Contract On Hold

[h_parashar]

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

[pgiambalvo]

You won't get paid unless you used the time tracker. The hourly protection program only applies to that.

[asadsyedi101]

Hey,
The contract between me and my client is suspended, He approved the 2nd milestone, and payment is pending. Can I get the money, What is the reason to suspend the contract?
I need assistant please,
thanks

[pgiambalvo]

Upwork probably discovered the client's card was stolen and so the money couldn't be collected, even though the milestone was funded. They do not ensure the card wasn't stolen before allowing clients to use it to fund projects. You will not be getting any money from the client.

[ArjayM]

Hi Syed,

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.

[mac313]

I was working for a client and clocked 37 hours. He set no limit for weekly hours and make a fixed amount every week. Then Upwork paused his contract. And I didn't get a single penny. Upwork also add all the payment pending. Still, all the payments are pending. 
My client contacted Upwork support and send me this message that Upwork has advice to change the contract to an hourly charge for effective weekly deduction

Now Client ended the contract and tried to rehire me but he is not able to hire me again. He asked me to remove the previous hours from the timesheet and said " It’s not allowing me to rehire u. can u remove the hours you did in the past "

Should I remove the previous hours or not please guide me.
I am attaching the screenshots as well.

so I’ll cancel later today and rehire u, then all you need to do is slot in the required weekly time that covers the budget I’m meant to pay u per week

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[ArjayM]

Hi Hassan Ahmad,

If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, and you cannot continue to bill that client through Upwork until the issue is resolved. This is why payments such as bonuses or weekly payments would remain in Pending status. There are many possible reasons this could occur, although we can’t share the specifics regarding your clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

Note that hours billed prior to the contract being paused are still eligible for Payment Protection.  You should stop working on the contract and get in touch with your client to know when the contract could resume. You can check this help article to learn more.

[dd99cf87]

Hi,

I have a completed milestone with the client, and payment has been approved since 4/7/2022 but is still pending. Can someone check for me is there anything wrong? I have already looked on the Transaction History page, but the date to be available shows as Pending. 

Thanks for the help.

[759e32fa]

Hi Nguyen,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I am sorry to hear about your contract. I see that your client account has been placed on hold. I am unable to discuss further details of other users' accounts with you. Your client will have to clear the pending issue on their account to restore your contract and process the payments. 

[dd99cf87]

The client just told me that the credit card issue was solved, but my contract was still suspended. Can you check?

[PradeepH]

Hi Nguyen,

Your contract should be automatically reactivated as soon as the client account is fully restored. Please request your client to contact us so that we can assist them further.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[dd99cf87]

The client has contacted Upwork many times but has not gotten a response or solution from you guys. They told me that.

[dd99cf87]

Solved. Thanks

[stellamikl]

Hello,
I have a problem with getting paid. I was sent a proposal for a job, I accepted the proposal (per hour contract). The work was done with no remarks and only ositive feedback (the client accepted with no disputes and put the contract on pause).
The problem is that I do not see any available earnings n my account for the job done (7 hours +). 
Would you be so kind to clarify what is going wrong? And how can this be fixed?

Thank you in advance.

[PradeepH]

Hi Stella,

Thank you for your message. Please note that all logged hours on the Hourly contracts are processed as per the Upwork weekly billing cycle. You can refer to the Report page to check the status of your funds.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[stellamikl]

Hi Pradeep, 

Thank you for the clarification. Will I be able to withdraw the earnings after billing cycle in case my contract is paused. May be I should ask the client to terminate the conract?

Thank you in advance.

Stella

[AndreaG]

Hi Stella,

Ending the contract will have no impact on the Weekly Billing Cycle. If your contract is paused, you won’t be able to bill the client and should stop any work on the project until the contract is resumed. You can learn more about this here.

[stellamikl]

Hi Andrea, thank you. But unfortunately I did not find an answer in the article. The client paused the contract so why I can't see and withdraw my earnings for the work that was done and accepted? What should be done next from my side in order to recieve the payment?

BR

Stella

[AndreaG]

Hi Stella,

Your client doesn't need to manually verify the work you completed, they can only file a dispute during the review period. If no action is taken on their end, and we were able to charge their payment method successfully, your funds will be released to you as detailed in the Weekly Billing Cycle.

[367b1a5b]

The Contract Paused by upwork saying that upwork needs to Investgate the client's account , Unable to message to client because saying the proposals were removed! But the Project is already done and submitted to client! How can i get the payment from the Client!

[ArjayM]

Hi Julie An,

If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, 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 clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

It's recommended that you stop working on the contract immediately and get in touch with your client to see when you can resume working, once they've resolved the issue with their account. I'd like to reiterate any work completed up until the contract was paused is covered by Payment Protection. Feel free to check this help article to learn more. 

[joanbabao0816]

Hi!

One of my contracts has a suspended status due to client issue. However, the payment for the job is still in review status. Can we still get the payment for this job?

[AndreaG]

Hi Joan,

If there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account or billing method, we’ll pause your contract with them. While the contract is paused, you won’t be able to bill that client and should stop any work on the project until the contract is resumed. Since we can’t share the specifics regarding why the contract was paused, due to privacy concerns, please communicate with your client directly. 

[ed78a520]

hello my contract has been pused by the upwork today .. in work progress i have 158$ and in review 36$ can i recive my payment ..its hourly contract payment verified and i use the time tracker for hours load 

[AndreaG]

Hi Muhammad,

if there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account or billing method, we’ll pause your contract with them. While the contract is paused, you won’t be able to bill that client and should stop any work on the project until the contract is resumed. We can’t share the specifics regarding why the contract was paused, due to privacy concerns. Please reach out to your client directly to encourage them to resolve the issue.

