Client did not pay

nildas82 · ‎02-09-2018

Hi All,

I have been working on Upwork for close to 5 years now. I have got into a situation first time where the client did not pay me after taking the delivered codebase.

So I did a job for this client for $20 first and he paid me. Then he hired me for anothetr job worth $220 and then agreed to pay $260 since he added an additional task into the job. But he just put $10 in escrow (he did the same in the first job) and I trusted him and did the job and delivered him all the codebase. He kept on saying he will test but he did not and then he said he will pay me and any fixes, I will do. I agreed. When I submitted the Payment request 2 days back, he ended the contract asking for a refund of the $10 escrow amount and he stopped responding to my multiple messages and now he has blocked me. My apologies for this long winded email but please advise what shall I do here? Its hard earned money which the client simply betrayed me. I am even ready to disclose the client details here to avoid other people from getting affected but I am not sure if I should do this in the forum.

Note - The message history has every details of the transaction that happened during the job.

Thanks and Regards,

Nil

g_vasilevski · ‎02-09-2018

Hi Nil,

I`m sorry to hear this, please send me a PM(click on my name) with the client details and contract ID, our team will investigate this further.
Unfortunately in this case your protected only for the funded milestone, and not for the promised funds.

I would strongly advice you to check out: Hourly Protection for Freelancers and Fixed-Price Protection for Freelancers.

In the future always make sure that the agreed amount is fully funded in escrow, this way you`ll be protected under our Upwork Payment Protection.

~ Goran

zikriafred · ‎11-26-2021

hello i am also facing same problem 1st client was hire me on hourly contract after that she said would you like to work on fixed price i said ok she added 10$ in escrow and when i asked why you not added 150$ she said its monthly contract i will pay you after you submitted the work i trust on her 2 days ago i submitted the work she paid me 10$ and make another contract for next month but when i asked about remaining 140$ she is not responding me even she is active on upwork but still not responding me what to do ?

please guide me and one question please secure freelancer payment if client make fixed price contract upwork have to tell them add full amount in escrow and if client not added full amount in escrow upwork need to give error with this way upwork can give grantee to freelancer that you will get paid i really need this payment i am facing many problems right now please help me

petra_r · ‎11-26-2021

Zikria F wrote:
she added 10$ in escrow and when i asked why you not added 150$ she said its monthly contract i will pay you after you submitted the work i trust on her 2 days ago i submitted the work she paid me 10$ and make another contract for next month but when i asked about remaining 140$ she is not responding me even she is active on upwork but still not responding me what to do ?

Nothing you can do. You used Upwork wrong.

Zikria F wrote:
please secure freelancer payment if client make fixed price contract upwork have to tell them add full amount in escrow

That isn't Upwork's job, it's your job to manage your contract and your milestones and to only do work that corresponds to what is in escrow. You saw that there was only $10 in escrow and you proceeded anyway. Entirely on you!

Zikria F wrote:
if client not added full amount in escrow upwork need to give error

But that wouldn't work because many people do contracts with several milestones and clients funding one after the other.

Ultimately, you will only get any more money if the client voluntarily pays you. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do now to fix the mistake you made.

9ad79030 · ‎08-22-2022

Hi Goran,

I hope you are well. My problem is that I submitted my work without taking out the contract. This is my first and I am eager to submit and yes I feel so silly. After submitting the work, the client rejects the proposal and is missing in action.

So is the conversation between me and the customer, as attached. After 15 mins work submitted, she just decline my work.

Thank you so much

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

yofazza · ‎08-23-2022

Hi sorry to hear but you can consider yourself lucky with many scams lately where freelancers actually lost their own money to the scams.

You should read here before doing anymore work:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Blog/Top-Red-Flags-for-Scams-From-Community-Member-Wes-C/b...

And yes don't work without a contract, and only work as much as the funded milestone in a fixed-price contract. Contract/milestone budget is irrelevant.

petra_r · ‎02-09-2018

Nil D wrote: Then he hired me for anothetr job worth $220 and then agreed to pay $260 since he added an additional task into the job. But he just put $10 in escrow (he did the same in the first job) and I trusted him and did the job and delivered him all the codebase. He kept on saying he will test but he did not and then he said he will pay me and any fixes, I will do. I agreed. When I submitted the Payment request 2 days back, he ended the contract asking for a refund of the $10 escrow amount

You can dispute the $ 10

There is no way to dispute the remaining $ 250, what isn't funded can not be disputed. The client can not be made to pay it.

If you work and hand over the deliverables against unfunded milestones I'm afraid that's on you.

nildas82 · ‎02-09-2018

Thanks for your reply,

I agree with you - mistake is mine - I trusted the client and he betrayed me. I will keep this in mind for future projects.

dew_wickz · ‎08-15-2021

Hi!

I'm also having the same problem, it's not a big amount but it's worthy for me. He promised me to pay 80$ + bonus, contract amount is also 80$. But he only put 20$ in escrow. I submitted all the documents he required and even extra revisions out of kindness. Now he is not responding, I submitted them 10 days ago, I will get only 20$ for my hard work. I saw some negative comments, just very few compared to others on his profile so I trusted him. I think he is doing the same for me. What can I do for this? Can you make apolicy in Upwork like, if you're gonna hire a freelancer, you must put at least 90% advanced to escrow. Thanks.

Regards.

petra_r · ‎08-15-2021

Dewmini W wrote:
What can I do for this?

Nothing.

Dewmini W wrote:
Can you make apolicy in Upwork like, if you're gonna hire a freelancer, you must put at least 90% advanced to escrow.

It's your job to set the terms of a milestone. You set your own policies. You're an independent business. If a client funds only 25% for the whole milestone, you reject the contract and request the client to send another with a fully funded milestone, or, alternatively, you only do and hand over 25% of the work. What you don't do is doing 100% of the work when only 25% is funded.

martina_plaschka · ‎08-15-2021

Dewmini W wrote:
Hi!
I'm also having the same problem, it's not a big amount but it's worthy for me. He promised me to pay 80$ + bonus, contract amount is also 80$. But he only put 20$ in escrow. I submitted all the documents he required and even extra revisions out of kindness. Now he is not responding, I submitted them 10 days ago, I will get only 20$ for my hard work. I saw some negative comments, just very few compared to others on his profile so I trusted him. I think he is doing the same for me. What can I do for this? Can you make apolicy in Upwork like, if you're gonna hire a freelancer, you must put at least 90% advanced to escrow. Thanks.
Regards.

This is not necessary. They already recommend to not work on unfunded milestones.