Improper Client Requests Outside Contract Agreement

[triston]

A client hired me to write blogs for her website.

However, now that the contract has started, she is asking for work outside of what the contract states. Namely SEO writing, video editing, consulting, app strategization, et cetera.

She doesn't want to pay someone else to do these jobs, and instead of hiring me long-term, she wants to do a month to month and I suspect she has done this before in an effort to see how much she can get out of a freelancer for free.

Today, I turned in work as agreed to, and she doesn't want to edit it on her end, saying it is my job to basically read her mind.

Now, she has already borderline insulted me and I told her quite succinctly that it is not my job to do some of these jobs.

If she is verbally abusive to me one more time, I am ending this contract, and I do NOT want my rating affected by her because she is unprofessional.

What is my course of action now if I end this contract?

I have already done one week of this month long contract, and I believe she should pay for that week and she can end it and hire someone. I do not think she should keep my work without paying.

I sent all of this to Upwork and sent screenshots of her out-of-oline requests and they claim there is nothing to do, so what should I do now?

I don't want this job affecting my rating. 

[colettelewis]

Triston, 

Was this a fixed-price job (escrow funded) or hourly? 

[varungs]

If multiple freelancers indicate this client to be unreasonable, their feedback won't ultimately affect your JSS. If this client is toxic and is refusing to stick to the contract's mutually agreed terms, you should just cut them off. It's better to have one bad rating if it means forgoing a toxic relationship or unreasonable working conditions.

You can say something simple, like: "If you would like me to extend the scope of this project beyond what we've mutually established, I am more than happy to do that. It will be billed at my usual rate. If this is not amicable, I'm afraid I'll have to end this contract. It was a pleasure working with you, and I hope you find a freelancer that can sufficiently fulfil your needs." If they don't start paying you for your work after this, then they never will.

[colettelewis]

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Varun G wrote:

If multiple freelancers indicate this client to be unreasonable, their feedback won't ultimately affect your JSS. If this client is toxic and is refusing to stick to the contract's mutually agreed terms, you should just cut them off. It's better to have one bad rating if it means forgoing a toxic relationship or unreasonable working conditions.

You can say something simple, like: "If you would like me to extend the scope of this project beyond what we've mutually established, I am more than happy to do that. It will be billed at my usual rate. If this is not amicable, I'm afraid I'll have to end this contract. It was a pleasure working with you, and I hope you find a freelancer that can sufficiently fulfil your needs." If they don't start paying you for your work after this, then they never will.

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_______________________

Varun, this is not necessarily dependent on good or bad feedback. If a contract is closed without payment, the freelancer's rating will be affected. 

[feed_my_eyes]

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Triston B wrote:

A client hired me to write blogs for her website.

However, now that the contract has started, she is asking for work outside of what the contract states. Namely SEO writing, video editing, consulting, app strategization, et cetera.

She doesn't want to pay someone else to do these jobs, and instead of hiring me long-term, she wants to do a month to month and I suspect she has done this before in an effort to see how much she can get out of a freelancer for free.

Did your client actually say, "I want you to do all of these extra jobs for free"? Because if a client asked me to go "month to month" I wouldn't have a problem with that. When a client asks me to do more jobs, I tell them how much each job will cost and then set up a new milestone (if it's a fixed price contract) or I tell them that I will continue to track my hours (if it's an hourly contract). If it's work that you're not able to do (i.e. if it's outside your skill set or you've become busy with other projects), then explain that to them, and politely decline. 

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Today, I turned in work as agreed to, and she doesn't want to edit it on her end, saying it is my job to basically read her mind.

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I'm not sure what you mean by this; if you were hired to write blog posts, then your client shouldn't need to edit them. Or am I missing something here?

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I sent all of this to Upwork and sent screenshots of her out-of-oline requests and they claim there is nothing to do, so what should I do now?

I don't want this job affecting my rating. 

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Again, without knowing all the details, it sounds like Upwork found nothing unusual about your client's requests (so she didn't ask for free work?). If your client is unhappy, then unfortunately she's within her rights to leave you a bad review. If you're top rated, you might be able to use your perk to remove it; if not, then Upwork can't help you. Could you try communicating with your client to see whether she actually did intend to pay you for this extra work, and clear things up if it's a simple misunderstanding? 

[prestonhunter]

Triston:

Of course I don't know everything that went on between you and this client.

You asked about "improper client requests outside of the contract agreement."

If this is a fixed-price contract, then you are being redundant.

ALL requests outside of the original contract agreement are improper. If a client hires me to write a blog article, and then after I write it and submit it to her, she asks me to provide a title for the article, then that would be improper. If the agreement did not stipulate that I would need to provide a title, then it is an improper request. Now... I am a nice guy, and I may well provide a title for free just to make the client happy. But this is an improper request, just as if she asked me to produce a video to accompany the blog article would be improper, and just as if she asked me to write a 250-page novel about a 15th Century monk who read the blog article after a time-travel accident would also be improper.

If I have been hired with a fixed-price contract, and the client asks me to do things outside of the agreement, then as a freelancer what I need to do is quickly put an end to such things. One of the best ways to handle the situation is to tell the client that you will be happy to do these additional tasks, as soon as she releases payment for the current fixed-price contract, closes it, and starts a new hourly contract.

If you are hired under an hourly contract, then there is no particular rule about what a client can ask you to do, as long as it doesn't violate Upwork ToS and as long as you bill for your time. If you bill for ALL of the time that you spend on the contract, then the client is not asking you to work for free, and the client may indeed ask you to do things that were not discussed as part of the original contract agreement.

I will always tell a client if I'm not the best person for the job. If am hired to create a database schema, and then the client asks me to do some graphic design, I will tell the client that I'm not a specialist in that area and it would cost her more to have me do that then it would cost to hire somebody else. And I will explain that somebody else will do a better job. But if she wants me to do it, and pays me my hourly rate to do it, then I can certainly say yes to the request and do it.

But a client can't force me do anything. I could simply say "no" to any kind of request, even if the client is willing to pay me using an hourly contract.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Preston H wrote:

If I have been hired with a fixed-price contract, and the client asks me to do things outside of the agreement, then as a freelancer what I need to do is quickly put an end to such things. One of the best ways to handle the situation is to tell the client that you will be happy to do these additional tasks, as soon as she releases payment for the current fixed-price contract, closes it, and starts a new hourly contract.

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It's only "improper" if the client wants the extra work for free, and it's still not clear as to whether that was the case here. Why would you need to "quickly put an end to such things" or make the client start an hourly contract? It sounds to me like the problem may have occurred in the first place because the OP jumped to conclusions about the client's intentions. What's wrong with just adding a new milestone?

[prestonhunter]

re: "It's only 'improper' if the client wants the extra work for free"

Yes.

Sorry if that was not clear.

re: "What's wrong with just adding a new milestone?"

There is nothing at all wrong with that.

In other threads, I have listed various options, and that is often the first and most logical option. If a client wants something done outside of the milestone task agreement, then possible options include: creating a new milestone; creating a new fixed-price contract; creating an hourly contract; paying for the work using a bonus payment. I have used all of these options with clients.

I mentioned creating a new hourly contract as one possible option, due to the specific nature of the original post. But as I said, I don't know all the details of his situation.