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1b508068
Community Member

Client has cleverly trapped me, what do I do? Help

so I met this client who want me to write for them some paper. They say I should write and let them see if it fits their need. I send over a questionnaire to help me get infor. He answers but with so little details. He wants me to begin working without a milestone, I insist, he creates one but puts less than agreed amount. 

I didn't notice untill later when I send over a draft. He looks at it and says he needs it spinned and I should remove all graphics.  This will increase the work that I am supposed to do but I agree and get back to work. I haven't mentioned he has given me a tight timeline. 

I resubmit another work, he says that's good but let's add something else. 

At this point I ask him to add the amount in escrow to the full amount, he ignores. 

I know I have done enough, if I stop he will just put a dispute claim on upwork, which he might win, and I loose the small amount and maybe get my account on hold  If I continue, he might not make up the money and I might get paid the only money in the escrow for the entire work

What do I do?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
prestonhunter
Community Member

I don't put up with this sort of nonsense, and neither should you.

 

Don't do anything else for this client. You never should have spent one second doing extra work beyond the original task description.

 

Click the Submit work. He needs to release all escrow money to you.

 

If he does not release all escrow money to you, then dispute his non-release of payment.

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068528-Dispute-Non-Release-of-a-Milestone-Payment

 

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6 REPLIES 6
prestonhunter
Community Member

I don't put up with this sort of nonsense, and neither should you.

 

Don't do anything else for this client. You never should have spent one second doing extra work beyond the original task description.

 

Click the Submit work. He needs to release all escrow money to you.

 

If he does not release all escrow money to you, then dispute his non-release of payment.

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068528-Dispute-Non-Release-of-a-Milestone-Payment

 

martina_plaschka
Community Member

It's neither clever or a trap. End the contract. 


Martina P wrote:

End the contract. 


Then he'll get paid nothing at all...

ericaandrews
Community Member

He's running a bait and switch scam and trying to get money for work he hasn't paid for.  If you have submitted the work that was AGREED to in the original milestone, that is all that is required.   You should not do ANYTHING else on that contract until he releases the money for the original milestone task.  If he is trying to require you to do EXTRA work not described in the milestone, then you need to REPORT him to upwork for a terms of service violation for requesting additional work without payment.  If he is sending these messages through upwork messenger, you can report him from within the messenger.  If he is sending you messages some other way - Slack, Email, etc, then you can actually PASTE those messages into the 'contract room'  so that there is a RECORD of these inappropriate requests on Upwork : by going to 'My Jobs' - 'Active Contracts' - then click the contract and then the "Messages and Files" tab. (You could also save these 'external' messages as a type of chat log and include it as an a message 'attachment' on that same tab.).   Either way, you should report him to Upwork for violating terms of service by demanding FREE work, but you need to be prepared to provide proof through messages/communications he has sent you

Will add the reminder that Upwork does not generally consider the content of a dispute. (This does sound to my inexpert ear as if it might be an exception, largely because it involves a client/scammer benefiting from the work of its "asset" without Upwork getting its cut.)

 

Documenting everything in messages is good advice. Not sure what their current policy is: in the past, Upwork has said they can only look at evidence from third-party channels in the form of screenshots.

pgiambalvo
Community Member

I agree with Preston and Martina. Don't do any more work and submit what you've already done and try to make them pay for it.

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