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h_parashar
Community Member

Contract On Hold

I am new to Upwork. Just two hours after I got offered this contract it's being put on hold.
I wanted to knw whether client has paused the contract or it's because clients account is suspended. I can see suspended written in contract page. Not sure if that means suspended client or suspended contract.

Thanks and Regards

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Hi Ronnie,

 

There are two reasons why your contract may be paused:

 

  • Your client has decided to pause your Hourly Contract: If no work needs to be done at the moment, clients can temporarily and immediately pause a contract. This prevents hours from being logged on the contract, without the need to end it, until you are ready to proceed with the next part of the project. 
  • There is a problem with your client’s Upwork account: In this case, your contracts with them will be paused automatically and you cannot continue to bill that client through Upwork until the issue is resolved. There are many possible reasons this could occur, although we can’t share the specifics regarding your client’s account due to privacy concerns.


You can check out this help article to learn some tips on what you can do if your contract is paused.

 

 

 

Update: 

This thread has been closed from further replies due to its size. We appreciate your participation in the Community and welcome you to continue the conversation on this new thread.

 

~Andrea
Upwork

View solution in original post

509 REPLIES 509

Hello Pradeep and the entire Upwork community, I just got a mail that my Upwork contract with my client is on hold. I've been with the client for over 6 months with no issues. What could be the issue and when can Upwork resolve this please?

Hi Paul,

 

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about your contract. I checked the contract you are referring to and noticed that it has been paused due to an issue with the Client's account. Your contract will be restored as soon as the Client resolves the issue on their account.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork

Hi Andrea:

can you check this link, please? 

**Edited for Community Guidelines** 

my client wrote a post about this issue.

 

Hi Mehmet,

 

Yes, I can see they did and that our social team has already replied in order to help. I also checked your account and it doesn't look like your contract is paused anymore, could you please check?

 

~Andrea
Upwork
ed7817f2
Community Member

Good advice

Hi everyone,

 

I was working on a project, and I added a few hours manually and those hours are currently under Review state. Today, I received an email from UpWork that the contract is on Hold/Pause now. I want to know if I could get that amount which is under Review or not.

 

Thanks

- Waqar

Hi Muhammad,

 

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about your contract. Your funds in review will be released when we are able to successfully charge the client's card.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork
76325082
Community Member

Hello Andrea,

I have done work for one of my client he accepted the work and payment was reflecting in my account. Now the contract is paused by UPWORK and my funds are still in pending. I want to know after how much time upwork will release this payment as I am unable to reach my client too. I know upwork hold the payment mainly because of chargeback threat but after 40 days there's no point of holding the funds becuase client is unable to chargeback after 40 days. The contract is already almost 20 days old.

Please let me know.

Tamoor,

 

I doubt there is a chargeback threat. Upwork has apparently discovered an "issue" with the card used to pay Upwork on your behalf (either a chargeback by the actual card owner or a payment reversal due to fraudulent use of the card by your "client"). If either of these things is true on a fixed price contract you will not be paid the "pending" amound of funds at risk because Upwork will not be paid. 

 

Where did you get the informaiton that a "client is unable to chargeback after 40 days"? We have seen many posts on this board from freelancers who suffered from chargebacks on transactions going back further than 40 days.

Hi Tamoor,

 

Thank you for reaching out. I can see that you've already raised a support ticket regarding your concern. You can access your support tickets here. Note that support requests are responded to in the order they are received. Kindly allow 24-48 hours for the team to follow up with you and assist you further.


~ AJ
Upwork
8cdd8303
Community Member

Hello. My contract was suspended earlier due to some issue with my Client's account. Now I started working without the tracker since we both know that the issue will be solved easily and I am allowed to manually add the time I worked. But when I manually add it, I keep getting this "time overlaps thing". Can you please help me with it sir. Thank you

Hi Mary,

 

If there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account your contracts with them will be paused automatically and you cannot continue to bill that client through Upwork until the issue is resolved. There are many possible reasons this could occur, although we can’t share the specifics regarding your client’s account due to privacy concerns. 

 

You can check out this help article to learn some tips on what you can do if your contract is paused. It's important to keep in mind that any work completed during this time is not covered by Upwork’s Payment Protection programs, and this applies to Manual Time on Hourly Contracts as well.

