HELP!! I Might Have Been Cheated By A Client

[olarahman]

Hi. I have an issue that is bothering me. I sent a proposal for a writing job over 24 hours ago, i was interviewed and the client sent me details of the article to be written. I inquired if it is a test article or a paid one and she replied that it is indeed a paid article. Now, the problem is; i asked her to draw up a contract and hire me for the job and she replied "I will create contract in case of successful article since I cannot make things complicated for you and myself". As a new freelancer, i want to build relationships with clients for the long term and i agreed to write the article. Upon completion of the article, i sent it to her and she said she will review the article and approve it. I waited for a hour expecting a review of the article and she said i should be patient that the review can take a couple of days. This is a 1,300 word article and under normal circumstance, it should take a few hours or a day at most for review. Now, i feel like i have been cheated by this person into submitting a job. Please, is there any advice for me? PS: I checked her other open jobs from several days ago and it shows that she is interviewing some people without hiring. Could it be that she is doing the same to other people?

[mwiggenhorn]

I suspect that you will never hear from her again.  Without a contract in place, there is no way to get paid.  You can message her that, since you haven't been paid, she cannot use the work you created but good luck with that.

Of course, she's doing the same thing to other freelancers.  In the future, only work when there is a contract in place.  Period.

[jr-translation · Accepted solution]

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Abdul-Rahman O wrote:

Hi. I have an issue that is bothering me. I sent a proposal for a writing job over 24 hours ago, i was interviewed and the client sent me details of the article to be written. I inquired if it is a test article or a paid one and she replied that it is indeed a paid article. Now, the problem is; i asked her to draw up a contract and hire me for the job and she replied "I will create contract in case of successful article since I cannot make things complicated for you and myself". As a new freelancer, i want to build relationships with clients for the long term and i agreed to write the article. Upon completion of the article, i sent it to her and she said she will review the article and approve it. I waited for a hour expecting a review of the article and she said i should be patient that the review can take a couple of days. This is a 1,300 word article and under normal circumstance, it should take a few hours or a day at most for review. Now, i feel like i have been cheated by this person into submitting a job. Please, is there any advice for me? PS: I checked her other open jobs from several days ago and it shows that she is interviewing some people without hiring. Could it be that she is doing the same to other people?

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A) Never rush a client, they have other things to do than just to wait for you to send in your work. 24 h is nothing. Try to keep communication to a minimum.

B) "I will create contract in case of successful article since I cannot make things complicated for you and myself". Okay, basically it was a free test so far. But the client might still create a contract. OR, she might not like your work and since there is no contract there will be no negativ feedback = less complicated for you in the long-run.

C) You own the work until you got paid for it. In case you find it online without the client paying, file a DMCA.

D) Read the ToS and follow them.