Client not responding for long period of time

[jhirayama]

Hello,

I hope someone can give me some advice.

I have a contract with a client since about June, it's a product translation project, open end, hourly rate.

At the beginning it was really good communication.  I got my project, did my part, sent it back, I got a thank you email from the client and about a week later I got my next project.

So far so good, this good communication setting went on until about the end of August; then the gap became a bit larger but I was still ok with it since I had other projects to work on.

Then I got into a problem:  I got a project, finished it and sent it.  Somehow my Upwork crashed on me around the sending time and I couldn't log in for quite some time.  Unforunenately, I did not have my client's private email adress, hence I could not contact them to find out if they got the files and also let them know about my log in troubles.

It took almost 4 weeks for the issue to resolve.  Once I loged in again I checked my clirent's and mine message history and in shock I realized that it seems that the crash did interfere with the messege and file sent to my client. 

I emailed them right away to ask if they got it and explained the situation to them; that was over two weeks ago.  I have not heard anything from them since, not even before, for exampel that they are waiting for my file (if they did not get it).

In my message to them I also told them that I could understand if they wish to end the contract and I wouldn't be upset about it.

I'm not quite sure what to do now.... I can't wait until the client is online to email them again; it's rare that they are online plus there is a huge time gap: they are in China, I'm in Canada.

Shall I just leave it and wait until they eventually end/cancel the contract on their end or is this a situation where you would recommand for me to end the contract?

Many thanks in advance for your help, and I'm sorry for the lenghty message.

~Jasmin~

Shall

[waqasazhar]

Hello Jasmin, 

I wouldn't suggest you cancel the contract on your own. If by any chance they came online and saw that you ended the contracted without talking to them, they might leave you with a bad review which will eventually affect your profile. 

Leave them a polite message and ask them about their decision. If they don't respond in a week, go for a dispute. An upwork representative will sort something out for you and they will make sure your profile isn't affected. 

I would say again, don't end the contract on your own please. 

Regards,

Waqas A.

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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@Waqas A wrote:

Leave them a polite message and ask them about their decision. If they don't respond in a week, go for a dispute. An upwork representative will sort something out for you and they will make sure your profile isn't affected. 

I would say again, don't end the contract on your own please. 

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 That is such absolute nonsense.

There is nothing to dispute as she isn't owed any money.

There is nothing for "an Upwork representative to sort out" as the client hasn't done anything wrong and there CERTAINLY isn't anything Upwork can do to make sure the contract does not affect her profile.

Jasmin, the contract being open is not affecting you in any way because money was paid under it, so there is absolutely no rush to do anything about it at this stage. You have reached out to the client so now just leave it be for the time being and concentrate on winning and completing other contracts.

If the client is still missing in action in a month or two or three you may want to think about closing it but at this stage there is no need to do anything at all.

[jhirayama]

Thank you for your input. 🙂

I will just leave it as is for the time being and see what happens.

Maybe I send them another message after a months to touch base if I don't hear anything.

After that I give it another months or so and then I probably do as you suggest and end the contract from my end.

Thanks again!