Clients neither approving the milestone nor providing actionable feedback

[rbmkhtr]

Hi, two of my clients are neither approving the milestone, nor providing any actionable feedback for improving the submission. It has been 1 week for 1 of the clients, and 1 day for the other client. I have asked them in good faith if they want any addition or modification in the already submitted work, they are not totally non-responsive, they still communicate but there is neither any actionable feedback, nor approval of milestone. What should I do?

[robin_hyman]

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Rabiya M wrote:

Hi, two of my clients are neither approving the milestone, nor providing any actionable feedback for improving the submission. It has been 1 week for 1 of the clients, and 1 day for the other client. I have asked them in good faith if they want any addition or modification in the already submitted work, they are not totally non-responsive, they still communicate but there is neither any actionable feedback, nor approval of milestone. What should I do?

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Rabiya,

Clients don't have to respond to you.  Assuming these are fixed-price products which appear to be the case, if you're submitting via Upwork's submission tool (go to "My Jobs" and see green "Submit" button), then you will automatically receive the funds in escrow in 14 days.  Don't keep clicking on the button because then you start from day 1 over and over again.  Just be patient.  

Good luck!

[rbmkhtr]

yes the contracts are fixed term. and i have conveyed both of the clients that the additional requirements shall be part of next milestone (there are next milestones but not activated yet). Now, my question is how would upwork know that previous milestone has been achived and what clients are talking now is the next one, when practically they have not 'approved' the work for the existing/accomplished milestone. Or would upwork relase the amount in any case after 14 days of submission. 

[wlyonsatl]

Don't over-communicate with them. Once every three or four days is usually enough with my clients; yours may be different.

If you submitted your work using the green "Submit" button on the project page, they have 14 days to come back with a request for any changes, which may or not be within the scope of your agreement with them in regards to the work to be done. 

Don't do any further work on any additional milestone until they have a) released fully-funded amount of the current milestone and b) funded at least the next milestone.

[rbmkhtr]

so now the things they are asking are for the next milestone, but they have not approved the current milestone. The next milestones are not activated or funded yet. Do you know if upwork would release the funds for current milestone in 14 days whether clients accpet the milestone or not? or do I would need to incorporate the changes within the existing milestone?

[hoyle_editing · Accepted solution]

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Rabiya M wrote:

so now the things they are asking are for the next milestone, but they have not approved the current milestone. The next milestones are not activated or funded yet. Do you know if upwork would release the funds for current milestone in 14 days whether clients accpet the milestone or not? or do I would need to incorporate the changes within the existing milestone?

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Then you need to clearly communicate with your clients that you will be happy to start that work for them but as it is part of the next milestone they will need to approve the current one and activate the next.

[moonraker]

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Rabiya M wrote:

so now the things they are asking are for the next milestone, but they have not approved the current milestone. The next milestones are not activated or funded yet. Do you know if upwork would release the funds for current milestone in 14 days whether clients accpet the milestone or not? or do I would need to incorporate the changes within the existing milestone?

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If the client does not challenge the payment request, the funds will be released automatically after 14 days. 
Don't do any work on the next milestone until the previous one has been paid and the new milestone has been funded.