Client want to have my email id or wants me to register on calendly before contract, is it Allowed

[amirzulfiqarpro]

Hi, 

I am new to Upwork (Only done one job)

When we apply on Job,  some clients want to have an email id for zoom meetings or want me to register on calendly with email so that they schedule their meetings.

To my knowledge, it's not Allowed but in my last meeting with a new client, I have conveyed the same that it's not allowed and we can have a built-in zoom meeting, But he said he is done it many times on Upwork and he is interviewing many freelancers and has completed jobs before.

I have confused, Please describe the allowed methods of communication before the contract? 

Any help appreciated 

Thanks and Regards
Amir Zulfiqar

[prestonhunter]

Upwork has a meeting scheduling feature built into the Upwork Messages tool.

Upwork prohibits freelancers from providing an email address to a client for the purpose of communication or scheduling.

It sounds to me like the client you are dealing with is genuine client and an honorable person. The client may well be accustomed to doing things a certain way... in a way which genuinely was allowed until a relatively recent policy change.

[amirzulfiqarpro]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,  But why is the client is saying that he is interviewing many freelancers in this way, I have politely refused and also conveyed that it's not allowed but he didn't continue with me and his Last reply is what I mentioned that he is interviewing with many freelancers this way?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Why?

I don't know.

But I think that not all freelancers and not all clients are equally familiar with Upwork rules and policies.

[gilbert-phyllis]

---

Amir Z wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,  But why is the client is saying that he is interviewing many freelancers in this way, I have politely refused and also conveyed that it's not allowed but he didn't continue with me and his Last reply is what I mentioned that he is interviewing with many freelancers this way?

---

Because the world is full of people who think rules don't apply to themselves. There surely are plenty of clients and FLs flouting that particular rule on a daily basis. IMO the rule is a nuisance -- although less so since UW added the Zoom and scheduling features and ironed out the hiccups in the calling functionality -- but we all agree to comply with UW's ToS when we sign up. I've had a couple or three clients disappear when I insisted we keep communications on the platform prior to a contract. It's a bummer to lose out on good projects when I'm reasonably sure they hired other FLs on the platform who were less scrupulous about following the rule. OTOH, I've never regretted passing up the opportunity to do business with a scofflaw.

[amirzulfiqarpro]

Thanks for the reply, yes we should not regret it as its not either ethical or allowed

[amirzulfiqarpro]

By the way my client is also gone 🙂

[517acd3d]

I wanted to share an idea I had about this, since it just happened to me: a prospective client sent me a Calendly link via an upwork message. Here's what I did:

I clicked on the link, entered my first name, and under email address I put **Edited for Community Guidelines** 

The calendly form had a third input field, titled: "Please share anything that will help prepare for our meeting." In this field I typed in: Thanks for the invite. I'm not permitted to share my contact info prior to contract commencement. But I've added this reminder to my calendar manually, and will start a Zoom session from within Upwork five minutes prior to our meeting."

So now the prospective client has the meeting on his calendar, I have it on mine, we didn't share contact info, and I didn't disrupt his scheduling workflow by asking him to use the Upwork scheduling. 

Just an idea.

Ben 

[hamagust]

Hi Ben,

So you mean the Calendly's field asking to fill the email is not made available later for the client (just... maybe Calendly)?

And... for all:  I just have the same situation, first the client sent me a Calendly invite. As it has that email field, I did not fill it, and asked the client if he could not use the Upwork dedicated tool for such task, as he appears to be somewhat new to Upwork, yet. Now, he asks me directly for email to schedule a zoom...  As I have already flagged the discussion, I do not see any further way to contact the support or to do anything about, at least in the app... which is procedure? I do not see any way to report it, for example... the support bot says I should just post a question in community? That's correct?