I Need Advice on New Contract Problem

Jean S · May 9, 2015 08:31:26 AM

I was hired on an hourly job.

From my conversations with the client BEFORE being hired I estimated 2-3 hours of work.

The client hired me and allowed for 1 hour of work.

This is now turning into a nightmare. What happens if I close the contract due to work / hours not being as described?

Is my Job Success of 100% going to take a hit over this?

Will my rating of 4.93 take a hit?

If I do get hit with penalities how bad do you estimate it will be?

Where did I go wrong and how could I have avoided this?

I now have just a sick feeling about this job.

Francine R · May 9, 2015 08:45:41 AM

Why are you thinking of closing the contract? Are you of the opinion that the client won't increase the hours? Is the client new to Upwork?

In the past, I've just notified the client that more time must be added unless they want me to finish next week.

Let me know if you think I've missed the point of your posting...

Good luck!

Diligence is the mother of good luck...Benj. Franklin

Patricia Elena Nin E · May 9, 2015 08:48:01 AM

Closing a contract from the freelancer side ONCE, will not ruin your perforance stats.

If money hasn't been exchanged, the client can't leave feedback, so your score doesn't drop in any way.

It's just that if this becomes a pattern in your work history, it will get you some negative attention from the Upwork algorithm.

You could also try to talk with your client about this misunderstanding. Remind him with quotes if necessary about your prior agreements. If all else fails, only then should you close the contract yourself.

Good luck!

Ela K · May 9, 2015 09:59:49 AM

@Patricia Elena Nin P wrote:
Closing a contract from the freelancer side ONCE, will not ruin your perforance stats.
If money hasn't been exchanged, the client can't leave feedback, so your score doesn't drop in any way.

Yes, unfortunately it can have a negative impact on your performance stats. Even when no money has been exchanged a client can still leave private feedback. I closed one contract, the client left negative private feedback and my JS score dropped from 100% to 89%. And that is not guess work from my side but has been confirmed by CS.

It affected my score massively as I had only been using oDesk/Upwork for ca. 2.5 months and at that time had only completed 9 other jobs. So it was one negative private feedback against 9 positive ones.. Funnily enough me "clients who would recommend you" stats is still at 100%. But I am sure it will drop the next time they update it.

Iftikhar I · May 9, 2015 10:13:07 AM

Ela

Sorry to hear about but this is completly ruin someones career what if a freelancer is at 70% and trying to improve his/her JS and it happens somthing like this sure he will get suspended.

It shouldn't have to effect JS like this.

Ela K · May 9, 2015 10:24:17 AM

Iftikhar,

Thanks. Yes, I agree.

The thing is, the more jobs you have completed successfully the less it will hurt you/a freelancer.

But it is of course demoralising when it happens early on in your Upwork career as it quite a big drop.

And the feedback was not justified. Unfortunately that doesn't matter.

Natacha R · May 9, 2015 11:03:52 AM

@Patricia Elena Nin P wrote:
Closing a contract from the freelancer side ONCE, will not ruin your perforance stats.
If money hasn't been exchanged, the client can't leave feedback, so your score doesn't drop in any way.
It's just that if this becomes a pattern in your work history, it will get you some negative attention from the Upwork algorithm.

We consider all your Upwork jobs - including whether or not work was performed. Jobs ending without receiving payment, or with a full refund, may be excluded from your profile history. But they are still an important factor in calculating your Job Success Score. The goal is to capture a breadth of information not necessarily reflected in your star-rating or profile.

Upwork Customer Support

Suzanne N · May 9, 2015 11:29:05 AM

@Natasha R wrote:
@Patricia Elena Nin P wrote:
Closing a contract from the freelancer side ONCE, will not ruin your perforance stats.
If money hasn't been exchanged, the client can't leave feedback, so your score doesn't drop in any way.
It's just that if this becomes a pattern in your work history, it will get you some negative attention from the Upwork algorithm.

We consider all your Upwork jobs - including whether or not work was performed. Jobs ending without receiving payment, or with a full refund, may be excluded from your profile history. But they are still an important factor in calculating your Job Success Score. The goal is to capture a breadth of information not necessarily reflected in your star-rating or profile.

Upwork Customer Support

Garnor wrote out a big long post on how it may or may not and other factors

If a freelancer closes a contract, it does not directly impact your Job Success score. The absence of client feedback might, just like in the case when Customer Support closes the contract.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/How-to-get-a-Dormant-Contract-closed-Unresponsive-Client...

Garnor Wrote:

Case 1:

One, two or even three jobs that end without Feedback being left aren't going to negatively impact your reputation enough that your account will be flagged. Unless, they comprise a majority of the jobs in your work history and other areas of your activity show concern, for example other policy violations. Again, we're looking at your work history as a whole and gauging how often these jobs come up (no Feedback, no starts) in comparison with the rest of your projects

Case 3:

Similar to Case #1 above, a cancellation or two will not negatively impact your reputation/account, unless that comprises the majority of your Work History. We realize there will be instances where it makes sense to cancel a job and we're accounting for this in our review of freelancer performance.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/How-Client-s-Lack-of-Feedback-Might-Affect-Freelancers/m...

Ela K · May 9, 2015 11:36:50 AM

@Suzanne N wrote:
@Natasha R wrote:
@Patricia Elena Nin P wrote:
Closing a contract from the freelancer side ONCE, will not ruin your perforance stats.
If money hasn't been exchanged, the client can't leave feedback, so your score doesn't drop in any way.
It's just that if this becomes a pattern in your work history, it will get you some negative attention from the Upwork algorithm.

We consider all your Upwork jobs - including whether or not work was performed. Jobs ending without receiving payment, or with a full refund, may be excluded from your profile history. But they are still an important factor in calculating your Job Success Score. The goal is to capture a breadth of information not necessarily reflected in your star-rating or profile.

Upwork Customer Support
Garnor wrote out a big long post on how it may or may not and other factors

If a freelancer closes a contract, it does not directly impact your Job Success score. The absence of client feedback might, just like in the case when Customer Support closes the contract.
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/How-to-get-a-Dormant-Contract-closed-Unresponsive-Client...

Garnor Wrote:

Case 1:
One, two or even three jobs that end without Feedback being left aren't going to negatively impact your reputation enough that your account will be flagged. Unless, they comprise a majority of the jobs in your work history and other areas of your activity show concern, for example other policy violations. Again, we're looking at your work history as a whole and gauging how often these jobs come up (no Feedback, no starts) in comparison with the rest of your projects

Case 3:
Similar to Case #1 above, a cancellation or two will not negatively impact your reputation/account, unless that comprises the majority of your Work History. We realize there will be instances where it makes sense to cancel a job and we're accounting for this in our review of freelancer performance.

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/How-Client-s-Lack-of-Feedback-Might-Affect-Freelancers/m...

You need to differentiate between private and public feedback. Because not leaving public feedback may not affect you - but the private feedback left by clients will if it's not great.

Suzanne N · May 9, 2015 11:41:15 AM

I still stand by it will not make a big difference if she has not closed any contracts previously. I closed two jobs, have 80% on Clients who would recommend you but I still have a 100% JS and 5 stars. I have closed two contracts in 2.5 years. one was a job which never started and the second was one I felt was unethical.

I don't believe it will have a huge impact if it is not a repeated factor.