🐈
» Forums » Freelancers » Re: How do you nicely ask a client to end a c...
Page options
captainjo
Community Member

How do you nicely ask a client to end a contract?

I had an hourly campaign and after two weeks, he paused the contract for the reason that he no longer need a freelancer to work with (instead of ending the contract). I don't generally like the idea of being the first to end the contract. How would you nicely ask the client to end the contract?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
alogvina
Community Member

I usually ask client one more time if he or she needs more work from me and if not, just ask to end the contract. Sometimes I keep it clear to the client that an open contract without any activity can lower my JSS and kindly ask to end it

View solution in original post

13 REPLIES 13
alogvina
Community Member

I usually ask client one more time if he or she needs more work from me and if not, just ask to end the contract. Sometimes I keep it clear to the client that an open contract without any activity can lower my JSS and kindly ask to end it
petra_r
Community Member


Anastasiia L wrote:
Sometimes I keep it clear to the client that an open contract without any activity can lower my JSS

Why would you tell your clients such a thing? It isn't true.

Provided money has been paid (at some point, ever) and you don't have a huge percentage of such contracts (you don't) open contracts without activity have no effect whatsoever at all in any way, shape or form.

 

alogvina
Community Member

Many times it's been said here by moderators that contracts that don't have any activity for two months can affect the JSS

Here, just go read for yourself:

 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006097327

 

In there you will read:

Contracts with a history of earnings but no feedback, whether closed or not, are mostly excluded from your JSS. However, if you have many contracts where no feedback has been given, it can impact your score (a little) negatively because it indicates some of your clients were dissatisfied.

 

Or to put it another way, Petra is right.  


Anastasiia L wrote:

Many times it's been said here by moderators that contracts that don't have any activity for two months can affect the JSS


And many times it's been said here by FLs--who, unlike moderators, have JSSs of their own--that idle contracts that earned money at some point do not have any effect, unless there are a boatload of them. I have had multiple contracts sit idle for years while maintaining a 100% JSS.

This is the answer that I need. Thank you.

sparkesusan
Community Member

If I notice that a client has not ended the contract after paying me, I will assume that he/she got busy and forgot.  I will ask once for them to do that.  If they're not responsive, I'll go in and do it and move on.  I just politely remind and say that it's hanging out there.  I don't directly ask for any feedback.  Hey, no feedback is better than bad feedback any day.  My opinion. 


Susan S wrote:

If I notice that a client has not ended the contract after paying me, I will assume that he/she got busy and forgot.  I will ask once for them to do that.  If they're not responsive, I'll go in and do it and move on.  I just politely remind and say that it's hanging out there.  I don't directly ask for any feedback.  Hey, no feedback is better than bad feedback any day.  My opinion. 


Be careful how often you do that. An unresponsive client is not very likely to come back and leave feedback when you close the contract. Close too many of them yourself, and you can wind up with enough to have a negative impact.

 

Good point!

I have three contracts that were not closed by the clients and are showing as "in progress".  They've been there for a while now.  Will they be closed after a certain amount of time?  Or do I just leave them?


Susan S wrote:

I have three contracts that were not closed by the clients and are showing as "in progress".  They've been there for a while now.  Will they be closed after a certain amount of time?  


Just close one of them once in a while yourself.


Susan S wrote:

I have three contracts that were not closed by the clients and are showing as "in progress".  They've been there for a while now.  Will they be closed after a certain amount of time?  Or do I just leave them?


No, they don't get closed automatically. 

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Joko S.,

 

After about a month of no work from them, I regularly ask idle clients to please close their projects if they don't need any more work from me in the foreseeable future. I tell them it is hard for me to get new projects if prospective clients think I am too busy to get their jobs completed on a timely basis.

 

Some clients reply that they're about to pick back up on their work with me.

 

Some clients apologize and close their projects.

 

Some clients don't respond at all. After waiting another month or so asking them one more time to close their project if there is no further work to be done, I close the projects myself.

 

I have never had a client complain about my request and this approach appears to have had little effect on my JSS.

Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths