Employer Not Responding

[5cf19258]

I did a job for an Employer named **Edited for Community Guidelines** and they didn't accept the proposal.  Now he's not answering my texts and I'm about to call him.  They also erased our messages lucky I screen shotted them.  Will I still get paid or can I report them? 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[prestonhunter]

re: "Employer Not Responding"

That doesn't matter.

I get paid the same whether or not a client responds.

Clients are not obligated to respond.

re: "I did a job for an Employer named..."

A couple of points:

It is better to refer to the clients who hire us on Upwork as "clients."

They really aren't "employers" for a number of reasons, and it is more accurate to refer to them as "clients."

Also, we don't want to name clients in the Community Forum.

re: "...and they didn't accept the proposal."

They didn't accept the proposal?
Then that means you were not hired.
If you weren't hired, they were not clients. (And they weren't employers.)

They were PROSPECTIVE clients.

You are not under any obligation to work for somebody who hasn't hired you.

And they don't owe you anything. They don't owe you money. They don't owe you a response. Nothing.

Because you have no contract with them.

re: "Now he's not answering my texts and I'm about to call him."

He is not obligated to answer you.

And you should not even be able to text him or call him.

Because you don't have his phone number or contact information.

It is a violation of Upwork ToS to communicate outside of the Upwork Messages tool prior to being officially hired with an Upwork contract.

It is a violation of Upwork ToS for you and the prospective client to exchange contact information. It is a violation for you to be texting each other. It is a violation of Upwork ToS for you to call him directly. If you are caught doing these things, you could be suspended from Upwork.

re: "They also erased our messages lucky I screen shotted them. Will I still get paid or can I report them? "

Text messages outside of the Upwork Messages tool are evidence that you violated a serious Upwork ToS rule.

re: "Will I still get paid or can I report them?"

You will not get paid.
You should not try to get paid.

If you were to get paid outside of an Upwork contract, it is a very serious violation of Upwork ToS. You could have your Upwork account permanently terminated for doing that.

Can you report them?
Yes.

You could report them for violating the Upwork rule about not communicating off-platform.

But I don't think it is necessary for you to do any reporting of this client.

You have already described what they did here in the Forum.

Moreover, if you officially report them, you would be reporting yourself for violating the same rule.

[5cf19258]

Do you work for or with Upwork?

[prestonhunter]

re: "Do you work for or with Upwork?"

No.

I'm just a freelancer, no different from yourself.

Except I have more knowledge about Upwork rules.

[5cf19258]

Well I appreciate your response, however you're acting as if you're employed with Upwork and if you're giving me facts then show me where it's listed. 

[prestonhunter]

re: "Well I appreciate your response, however you're acting as if you're employed with Upwork"

David:

You formed that impression erroneously because you are not familiar with this Community Forum. That's okay. You are new here. If you continue to use Upwork and participate in the Community Forum, you will become accustomed to the tone and tenor of this community.

re: "if you're giving me facts then show me where it's listed."

Certainly.

Read these:

https://www.upwork.com/legal

https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Getting-Started-on-Upwork/m-p/264214

https://support.upwork.com/

[martina_plaschka]

That's all written down in the ToS. Did you talk to them on upwork messenger? It looks like that to me. If you did, you didn't violate ToS except the part where you agree to upwork only being one the payment options you accept, but that is fine in theory too since you obviously didn't go through with it and didn't get paid outside of upwork. 

So your account should be safe from being suspended at this point, IMO. 

[martina_plaschka]

A few things to indicate this is a scam:

1. Pay too high for little to no work.

2. The very unfortunate name of the husband. It is very rare somebody has the same first and last name, this is an indication that this is not a real person.

3. Upwork probably has taken the job posting down, this is why you don't see the messages any longer. 

Consider yourself very lucky. You would post real estate ads, which would be tied to your name, and they will steal money from people responding to the ads by charging some fake fee. In the end, you are on the hook for this fraud, not them.

Don't worry about getting paid. It was never their intention to pay you. You are the proxy behind which they hide until their little scam is reported and investigated. 

[5cf19258]

Ok thanks but I never placed it in my name I placed it in their's just in case it was a scam. 

[martina_plaschka]

Their names are not real. Did you post it on Facebook or some other social media tied to your name?

You posted it tied to your IP address. That's pretty much all the police needs to find someone.

[5cf19258]

I never posted in on anything tied to my name.  So I tied it to their "fake names."  It's not tied to my IP address neither. 

[roberty1y]

It's definitely a scam. I hope they didn't get you to pay them any money before starting work for them. I take it no Upwork contract was started before you did the work.

Unfortunately, when you're new here, almost everyone who offers you a job will be a scammer. They know new freelancers won't be as wise to their ways as the more experienced people who've been here a while.

Before you go any further, you should read this guide on how to spot scams.

Top Red Flags for Scams: From Community Membe... - Upwork Community

[5cf19258]

Yea I'm just going get off Upwork this is too much thank ya'll. 

[martina_plaschka]

Sure! You have their phone number, I would definitely report them to police. 

[pgiambalvo]

You were scammed and will not get any money. Sorry.