Contract on hold -- lack of clarity in Upwork messaging

[jorgensons]

I was away from my computer yesterday and am just now catching up on all my Upwork messaging from the last 24 hours. One of the messages that came through yesterday morning was a "contract on hold" email. 

Here's an excerpt from that message: "Please hold off on working on this contract through Upwork until we give you the all clear."

This wording suggests that Upwork will explicitly reach out to notify freelancers when the contract is active again -- in other words, Upwork will "give the all clear." Having not received any sort of "all clear" messaging, I contacted the client right away.

Then, when I opened my time tracker a few mintes later to work on another project, I noticed that the "hold" project appeared in the job list without any sort of warning about the hold status. I then went to the job page. Again, there was no "hold" language -- everything looked totally norma.. I went back to my email to see if I'd missed an "all clear" message, but I hadn't. There was nothing in my inbox, spam, or trash.

Thoroughly confused about the status of my contract, I then contacted Upwork support. I wasted both my time and the agent's by asking about my contract status. Turns out the hold had been lifted and I was never notified. This all could have been avoided if the initial email was more clear about what would happen once the issue was resolved. Instead of the "we'll give you the all clear" language, the email should say something like "Please hold off on working this contract until the hold notice disappears from the job page." That would tell freelancers exactly what will happen, how to check the status of the job, and -- most importantly -- not waste anyon'es time.

When I waste a support agent's time on something stupid like this, it costs Upwork money. That ultimately costs me money because it keeps the fees high.

Not to mention the time I wasted sending my client a "we're on hold" message, and then a second "never mind, we're active" message. That's time I wasn't getting paid for working on the project...so, more lost time and money.

Please, Upwork, clarify your messaging. If you do, everybody wins.

[jorgensons]

It also occurs to me that "Please hold off on working on this contract through Upwork until we give you the all clear" suggests that it's okay to work on the contract through means other than Upwork...in other words, off-platform. I am positive that's a violation of the TOS, and yet the email messaging seems to imply that it's okay. Here's another place where clarity would benefit everyone.

[petra_r]

For what it's worth, I have a client who get themselves suspended once a month and I always get a message when she fixed it and the contract has been resumed!

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Signe J wrote:

It also occurs to me that "Please hold off on working on this contract through Upwork until we give you the all clear" suggests that it's okay to work on the contract through means other than Upwork...in other words, off-platform. I am positive that's a violation of the TOS, 

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You couldn't work through Upwork anyway while the contract is on hold as you can't track time. You "could" theoretically work with the client outside. There is no rule against that working with clients outside the platform, only all payments have to go through Upwork. But I agree the wording leaves something to be desired...

[jorgensons]

Maybe there was a glitch in the matrix. I just searched my email using the phrase "was reactivated" and nothing came up -- again, not in my inbox, not in my trash, and not in my spam folder. Weird.

[petra_r]

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Signe J wrote:

Maybe there was a glitch in the matrix. I just searched my email using the phrase "was reactivated" and nothing came up -- again, not in my inbox, not in my trash, and not in my spam folder. Weird.

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Yes, that's why I said "for what it's worth" 😉 -it's how it works for me.

[jorgensons]

Lack of consistency is a different problem altogether, but still a problem. 🙂 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Signe,

By design there should be a notification sent when a contract that's been put on hold is resumed. I'll be sharing your case with the team for further investigation and so that this issue can be addressed in the future. Thanks for sharing your situation and feedback here and in the ticket.