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88d794d6
Community Member

I accepted an offer and when they sent me additional details, the job was completely different

I am new to upwork and was obviously excited to accept my first job. When they had sent me some details on what the job entailed, it seemd doable at the time. After I accepted the job and signed the contract, they sent me an outline of the book I was to write inspired by content of several other books. They then advised that I used Blinkist to read all these books and I have less than 5 days to complete a full 75,000 word book ON TOP OF needing to read several books for the content. This is literally imposible to do unless I stayed up for 5 days straight. I do not want negative remarks on my profile as I am just beginning, so how do I get out of this? They didn't tell me all of this before I accepted the offer and I feel that I was greatly misled and taken advantage of. Please advise. Thank you 

19 REPLIES 19
harisfaisal1
Community Member

Hi Giovanna,

   It's best to discuss in detail and provide an outline for exactly what you are going to do in the job before accepting the contract, that way you can adress such issues as they arise.

If the client led you to believe the work was significantly less than what they are asking of you then you should talk to your client and discuss the situation, ask for more time and renegotiate the price of the project based on the additional work.

That being said sometimes the perspective of the client and the freelancer are vastly different and in these cases people have cancelled their contracts, I believe you have a 24 hour window to do so.

 

Good Luck!!

I have 24 hours to cancel without penalty? 

 

Indeed you do, for the first 24 hrs you can cancel it. 

Haris,

 

A freelancer can cancel any project at any time. However, once a contract is in place the client has the permanent ability to leave feedback for the freelancer, regardless when it was started or canceled.

 

The freelancer can have the subsequent public feedback from the freelancer's profile on Upwork if the freelancer agrees to a full refund of all money paid by the client. But the client's all-important private feedback, which is a key element of the freelancer's JSS calculation, cannot be removed by the freelancer, unless the freelancer is Top Rated and uses the occasional feedback removal perk of that rating.

I would cancel such contract too, now. Does not look like a reasonable client. You can do so with an amicable message and generally explain that something unexpected happened.

If a client sends me 2 offers for a job and I accept does it count as 2 hires

 

Hi Blessing, 

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I checked and it looks like you accepted two offers from the client and now have two contracts. Yes, if you accept two offers for different contracts it will result in having two contracts. 

~ Nikola
Upwork
bobafett999
Community Member

Are you sure you have a funded job?  I didn't see any job in your profile.

Yes

 

ebb9f1d9
Community Member

I'm stuck in a situation. I was happy to get my first job, but my client hired me for 1 article only. But I completed it before submitting it. The manager gave me 18 articles for editing. I proposed a milestone, but my client didn't respond to it.  As a newbie, I don't want to start my career with negative views. So still job is in progress are not ending the job. Then I found a second job and I accepted the job. Later on, I came to know that clients are not paying according to my efforts.

From these two experiences, I learnt that never accept a job offer for a fixed price less than$20 per article. I was interviewed by another job client who was paying only$10 for 6 articles, I ended the contract. Because the client doesn't give clear instructions after accepting an offer, I came to know that she is paying $10 for 6 articles.

Never lower your rate, it can destroy your career on Upwork, no matter how long it takes to get the job.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Stand up for yourself, Giovanna. 

 

If the work required is significantly different than the work you agreed to, tell the client you'll need to renegotiate the contract. If they don't like it, close the project and leave honest feedback for them so future freelancers will know what they're in for.

 

If they leave feedback for you that is incorrect, correct it on the Upwork system as clearly, succinctly, accurately and professionally as possible. Write your feedback then wait a day or two until you or someone you know well can review it. Then post it and forget about this bad experience. Move on to better clients; there are many on Upwork.

 

Good luck!

sajal36
Community Member

We all make one mistake - Not discussing the work scope (Talking on the call) before accepting the offer. I believe as this is your first job on upwork, you must definitly find solution to the issue by discussing the scope of work with client.

I believe every genuine client will appreciate the work scope concern and adjust scope accordingly. It is easy to close the chapter by declining the job but than you need to build credibility on the platform. You will not want to miss the opportunity.

 I will suggest you to go through the upwork forum discussion, you will observe that competition is tough. So I will suggest to not miss the first opportunity & look to get 5 star rating.