[unmesh1128]

I got an offer from client and I accepted. I started working and was updating client reguarly. After some days, client was un-responsive. I had completed evrything client asked but I got notification from UpWork that the contract has been paused. I think considring upwork policy, it was a fixed amount project so upwork must have the funds in escrow as client was able to hire me. And as the client is un-responsive for 14 days after I submit the project, I should get paid for the work done. I tried to submit dispute request, but I am not getting any option to create it [Attching screenshot]. If such things are going to happen, how can we trust UpWork ? 

I think UpWork should look into this matter ASAP and pay me for the work I have done.

[ArjayM]

Hi Unmesh,

If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, 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 clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

You should stop working on the contract and get in touch with your client to know when the contract could resume. You can check this help article to learn more.

[f279a033]

I started a contract with a client sometime April and after completing the project he loved my job then he paid me and initiated a new milestone to work on some other project, when I was done with the last milestone, about a month ago, I requested that he end the project and leave me a feedback, as the project took so much time due to delays from his end. But after a while I realised he refused to end the project and approve me my hard earned money. I submitted anyways and still hoped he will approve the payment which he never did, and at some point he stopped replying my messages as well, then only for me to realise the project has been paused by upwork.....

Please I need to know why the project was paused and also appreciate if upwork can help reach out to the client on my behalf.

[ArjayM]

Hi Akinbola,

If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, 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 clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

Note that hours billed prior to the contract being paused are still eligible for Payment Protection.  You should stop working on the contract and get in touch with your client to know when the contract could resume. You can check this help article to learn more.

You can also keep an eye on this page for the support ticket that's been set up about your concern. Please avoid creating several tickets or posts for the same concern so that the team could assist you more efficiently. We seek your patience and utmost understanding while sorting this out for you. Thank you!

[f279a033]

Thank you arjay, can you reach out to the client on my behalf then? Because  i am done with the project already and he has refused to reply me 

[pgiambalvo]

The money should have automatically been released to you after 14 days. Since it wasn't that means Upwork was unable to collect the money from the client's card. Unless the client decides to voluntarily pay you, there is nothing you can do and you will never get your money. You ARE NOT protected because as you said, this was for a milestone payment, not an hourly contract using the time tracker so there are no hours that can be billed to the client for work done prior to the contract being paused.

[f279a033]

This is really a bad news

[apriliaaa]

Hello, I am a freelancer and my client is having problem updating or sending a new contract due to his account being paused by Upwork.

He is not familiar with Upwork so I am asking for additional help on his behalf. My client thought there could be a problem with his credit card but the bank told my client that everything is perfectly fine and there is nothing wrong with it so we assume it is Upwork here.

On my side, it stated that my client's account is being investigated by Upwork and I should not continue until the contract is active again.

My client did not paused any contract so my client is extremely confused and unsure how to have his account unpause by Upwork. I did not receive anything when he tried to send new contract or try to rehire me again, even tried clearing his cookies and cache but nothing is working.

Is there a way that this could be resolve as soon as possible so me and my client can continue working together on the project? It is almost 1 week since this happened and this never happened before until today.

Thank you,
Aprilia

[759e32fa]

Hi Aprilla,

Thank you for reaching out to us. If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, 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 clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

I would suggest you advise your client to contact our support team in order for them to get this resolved as we cannot discuss the account of another user for security reasons.

To get through to someone from our support team, your client may follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the Help Center.
2. Select “Get Support” at the bottom of your screen.
3. Type a question or topic and select "Send". The bot will find relevant Help articles for you.
4. If we don't find the information you need after a few tries, you’ll see an option under the article selections to "Contact Support."
5. Select "Contact Support" and follow the options provided.

[razu55_wpexpert]

I got my first project at Upwork...
This is the client's first project and his payment method is not verified...he hired me for this project but now it seems, there is some problem...

When I go to the all contact page I see project pause by Upwork but when I go to the project overview page I see it is active.
What should I do now?

[759e32fa]

Hi Razu,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I can see that the contract is paused and the "active" that you see when you go to the contract room refers to the project Milestones being funded, meaning the client has deposited the amount for this project.

If your contract is paused:

• Stop working on the contract immediately — Any work completed during a contract pause is not covered by Upwork’s Payment Protection programs. For hourly contracts, don’t worry, hours that you billed prior to the contract being paused are still eligible for payment protection.

• Contact your client — You can still message your client on Upwork when contracts are paused. We recommend that you get in touch with your client as soon as possible to find out when they expect the contract to resume. If you don’t get a response from your client, use the Get Support button (in the bottom-right corner of this page) to contact us and ask us to reach out to the client on your behalf.

You may check out this help article for more information.

[3db72eb5]

Hello Andrea,
Can you tell me about this issue?

I hope it will not affect my profile.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[759e32fa]

Hi Maaz,

Thank you for reaching out to us. If a contract is on hold, it means that there is a problem with your client’s Upwork account, 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 clients' accounts due to privacy concerns.

To answer your question, this will reflect on the client's account and not yours.

Also, I can see that you opened a support ticket regarding this issue. Please allow our team 24-48 hours to review your request and reach out to assist you further. You can access your support tickets here.

[3db72eb5]

Thanks, Annie.

[ibadahmad12]

Hello All,

My contract was suspended on friday sometime in morning due to account issue form clients side. I already talked with my client yesterday and he told me he has updated the payment method on his end.

May I know how long will it take to activate my contract again with my client? And can you also check if my client has really updated the issue on his side and what's the progress as of now?

Thanks.

[LuiggiR]

Hi Ibad,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm afraid that we can't share the details regarding another user's account for privacy reasons. Your client should be working with our support team to resolve their issue. I'd advise against resuming working with the client until their issue is resolved and you can see that the contract has resumed. Feel free to check this help article to learn more.