of the above, Upwork honours the hourly guarantee and pays you. Even if client has run off and not paid Upwork.

[Jean Christi A]

I am new to upwork and a client did not pay me and upwork suspended the client's account, I already learned my lesson as this client is not verified.

My problem right now is that, I just received an email that says I sent a refund to this client, thing is I havent got a dime here in upwork since this client never pay me. Now I got a negative balance because of this refund which I didnt know where it came from.

I wanted to post my problem but I dont know where I can post this problem I already sent a message to upwork support but they haven't replied yet.

Please help.