Jan 19, 2021 05:01:29 PM Edited Jan 19, 2021 06:52:15 PM by Joanne P
Hello,
I contacted a client that needed a simple logo. Before he hired me a made him a draft of the logo, and he liked it and agreed to hire me. We made a contract for 50$. I did the logo and sent him a pre-final version and told him that I would do mockups and send him different color variations. He said to change a minor thing on the design and I agreed, but he simply responded that he "doesn't need the mockups and**Edited for community guidelines**and abruptly ended the contract without an explanation. He also wants a refund of 50$ even though he hasn't paid me for any milestone. What's the best thing to do and what are my options. Can I get a bad review? Is there a way for UpWork or the client to pay 50$ for the project I spent valuable time on?
Thanks in advance
Solved! Go to Solution.
Jan 19, 2021 09:18:34 PM by Preston H
Stefan:
A client has the right to cancel a contract at any time.
There is nothing wrong with that.
If a client wants to cancel a fixed-price contract, the proper way to do that is to release any remaining esrow money to the freelancer, and then close the contract.
If the freelancer has done zero work on the contract, then it is okay for the client to request a refund.
Is it okay for a client to request a full refund after the freelancer has already worked on the task?
No.
If a client does that (which is apparently what happened in your case), then the client is behaving unprofessionally, unethically, and immorally.
Let me ask YOU a question:
Would YOU hire a person to do work for you, and then after they did that work... would you try to NOT PAY them anything?
If you worked on this task, you don't owe this client a full refund. For a $50 task, that you already started working on or finished, the CORRECT THING for the client to do would be to have released all escrow money to you and then closed the contract.
You should indeed reject the refund.
You asked "Can I get a bad review?"
Stefan: Your review has ALREADY been left by the client.
The client can't change his review at this point.
So you have nothing to lose by rejecting the refund request.
Jan 19, 2021 07:08:22 PM by Joanne P
Hi Stefan,
I checked your account, and I was able to locate the contract you are referring to. It seems like the client has cancelled the contract. This is why an automatic request for refund was sent to you. You have the option approve or dissaprove the refund request and dispute. If you dispute, your client will receive a notification to
either accept or reject the dispute.
Jan 19, 2021 09:18:34 PM by Preston H
Stefan:
A client has the right to cancel a contract at any time.
There is nothing wrong with that.
If a client wants to cancel a fixed-price contract, the proper way to do that is to release any remaining esrow money to the freelancer, and then close the contract.
If the freelancer has done zero work on the contract, then it is okay for the client to request a refund.
Is it okay for a client to request a full refund after the freelancer has already worked on the task?
No.
If a client does that (which is apparently what happened in your case), then the client is behaving unprofessionally, unethically, and immorally.
Let me ask YOU a question:
Would YOU hire a person to do work for you, and then after they did that work... would you try to NOT PAY them anything?
If you worked on this task, you don't owe this client a full refund. For a $50 task, that you already started working on or finished, the CORRECT THING for the client to do would be to have released all escrow money to you and then closed the contract.
You should indeed reject the refund.
You asked "Can I get a bad review?"
Stefan: Your review has ALREADY been left by the client.
The client can't change his review at this point.
So you have nothing to lose by rejecting the refund request.
Jan 20, 2021 03:20:01 AM by Stefan M
Thank you very much for the quick response. I am writing a dispute. For me it's okay the client changes his mind or ends the contract, but at least pays the money for the hours I've worked. He was very unprofessional and very rude, no reason to be. If any client is reading this remember, almost everybody on UpWork is professional and reasonable, no need to curse at the freelancer.
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