Communication outside Upwork after a contract ends

[rygaa]

I have two questions:

1. Can I communicate with my client outside of Upwork as soon as the contract begins?
2. I previously worked for a client and upon completing the job, I realized that I had made a mistake. I contacted him through the messaging app where we had been communicating and offered to redo the work for free as it was my fault. He did not respond, so I also contacted him through Upwork. He eventually responded and we agreed on a refund. However, I became busy and did not follow through with either fixing the problem or issuing the refund. I contacted him again through Upwork to offer the refund.

I want to know if contacting the client outside of Upwork after the contract ended violated Upwork's policies, and if so, what the consequences would be.

[wlyonsatl · Accepted solution]

Once you have a contract in place with a client, you can communicate any way you wish from that point forward. Having a current contract is not important for future communications.