Client of same nationality threaten me with tribunal and police report

[8164b152]

Thank you for reading this post. This is a long post, but I sincerely thank you if you could read it and help me, a newbie (1 month+) on Upwork. Please guide me on what to do when a client (same nationality) threatened to lodge a police report and file a consumer tribunal. Can I report this to Upwork? I felt extremely insecure because the client is in the same country as me and he knew my location. I am confident that I will win if we go into an arbitrary via Upwork since I did nothing wrong, but I do not want to get into trouble with local authorities. Will Upwork provide my personal information to the client? I have read through many posts but could not find any similar experience (dealing with clients of the same nationality). Really appreciate it if anyone can enlighten me. 

Here is what happened:

I have done several translation jobs on Upwork (all 5 stars reviews) and this is my first time encountering such a nightmare. It was a book translation plus localisation job with 2 milestones set (1st is submitting the first draft, 2nd is proofreading and revising), with the total budget equally split between the 2 milestones ($150 each). I accepted the contract, worked and submitted the first milestone before the deadline, using Upwork's "Submit for payment" button.

On the next day, the client suddenly ended the contract, accusing me of using machine translation and requesting a full refund. I was furious and felt severely wronged because I spent 7 days of hard work researching the content and translating the book myself. I understand my work might not satisfy the client, but to accuse me of scamming him using direct machine translation is a total humiliation. I even did extra work for the client (editing and formatting the original texts), hoping to give him a good impression. So, I requested proof from the client and offered an immediate revision which will be submitted the next day. At this point, everything is still in the agreed project timeframe, and this is actually the exact job scope of the 2nd milestone (proofreading and revising).

However, the client just brushed it off and claimed "what matters is his team's unsatisfaction" and "due to my incompetencies, his company has suffered 5 figure loss as I failed to deliver the work on time". This makes no sense at all as I did complete the first milestone on time, and am ready to work on the second milestone (revise and edit the draft). I have tried my best to negotiate and resolve the issue with the client, but he just insisted on not paying anything, plus not give me a chance to revise my work.

So, I filed a dispute, submitted my work and all relevant details to the mediate specialist and expressed my concern about the client’s behaviour in "free trying" or worse, trying to get free work from freelancers. The mediate specialist came in and gave the exact same suggestions as what I offered to the client: allow me to revise the work, or the client pays me a partial amount. I did expect a bad review from the client when he ended the contract, so I also leave honest feedback and rating, hoping to warn other freelancers.

Today, my JSS is updated and it is a sharp reduction of 11%, but somehow my feedback to the client is still not reflected on his profile. What frightened me more is that the client has hired a new freelancer for this job, and the new freelancer is also a newbie on Upwork! I am despairing that another freelancer will likely suffer the same pain as I am now. Since the beginning of the dispute, I have repeatedly suggested that both the client and mediation specialist invite other native readers/translators to check my work to prove my honesty. It has been 4 days since the last reply from the mediation specialist, and the client still insisted on not paying a single cent because I "scammed" him.

Today in our dispute group discussion, the client threatened to lodge a police report and file a tribunal against me because we are of the same nationality. I am confident that I did no wrong, but I am severely disturbed by the client's threat-- I do not know what he can do to bring me trouble, as he knows my exact location (shown in my profile), and I certainly do not want to go through that for just $150. In fact, the main reason I insisted on the dispute is not about the money, but my 7 days of sweats and tears and my hope of stopping this client from doing the same thing to other freelancers. Now, my JSS was severely impacted, my hard work was wasted, potentially got into further trouble with the client, and there is now another freelancer who might go through the same horrible experience! I feel really helpless and do not know what else can I do to protect myself as a freelancer.

I sincerely appreciate it if anyone can give me any advice on what should/can I do now. Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Yi Xuan

[wlyonsatl]

Hi, Yi Xuan L.

