Client taking his time to end the contract - JSS

[30dcb51a]

Hey guys!

I had a project with two milestones, and my client approved the second milestone last week. I asked him if he could end the contract, and no answer so far. He is a busy person and not that responsive in general, so I’m guessing he might take a while to end the contract. Is that a problem for my JSS? I know I can end the contract myself, but I want him to give feedback (he tends to forget about it based on my previous experiences with him).

Thanks in advance!

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

---

Tuba E wrote:

I’m guessing he might take a while to end the contract. Is that a problem for my JSS? 

---

No, of course not.

[30dcb51a]

that's a relief! Thank you.

[tagrendy]

Leaving it open doesn't effect anything, and if he's busy definitely wouldn't advise bothering him. Just send 1 message asking if he was happy with everything, tell him you'd appreciate if he closed the project this week and that he'd be helping you a lot. Some clients aren't aware feedback matters, letting him know it is important to you might get him to act. That said, if he doesn't respond again, I'd close it myself & not message him again. 

[wlyonsatl]

Tuba E.,

There is no reason to be in a hurry to close the project of an unresponsive client/ex-client, but it is my understanding that prospective clients on Upwork can see on our profiles whether or not we are already busy with other "active" projects.

If this is true and I didn't close idle projects regularly, I'd soon end up with prospective clients seeing that I am "currently working on" 30, 40 or more "active" projects. I doubt many would contact me if they thought I was so busy with so many other projects.

Give it a month, during which you contact the client only twice asking if there is more work to be done on the project. If the client doesn't respond then close the project and give it no more thought unless the client eventually contacts you again.

When I close such projects I usually include something like following in my feedback for the client - "I closed this project because the client ceased communication. I'd gladly re-start the project as his/her option."

But I only add the second sentence if it's true.

Good luck!

[30dcb51a]

That makes sense, yes. I’ll wait for a while, as I am in no hurry to end it as long as it doesn’t have a negative effect on my profile. Thank you for the detailed response!