Client gone quiet owing me money

[hofmanmonika]

Hi!

Need advice, please. I accepted a writing job for a fixed price. The client asked me how many revisions I would offer within this fixed price ( he said reasonable revisions so no re-writes) and I said 2 - new client potential for more work la la la. Anyway, he puts 50% of the payment into Escrow immediately and I write the article and submit a day early. This was 3weeks ago! He confirmed receipt of it (after I chased) and since then send me a few emails saying he's looking at it now and will feedback.  Still nothing. A day before the 14-day review period ended he release the payment (of only 50% of what we agreed) - with no message. I wrote saying thank you and could he advise on revisions - nothing. It's now a week since he paid and over 3weeks nearly since I submitted the work. Can he just disappear and not pay me the rest?  When I accepted I stupidly did not notice he'd broken it down into milestones - Draft 1, Draft 2 etc...  Feeling a bit hoodwinked. Shall I forget about it, close the contract and learn a lesson? 

[petra_r]

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Monika H wrote:Can he just disappear and not pay me the rest?  When I accepted I stupidly did not notice he'd broken it down into milestones - Draft 1, Draft 2 etc...  Feeling a bit hoodwinked. Shall I forget about it, close the contract and learn a lesson? 

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 Nothing can be done. Only what was funded can be disputed.

I hope it wasn't too much.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Shall I forget about it, close the contract and learn a lesson?"

Yes.

[bstojadinovic]

Hi Monika,

I'm sorry to hear about the experience you had with your client. Unfortunately, Upwork Fixed-Price Protection only covers funds that have been placed in Escrow. That's why we always recommend that freelancers don't start working on the task if a milestone for it hasn't been funded. You can, however, continue communicating with the client directly and ask them to either fund the milestone or pay you the remaining money via a bonus.

[andrie81]

1st milestone - Draft
2nd milestone - 1st Revision

3rd milestone - 2nd Revision
and so on...

In my field of work, sometimes a client disapear on the 1st milestone as it's 'good enough' to be used. Some just don't care about high resolution or minor details.

Can't really tell if a client is really looking to get to the final milestone or just using it to get away paying a portion of the whole quoted price.