Client filed a dispute after I declined to do free work

[#1]

Upwork seems to be rewarding clients who subtly try to blackmail clients into doing free work by giving bad feedback & filing disputes after the freelancer declines to do free work outside the scope of the original milestone.

I informed this client at the beginning of the project that it would take about 10 hours of work for milestone 1, creating a 4-page introductions (a lengthy process as it involved reading numerous peer-reviewed sources the client sent me, and finding new ones to cite). I also informed them that an additional few hours would be needed at the end of the project for incorporating feedback and doing a final proofread.

I delivered the draft on deadline and let the client know it wasn't final because I hadn't done a final proofread. The client was unhappy with this and repeatedly asked me to do revisions on the project after I had used up the approved hours, including after I informed them that it would be against Upwork policy for me to work on the project further until they added more hours. The client also asked if creating a finalized reference list was "included" although this was never stated to be included in milestone 1, & I had already told them I would not be doing more work on the project for free.

After I told the client this, they proceeded to file a dispute against me and leave negative feedback. The worst part is that Upwork rewarded this behavior by giving the client a partial refund for 0.8 hours during which I was too "inactive" (not clicking or scrolling very much because I was reading documents the client required me to read as part of the project).  The Upwork team never reviewed the project messages or the deliverable to actually determine whether there was any merit to the client's dispute. (The Editorial Freelancers Association suggests a rate of $250 per page for this type of research-heavy writing, although the more relevant fact is that I informed the client ahead of time what the costs and approximate hours would be.)

I have cancelled Freelancer Plus because I find this lack of support for freelancers to be pathetic. Hoping a human moderator will see this and take action to prevent this client from doing this to other freelancers.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#2]

One indicator of how little effort Upwork puts into adjudicating disputes--at one point a member of their support team sent a message addressing me as "Hi Ph.D." My name is Dr. Hines, not "Ph.D."  

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#3]

Hi Emily,

I'm sorry to see you were addressed in that message as "Ph.D." I understand how that's frustrating. I'd like to clarify that this is an automated message that happens after a chat ends, in order to help you find the ticket that you can follow up on in case you need further assistance. Still, the system should be able to pick up your name from your profile correctly, so I've shared this occurrence with the team so they can review it. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. 

[#4]

Hi Emily,

I am sorry to hear about the frustration this has caused. We will look into this further and will get back to you once we have more information. Thank you.

Edited to add information.

I shared your post with the team handling your case. I also encourage you to follow up with our team directly on your support ticekt if you need further assistance.

Additionally, thank you for bringing the name issue on email to our attention. I assure you that I will share it with the appropriate team for further review.

Feel free to let me know if you need assistance.