Delivered files and client wants to close contract because she doesn't like design

[aberrydesign]

Hello UpWork community,

I have a fixed-price contract with money in escrow but no milestones. I delivered 10 versions of the job agreed on and maintained excellent communication throughout, but now the client does not like my designs and wants to cancel the contract with no pay. Is this OK? I spent over 10 hours of my time on this, delivered work quickly (within a day or two), and re-did the creative 10 times. With fixed price contracts, are the clients allowed to just cancel and not pay because they don't like it?

Thank you!

[dataextract]

You can file a dispute if you are not  Ok with the cancellation.

More details here :

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068528-Dispute-a-Client-s-Failure-to-Release-a-Miles...

[aberrydesign]

Thank you Ramesh. Do you know if anyone ever does this? I hate to hurt my job score because of this client. Do you know if it goes on your profile that you had a dispute? Thank you again!

[cylver1z]

Hello Anna,

No. Once your contract is ended, it will only display the feedback your client gave to you, the type of contract (Fixed Price or Hourly), Contract name and the contract's duration. Thank you.

[barada00]

What Ryan didn't mention is if the contract ends after a dispute they would most probably give a very bad rating and it will be there in your profile for a very long time.

[aberrydesign]

Thank you Baris. That's unfortunate that UpWork would allow for clients to not pay for work because of their own tastes and preferences. I did more work than what was agreed on, and the client should be obligated to pay. (I know...I should use milestones. Lesson learned).

I would like if an UpWork administrator can chime in. How is this fair to designers? It's not an issue of if work was done. It's an issue of the client not knowing what they want. We don't walk out of hair salons without paying or refuse to pay for a massage after getting it. Designers should not be treated differently.

I'm wondering if I should just loose the money (and my 10 hours) or risk the bad review. Either way I loose. And I must add that I was very friendly, communicated every day and revised 10 times.

[barada00]

Even if you refund full amount they will give you a private feedback. Nothing will show on your profile but your starting JSS will be low. If you decide to give full refund, and if you didn't have quarrel with the client you can write something like "I'll refund the payment, if you consider not giving a very low private feedback I'd be grateful." (or something like that. ) After refunding, if you close the contract,(not the client) there is a possibility they won't bother to give feedback. If contract goes south it is always good not to let the client close it, because when they close they have to leave feedback.

Is it fair? No, it is not but take this as an experience. You'll start to sense bad clients in time. You were unlucky and there is no fairness in luck. It is not Upwork's responsibility to regulate our relations with clients. Their function is making us meet; that's all. What you can do is AFTER contract is closed and feedbacks are given, you can message the client saying you will use the work in your portfolio and will send a DMCA notice if they use it. They can't use what they didn't pay for. For this course to work the client should be from a western country. It MIGHT work if they are not but there is no guarantee. There are so many things I can write here; my best advice would be read this forum like it's your most precious book. You'll learn a lot and if you have a problem write to "freelancers" topic, not here.

Best of luck.

[richard_wein]

As Baris said, Anna, you've been unlucky, I'm sorry to say.

I wanted to clarify that the escrow system is supposed to ensure that the client can't just refuse to pay you on a whim. But it does you no good unless you're willing to go to arbitration (which is a risk). And, as far as I know (though I'm not sure) the client can still leave you bad feedback even if the arbitrator decides in your favour.

I'm no authority, but from what I've read, if the client has no argument besides not liking your work, you should win the arbitration, or at least get a large part of the money. If you choose arbitration, you have to stump up $291, and that's not refundable if the case actually goes to arbitration, even if you win. But the client has to pay $291 for arbitration too, and, if they decline to pay when you've paid, then you win by default, get the full amount of escrow, and get your $291 back. So, if you're confident that your client has no good case, and will see that they've got no good case, then it might be worth the risk.

[aberrydesign]

Thank you. I’m done discussing this subject.

[tlsanders]

Anna, Upwork isn't "allowing" the client to not pay. If you can't resolve the issue during a dispute, you have the option of going to arbitration. Upwork has no authority to force a resolution.

[ravi_iitian]

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@Anna B wrote:

Hello UpWork community,

I have a fixed-price contract with money in escrow but no milestones. I delivered 10 versions of the job agreed on and maintained excellent communication throughout, but now the client does not like my designs and wants to cancel the contract with no pay. Is this OK? I spent over 10 hours of my time on this, delivered work quickly (within a day or two), and re-did the creative 10 times. With fixed price contracts, are the clients allowed to just cancel and not pay because they don't like it?

Thank you!

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 Can there be money in the escrow account without any milestones?

[petra_r]

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@Ravindra B wrote:

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@Anna B wrote:

Hello UpWork community,

I have a fixed-price contract with money in escrow but no milestones.

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 Can there be money in the escrow account without any milestone?

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 Not as such, no. A fixed price contract has always at least one milestone. I assume she means the project was funded on one milestone, rather than divided into several milestones.

[barada00 · Accepted solution]

...and she doesn't want to discuss this subject anymore...

[tlsanders]

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@Baris A wrote:

...and she doesn't want to discuss this subject anymore...

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 I  think we were meant to rally around and create an outcry about how unjustly she was being treated.

[aberrydesign]

Well, I just meant that I got all the information I needed, not wanting to take up anyone’s time. I ended up agreeing and closing the contract for no money. I don’t want to risk $300 for a $100 project. Although, I most likely would have won. I was fast, reliable, and made 10 different versions of the job (the request was just for 1).

[petra_r]

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@Anna B wrote:
Well, I just meant that I got all the information I needed, not wanting to take up anyone’s time. I ended up agreeing and closing the contract for no money. I don’t want to risk $300 for a $100 project. Although, I most likely would have won. I was fast, reliable, and made 10 different versions of the job (the request was just for 1).

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 That is really unfortunate, Anna, because there was no need at all to " risk $ 300" because arbitration is the very last step, and chances are the whole thing would have been resolved during the dispute process, long before there would have been any need to even think about arbitration.

Dispute Mediation costs NOTHING. I wish people would not try to scare newbies with the "you have to pay $ 300" stuff when in reality the vast majority of such situations is resolved (more or less satisfactory) in mediation with nobody having to pay anything. AT ALL.

[tlsanders]

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@Petra R wrote:

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Dispute Mediation costs NOTHING. I wish people would not try to scare newbies with the "you have to pay $ 300" stuff when in reality the vast majority of such situations is resolved (more or less satisfactory) in mediation with nobody having to pay anything. AT ALL.

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 Agree. It's just one example of freelancers either not realizing or not caring how destructive it is to newcomers when they use questions as a platform to vent their bitterness toward Upwork rather than provide facts and procedures.