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michael80wight
Community Member

Contract Closed Due to Inactivity Despite Constant Exchange of Messages

So,

 

I woke up and saw a 'refund' request from my client. I went ahead and disputed it while leaving a 1-star feedback to the client (cause I was unhappy!).

 

Turns out the client never sent a refund request and it was sent automatically due to inactivity. The email did not mention so.

 

It was a big milestone (to run for weeks) and we were negotiating to add more articles to the job.

 

I've been told there's no way to reinstate a contract and to dispute the job. It doesn't make much sense to me, why should we suffer?

 

If I wasn't active these days and hadn't disputed the contract, the funds would've gone back to the client. I did not receive a single warning regarding inactivity. I assumed messaging, sending files was considered engagement.

 

Moreover, this may affect my rating as well. Isn't the system faulty? It should send a warning or have the option to reinstate contracts?

 

Has this happened to anyone else?

22 REPLIES 22
NikolaS
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Michael,

 

I am sorry to hear about this. It looks like you have an open ticket with our Dispute team about this dispute. Please consider following up on your open ticket and kindly communicate with our team through that ticket if you have any questions, in order to keep all the information in one place.

 

Thank you,

~ Nikola
Upwork
petra_r
Community Member


Michael W wrote:

It was a big milestone (to run for weeks) and we were negotiating to add more articles to the job.


It must have been months rather than weeks, as this happens when there is no activiry on a contract for 90 days. You need to make sure you arrange milestones which don't sit there with not a single Dollar paid for 3 months.

 

It's pretty risky to work for months without seeing any payments; it's better to break down the contract into smaller milestones. But in this case, you can ask your client to pay you for the work done so far as a bonus payment - they can still do this even after the job is closed - otherwise a "nothing paid" contract may affect your JSS. Then they can start a new project for you.

 

You should also send your client instructions that will enable you to change your bad feedback: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062208-Enable-Freelancers-to-Change-Feedback

 

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Michael W.,

 

Upwork should let freelancer and client work at whatever pace they agree to.

 

If Upwork decides to take the sort of action you describe, Upwork should at the very least give both freelancer and client notification well ahead of time and tell both what their options are to continue to keep the project active on Upwork's system.

 

Upwork too often doesn't communicate well when it comes to its own policies and procedures.


Will L wrote:

Upwork should let freelancer and client work at whatever pace they agree to.

 

If Upwork decides to take the sort of action you describe, Upwork should at the very least give both freelancer and client notification well ahead of time and tell both what their options are to continue to keep the project active on Upwork's system.


Because of restrictions related to the escrow licence, funds can not be held in escrow indefinately, generally a message is sent automatically to both client and freelancer before the milestone becomes dormant, first to the client, then to the freelancer. Maybe that/those message(s) landed in trash or spam?

 

 

 

Maybe, Petra, but only the client, freelancer and Upwork can know for sure.

 

What is the exact verbiage sent by Upwork in these circumstances and how far ahead of the automatic refund date are the client and freelancer informed?

 

And why are the client or freelancer forced to leave feedback when Upwork unilaterally closes their project?

 

And why did Upwork tell the freelancer that the client had submitted a refund request? There was no reason to throw the client under the bus for action Upwork had taken on its own.

Agree, also has happened to me and I am still resolving this. The client didn't ask for it, although the message said so. There were countless messages front and back between the client and me just because of misleading text in the message. Waste of time.


Will L wrote:

Maybe, Petra, but only the client, freelancer and Upwork can know for sure.


True. Upwork notifications have not been the most reliable.

 


Will L wrote:

What is the exact verbiage sent by Upwork in these circumstances and how far ahead of the automatic refund date are the client and freelancer informed?


"We recently contacted your client, XXXXXX about XXXXXXX, which has been idle for over 76 days. Per the escrow instructions for fixed-price contracts and for your security, we notified your client that they need to take action on this contract in order for it to remain open. If no new milestone updates, payments or refunds are made in the next 2 weeks, this contract will be closed on Upwork. If the contract is closed, you will receive a refund request for $XXX.XX (the funds still in escrow). You will have 7 days to dispute this request. 

If you feel this contract should remain open, please contact your client. Should the contract be closed due to inactivity, your client will still be notified in product of the option to leave feedback."

 

Those notifications are sent 14 and 7 days before it closes.

 


Will L wrote:

And why are the client or freelancer forced to leave feedback when Upwork unilaterally closes their project?


They are not forced to.

 


Will L wrote:

And why did Upwork tell the freelancer that the client had submitted a refund request?


