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aaronfernandes · ‎03-17-2020

AveryO · ‎03-17-2020

Hi Aaron,

I'm sorry to learn about your experience with your client. It looks like you already have an open ticket regarding this concern. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to post it on the same ticket thread so that the team handling your case can assist you further.

~ Avery

petra_r · ‎03-17-2020

You'll be fine with the protection because when you accepted the contract, the clients payment method was verified (or they could not have hired you if they were previously verified. It's not that their payment method was unveried, it's simply that they failed to pay.)

Upwork will pay you under the protection, provided your hours were logged according to the rules, meaning time was tracked *AND* had meaningful work memos which clearly descibed what you were doing *AND* good activity levels *AND* work related screenshots. From the timeline, it sounds like you have already been paid.

Aaron F wrote:

I NEVER said I would refund him in exchange for feedback . I mentioned to him that the contract was suspended and because he did not have a verified payment method on file at the time didn't look like I was going to be paid. I then requested that he revise his feedback and he agreed and quickly gave me 5 stars from the extremely damaging feedback he had left. Then he requested a refund. leaving me in a very precarious position as he now had 14 days after to damage my profile again.

That part sounds a bit worrying. I you first indicated that you would refund and asked him to change his feedback, and he did, and you then said "Ha, no refund" - that sounds remarkably like you indicated (if not outright promised) a refund to get the client to change feedback.

Aaron F wrote:
I informed him of a refund date after the 14 days were over.I.

So you DID promise / agree to a refund? If you promised a refund, you should refund.

aaronfernandes · ‎03-18-2020

prestonhunter · ‎03-18-2020

Aaron, no matter the outcome of this, I am very sorry that you are going through this awful situation.

I think things spiraled put of hand and mistakes were made on both sides.

But all of this mess would have been avoided if the client had not acted so unethically and unprofessionally in the first place.

When a client hires a freelancer to work on a project, she should make sure that she can pay for the work. EVEN THOUGH the Upwork client side interface may make it possible for a client to hire freelancer without a verified and usable payment method, it is unethical for a client to do so.

If a client changes her mind about something after work has been done, she should still pay the freelancer for work that she has hired to the freelancer to do.

I know that if YOU hired a freelancer or any kind of worker to work for you, and then they worked for 5 hours for you... I know you would pay them for their work even if your situation changed and you ended up not needing the work. Any decent person would do likewise.

petra_r · ‎03-18-2020

Preston H wrote:

When a client hires a freelancer to work on a project, she should make sure that she can pay for the work. EVEN THOUGH the Upwork client side interface may make it possible for a client to hire freelancer without a verified and usable payment method, it is unethical for a client to do so.

Preston, Aaron worked with that client before. So they MUST have had a verified payment method. It became unverified (well, it actually didn't, the client was suspended which results in the payment method as showing unverified)

So the client's payment method WAS verified while Aaron worked and the protection WAS in place. He was paid.

If a client is NEW they can hire before verifying their payment method. The freelancer is advised of that in no uncertain terms. This is NOT the case here.

The issue with the client's payment method happened AFTER Aaron had worked, and an existing client categorically can NOT hire a freelancer while suspended or when there is an issue with their payment method, which is how contracts are put "on hold" and freelancers can not log hours-

aaronfernandes · ‎03-18-2020

oshomojichris · ‎03-18-2020

You can never be hired for a job without payment method added by the client. You dont need to send a refund back to the client. 14 days is up so he can't change the feedback any longer unless you give him permission to change the feedback.

petra_r · ‎03-19-2020

Oshomoji C wrote:
You can never be hired for a job without payment method added by the client.

You can be hired by a client with no verified payment method, but that is not what happened here.

Oshomoji C wrote:
You dont need to send a refund back to the client. 14 days is up so he can't change the feedback any longer unless you give him permission to change the feedback.

You're missing the point.