Hourly contract client just ghosted me

[a6774482]

Hello Upworkers, 

I started a contract a few weeks ago and worked for about an hour in total. I got paid accordingly. I did a trial job and the client paused the contract. They are no longer answering any messages, I see they used my work for their social media and that is it. 

What do I do now considering the client is like this? 

[6239d3cd]

Why?

[yofazza]

The client paid? So he/she has every right to use the work.

And if it's about ghosted after an hour - test - paid, there's also nothing wrong with it.

[25005175 · Accepted solution]

A couple of options. If you think that you might get a poor review, go with option 3. If you don't care about having "no feedback" jobs in your completed Work History, choose option 2. Otherwise, I recommend option 1.

1. Leave the contract alone - the client may come back around later for more work, or they might close it on their own the next time they use the platform. Open contract means no review (unless you request it on long-term hourly), which means no effect (good or bad) on JSS.
2. Send a couple of courtesy messages to the client via Upwork, perhaps a week apart, asking them to close the contract if they have no more work for you.  On each message, let them know that you will close the contract on a specific date and that they will have opportunity to provide feedback for 14 days after that date.
3. Close the contract and don't send any messages.

In all cases, when you are asked to leave feedback (whether they close or you do), be honest in the review. They can't see your feedback until after they submit their own feedback or 14 days have elapsed from contract closing, whichever comes first. So they can't leave you bad feedback in retaliation. There is no business risk unless you want to contract with them again AND you think they will bring you more work - and that is, of course, all after the contract closes.

[lucioric]

That is a gray zone there. If they promise job, and simply ghost, they are not breaking any rule, but they should not do that. Today I am tired of ghosters. They throw invites, and like never get back when you respond. Throw is a good term, like a boy throwing a newspaper to a home in a bicycle and never coming back.

[prestonhunter]

re: "That is a gray zone there. If they promise job, and simply ghost, they are not breaking any rule, but they should not do that."

Okay.

But another way to look at is this:

Promises don't count.

Because we know that promises don't count on Upwork, I don't base anything I do on Upwork around anybody's promises.

So if a client promises a job, it means the same thing to me as if a client registers a unicorn in my name. Or names a dust mote after me. So what?