Client has added a new milestone without informing me and now he is not responding

[sisara_mahima]

I worked on a contract and the client approved the payment after about a week and a half then I received a notification from UpWork saying that the contract got temporarily suspended and after another week that client has added a new milestone to the same contract for some new work without asking me first and without giving any information about the work and even though he is online he's not responding to any of the messages and I'm left with a contract with an active milestone that I don't know what to do with, any advice on how to deal with this situation, thanks.

[jr-translation]

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Sisara K wrote:

I worked on a contract and the client approved the payment after about a week and a half then I received a notification from UpWork saying that the contract got temporarily suspended and after another week that client has added a new milestone to the same contract for some new work without asking me first and without giving any information about the work and even though he is online he's not responding to any of the messages and I'm left with a contract with an active milestone that I don't know what to do with, any advice on how to deal with this situation, thanks.

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This is one of the few flaws in the Upwork system.

If you have time and want to continue to work for this client, ask him one last time to provide the information you need with a deadline in order for you to schedule the work. Stand your ground and keep in mind that freelancers only need to schedule if they are successful enough to not be waiting for work. The client does not know how busy you are, but if you tell him you need to schedule your work he might believe that you busy because you are so good.

If you do not want to continue working with this client, just tell him.

If neither of you does anything, the contract will be closed by Upwork and the money in escrow will be refunded. (The message will say that the client requested a refund.)

[petra_r]

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Sisara K wrote:

 I received a notification from UpWork saying that the contract got temporarily suspended and after another week that client has added a new milestone to the same contract for some new work without asking me first 

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Is the contract still suspended?

[sisara_mahima]

No it's reactivated

[tlbp]

You'll have to decide if you want to keep working with the client or not. Maybe wait a few more days to see if you get an answer to your messages before you make a final decision.

Then, if you don't want to work on the new milestone, send a polite message explaining that you aren't available and close the contract. 

As Jennifer mentioned, the surprise milestone is a flaw in the system that many freelancers would like to see fixed. 

[prestonhunter]

Sometimes it doesn't make sense for a freelancer to continue working with a client using fixed-price contracts, but it can be beneficial to both sides to use an hourly contract.