Client unresponsive, ongoing dispute

[kristina1993]

Hello Upwork Community,

My client has set up a specific sum of money for a fixed project and half of it was released around three months ago when I finished the first half of the project. However, afterwards, the client did not activate a milestone and I continued working on the project. Once I completed the second half of the project, I sent it to the client for a review and he noted that he is on a vacation and that he will check them out once he has the time. Also, a day after this conversation, I recieved an email from Upwork saying that because of the inactivity of the contract (no milestones and no release of funds for almost 3 months), the contact will be ended and I will be sent a refund request if there is no activity in the meantime. Since the client was still unresponsive, the contract was ended and I got a refund request which I disputed noting the reasons: "client unresponsive" and "finished work".

Since the client is still unavailable after I've sent several messages, I was wondering what are the possible scenarios that could happen ? 

Thank you everyone,

Kristina

[prestonhunter]

re: "...the client did not activate a milestone and I continued working on the project."

Why?

If that is what you did, then you made a mistake.

Learn from this mistake, and do not do it again in the future.

re: "Since the client is still unavailable after I've sent several messages, I was wondering what are the possible scenarios that could happen?"

How things are supposed to work is this: A client creates a milestone and funds it fully. You do the work, and you use the "Submit Work / Request Payment" button. Once. You then receive payment either automatically or because the client clicked a button to release payment.

Your description of your situation makes it sounds like this proper procedure was not followed. This puts you in an unusual situation. So I'm not entirely sure what happens next, but this is my best guess:

If there is money funded in escrow, that money has to go somewhere.

It sounds like the refund request was automatically generated. By disputing that request, you said you don't want the money to go back to the client.

If the client doesn't respond, then I'm assuming the money will be released to you.

If I were in your situation, then I would do nothing else. I certainly would not contact the client again. I would wait to see if I received the money.

Either way, this will be over soon and you will be able to close the contract if the client doesn't.

[kristina1993]

Yes, indeed, it is an unusual situation and it is a result of a misunderstanding and failing to activate a second milestone. As the client was still unavailable after I recieved the email from Upwork, the contract was closed by Upwork and there is an ongoing dispute. My only option is to wait, as you said.  

Thank you for time,

Best, 

Kristina

[bstojadinovic · Accepted solution]

Hi Kristina,

I see that you have already communicated with our mediation team via this support ticket. Please, refer to the ticket for more information and please do keep communicating through your support ticket in order to keep all information in one place. Thank you!