Contract on hold

[dantehoroiwa]

Hi,

I've received a message from upwork  saying that my contract is on hold temporarily for some possible issues with the client account.

My contract with that client is hourly,  and  I should be receiving the payment  today but it's still under review.
In this case, is the payment under review while the contract is suspended?
 If so, I think it's not right, since it's not my fault  I should be paid for the hours worked so far.

Please let me know,
thanks

[petra_r]

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Dante H wrote:

I've received a message from upwork  saying that my contract is on hold temporarily for some possible issues with the client account.

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It means the client didn't pay Upwork for the hours you logged last week.

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Dante H wrote:

My contract with that client is hourly,  and  I should be receiving the payment  today but it's still under review.
In this case, is the payment under review while the contract is suspended?

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The client never paid for them.

Did you track your hours using the tracker? Did you have meaningful work memos, which clearly described the work you did during the tracked hours? Did you have good activity levels?

In that case you should be protected and paid on Wednesday, even if the client never pays. Otherwise, you need to hope that the client sorts it out.

[dantehoroiwa]

Yes I did track  all the work using the tracking timer, and it shows I've worked 3:30 hours on  9/7 , 9/8 ,9/9.

Yes there was acticvity with printscreens of the work and everything .

I didn't understand, the payment should be already available today, so in this case I'll be protected?

[petra_r]

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Dante H wrote:

I didn't understand, the payment should be already available today

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It can't be available when the client never PAID.

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Dante H wrote:

Yes I did track  all the work using the tracking timer, and it shows I've worked 3:30 hours on  9/7 , 9/8 ,9/9.

Yes there was acticvity with printscreens of the work and everything .

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Were the activity levels (the green bars) high? What about the meaningful memos that describe clearly what you were working on? Did your screenshots have those?

[dantehoroiwa]

I didn't understand, so even with the time tracker there's a chance to not get paid for the job? I've thought I was protected with hourly contracts with the time tracker, and that the payment would be automatic 

It says "Your client is automatically invoiced and billed for the hours you log according to the weekly billing cycle."

Here is a screenshot sample, the level activity was high.... but I didn’t put any memo ... I didn’t know it was necessary, I've worked in many other contracts wihtout memo and I never had problems so far, this is the first time.

There is also the record of our conversations where I sent several images and he approved .

[petra_r]

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Dante H wrote:

Here is a screenshot sample, the level activity was high.... but I didn’t put any memo ... I didn’t know it was necessary, I've worked in many other contracts wihtout memo and I never had problems so far, this is the first time.

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The client was billed, but the charge failed. The client did not pay.

If the client does not pay, it comes down to the payment protection (Upwork paying for eligible time out of their own pocket)- this means that Upwork will examine your work diary, and remove all hours that are:

- manual time (does not apply to you)

- without a meaningful workmemo that clearly describes what you were working on

- low activity levels in too many segments (anything under 5 green bars is "low"

- screenshots that show non-work related activities.

If you haven't put any memos, Upwork will not pay you out of their own pocket and you have to hope for the client to come back and sort it out- Otherwise you won't get paid.

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Dante H wrote:

 I didn’t know it was necessary, I've worked in many other contracts wihtout memo and I never had problems so far, this is the first time.

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That just means you never had a client totally default on payment. It may not be necessary for clients, but it is vital in terms of protection from non-paying clients or disputes. No memo means no protection.

[dantehoroiwa]

Oh I see, so the client is charged and if he does not pay for the week I don't get paid... I've thought it was automatic.

Do you think I should ask the client ? Maybe he forgot to pay me...

[petra_r]

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Dante H wrote:

Oh I see, so the client is charged and if he does not pay for the week I don't get paid... I've thought it was automatic.

Do you think I should ask the client ? Maybe he forgot to pay me...

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Upwork will have tried to charge the client's payment method on file several times. Their payment method declined several times. Upwork will have contacted them several times. The client knows. 

But you may still ask them to contact Upwork and sort it out before Tuesday.

[dantehoroiwa]

Petra, here is a screenshot. 

[yitwail]

Petra, a question for you. Once a week, there’s a brief period when a freelancer can review their work diary. Is it possible at that point to add memos to time segments that lack them? I never omit memos so it’s academic to me but it might help forgetful freelancers protect themselves.

[petra_r]

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John K wrote:
Petra, a question for you. Once a week, there’s a brief period when a freelancer can review their work diary. Is it possible at that point to add memos to time segments that lack them? I never omit memos so it’s academic to me but it might help forgetful freelancers protect themselves.

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You can edit memos, add them, change them remove them, add manual time, delete screenshots etc at any time during the CURRENT work week (Monday 00.00 am to Sunday 00:00 pm (Midnight) UTC timezone. 

However, even though any new time tracked will now go into the next/new current work week, you still have until 12:00 noon UTC on Monday to make changes to your work diary from the work week that has just ended. I believe that's the window you are talking about?

At noon UTC on Monday the work diary locks and the client is subsequently charged.