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karansharma_cfc
Community Member

Fixed Price Project-Unresponsive client-Payment required

So I need help with my ongoing fixed price contract. The client is misleading me by promising more work soon and being unresponsive at the same time. It's almost been a month now. The contract was to provide written content for 2 websites, I provided content for 1 website which was almost 50% complete.

 

The client is not the person he's trying to portray on Upwork but somebody else. I need help to get paid for the work I've already done for him and end the contract after that. But he's just not being responsive. When I request money; he shows up, replies, and then disappears again by denying the release of funds.

16 REPLIES 16
JoanneP
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Karan,

 

When working with fixed-price contracts, the client has 14 days from the most recent submission on a milestone to review and approve or request changes. If your client doesn't respond to any milestone submission within 14 days, the deposit is automatically released to you. 

~ Joanne
Upwork

even if they decline the request before 14 days are completed and then disappear again?

Karan: I am sorry that you are experiencing this. The client is exploiting the "fixed-price loophole" in order to avoid paying you.

 

This client behavior is unprofessional, unethical and immoral.

 

You will need to file a dispute. That will put the contract into mediation. An Upwork employee will try to get the client and you to come to an agreement. You will need to explain to the mediator that the work has been completed and the client is repeatedly blocking release of payment for no reason.

I also needed help with withdrawing some archived proposals which are not even showing the option to do so. I need to join an agency and to be able to do so I need all the proposals withdrawn. Most of those jobs are closed and I can't see an option to withdraw the proposal.

Hi Kanika,

 

Just to confirm, are you getting an error message when joining an agency? Could you please share more information about the issue?

~ Joanne
Upwork
petra_r
Community Member


Joanne Marie P wrote:

Just to confirm, are you getting an error message when joining an agency? Could you please share more information about the issue?


It's Karan posting from Kanika's account...

Kanika already has the agency. Karan is using Kanika's account to invite himself to Kanika's agency, and forgot to switch accounts before posting here on the forum... Kanika is Karan, in other words, for the presence in the USA.

 

Preston H wrote:

 The client is exploiting the "fixed-price loophole" in order to avoid paying you.


Not really. The work was only 25% done. ("Almost 50%" of 1 site out of 2) The client is not under any obligation to accept partially done work.

re: "The work was only 25% done. ("Almost 50%" of 1 site out of 2) The client is not under any obligation to accept partially done work."

 

The freelancer said that he requested payment.

 

I am assuming that he knows how to use fixed-price contracts properly, and that he finished the assigned milestone, for which an escrow payment has been funded.

 

Thus, the current milestone task has been 100% completed.

 

The planned contract has not been completed, but the MILESTONE has been completed.

 

That is what I inferred from his post.

 

Of course, if the freelancer has NOT finished the milestone, and the milestone is to complete writing the content for two websites, and the "contract" and the currently funded milestone task are one in the same... then your assumption is correct. That would mean that the freelancer's understanding of how to use fixed-price contracts is incorrect. And his request for payment is improper.

 

If the freelancer is thinking: "I have now discovered that the client isn't who I thought he was, and therefore I may get paid for partially completed work and end the contract."

 

...I would say that it doesn't work that way.

 

The one thing isn't connected to the other.

 

Personally... if a client told me his name is Fred but his name is really Tom, I don't care. As long as he pays me. If the freelancer has finished the agreed-upon task, the client needs to pay him. If the freelancer has not finished the task, the client is not obligated to pay him. If the freelancer is uncomfortable working for this client - for whatever reason - the freelancer has the right to end the contract immediately. He may need to accept the fact that the client doesn't want to pay him. That is the client's right.

When I got into a contract with the client he wanted the work done asap but only later on started this whole ghosting thing. Meanwhile, I kept working on the 1st website. I was not to be provided with the details of the 2nd website until I've completed the 1st website, which I did. 

I specifically asked for him to breakdown the job into smaller milestones whenever he gets time to do so but that didn't happen either. I continued to work since I was under a contract. I know how fixed-price contracts work. There's a lot more to it but I think I've made my point. And it's all sorted now so I got no complaints either. 

Hi Karan,

 

I would like to note that sharing an account is a serious violation of Upwork's Terms of Service. One of our agents will reach out to you directly via email with more information.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Hi Aleksandar

I'm not aware of this policy but duly noted. We are not sharing accounts, we are 2 very different and real people and it's stupid I'm having to even have to mention this. I was just trying to ask on my brother's behalf cuz we both were trying to add his account to my agency.

Anyways, thanks for the heads up and rest assured, I'll make sure to read the guidelines and strictly adhere to them throughout my time on your platform.'

 

Regards
Kanika

Hi Petra,

I may be misunderstanding you here but still, I can assure you there's no scam going on here Smiley LOL

Kanika is my elder sister. She recently shifted to the US after getting married and I'm in India. I've been really close to my sister since childhood, and after she shifted to the US we decided on doing something together which would help us be in touch more even after being thousands of miles apart.

About the fixed price contract, I tried to send a different milestone as well requesting an amount for only the work I have submitted. But hope you guys understand if the client is not even responding there's not much I can do. He only released the payment a while ago so I have my issue sorted now. I didn't come here to be put under a microscope but for help which I didn't get.

 


Karan S wrote:

I may be misunderstanding you here but still, I can assure you there's no scam going on here


I didn't say anything about a scam. I said you were using her account. Which you were. You were also posting from it.

So, Petra, as a mere freelancer how can you possibly know the status of Karan, Kanika or how much of the work was done on this particular project?

Hi Petra,

Although I appreciate you sharing your honest views but Just because I'm using a question in a different context to get a solution to that query, doesn't mean my brother is posting stuff from my account. It saddens me to even see such accusations from a reputed member of this community. 

Based on one post you can't determine everything you accused my brother of. That's just absurd. He is new to the whole Upwork community, guidelines, and stuff. I hope these accusations weren't biased upon our nationality, that we are Indians. 

This is a large community of good folks, so newcomers are supposed to expect help here not harassment.


I didn't accuse your brother of anything, and it wasn't just one post, but 3, including the one where he stated that he didn't see the option to send an invite as a non-excusive agency member while sending the invite. The only way he could have sent the invite was by being logged into the agency. Even if you were up in the middle of the (your) night, why would you refer to your brother as "I"?

Don't be deterred from asking any questions you wish here, Kanika S. Or discussing any problems you're having.

 

Good luck getting a resolution to your problem and please come back to the board to let us know how this was resolved for you.

 

I think most posters here - including Upwork's moderators - will always try to be helpful. There are some exceptions, but only a few.

 

Keeping up with Upwork's policies and procedures sometimes seems like shooting at a fast-moving target. It's hard to keep up with these sorts of things for those of us who spend the majority of our time on Upwork trying to find new clients and providing good services to the clients we have.

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