I helped client with the design work and now he is blackmailing me.

[dhameliya-sandip]

Hi,  Please help me as a few days ago I got the interview invitation from one of the clients, where the client wanted urgent work because he had a presentation at 2:00 PM. He messaged me at 9 that he wanted to finish work before 2 PM so he can give a good presentation.  To help him and as it was urgent work, I bid on his project. He asked me why the price is high and I said you need urgent work therefore I am charging a slightly higher rate and he said OKAY. After that, I worked on his designs, I helped him to redesign 25 slides of his presentation in the FIGMA within 4 hours and he was happy at the work and thanked me. After few days, He messaged me that he can't pay that amount as he is student and started blackmailing me that he will contact to Upwork support and provide the bad reviews to my profile.  I am really concerned by this as I have worked very hard to build my profile from scratch with happy customers. I am very afraid now if he will put the bad reviews then it will affect to my profile.  Please help me in the situation as I have tried to contact the upwork support but I am not able to contact the support team. Please help.   Regards

[petra_r]

Are you actually hired?

Hourly contract or fixed?

If hourly, did you properly track yur time?

If fixed, is the full amount in escrow and did you properly submit the work through the contract for payment?

[dhameliya-sandip]

It was hourly contract.

[dhameliya-sandip]

I tracked it well. 

[petra_r]

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Sandip D wrote:

I tracked it well. 

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Then what's the problem?

You get paid automatically for the hours you tracked properly...

If the client failed to pay or disputes, you're protected at your usual hourly rate ($10 to $12 an hour) not at a fantasy rate of $40 an hour.

To be honest, this was always going to end badly. Quadrupling your hourly rate for a client who already questioned it could only EVER result in a bad outcome and an unhappy client.

That's poor judgment, likely clouded by greed.

[dhameliya-sandip]

He is blackmailing me that he will give bad reviews if I don't give his money back. which will effect on my profile.

[petra_r]

The fair thing to do would be to charge him only what you would normally have charged, not some extortionate rate that took advantage of the client.

You'll likely get poor (private) feedback anyway. Nobody likes being blatantly taken advantage of.

The client is also wrong to be threatening poor feedback for a refund. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I would strongly suggest that you find a compromise with the client in as amicable a way as you can muster.

[dhameliya-sandip]

Of course, it is fair when he wanted the work of 8 hours to be done in 4 hours with urgent priority. 

I told him when I bid that I would charge 40 USD an hour because I was holding off my other work. At that time my rate was 25 USD/hour.  If he has agreed upon that rate in prior to working with me. If he had a problem with the rate then he would have simply said no to me, I would not have worked with him.

Everyone is looking for a chance to increase the hourly late. So was I. 

[petra_r]

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Sandip D wrote: Everyone is looking for a chance to increase the hourly late. So was I. 

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And look how that's working out for you...

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Sandip D wrote: . At that time my rate was 25 USD/hour. 

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It wasn't. It's your profile rate. Your *real* rate is all over the place which makes your profile look like you really don't know what you're doing. In the last 3 weeks alone you've been charging between $7 an hour and $15 an hour...

[dhameliya-sandip]

It was the real rate. Because for UIUX I always charged 25 USD/hour. You can check my first job which I got with 25 USD/hour.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Sandip D wrote:

Everyone is looking for a chance to increase the hourly late. So was I. 

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So, choose an hourly rate and stick to it, then. And if you don't have the ability to handle a rush job, don't bid on it.

[dhameliya-sandip]

If you can check, I have worked with the clients as per my availability. I got my first job with 25$/hour. If I am giving the quality of my work then of course I would charge as per my quality.

I handled the rush job and completed within the timeframe. 

[feed_my_eyes]

You'll need to convince your client that the quality was worth it, not us. And if he doesn't pay, Upwork will only cover your usual hourly rate, not a much higher one - those are the terms of its payment protection.