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mgus2012
Community Member

Confusing job

I have a client that required account cleanup for one year only. I did this job within their time frame. They mentioned also doing previous years because they were also a mess. I thought since the contract was for the one year only I should stop and wait for them to direct me on how to proceed. I last spoke to them Friday and they have been offline ever since. I do not know what to do at this point or if I am even going to get paid. They have not been very good at communicating with me throughout this job. I am good at what I do, but I am not a mind reader and I do need direction from them on certain things to make sure nothing is miscategorized. I am concerned that this might get me negative feedback from them. I just started freelancing coming from a corporate environment and I am anxious to build my portfolio. Any advice would be welcome.

5 REPLIES 5
petra_r
Community Member


Megan G wrote:

I do not know what to do at this point or if I am even going to get paid..


Hourly contract or fixed rate? If you used Upwork correctly, you get paid automatically.

 


Megan G wrote:

I last spoke to them Friday and they have been offline ever since.


There is such a thing as "The Weekend" - three days over the weekend is nothing to worry about, clients do usually have things oher than a freelancer to attend to.

mgus2012
Community Member

Yes, I am aware of weekends. The issue is, that they have also been posting other jobs so I know that they are online. So "the weekend" is not an issue for them.

prestonhunter
Community Member

Megan:
It is wise for you to come to the Community Forum to seek advice.

 

You need to keep a few things in mind:

- Upwork is not going to manage this for you. You need to manage this.

- You are in charge of what you agree to do, not the client.

- You are in charge of your rates, not the client.

- You are here to make money. It is not Upwork's intention that you enter into indentured servitude.

 

If this is an hourly contract, then you have little to worry about. If the client wants you to do more work, then you will be paid for more time.

 

But from context of your message, I feel like this is a fixed-price contract. Is that correct?

If that is the case, then you need to be firm, but polite. If you were supposed to do account cleanup for one year only, and you have done that, then you stop. You don't do any more work. You inform the client that it is now time for them to release the money in escrow, and after they do that, you will be able to work on account cleanup for additional years.

 

Don't work without getting paid. Don't let them add work to the agreement. That is "asking for free work," and it is a violation of Upwork ToS for a client to do that.

 

If you have not already clicked the green "Submit Work and Request Payment" button then of course you must do that immediately.

 

If the client is "not very good at communicating," then that is fine. You can still get paid. After you click that green button, don't send them any messages. Leave this alone. If they do nothing, then you will get paid AUTOMATICALLY.

 

If the client DOES communicate with you, then the only way you should respond should be something like this: "Yes, I agree. That is what we should work on next. I will start work on that immediately after the current payment has been released."

 

Feel free to come here to this thread to ask for additional advice about how to handle the situation.

It is an hourly contract and that is the confusing part. I feel like they should have done fixed if they only wanted cleanup for the one year.  If they wanted more years cleaned up then they should have put it in the contract and not mentioned it in their messages after the fact.

petra_r
Community Member


Megan G wrote:

It is an hourly contract and that is the confusing part. I feel like they should have done fixed if they only wanted cleanup for the one year.


Why not hourly? Did you correctly track your time with the Upwork tracker? You'll get paid autmatically for the hours you have tracked.

 

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