Client dishonest/deleted job posting

jonathan_koch · ‎09-26-2019

Hello there, I had a client that after I did all the work for them for a sprint we agreed upon, who deleted the job posting and refuses to pay me. I’d like to get in contact with an agent to bring this unprofessional client to justice so he can’t do this to anyone else on Upwork. Thank you!

martina_plaschka · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
Hello there, I had a client that after I did all the work for them for a sprint we agreed upon, who deleted the job posting and refuses to pay me. I’d like to get in contact with an agent to bring this unprofessional client to justice so he can’t do this to anyone else on Upwork. Thank you!

I think you are unclear about upwork procedures. Firstly, have you actually been hired? Do you see the job in your job list?

jonathan_koch · ‎09-26-2019

Yes, I was actually hired and confirmed the job with him. Afterwards, I started work with him and communicating. We agreed upon pricing and everything. I did see the job posting in my jobs feed but when I went to check the post to gather evidence against him 3 months later, it was gone out of my feed and he had posted a new posting with some of the same wording and was interviewing different people. I’m sparing a lot of physical evidence as well as a lot of words to the whole story at the moment, but I have every piece of evidence in screenshots and physical file evidence of dishonesty.

petra_r · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
Yes, I was actually hired and confirmed the job with him. Afterwards, I started work with him and communicating. We agreed upon pricing and everything. I did see the job posting in my jobs feed .

You were not hired unless there is a contract on your "My Jobs > All Contracts" page.

A job post is not a contract.

It is quite difficult not to be paid on Upwork if you are properly hired and work according to the rules...

These things happen when people jump in and don't find out how the site works.

Just trusting the word of a stranger on the Internet is not how it works.

martina_plaschka · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
Yes, I was actually hired and confirmed the job with him. Afterwards, I started work with him and communicating. We agreed upon pricing and everything. I did see the job posting in my jobs feed but when I went to check the post to gather evidence against him 3 months later, it was gone out of my feed and he had posted a new posting with some of the same wording and was interviewing different people. I’m sparing a lot of physical evidence as well as a lot of words to the whole story at the moment, but I have every piece of evidence in screenshots and physical file evidence of dishonesty.

So you were not hired. It does not matter if he says 10 times "I hire you", you are hired once you click the "accept offer" button. Nobody can help you if you don't use the system upwork has in place for people to work safely and get paid.

jonathan_koch · ‎09-26-2019

So I’m out of luck completely? I was under the impression that I was hired by him. I even have screenshots of me asking him, I unfortunately didn’t see the accept offer button anywhere, as I saw that the job was somewhere (I can’t recall) in my contracts. I’d really like this client to be put to justice either way, I don’t really care about my money, I just don’t want anything happening to any other freelancer on the website, as it seems he has multiple he told me about, and I feel like he’s going to do the same to them.

petra_r · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
as I saw that the job was somewhere (I can’t recall) in my contracts.

Can you see anything on your "My Jobs > All Contracts" page?

jonathan_koch · ‎09-26-2019

Sadly there’s nothing there. I guess at the time I was too new to understand that I had to hit the accept offer button, but does that come when they send you the money offer for the task at hand? Because if that’s the case, he never even sent one of those.

martina_plaschka · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
Sadly there’s nothing there. I guess at the time I was too new to understand that I had to hit the accept offer button, but does that come when they send you the money offer for the task at hand? Because if that’s the case, he never even sent one of those.

Chalk it up to inexperience and move on. He probably never sent an offer. The client might have a good upwork history and feedback, but you made it too easy for him to scam you.

It's a really good idea to read all the material available to new freelancers, and also peruse the forum for the most commonly asked questions.

jonathan_koch · ‎09-26-2019

Okay, thank you. Just to confirm though, is there no way he can be disciplined on Upwork for more than what I mentioned, as he broke a lot of rules as to Upworks policy? Again, I don’t want the same thing that happened to me to happen to his other freelancers. Thankfully I didn’t give him the work without being payed.

petra_r · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
. Thankfully I didn’t give him the work without being payed.

Then he didn't actually get anything from you.

kat303 · ‎09-26-2019

Jonathan K wrote:
Okay, thank you. Just to confirm though, is there no way he can be disciplined on Upwork for more than what I mentioned, as he broke a lot of rules as to Upworks policy? Again, I don’t want the same thing that happened to me to happen to his other freelancers. Thankfully I didn’t give him the work without being payed.

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Just IMO, no, this client didn't do anything wrong really. It was you who did everything wrong. It was you that broke Upwork's policy.. And it will be every single freelancer after you who will also do the same thing. That same thing is jumping in here without knowing how this all works, What to do and not do, and the procedures of working on this site. Upwork provides several safeguards for the protection of freelances. The posting of a contract with an accept or decline button, escrow, hourly protection payments, and Tracker (and the procedures of how to use it) for hourly jobs are just a few. You don't use or assemble an item without First reading the instructions so you know what to do. Same here.

If freelancers come on here who don't know what they are doing, and when communicating with a STRANGER on the INTERNET from who knows where, and think they know how to protect themselves and to work Successfully, and things like this happen, it's their own fault. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but the truth is reality.

petra_r · ‎09-26-2019