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vida_bijelic
Community Member

Client refusing to pay the amount we agreed

Hello, 

 

I had a fixed price contract for an architectural project with a residential client. Our contract stated that I will provide him with Renderings of his new addition (which is what he requested) and I also included a floorplan of the addition (he never requested that but it was my good will to do that as well) The deadline to submit the project was today, Januray 10 and I completed everything yesterday and requested the full payment. We had no milestones (I see now that was my BIG mistake) Since the beginning of the contract I have provided him regularly with work progress and made revisions to the project based on the feedback from the client. When I started working on the project he had only about 20% of total project cost in escrow and now he is claiming that what he had in escrow is the amount he will pay for the work. How can I go about this? Any tips? 

10 REPLIES 10
jr-translation
Community Member


Vidosava B wrote:

Hello, 

 

I had a fixed price contract for an architectural project with a residential client. Our contract stated that I will provide him with Renderings of his new addition (which is what he requested) and I also included a floorplan of the addition (he never requested that but it was my good will to do that as well) The deadline to submit the project was today, Januray 10 and I completed everything yesterday and requested the full payment. We had no milestones (I see now that was my BIG mistake) Since the beginning of the contract I have provided him regularly with work progress and made revisions to the project based on the feedback from the client. When I started working on the project he had only about 20% of total project cost in escrow and now he is claiming that what he had in escrow is the amount he will pay for the work. How can I go about this? Any tips? 


Learn from it. If the client only funds 20%, you only deliver 20%. Leave an honest feedback with a fair warning to other freelancers. You cannot make him pay more than there is in escrow.

re: ...had only about 20% of total project cost in escrow and now he is claiming that what he had in escrow is the amount he will pay for the work."

 

The client is allowed to pay you any amount.

He may release more money than is in escrow.

But that is between you and him. Essentially it is on the "honor system."

 

The only thing that Upwork will pay attention to is what is funded in escrow. If the client released the escrow money to you, then the matter is over as far as Upwork itself is concerned.

Expensive lesson 🙂

Vidosava - I hope the lesson you learned is to never do work for a client where they have not funded the job if it is fixed price - and that they agree to an hourly rate if it is an hourly rate job.

In response to ""You cannot make him pay more than there is in escrow. ""
Upwork should do something to help freelancers here. 

Maybe some % of the 20% they charge can be used to help with issues like this. Won't cost much to a billion-dollar company. 

Just my thoughts.
Kc

**Edited for community guidelines**


Subodh K wrote:

In response to ""You cannot make him pay more than there is in escrow. ""
Upwork should do something to help freelancers here. 

Maybe some % of the 20% they charge can be used to help with issues like this. Won't cost much to a billion-dollar company. 

Just my thoughts.
Kc


Sure and then raise the 20% to 30% for the first 10K.

And, Subodh, what billion dollar company are you talking about?


Subodh K wrote:

In response to ""You cannot make him pay more than there is in escrow. ""
Upwork should do something to help freelancers here. 

 

They do. It's the escrow system, and the reams of information about how to protect yourself using it. Upwork can't be expected to clean up after freelancers who choose not to learn how the system works and use the tools provided for protecting themselves.

Maybe some % of the 20% they charge can be used to help with issues like this. Won't cost much to a billion-dollar company. 

It would be hard for Upwork to use "some of the 20% they charge" since they have spent more money than they have taken in in every single quarter of their existence. A lot of freelancers seem to underestimate the cost and importance of Upwork's marketing, which is the sole reason there are clients here to connect with.


 

tlsanders
Community Member

The one bit of ammunition you have is that if the client hasn't paid what you agreed in full, he doesn't own the work. This, of course, will depend on the agreement you made and the milestone description. But, if he has only paid for a fraction of the work, then he doesn't have the right to use the work. Given the nature of the project, it seems possible that he won't be in a position to not use the work, and so may negotiate with you to get you to release it.

 

Of course, he may also just go ahead and use it without authorization, figuring that you aren't likely to take legal action. But, it can't hurt to try.


Tiffany S wrote:

The one bit of ammunition you have is that if the client hasn't paid what you agreed in full, he doesn't own the work. This, of course, will depend on the agreement you made and the milestone description. But, if he has only paid for a fraction of the work, then he doesn't have the right to use the work. Given the nature of the project, it seems possible that he won't be in a position to not use the work, and so may negotiate with you to get you to release it.

 

Of course, he may also just go ahead and use it without authorization, figuring that you aren't likely to take legal action. But, it can't hurt to try.


He might also think that the OP can not realy check if he is using all the work or just the bit he paid for.

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