Dispute on completed contract.

[malikaali]

Hi Mates.

I want to discuss something about Mediation team. In my team, We all are working under the one agency as a freelancer.  

Fixed Cost Project, Milestone made, Client released one by one all. Source code is shared on google drive. No Funds pending on eny end.

Project ended; Reviews exchanged. After 3 days she come in dispute that we shouldn’t end the contract without giving her a month support and we should upload source code on her AWS bucket storage. 

Mediator said respond in 2 days. And we responded on we are ready to give support for a month and will upload her code as well on her aws storage. And client has few small bugs we started fixing those. *Remember this was a prebuilt project and client had an issue with previous developer and she moved on us to fix the bugs.

Meanwhile we were fixing the bug as committed a month support, Her project stopped working because of mistake of her previous developer and (Client) She started freaking on both freelancer and Mediation team.

Mediator said (client) you can go in arbitration and tell us in 2 days without knowing who is right or wrong. (Client) She is interested to go in arbitration, We jumped in there and said if we have committed a month support and if this error come in we ll solve it in 2 days and We setup our developers for extra hours who fixed issue in 2 days.

But Mediator still instructing client if she wants to go in arbitration, she(Client) has to inform in 2 days. Client is scared if she doesn’t go, Might we don’t give her remaining days of support which are now 10 days left with her support.

We as a freelancer said why she needs to go in arbitration now when we have committed everything to solve this issue.

Mediator said He is not forcing client; Client is not happy and intended to go in arbitration before Mediation team close this case. Even client asked Mediator just increase the days and don’t close the case and we both won’t need to go in arbitration.

But Mediator said he has to close in 21 days and doesn’t have any solution instead of going in arbitration. Once client paid invoice we also have to.

How as a community members you guys suggest me to move? Mediator said if i don’t pay they’ll suspend our freelancer account.

1: Project has ended. Client released all milestone

2: Reviews has exchanged.

3: No funds in escrow.

4: In dispute client asked for a month support and upload her code on aws storage. We have committed both.

5: Client is scared just because Mediation said who knows if we don’t give support for rest of 10 days after closing this case.

I wanted to discuss what would be agenda to go in Arbitration? And how should i proceed this case now?

It means any time any client after ending contract can create dispute and Mediation team can suggest them to go in Arbitration? I even don’t how an Arbitration will work in our case? What could be his decision?

[navidzafar]

Long story, can't afford to read it now.

[malikaali]

Check it now

[prestonhunter]

Your story reminded me of a quote from "The Princess Bride."

When I looked I found two versions, and I can't remember which is the authentic quote, so I posted both.

[malikaali]

Do i really need to make it short lol

[prestonhunter]

Ali A:

Do you need to shorten it?

Well... Let's just say that the first version of your original post was "a lot." (I see you have now shortened it considerably.)

My first post in this thread is a joke, not to make fun of you, but to commiserate.

I don't want to get into all kinds of details right now, but suffice to say:

Upwork mediation is NOT what some people might think it is if they don't do some research and just consider the phrase "Upwork mediation."

Upwork's business model is built around clients finding, hiring and paying freelancers in as efficient a manner as possible. Upwork makes money when they do not need to expend labor on the process... when they just need to host their database and software on servers and pay for a bit of electricity and server space.

But when things "go wrong" and there is a disagreement between a freelancer and client, then (as you can imagine) that is when Upwork starts to NOT make money. If a situation requires any significant expenditure of man power (Upwork paying employees/representatives), then Upwork starts losing money on the contract.

So Upwork really doesn't want freelancers and clients getting into disputes. They provide dispute/mediation/arbitration as a sort of "safety valve," not because they actually want these processes to be used by anybody as part of their regular use of the platform.

Upwork mediation is really NOT about Upwork looking at both sides of an issue and making a decision about who is right or wrong. A lot of people new to the platform thinks that what mediation is. But it's not. That is what happens during the arbitration process.

[malikaali]

Thankyou Preston.

I have just 2 questions for you now if you can help.

How Arbirator will work on our case? If contract has been completed? 

Do i need to have refund anything, Even i have completed everything for client?

[prestonhunter]

re: "Do I need to have refund anything, even if I have completed everything for client?"

No, of course you should not refund any money at all.

The client never should have asked you for a refund.

But sometimes freelancers issue refunds even though a client should not "morally" receive a refund. For example, if the client has a payment of $100 that he is holding up, for one ridiculous reason or another, then a feelancer might issue a 25% refund if it resolves the matter and gets the freelancer most of his money, while freeing him up to work with more serious clients. That doesn't mean that the client deserved a 25% refund, but it may be the expedient thing to do. Of course, by asking for that refund, the client made a huge blunder, because he lost access to that freelancer's services in the future. A month later, the client may realize that freelancer was awesome and a much better help than anyone else he can find. But that freelancer probably won't work for that client again.

But what about you?

You may decide to issue a refund, whether partial or complete. Or none at all. Those are your choices. If you go to arbitration then the arbitrator decides who gets the money. If you go to arbitration there is a good chance thst the arbitrator decides in your favor. But if the arbitrator decides against you... the you don't have a choice about giving a "refund." Escrow money goes to who the arbitrator says it goes to.

[malikaali]

I understood. Preston.

1: There is nothing in escrow. We had 6 milestons on this project. Client has released all one by one. Project completed and reviews exchanged. 

2: She wants to go in Arbitration because she wants to do more tasks on job with one month support.

3: We have almost done with extra tasks aswell she gave, Instead of one, She thinks she should go in arbitration what if we dont do that job too. 

4: Otherwise she is demanding full refund of $4k. Would Arbitrator will ask us to refund if we dont do that single task?

[AndreaG]

Hi Ali,

I checked and see that our Mediation team is actively assisting both parties with the case and have recently provided an update. It's best to refer to their updates for the latest status and instructions as they are the ones who can best assist you. To learn more about this process in general, check our Fixed Price Service Contract Escrow Instructions.