I have found the safest approach against the project creep so many clients like to use to take advantage of freelancers is discussing the details of the scope of a project before agreeing to a new contract.

 

This means defining what IS included in the project's tasks and, just as importantly, what will NOT be included in the project's tasks. It is too easy for a client to say after you're well into a project, "Oh, I just assumed that (time-consuming, difficult, etc.) work would be part of the project."

 

For one of the types of projects I do most often I even have a standard checklist that I fill out when discussing the project with a new client and then send to the client before we agree to work together. This gives the client a chance to see if (s)he's overlooked any important element in defining the project for me and gives me a document I can use to remind them about the agreed scope of the project if they later complain that the project must have those additional elements. "OK," I can say. "That will take me about X number of additional hours to complete." (I only do hourly projects on Upwork because of the better hourly protection and better protection from project creep.)

 

 

darrenwall74
Community Member

Follow this process to determine if a job is a good fit for you.

1) Create a list of questions that fit your industry.
Typically, they can be catch-all, with the onus on the client to provide detail.

 

2) If the client fails to answer in detail (which is the norm), tell them you have to ask additional questions to understand the scope of work. A professional client will understand this approach; those that don't and provide little detail should be avoided.

 

3) Assuming you gather the needed details, build the scope, and get the client to agree on it, the cost and deadline for delivery.

 

4) It's essential that you tell a client that edits/improvements to work are part of the service. However, only those that fall in line with the agreed scope. Any request that is beyond the scope would incur additional costs.

Great outline and, re. the point 2: it is absolutely true, there's something wrong with those clients who fail to answer questions about THEIR project and THEIR company. Either they are unprepared/unprofessional, shady, or have little patience with challenges and personality issues. Those who work for them will be eventually blamed for everything. For one reason or another, such enquirers never become my clients. One of those even insulted me at the very beginning of a zoom-call in Upwork for the very fact that I had dared to ask questions and I had to block and report him. He is still in Upwork though, probably mistreating other freelancers.


Darren w wrote:

Follow this process to determine if a job is a good fit for you.

1) Create a list of questions that fit your industry.
Typically, they can be catch-all, with the onus on the client to provide detail.

 

2) If the client fails to answer in detail (which is the norm), tell them you have to ask additional questions to understand the scope of work. A professional client will understand this approach; those that don't and provide little detail should be avoided.

 

3) Assuming you gather the needed details, build the scope, and get the client to agree on it, the cost and deadline for delivery.

 

4) It's essential that you tell a client that edits/improvements to work are part of the service. However, only those that fall in line with the agreed scope. Any request that is beyond the scope would incur additional costs.




 

I once spoke with a prospective client who wanted content for a new website.

On asking him questions, his response was, "If I have to answer questions, I may as well write the stuff myself."

My response was; well, imagine hiring a painter and decorator to work on your home. Do you say, "I want you to put wallpaper on the walls and paint the wood," is that all? Or do you provide direction with ideas, colours, patterns of wallpaper you like, etc? He just huffed at me, and I ended the Zoom call.

a34f72ae
Community Member

This is **bleep**ing communication!

208d4262
Community Member

Recently I was contacted by a company and so excited to do the job. After a staying up all night working to meet a deadline the client asked me to deposit money to an account to pay currency fees. The experience turn unfortunate . The jobs that are posted on the platform should explain in a detailed matter what they are looking for. If I looking to get paid why should I pay for anything.

 

Maricela,

 

There is no situation in which you should make payment to an Upwork client in any way other than through Upwork.

 

And there is no such thing as a "currency fee" a freelancer should pay to any client. All clients pay Upwork for whatever Upwork bills them on your behalf. 

 

But it is up to you to get as many details as you think you need before agreeing to a contract on Upwork. If a client refuses to answer your questions or leave important information out of their conversations with you, just say "No" to working with them.

 

Upwork tries to ferret out fraudulent and dishonest clients, but that is mostly up to us freelancers. Unfortunately, Upwork provides no public information about the disputes, refunds, etc. clients have had with their previous freelancers.

 

Good luck with your future projects!

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