Client is acting strange. cant setup properly despite several help and reports not working

[tanujwadhwa]

Hi,

one of my client is acting strange. this person cant setup properly despite help provided several times, even after my working hrs 11:30 pm when i close upwork .. and still reports not working 

I hvae provided several video of the same working code starting from blank excel to running video and populated excel with data .

he also messed up the execution environment , deleted some dependent libraries and says code not working.

In the beginning he sounded as if he knew more than me. asked for Python code. before delivering i reminded him several times to setup python and gave him sites to help him with the setup all those had images for easy follow up. 

He never responds , i understand he may be busy but doesnt give any status from his side.

and whenever he responds , he has issues where he messed up someting and says code isnt wokring. despite  providing videos of working code start till end.

What should i do ? For just $20 its a huge torture and mental harassment, its going on from last 10 day. Its becoming impossible to deal with this client.

[kinector · Accepted solution]

Refund and close the contract with a short polite note, then block the client.

Your time is not worth this misery.

Focus on your next project and don't worry about this. Mix-ups happen eventually. Some people seem decent first but it turns out that they don't have any clue about what they are doing, which is why they try to outsource things in the first place even though the whole project is doomed to fail from the start.

My sympathies. Keep looking ahead.

[prestonhunter]

Tanuj: Do not put up with people wasting your time like that.

How many days have you spent chasing a $20 payment while working for this "client" who clearly does not respect your time?

10 days?

This is not how fixed-price contracts are supposed to work.

If you agreed to do something and did it, then the client should have paid you immediately.

The second the client started talking about other stuff, or needing additional effort and time from you, you should have told the client that you would keep working on the project after he released the $20 escrow payment, closed the contract, and set up an hourly contract. With this client you should have been logging/tracking ALL time spent trying to help him.

That is what you SHOULD have done. Now it is too late for that.

What you should do now is close the contract yourself, refunding the $20 in escrow, and then block the client from communicating with you.

[tanujwadhwa]

Hi Preston,

thanks for your reply. You are also right. I think I will close the contract now. Its been quite long asking him for status on the execution. he needs to take some initiative to get the setup resolved at his end, only then he will be able to run the script . I have helped him providing the screen flow from Google how to resolve setup , which he could have done himself or asked me what he searched i could at least verify that too.

I am ready for screen share but he is just showing online but responds only when he wishes to.

I think its too much helping.

[tanujwadhwa]

Hi Mikko,

thanks for your reply. I think I will close the contract now. Its been quite long asking him for status on the execution. seems like he is not taking any initiative to get the setup resolved at his end, only then he will be able to run the script