How long should I wait before contacting Support for unresponsive client ?

[de_jacques]

Hey

I was wondering , I finished a job for a client recently , submitted the work , and he says he has to wait for the 3rd party to confirm wether he's ok with the translation or if he wants changes made. 

The job was initially posted as ASAP with a 2 day deadline. I finished well within that deadline. And like I mentionned, submitted the work. 

However , he has been waiting for a reply fro his 3rd party client for about 4 days now , and I submitted the work 2 days ago and ever since have not gotten a response from my client.

So was it the general deadline , at what moment is it acceptable to file a complaint? I recently joined this site and it is one of my first customers, so I don't wanna be 'that guy' ... but at some point I would like to get paid, espacially if you had me to the work fast because you had a 2-day dealine ... 

Please let me know how this usually works without looking too bad in front of the client as a 'pain in the ass'... I did agood and fast job and would hate to get a bad review just because I complaint about getting paid... 

Any advise is welcome !! 😃

Jacques

[cesare_decal]

I understand that you had to do the job really fast and you would like to get paid as soon as possibile because you want that nice review and money, but I think you should give your client plenty of time to review your work (at least one week). In the meantime, keep submitting proposals to new clients.

[petra_r]

The client has 14 days to review from the moment you clicked the "submit work and request payment" button, after that the funds (it WAS fully funded, yes?" will be automatically released to you provided you correctly submitted via the "submit work request payment" function.

[colettelewis]

If it was a fixed-rate job with escrow funded, you don't need to contact support at all. When you submitted the work, you also should have pressed the button requesting that the funds be released. If you did this, the client has 14 days either to approve your request (or dispute it). If he does nothing the funds will automatically be released to your account.

You will only have a problem, if he disputes in which case, support will contact you.

(Sorry Petra - our posts crossed)

[__tracceeyy]

Sorry Nichola, but what button were you referring to when you said "you also should have pressed the button requesting that the funds be released"?

[prestonhunter]

re: "what button were you referring to when you said 'you also should have pressed the button requesting that the funds be released'?"

When a freelancer is hired to work on a fixed-price contract, a green button appears next to the contract listing: "Submit Work for Payment."

You click the button.

Then you get paid automatically.

[__tracceeyy]

Okay Preston.
This is the case of my last milestone submitted on September 10th. In the image attached you can see it's 14 days ago, but I'm yet to get automatically paid, as the client has refused to approve.

[prestonhunter]

re: "This is the case of my last milestone submitted on September 10th. In the image attached you can see it's 14 days ago, but I'm yet to get automatically paid, as the client has refused to approve. "

Yes... That bit can be confusing.

Automatic release of an escrow payment occurs 14 days after you click the button.

But not IMMEDIATELYL when the screen displays "14 days."

You need to wait up to 24 hours more.

re: "...as the client has refused to approve."

I just want to clarify something:

The client did NOT refuse to approve.

If the client had refused to approve your work, she would have clicked the "Request changes" button to block you from getting paid.

The client "did not manually approve" release of your milestone payment.

But by not "manually approving" the release of payment, the client IS APPROVING the release of payment.

She is giving her tacit approval for all money in escrow to be released to you.

[__tracceeyy]

Ok then.
But I feel that 14 days automatic payment is really long for real. Upwork literally gives clients 14 days!!!! to approve a milestone, and if they don't take any action, the freelancer is forced to wait a whole half a month to get paid. It's really disheartening to be honest. And I'm sure millions of freelancers like me have complained about this too. Upwork really needs to do something about that, like reducing it to 7 days or less.
Upwork has put clients (and themselves) on the edge to frustrate freelancers with such an awful feature💔

[gilbert-phyllis]

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Tracey Ugochi A wrote:
Ok then.
But I feel that 14 days automatic payment is really long for real. Upwork literally gives clients 14 days!!!! to approve a milestone, and if they don't take any action, the freelancer is forced to wait a whole half a month to get paid. It's really disheartening to be honest. And I'm sure millions of freelancers like me have complained about this too. Upwork really needs to do something about that, like reducing it to 7 days or less.
Upwork has put clients (and themselves) on the edge to frustrate freelancers with such an awful feature💔

---

It's actually 14 days plus the five-day security period, so 19 days. Which is still faster than you are likely to get paid working with clients directly. Standard payment term is net-30, meaning payment is due 30 days after the date of your invoice. I bill net-21 nowadays and include the term in my contracts but still wind up chasing overdue payments sometimes. And if a client absolutely stiffs you, there's not much you can do. Small claims court is cumbersome and time-consuming, and it's not even an option unless you are both in the same jurisdiction. On UW, the money is in escrow before you begin work. There are various ways unscrupulous clients can try to wriggle out of paying you but if you understand the ins and outs of the platform and are smart and meticulous about arranging and managing your contracts, the odds of getting bilked are quite low.

