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mrityunjay-ojha
Community Member

Dispute

Dear Upwork,


I was working on a long-term contract and suddenly, the client complaint about my agency without informing me. He raised a dispute and Upwork gave him an option to end the contract without notifying me. He cancelled the contract when the project was close to complete, took the source code from the repository and didn’t pay us our remaining 600$ for the milestone and Upwork did not care of informing me at least.
On the very next day, the contract was ended and I didn’t even get a chance to put my point.

I sincerely request Upwork to give me a valid answer on this.

Best Regards,
Jay.

23 REPLIES 23
petra_r
Community Member


Mrityunjay K wrote:


I was working on a long-term contract and suddenly, the client complaint about my agency without informing me. He raised a dispute and Upwork gave him an option to end the contract without notifying me. He cancelled the contract when the project was close to complete, took the source code from the repository and didn’t pay us our remaining 600$


Was the last $ 600 in Escrow (milestone funded?) - In that case you can dispute.

If it was not funded, there is nothing to dispute and obviously a client can end a contract at absolutely any time for any reason.

 

Thanks Petra for the quick reply. It was not in escrow, but the contract got cancelled by Upwork, not the client.
I just need to know that how will it effect my Job Success Score?



Mrityunjay K wrote:

1.  It was not in escrow

2. The contract got cancelled by Upwork, not the client.


1. Nothing in Escrow - nothing will be paid.

2. I doubt that... You said the client cancelled it... Upwork will very, very rarely end a contract on the client's behalf.

 

 


Mrityunjay K wrote:


I just need to know that how will it effect my Job Success Score?


That depends on how thrilled the client was and which feedback the client left.

Thanks again Petra for replying,

Client confirmed that he has not cancelled the contract, It got cancelled by Upwork and he didn't give any review also. And I just saw that my JSS is now changed and it is now 80 instead of 89. WTH?
We completed two long-term contracts and got good feedbacks also, and this contract which got cancelled has not any review. 
Can you please check my profile once and give me a solution?


Mrityunjay K wrote:


Client confirmed that he has not cancelled the contract, It got cancelled by Upwork and he didn't give any review also. And I just saw that my JSS is now changed and it is now 80 instead of 89. WTH?
We completed two long-term contracts and got good feedbacks also, and this contract which got cancelled has not any review.


There has to be more to the story than meets the eye here. The client contacted Upwork because he was unhappy, correct? And asked Upwork to close the contract?

 

Somehow it seems you are not telling the full story...

He raised an issue on Upwork then texted me to inform that he had contacted upwork and upwork gave him 3 options: 

1. Cancel the contract and hire another developer and you will be credited with 600$

2. Resolve the issue with the current developer and continue working with him

3. Raise a dispute and give something around 900$(both parties combined)

 

He chose the first one and then ask me if Upwork mediator has contacted me.
The truth is, no one has contacted me. I just got a message from UPWORK that the contract is ended.(Client accepted that he didn't do it on purpose, he thought Upwork is talking to me and I agreed with these three solutions)

 

Client has denied of giving any review or ending the contract.

 

My questions are:

1. if he was talking to a mediator then why Upwork didn't inform me? 
2. A contract without a review impacts more than 2 contracts with good review and constant payment from active contracts?

Please tell me if I am not clear enough till now?


Mrityunjay K wrote:

He raised an issue on Upwork then texted me to inform that he had contacted upwork and upwork gave him 3 options: 

1. Cancel the contract and hire another developer and you will be credited with 600$

2. Resolve the issue with the current developer and continue working with him

3. Raise a dispute and give something around 900$(both parties combined)


This is nonsense.

 

1. You claimed that nothing was in Escrow, so how would anything be credited? Make up your mind... was something in Escrow or was nothing in Escrow?

2. OK

3. That only happens with contracts in dispute. Did the client raise a dispute? If the client disputed, then you will get contacted.

 

Can you tell us whether money has already been paid under the contract?

If yes, how much, and when was the last payment made to you? (within the last 30 days?)

 

Have you left feedback to the client?

 

1. There was nothing on escrow, Upwork offered the client to accept an Upwork credit of 600$(I can share you the screenshot send by the client to me in person)

3. Client said that he had complained to Upwork and he thought that a mediator is talking to me also.

 

We had not funded the next milestone, The contract was of 4500$ and he had paid 3100$ till then. The last time he made a payment was on March 17,2019.

Well, in that case Upwork avoided the client trying to dispute over 3000..

 

As the client was seriously unhappy with your agency the contract (obviously) counts as unsuccessful (hence the JSS hit) and you are lucky it didn't go down the dispute route and you didn't have to face paying $ 291 at the end of dispute for arbitration  and potentially all that was previously paid under the contract.

I did not give any review neither did client.

 

According to the client, he accepted Upwork offer and did nothing at all(Neither ending the contract or giving a feedback)


Mrityunjay K wrote:

I did not give any review neither did client.

 

According to the client, he accepted Upwork offer and did nothing at all(Neither ending the contract or giving a feedback)


He's lying to you then. If you're to rated, yank the review now with the perk. You already know it's bad.

Nope, not what happened at all. The client maybe just doesn't want to own up to kiling the contract and is taking the easy way out.