First things first – you should not start working on a project's first milestone until the entire project is set up in Upwork’s system and it has been fully funded by the client (according to Upwork, not the client). This allows you to formally submit the work you’ve done on that milestone and the clock starts ticking for the client (or Upwork, after 14 days) to release payment to you for that milestone.

And don’t start work on any other milestone until payment in full has been released to you on all prior milestones.

Doing the above can help prevent the client from being able to cancel the project without paying you.

Don’t let the client’s false accusations get to you. There are some bullies and fraudsters on Upwork, just as anywhere else in cyberspace.

Do you really think the police will get involved in such a dispute? Every country is different, but it should be clear this is a civil dispute, not a criminal problem. Only you can be the judge of how much you should fear the police getting involved. (Here in the US that would not be a possibility.)

It is alarming that your feedback is not on the client’s profile. If the Upwork mediator feels there is nothing left to mediate, that feedback should be made public. It's potential future freelancers' only protection from this clown.

If Upwork would provide public information about each client’s history of cooperation with Upwork freelancers - disputes, project cancellations, suspensions - we freelancers could look after our own interests. We can't, so Upwork needs to step up in cases such as yours.

Upwork has at least said it removes certain difficult-to-work-with clients’ feedback from their freelancers’ Job Success Score calculation. Unfortunately, it appears this policy has not applied in this case.

I’d be interested to hear the client’s basis for claiming you cost him a “five figure loss” when he hasn’t paid you anything.

It's a bogus claim, so just move on to other projects. Don’t let the unjustified JSS deter you – you’ll find other, much better clients whose projects will help you increase your JSS.

Good luck!

[8164b152]

Hi Will, 

Thank you for replying to my post! It means a lot to me, really appreciate your kindness.

The client did fund the first milestone (in escrow) before I started to work on it. I also submitted the work using the "submission for payment" button, before the milestone deadline. But the client ended the contract once I submitted the first milestone and requested a full refund of the money in escrow, so I will receive zero payment for this project. That's why I feel so helpless since I follow all the rules but ended up in all these troubles.

The client claimed that the first draft I submitted was "unusable", so he has to reschedule his timeline and that cost a 5-figure loss to his company, although the set milestone is 1st: first draft (which I submitted on time) and 2nd: revised and edited work is at 2 days later. The client just simply ended the contract after I submitted work for the first milestone, and requested a full refund of the first milestone. 😞

I do not actually think the police will interfere in this case, and I do not think he will win a consumer tribunal (since I did no wrong?). But I certainly do not want to go through those troubles with just $150. My main concern now is, will Upwork just let go of the case and let the client continue his behaviour, even though I give up the dispute now? How can we, freelancers protect ourselves in this kind of situation? Now the client has threatened to take personal action against me if the dispute result does not go in his favour (since I follow all Upwork rules), if Upwork does not do something, I am left with no choice but to let this client get my free work, and he can continue doing the same thing to other freelancers. I know the pain, so I left feedback hoping to warn the others but it seems futile.

Thanks again, Will.

Best regards,

Yi Xuan

[sullivanliz]

Just my two cents but this 'client' sounds like a joker who is just trying to get free work. I can't speak for the police but I severely doubt that he'll start any legal proceedings against you - you fulfilled your contract and have done nothing wrong. All that nonsense about five-figure losses... really!

To me, it seems like he's trying to scare you and bully you into a refund. I don't think you should give him anything - just because a client demands a refund doesn't mean you have to give them one! The best thing we as freelancers can do in these situations is stand up for ourselves and show bullies that we won't be cowed by their ridiculous behaviour.

[wlyonsatl]

Liz is right. The client can't just say he wants a refund; you have to agree to give him one. Cancelling the project does not make it more likely he will be refunded by Upwork rather than you being paid.

If he doesn't file a formal request for a refund, which Upwork will inform you of when it happens, then you will be paid the amount for the first milestone (unless he tells his bank to chargeback the amount he paid into escrow). Neither you nor Upwork can know whether he will do this until Upwork hears from his bank.

Good luck!

[c00ecc99]

This is insightful. Especially for a new member