[__tracceeyy]

Ok Preston.
I'd like to know if there's any best specific way to ensure the client drops a rating for me after I automatically get paid, considering that he never requested any changes and I patiently waited for the 14 day window without pestering him to give a feedback or close the contract?🤔

[prestonhunter]

re: "I'd like to know if there's any best specific way to ensure the client drops a rating for me after I automatically get paid, considering that he never requested any changes and I patiently waited for the 14 day window without pestering him to give a feedback or close the contract?"

I don't know the details of your situation. I don't know the client.

After you get paid, you can close the contract yourself without any negative consequences.

If the client NEVER RETURNS and never leaves feedback, then you received your money, and you don't get any bad feedback.

That's not a bad deal.

This client DID hire you, and you did a great job on the task you were asked to do. There is no reason why the client would leave negative feedback.

If you know the client well enough to know how pleased he will be with your work, then after you receive your money, you can just leave things along for a little while.

Maybe after a week, if the client STILL hasn't contacted you, you could send a single, short note:

"Gary, if you don't need anything else at this time, you can go ahead and close the contract. Nothing else will be billed."

If he doesn't respond at all, then eventually I'm just going to close the contract myself.

If he does respond, and maybe asks for one small thing, that will take just a few minutes, you could tell him:

"That's a good idea. I can go ahead and do that at no additional cost after you close the contract."

(Technically he isn't supposed to be asking for free work, but in the interest of providing excellent customer service, you can do a little extra task and not worry about setting up a new contract.)

[__tracceeyy]

Okay thanks Preston.
It's just that I am quite particular about getting a good rating since it's my first job. And I like to think the good rating rather than none, will go before me in my subsequent applications.
And I also learnt that my first JSS for newbies like me is dependent on ratings on my first and second job, which makes rating on the first job quite crucial.
Iono how much truth there is to that tho.
That's why I was asking if there a way to secure that good rating on the first job, as I'm at the 14 day payment stage

[tlbp]

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Tracey Ugochi A wrote:
Okay thanks Preston.
It's just that I am quite particular about getting a good rating since it's my first job. And I like to think the good rating rather than none, will go before me in my subsequent applications.
And I also learnt that my first JSS for newbies like me is dependent on ratings on my first and second job, which makes rating on the first job quite crucial.
Iono how much truth there is to that tho.
That's why I was asking if there a way to secure that good rating on the first job, as I'm at the 14 day payment stage

---

 Escow and automatic payment helps you get paid. You cannot ensure a good rating. what the client decides to do regarding feedback is up to them.

Everyone is subject to the same system. We all must take into account the possibility for bad feedback when choosing the gigs we accept and the clients we work with. 

[prestonhunter]

re: "That's why I was asking if there a way to secure that good rating on the first job, as I'm at the 14 day payment stage"

Wait until the money is released to you.

Then send a note to the client:

"Harold,

If you don't need anything else on this project, you can go ahead and close it now. If there is anything else that you need me to do so, tell me what it is and I will provide a dollar amount you can use to create the next milestone."

[jmlaidlaw · Accepted solution]

If you submitted the work through a contract with a fully-funded milestone, then just wait. DON'T be "that guy." If they approve the work, you will be paid either when they hit "approve" or else in 14 days, if they do nothing at all. 

Don't expect your payment immediately, even on rush jobs. In my experience, clients who want my work "rush" do not always seem to think that the courtesy of hitting the payment button in a timely manner applies to them. (My having worked five or six hours straight, previously unplanned by me, on five minutes' notice, late on a Sunday evening, doesn't merit the tiny effort required for the client to pay me within a day or two.) However, one of my best clients is among this group with the casual attitude toward payment.

Just assume that the payment window is always two weeks/14 days. It makes your life easier.

[de_jacques]

Thanks so much guys, I didnt know about the 14-day period. Yes the job was fully funded , I checked that beforehand 😃 

In that case I can just wait , like I said , I didn't know they had 14 days once I requested the payment. Good to know. Still learning all of this stuff. Thanks so much 😃 

[prestonhunter]

After submitting the milestone work with the official button...

I never contact the client with reminders. Because any time I spend doing that, or any time I spend answering questions from the client or doing any additional "minor" changes on a fixed-price contract would only take away from time I could be spent working on actual paid work.

So I don't mind waiting longer if it means less work for me. 🙂