 

They left you feedback. You just can't see it until you leave feedback.

Thanks Jennifer for replying me.

 

No, Client has not given any review, he has not touched the contract to end. He was also suprised that Upwork has not contacted me. He thought I agreed with the conditions so he had to agree for the same also. He accepted that filling the complaint was intentional but ending the contract was not.


Mrityunjay K wrote:

Thanks Jennifer for replying me.

 

No, Client has not given any review, he has not touched the contract to end. He was also suprised that Upwork has not contacted me. He thought I agreed with the conditions so he had to agree for the same also. He accepted that filling the complaint was intentional but ending the contract was not.


The client is either lying to you or you are not understanding. You can't open a dispute without closing the contract. You should have gotten an email if he requested a refund (it's not clear what's going on at this point). YOU have the option to dispute the refund or just let it go. Otherwise, if there is no escrow, he closes the contract and you get notification that it's done. Mediation comes into play when a refund is requested and you refuse the refund.

 

Mediators don't work weekends. You should have gotten an email that they will contact you within 5 business days if the contract really is in dispute.

 

eta: you have been reviewed, you just don't see it yet.

Is there any difference between complaining about freelancer and raising a dispute?
If yes, then he did complaint because the project was running at that time. 

 

Nothing was asked to refund, it was an Upwork credit of 600$ which client can use only on Upwork.

 

I know that my JSS is revised and it is now 80%. I just need to know that after completing two more long-term contracts and getting good review, why I still got a score of 80%(Just because this contract was cancelled by Upwork)?

 

Does it matter if the project is of 4500$ and it got ended with 3100$?


Mrityunjay K wrote:

Is there any difference between complaining about freelancer and raising a dispute?
If yes, then he did complaint because the project was running at that time. 

 

Nothing was asked to refund, it was an Upwork credit of 600$ which client can use only on Upwork.

 

I know that my JSS is revised and it is now 80%. I just need to know that after completing two more long-term contracts and getting good review, why I still got a score of 80%(Just because this contract was cancelled by Upwork)?

 

Does it matter if the project is of 4500$ and it got ended with 3100$?


Clients are free to complain to CS who will tell them to request a refund. Upwork CANNOT get involved with disbursement of funds other than mediate and try to get you to come to a decision, but then you say there is no escrow or refund request, so then there is nothing to mediate. If he asked for a refund and then you didn't reply, then he automatically gets his funds.

 

It's very unclear what is going on here, but I'm telling you Upwork did not close the contract. Your client did. I think this is just a scenario of two people who don't understand the system and are just confusing each other. You can look at the workroom and it should say who closed the contract.

 

But it sounds like you are done with this client and he closed the contract, so there is nothing more to be done. If you see a refund request, then you must respond to it. If you refuse to refund, then it goes into mediation.

 

It's very likely that your JSS will drop more after this. No, it doesn't matter that a lower amount was paid. That doesn't affect anything.

petra_r
Community Member


Jennifer M wrote:

It's very unclear what is going on here, but I'm telling you Upwork did not close the contract.


My guess is (bigwig) Client went raging at Upwork and is some kind of bigtime client with a lot of clout. Client gave Upwork reason to believe that client would win arbitration over the full amount (over 3k) and Upwork gave client a credit to save it going that far.

 

Upwork then closed contract as unsuccessful, hence the drop in JSS.

 

(The above is purely an educated guess but fits what the OP says and what his / the agency's profile looks like)

 

Can it be(The JSS) undo and contract will be treated as successful if I file a dispute now and win it.

 

Jennifer said that my JSS can drop more, this happened 3 days before and my JSS revised today. Will it effect in next JSS evaluation also?

 


Mrityunjay K wrote:

Can it be(The JSS) undo and contract will be treated as successful if I file a dispute now and win it.

 

Jennifer said that my JSS can drop more, this happened 3 days before and my JSS revised today. Will it effect in next JSS evaluation also?

 


Sorry, I didn't realize JSS updated today. It's probably taken its effect already, but if anything good falls out of rotation, it'll feel like it's hitting you harder.

So you are telling me it did not go below because of the good reviews from other clients and I should move on and focus on other projects without worrying? 

 

But I am highly unsatisfied by Upwork team because they did not notify me of this issue and took a step without even hearing my side of the story.


Mrityunjay K wrote:

Can it be(The JSS) undo and contract will be treated as successful


Nope, it is done and dusted.

Why, do you think that client would be any happier then? A contract with an unhappy client will never, ever count as "successful!"

 

About "hearing your side of the story first" - they took no money from you, so there was no need for your side of the story. Would it have made the client any happier if Upwork had "heard your side of the story" first?

 

I think I got the solution now, Thank you so much Petra and Jennifer for giving your valuable time here and helping me.

lysis10
Community Member


Petra R wrote:


My guess is (bigwig) Client went raging at Upwork and is some kind of bigtime client with a lot of clout. Client gave Upwork reason to believe that client would win arbitration over the full amount (over 3k) and Upwork gave client a credit to save it going that far.

 

Upwork then closed contract as unsuccessful, hence the drop in JSS.

 

(The above is purely an educated guess but fits what the OP says and what his / the agency's profile looks like)

 


ahhh, yeah, don't want to anger the enterprise $$$$$ clients. 

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