 

~Andrea
Upwork
nyambura87
Community Member

Hello, I would like to ask something. I recently got this new client. We are working on an hourly contract for two to three weeks now. The first week, I billed and it all went fine. My payment was released on Friday as per the early payment option for top-rated freelancers. During the second week, I billed as usual as well. The payment was invoiced to the client on Monday as normal. However, upon reaching Friday, when I expected the early weekly payment to be released, I received a notification that the contract had been suspended by Upwork. I did not also see the payment as expected. Looking at my pending earnings, the invoiced payment still says that it will be available for withdrawal on Wednesday as per the usual billing cycle. My question is if the payment is already scheduled to be available on Wednesday, why didn't I get the Friday early payment since I am eligible? Is it suspicious that the contract was suspended on the Friday I was meant to be paid? Also, will I still get paid for the hours billed? 


Nyambura T wrote:

 However, upon reaching Friday, when I expected the early weekly payment to be released, I received a notification that the contract had been suspended by Upwork.  


The client failed to pay last week's hours. They didn't pay on Monday, or since.

If you you used the tracker and had meaningful memos and good activity levels, you are protected under Upworl's hourly protection.

If not, and the client doesn't pay by Tuesday, the funds (which were never there to start with) would be reversed,

 


Nyambura T wrote:

 My question is if the payment is already scheduled to be available on Wednesday, why didn't I get the Friday early payment since I am eligible?


Because the client hasn't paid that money, so Upwork won't pass it on to you early in case they can't get it from the client by Tuesday. On Tuesday they'll examine your work diary and check if your hours qualify for protection, in which case they pay you out of their own pocket. If your hours don't fully qualify for protection and the client doesn't pay, you won't get paid.

e6c001cf
Community Member

I got the same issue on upwork. It says client account suspended. It was an hourly contract. Will I get paid or not?

 

Suggest me pls

e6c001cf
Community Member

I had a long-term client. Today I got a notification that the client account was suspended. Will I get paid or not? it was an hourly contract. 

 Pls, help me. I'm new at Upwork.

petra_r
Community Member


Manish K wrote:

I had a long-term client. Today I got a notification that the client account was suspended. Will I get paid or not? it was an hourly contract. 


If it is a long-term contract chances are that the client just needs to fix an issue with their payment method.

 

Did you:

  1. Track your hours with the Upwork tracker? and
  2. Enter meaningful work memos that clearly describe what you were working on? and
  3. Have decent activity levels?
  4. make sure all screenshots show you working on the client's project?

What is the client saying?

1a1a6ae0
Community Member

My client has not paid me for 2 weeks of work citing that he has some problems with payment on the side of upwork. The contract was suspended by upwork. I suggested a solution - send payment via bonus upwork. However, the customer says he gets an error and can't send the money.

 

Customer's message: Hey Vlad, I tried to send bonus for all the balance but it says that it’s not allowed.

________________________________________________

I also asked to send me a screenshot of the error, the screenshot I attached. How to solve this problem?

Hi Uladzislau,

 

Your client should contact our support team directly so they can assist him. Please know, we're unable to discuss any details of his account with you because of privacy reasons. A quick way to contact support is by clicking the question mark icon that shows at the bottom right corner of this page

~Andrea
Upwork
1a1a6ae0
Community Member

The customer said that he had contacted customer service and there was no answer. Now he says he doesn't have time to deal with upwork problems. He sent me a new screenshot, when he try to pay with a bonus he get error that his account is suspended. The client has repeatedly offered to pay via PayPal. I keep refusing and telling him that all payments should be done via upwork. However, this way I won't get paid for the work I've done.
Question: Can I get paid on PayPal and pay a commission for the payment separately to upwork. Or should I be left without payment, even though the client is willing to pay?

Hi Uladzislau,


Please keep in mind that offering and accepting payments outside of Upwork is a serious violation of our TOS. 
I can also confirm that our team is following up on your client ticket regularly and is assisting them further. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Ty, I know that this is a serious violation and that's why I can't get paid for the work I've done for a month now.
So I would like to find a solution to this problem. I can't get the client to deal with this problem. He says he doesn't have time and has already written to support, maybe he didn't write I don't know.
I could suggest this solution: I get paid for the unpaid work through PayPal and then I pay a commission for this payment to the upwork of 10% (this is the commission I paid to the upwork with this client)

I don't quite understand, should I expect a response from you? Can you suggest any solution? Is my solution a good one or is it in any case forbidden to accept such a payment and should I continue to insist that the client solve the problem through upwork?

michael_nidelka
Community Member

A client bought a project from my catalog. I started the work. Now the order is paused by Upwork. Some kind of problem with the client's account. Do I have to finish the job? I can see on the order page how the time to complete the work is decreasing. The client is not responding to messages.

