Fixed Price or Hourly - an Ambiguous offer from client

[gikilime]

I have been offered a project.

The hiring manager who interviewed me on Upwork has described it as 20 hours of work to be delvered over a week at a fixed rate.

But there is no specific goal or deliverable in the offer letter I have received. Instead, it has general responsibilities like Data Analysis and Business Strategy work. The Offer letter I have received from HR lists these responsibilities and states that work will be billed by the hour. 

I am confused. Does this mean the Hiring Manager has estimated the work to be no more than 20 hours and will only approve up to 20 hours? If so, should the scope be defined with clear milestones and deliverables before I accept the job?

I have asked their HR for a confirmation whether I would be able to estimate how long the work would take before accepting it (after starting the contract), and getting the hours approved, or if they can define the goals and deliverables beforehand if they intend to cap the hours at 20. 

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

How should I proceed?

Any suggestions, insights or advice would be much appreciated. 

Thanks 

[ashrafkhan81]

If you recived an "offer letter" it is probably a scam! 

I have never recived an offer letter on upwork, but many those who have been scammed received one! 

Be careful! 

[gikilime]

Hmm. The company is legit and the email domain seems valid. The payment is going to be through Upwork platform as well.

How would the scam typically unfold in the situations you are aware of? It may help me protect myself. Also, if you can easily find some of those threads, please share here.

[ashrafkhan81]

Well, the email domain! You cannot share your email ID and communicate with clients unless there is an Upwork contract! Your account can get suspended for a ToS violation. 

And yes, ofcourse it seem legit, except that it is not! No company or HR is going to send an offer letter for a 20hrs task! 

You may try and go ahead with it and see where it takes you, but at any point if they ask even a dollar as verification or activation or any other type of fee back off! 

[spectralua]

It is not a good choice anyway:

Scammer. All clear here.

Client dont know what he\she need. Very hard to work with.

HR who resselling works. Very hard to work with.

[the-right-writer]

It doesn't matter how the scam will unfold, if it's a scam. You don't have a contract, so you don't know anything about the client, or if they are serious. Clients send invitations or you apply through Upwork. There are no invitation letters. If you did not receive it through the Upwork channels, it's not valid. Use the link to the Academy at the top of the page to learn about the contracts and how to use them.

[feed_my_eyes]

---

 wrote:

Hmm. The company is legit and the email domain seems valid.

---

How do you know that the person you're speaking to actually works for this company? Scammers lie about their names and where they work. 

Go through the Upwork Academy materials and learn how to use Upwork correctly, or you're going to end up wasting your time and money.

[spectralua]

Never accept fixed-price without clear task.

[gikilime]

Thanks guys. Before giving up on them immediately, I have steered them back onto the upwork platform by attaching their Employment Offer letter to the Proposal (Messages) Thread and asked them to include specific goals & milestones into the contract. Appreciate all your feedback. Thank you. Will share updates for community knowledge here. 

[spectralua]

It is correct action. Scammer in many cases will stop at this point.