Very true. Poorly impremented automated notifications. That is because it forces an automated job close and escrow-refund request, which sends out the same notification as when the client requests an escrow refund, which is obviously very poor. It's the same as when a client doesn't pay and non-qualifying hours are reversed, freelancers are sent a message saying they have refunded... (admittedly followed some hours later by another notification that explains it)

I once had one job that has a funded milestone sit there for days. Upwork sent me an email on day 75, so that I could click the "submit" button in time (14 days), in case the client disappear.

Update: sorry, I've just realized that this is an old post.

martina_plaschka
Community Member

You should not end contracts yourself constantly, this is not good for your rating. Always let the client to it! (Not related to your original question, just a remark after looking at your profile). 

988c216b
Community Member

Thank you everyone for raising this issue! You're absolutely right that the escrow refund request email subject line is misleading in this scenario. I've added it to our team's roadmap and we'll update the email copy to make it more clear in these cases where the escrow refund request is triggered automatically due to funds being in escrow for an extended period of time. The copy update should be live in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for following up on this, Chandhini B.

petra_r
Community Member

Hi Chandhini,

 

Great, we've been asking for this for literally years...

 

While you're at it, can the email sent to freelancers whose hourly payment was reversed because of hours not being eligible for payment protection also be changed from "You gave a refund to client X" - which is causing even more confusion than this one? 

 

It is really difficult to explain to them that the client isn't *actually* getting a refund, but that the client never paid so there was never actually anything to "refund" - but barely a Tuesday goes by when this doesn't crop up!

 

988c216b
Community Member

Thanks for passing that along as well, Petra! I've shared it our internal team and we'll look into making the communication more clear.

petra_r
Community Member


Chandhini B wrote:

Thanks for passing that along as well, Petra! I've shared it our internal team and we'll look into making the communication more clear.


Wonderful! Thanks so much for being proactive. Much appreciated!

r_viljoen
Community Member

I'm dealing with this now. Work on the milestone is 75% complete, but we're being forced to either pay or refund the amount in escrow. Upwork could easily see that the milestone is active by the fact that we've had several meetings via their messager since it was activated. Surely this issue should be resolvable in instances where both the client and the freelancer agree that the milestone isn't inactive and that it's a work in progress. 

 

I understand that this is put in place to protect clients and freelancers, but it could put us in jeapordy if human reason can't override the "system". These "computer-says-so" procedures dishonour your patrons and senselessly complicate our lives.

petra_r
Community Member

Get the client to release $1.00 as the current milestone and then set up a new milestone, That'll buy you 3 more months

oscar64
Community Member

A similar thing happened to me recently, although it's different. The client had already paid for the first milestone, and as I was about to get credited after 5 days, there was an automatic refund in which the client did not request for.

 

The project showed that the contract was paused and I was not to continue working with this client as it was under investigation for fraud. That was since mid August. I contacted support to report the issue and I was told to contact my client. I couldn't reach the client since they have been suspended from the platform I guess and I wasn't given any detailed information as to why the client was suspended.

 

I was left in the dark and can't tell if the funds were refunded to the client. Even after completion and approval of the first milestone, I had almost completed the second milestone when the contract got paused and the automatic refund happened. I did not receive any payment for the project.

 

I tried all means to contact this client but to no avail. Client lost, funds lost, no information about the project from upwork till date. Only to get an email last week that my contract was inactive and I would get another refund request (which I can dispute) for the funds in the escrow, yes, because the client already funded escrow for the next milestone. The email say it's been 75 days of inactivity and they need action from the client. The inactivity was only caused by the platform in the first place. Upwork paused the project and suspended a client with an ongoing project, did not pay me for already completing the project, there's no telling if the funds have been returned to the client because upwork can't reach the client either. The last thing the client told me is they were not refunded the funds.

 

The submission portal for the next milestone is still open despite the paused status of the contract, but I chose not to submit the work until the issue was resolved because I didn't want to lose the funds again.

 

The issue hasn't been resolved till date. How was the contract supposed to be active when you suspended the project and told me not to do any work until after investigation since mid August? How do I get paid for my work? What happens to the released funds by the client and the funds in escrow? Hope all this is clear, it's still very confusing to me.

Hello Bala,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. In general, we pause contracts when there's an issue with the client's account. We reach out to them to try to resolve the issue and we cannot disclose the reason for the suspension to the freelancer for privacy reasons. It will remain on hold until the client resolves the issue with their account.

 

At this point, it is best to communicate with the dispute team in order to come up with a resolution on what happens with the funds in Escrow.


~ AJ
Upwork
oscar64
Community Member

Thanks, Annie for your response.

 

I would do that with the dispute team. But what happens to the automatically refunded funds for the first milestone?

Hello Bala,

 

You can take it up with them as well. For any queries that you have regarding this contract, our team should be able to provide you with clarification. 


~ AJ
Upwork
oscar64
Community Member

Okay. Thanks a lot for your help Annie.

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