The message you received from Upwork did not mention to stop working?

 

Stop working.

 

A problem with client's account is not your problem. It is the client's problem.

 

Don't work for free.

garetbello
Community Member

Hi, 

My client's account was suspended last Thursday. I messaged him on Friday and he says it was already resolved. However it's still not showing in my time tracker as active. Anyway this can be checked? 

 

Thanks!

 

Margaret

Hi Margaret,

 

Unfortunately, we're unable to share any details of your client's account with you. This is because of privacy reasons, we hope you can understand. Please know that we recommend you do not work on a paused contract until it has been resumed. Any work completed during this time is not covered by Upwork’s Payment Protection programs.

 

~Andrea
Upwork

Yes for sure, may I just have a confirmation that he is actually fixing his issues or contacted support as he said he did.

Thanks,

Margaret
11c7f583
Community Member

I have a client whose I loged in like 6 hours in my worksheet now yesterday it says the contract is suspended and I have already loged in my hours and it was in my review period .

 

The client says it is okay I continue working on that project because he says it was never suspended but I have stoped I would like to know where the problem is from my end or my client end.

 

And if so how will get paid for my loged in hours.

Hi Abraham,

 

The hold on your contract is due to a problem on the client's end. Our team has already reached out to your client to assist them further. Once their problem is resolved, the hold will be removed as well.

I would recommend to stop working on your contract until the hold is removed. If any issues arise, our team will reach out to you directly as well and will assist you accordingly. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Abraham,

 

Don't even consider continuing to work on a project Upwork has suspended, if you care about getting paid for your work. 

 

The problem is one that only your client can fix and you should wait to work on it further. Suspension may last a short time or it may be permanent. In my limited experience, it has lasted from one to multiple weeks. Each situation is different.

sweettart888
Community Member

Hi, everyone. I am new freelancer here in Upwork. I got a job and been working for a week already but then since yesterday I received an email from work that the contract is hold and wait for the advise from them before I continue working with my Employer here. Now, I am so worried. I asked payment from my employer for the work I finished then he sent payment. My question now is Should I continue working with him since he is sending me payment? Does it give me assurance? and also the payment processing will take 3-5 days here in Upwork. I've been working hard and worried for my small salary if I get paid or not. Please respect my post and thank you.

re: "Now, I am so worried."

 

Don't be worried.

You didn't do anything wrong.

This is the client's problem.

 

re: "My question now is: Should I continue working with him since he is sending me payment?"

 

No.
You can't work on a contract when it is on hold.

 

It doesn't matter that you received some payment. That was for work that you already did.

 

NOW the contract is on hold.

So NOW you are not supposed to work.

Thank you enlighten me. Can I ask 1 more question? Can I look for another job and apply while my contract of my client is still on hold? or do I have to wait it resolved and wait als for go signal from Upwork Company before I can look for another job/client? Thank you so much Sir. I appreciate it a lot.

Hi Sweet Angelica,

 

Please discontinue working on the project while the contract is on hold. Our team has already reached out to your client to assist them in getting this resolved as soon as possible. 

~ Joanne
Upwork

Thank you. Yes, I stopped working and also I message my Client  now that why is my contract on Hold. I will wait for his response. Thank you maám for the quick response and for checking the statues of my Client. Have a nice day.

 

Upwork really doesn't care how many jobs you have as long as you can manage them.  I often  have 6-7 open at one time, although many are longterm and generally inactive. 

Oh okay, Thank you for telling me this. 😉 Thank you so much Mary. God Bless 😉 

 

sweettart888
Community Member

The Client response, he said he paid me already. Now, wants me to continue the job but I decided not to response with my client. I will just wait for the feedback from Upwork Company so I won't violate anything and wait for their proper instruction or advise or rather wait when my Contract will no longer ON HOLD. 

 

Do you think Maam/Sir I made a right move and decision?

 

Thank you  & have a nice day.

New freelancer here.

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