Client lies about their budget

[fayealine]

Hi you all,

I could not find a post about this on the forum but I appologize is something like this has already been posted.

I applied for a job a couple of days ago, the client said that the budget is 100 USD, but they messaged me to say that actually their fixed price is 24 USD.
I am so upset that I have wasted my connects on this...
Anyway, my question is: has anyone faced a similar issue, is there any way I can get the connects back?

Thank you

[prestonhunter]

Aline:
I understand if this experience disappointed you.

But to save you some time, I will simply answer your question quickly:
No. You can not get your connects back for this reason.

To answer your other question:
Has anyone else faced a similar issue?
Yes. Many people have faced situations like this.

This has been discussed before in the Community Forum.

But to help put things into perspective... the concept of "budget" is a tricky one for clients as well. A client may struggle with this field and it doesn't mean the client is lying, or is a bad person. The client MIGHT be lying. But I don't think that is a helpful or necessarily accurate assumption.

The simple truth is that many clients don't know what it will cost to do something. Yet Upwork doesn't allow them to click a box that says "I don't know the budget."

There is a field that may be entered, and often there are legitimate reasons for putting in a number that is not the final number.

I AGREE WITH YOU that a client who put down the budget as $100 and then told you that the budget is $24... That's probably dirty pool.

But maybe the client really planned to spend $100 or more when he created the job post?
And then he received job proposals from freelancers who offered to do a great job of this for only $20?
And he saw your proposal and actually likes yours a little better, so he is offering you more than he is offering them?

Maybe if your proposal really knocked it out of the park, the client would be eager to pay you $100 or more to hire you for this task?

Maybe you gave up too easily. Maybe when the client said $24, you could have countered and said that even though he offered only $24, you are still willing to do the task for $100, and you can assure him that after he sees the work that you do, he will be grateful he paid you $100 rather than paying somebody else much less.

We really don't know.

[lysis10]

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Aline F wrote:

Anyway, my question is: has anyone faced a similar issue,

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Yes

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Aline F wrote:

is there any way I can get the connects back?

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No

[da_alonewalker]

dem McArticle jobs aren't so great xD

[robin_hyman]

Any client who tries to entice freelancers to apply by promoting a higher budget than they are willing to pay is crummy, no-good, and definitely not someone you want to work with. 

I waste connects all of the time. It's part of the freelance game.