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09e7a737
Community Member

Escrow refund for an ongoing project

Hi, I am working in a project and in continous contact with the customer, but as the contract has elapsed for 75 days, UpWork activated the Escrow protection and send a escrow refund request.  

As neither me or the customer want to end the contract, how can the customer or me, reject the cancellation, the milestone is almost finished and it is just a matter of days before it is delivered.  The customer even resend a job offer but I am worried the Escrow refund would count as an unfinished job on my history and that is not the case here.

i see I have an option to file a dispute, but that sounds extreme (never used that), and I think it does not apply here.

6 REPLIES 6
ArjayM
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Salvador,

 

I would like to confirm that there's no option to cancel a refund request once it has been initiated. You as a freelancer can respond to it and decline by selecting the second option (I do not approve this request and want to file a dispute). This will then be sent to our Dispute Team. Your client will have the option to ask the team to cancel the refund request and close the dispute. 

 

 

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
09e7a737
Community Member

Hi Arjay, thanks for the information.  I will let know your answer to the customer to see if He wants to proceed thru this route.

Is any negative impact on the customer history or on mine if we choose this option?

Hi Salvador,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. Refund requests do not automatically impact your profile negatively. If you end the contract, please remember that you and the client have the option to leave feedback and that's what would normally affect your ratings.


~ AJ
Upwork

Thanks Annie for your explanation, that makes things clearer at my end.  Still I agree with Nichola L. there should be a way to exit the automated request as neither me or the customer initiated this.

I will go with the Dispute Route the customer is already informed and He will cancel the refund request.

 

Best regards

colettelewis
Community Member

I agree with you about the dispute and I can't think why some of the answers you received encouraged you to do this, particularly as your job is ongoing and you have a good relationship with the client.  If there is no way to cancel the "refund request". One thing you can do is to refund escrow, and ask the client to pay you a "bonus", when you deliver the work, and then to close the contract and  start again with a new one. It is certainly not an ideal method, and is open to all sorts of uncertainties, but could be OK if you trust your client. Unless someone knows a better way, it is all I can think of. 

 

@Upwork: There ought to be a way of some way of cancelling this arbitrary request (which is not a request) if the client and freelancer both agree to it. 

Hi Nichola L.  the thing with accepting the refund request is that your milestone looks like not completed and that reduces your % Completed indicator on UpWork something the customers value highly.

I agree with you, it should be easier to cancel this automated and as you say, arbitrary request.  The best option would be to only start this kind of request when the customer or contractor explicitly ask for it.  After all, the customer or contractor know how the work is ongoing and if it makes sense or not to keep the funds on escrow.

Best regards

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