Client did not pay the remaining balance

[allanpaulaquino]

I have this client since Jan. He did not pay his balance to us. More than one month of waiting and follow-up on him(5 months ago), no response at all. My team is so worried so I decided to ask one of his annotators and he confirms that he still gives them projects and talks to them. I told him what I found out and guess what, he responded the next day. What amazed me was, instead of apologizing, he was the one who gets mad and kicks me out on slack. I didn't have a chance to read and screenshot his last message. Our fix contract with this client is not yet ended. Is there anything else we can do? He still owe us more than $1000.

Thanks!

[prestonhunter]

I have a term I use for an Upwork client who owes me money for work I did more than a month ago:

"A person who doesn't owe me money."

On Upwork, when I do work, the longest amount of time it takes to get paid is three weeks. If you did work over a month ago and you haven't been paid, it means you used the Upwork tools incorrectly.

If I work for a client using a fixed-price contract and she exploits the "fixed-price loophole" by clicking on "Request Changes" as a way to block the release of payment, then I stop working for that client.

You should focus on figuring out what you did wrong that caused you to not get paid, so that you can avoid making the same mistake in the future.

[prestonhunter]

re: "He still owe us more than $1000."

When you look here:

Upwork -> Reports -> Overview

...do you actually see $1000 listed there, in the "Work in progress" or "Pending" box?

If the money is sitting in escrow, then just go and click the "Submit work for payment" button.

If the money isn't sitting in escrow, then he doesn't owe you that money.

[NikolaS]

Hi Allan,

Could you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about the contract you are referring to? I will be sure to look into your report and escalate it accordingly.

[ainadecastro]

Hello, I just want a help. This is my only job and my client didnt response and he owes me $933 dollars +$35 dollars. What should I do I worked really hard and end up my contract is onhold.

[petra_r]

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Aina D wrote:
Hello, I just want a help. This is my only job and my client didnt response and he owes me $933 dollars +$35 dollars. What should I do I worked really hard and end up my contract is onhold.

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How does the client owe you money?

You have two contracts showing on your profile, one is closed and hourly (you get paid automatically for hourly work if you tracked your hours correctly) and one is hourly and open? Does what you describe have anything to do with either of those?

[ainadecastro]

This is hourly and we used slacks but he kicks us all filipino's in slacks last week when we ask them about the payment. All of us havent paid yet

[prestonhunter]

re: "my client didn't respond"

Clients are not required to respond.

As a freelancer, I get paid whether or not a client responds.

re: "he owes me $933 dollars +$35 dollars. What should I do I worked really hard and end up my contract is on hold."

If your contract is on hold, then you need to NOT DO ANY MORE WORK until the hold is lifted.

In order for us to help you, you need to provide us with more information.

Is this a fixed-price or hourly contract?

Does the $933 appear here:

Upwork -> Reports -> Overview

If the money DOES appear there, what "box" is it in?

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

Is this a fixed-price or hourly contract?

Does the $933 appear here:

Upwork -> Reports -> Overview

If the money DOES appear there, what "box" is it in?

---

Hourly - It does appear, under pending, without a date in the left hand column, so hasn't been paid (yet)

[ainadecastro]

This is hourly and we used slacks but he kicks us all filipino's in slacks last week when we ask them about the payment. All of us havent paid yet

That was 3 weeks ago.

[ainadecastro]

What should I do?

[petra_r]

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Aina D wrote:
What should I do?

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There is nothing you can do. Why did you do so much work without tracking your hours? If you had correctly tracked your hours with the Upwork tracker, you'd have been paid in full by now. 

I'm really sorry this happened, it's a lot of money to lose. NEVER work on hourly contracts without tracking your hours unless you can afford not to be paid.

[ainadecastro]

This bonus is not actually bonus, this is my salary. I didnt open the tracker ever since I started working with them my boss usually put bonus for our salary.

Ow God, i badly need this money because my sister just gave birth today. I'm really desperate to ask for help about this pending payment here.

[petra_r]

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Aina D wrote:
This bonus is not actually bonus, this is my salary.

---

You can call it whatever you like. The fact remains that the client issued (but never actually paid) a bonus. On hourly contracts, you need to track your time with the tracker and the client is charged every Monday. If the client doesn't pay, you are protected **IF** you used the tracker correctly to track your time. If you didn't track the time, there is nothing that can be done.

Unless the client returns and sorts it out, you can't get paid.

[prestonhunter]

re: "This bonus is not actually bonus, this is my salary. I didn't open the tracker ever since I started working with them my boss usually put bonus for our salary."

There is no rule prohibiting Upwork clients from paying bonus payments to freelancers.

There is no rule prohibiting clients from promising to use the client-side "Send bonus" tool as a way to pay freelancers for their work.

But any such arrangements are strictly between the client and the freelancer. Upwork will not get involved with such. Promises involving bonus payments are handled using the honor system.