Job is in progress but client is not responding

[sanaa19]

Hello Everyone,

I have just landed on one of the jobs after struggling for about 1 and a half month. Client needed a logo of an icon which was provided in job description already. In proposal I attached 3 rough concepts which he really liked, sent me a contract and hired me instantly. At once I accepted the offer and started working on it right away. He told me that schedual is bit tight and he need a complete logo next day to which I agreed. 

Keeping in touch with him for around 6 hours contantly and providing him concepts of logos, I took a little break because I was exhasted then started working again with him. So far he loved where we were heading. He liked initial designs and all. He kept giving me feedback but in the end when I sent him a complete logo with colors and 3D look and he replied, 'im sorry this is not what im looking for'.

After this reply I asked him what are the other examples you want me to follow and kindly explain some more detail what exactly do you need. But he didnt reply whole day. He had hired another designer along with me. I have lost the deadline because he didnt reply even when he was online. In frustration I sent him a message again to spare 2 minutes and kindly reply me atleast whats wrong... To this he again replied, 'im sorry this is not what im looking for'

I'm extremely confused what went wrong. I dont know what to do. Can anyone help me with this situation?

[louisaj]

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you. Sounds like he is trying to get free work. 

If you have a contract, submit the milestone and ask to be paid. You did the work. If you are on an hourly, and a tracker was used, then you should be protected. 

The client may dispute it, but I believe that costs money to go to dispute. He may be trying it on with the other person he hired too, getting free work. He may be planning to not pay either of you. 

Only you can decide whether to submit for payment. But I always submit my work using the submit button and the client has 14 days to release the money or dispute. Remember to attach a copy of the work if you decide to submit for payment. 

Best wishes,

Louisa 

[sanaa19]

Thanks a million Louisa,
I have just submitted for payment along with the copy of my work.

[sanaa19]

After submitting a payment request and copy of work client sent me a message to cancel the contract and return the payment. When I didn't cancel the contract he did it himself and sent a request to return payment. And said "Cancel the payment you did not do anyting in 3D. the image is horrible. cancel payment , I will not pay." In reply of this I opted to submit a dispute. After submitting a detailed dispute report I got these messages from my client today. "i have i told you many times. it is suppos eto be 3D. you do not have the capability of doing so .. im sorry your are a beginner. thank you. and im sorry if you spent 8 hours on this you should not be designing." I find this extremely rude. First he was not communicating and now he is saying all this to spoil my repute. I'm trying so hard to make a place in this market.
What should be my next step from not having a negative impact on my profile and work?

[prestonhunter]

re: "What should be my next step from not having a negative impact on my profile and work"

The client was clearly not happy with your work. He offered you an opportunity to refund the payment, which could have ended things reasonably amicably.

You declined that opportunity and filed a dispute.

There is no next step to prevent negative impact on your profile. You already accepted having negative impact on your profile.

[sanaa19]

Mr. Preston,
My concern is that Client could have communicated while we were working on his logo that he want more options. Just like he appreciated my work in the beginning when we started this project. He could let me know that he is not happy with my work so I should decline the contract myself. There are many polite ways to communicate. Am I wrong?

[purplepony]

Sana'a, you're correct there are many polite ways to communicate.  However, since not everyone communicates politely, please don't expect that.  If you expect that, you'll probably be disappointed on numerous occasions.  

One previous statement you made:  "I'm trying so hard to make a place in this market." made me especially curious about you and your Profile.  I noticed that previous to the most recent project you're referring to in your post you had one project noted from August 2013 to August 2014 for a Fixed Price of $44.44. 

Perhaps you've been trying hard directly prior to gaining your most recent project as I remember you'd stated it taking 1 1/2 months to gain that one.  None of us know how hard you worked to accomplish that.  I'll just state that becoming a successful Freelancer can indeed take hard work; oftentimes especially in the beginning.  I'll also add that Freelancing is not for everyone. 

[sanaa19]

Hi Pat,
Thankyou for taking out time and sharing your suggestions. The job on my profile you saw was 4 5 years back when I joined odesk for the first time after graduating and I loved working with that client. I didn't have to sending a lot proposals at that time. Now I can see there is too much competition. Huge number of talented freelancers are here.
After that first job on odesk I got a fulltime office job in a very good software studio, due to which I couldn't work on odesk again. After quitting my office job I have activated my profile, updated it, added up new portfolio and looking for job for like 1 and a half month now. Being more specific, I am working hard to make a place in 'freelance market' because I travel a lot now and can't do office job. This was the first job I landed on after spending all my connects in sending out proposals. I almost lost hope and this client hired me by looking at my rough concept designs.
So that's my story.

Best regards,
Sana'a

[jr-translation · Accepted solution]

Sana'a

Just take a break on this job and client for the moment.

Some clients are frustrating and hardly communicate at all. You get a feeling for it after a while. I prefer if clients do not spam me with small talk.

It is hard to get started as a freelancer and your field is full of wanna-be-designers that use Shutterstock instead of doing any work (I have been though it). Once you landed a few jobs you will be doing fine again. Until then it is important that you also check the clients history. Just give it some more time.

Maybe you can work on your profile. It does not mention your fulltime job and maybe you can add some test etc.

[sanaa19]

Thankyou so so very much Jennifer! *hugs* It's absolutely Amazing to have you on this forum. You gave me so much hope and encouragement to look forward to.
Thanks a million.
Much Love.

[sanaa19]

And yes fixed price project of $44 didn't cost $44 from he start. It actually costed $30 after 1st milestone my client loved the work and wanted me to do some extra work, so she paid extra.

[prestonhunter]

Sana'a:

Of course you are right.

Of course the client did not communicate effectively enough with you in order to achieve a successful outcome from this job.

Was the client impolite? Probably.

None of these things change the fact that the client was dissatisfied and told you that this will result in negative feedback.

Upwork has set up feedback systems that are designed to measure client satisfaction. They do not measure whether a freelancer is wrong or right.

[jr-translation]

---

@Preston H wrote:

re: "What should be my next step from not having a negative impact on my profile and work"

The client was clearly not happy with your work. He offered you an opportunity to refund the payment, which could have ended things reasonably amicably.

She mentioned that he had hire two designers, something you often suggest clients should do. What if he never intended to pay her right from the start or even shared her work with another (maybe cheaper) designer and tries to scam her? There is always more to it. It reads like this client hired her without discussing the task and now blames her for not reading his mind.

You declined that opportunity and filed a dispute.

Would you accept to work for several hours and then get told by the client he won't pay?

There is no next step to prevent negative impact on your profile. You already accepted having negative impact on your profile.

---

This one is true but most freelancers accept that a job might have a negative impact on their profile because clients can give any feedback they like.

[prestonhunter]

Jennifer: everything you are saying is correct. But you are evaluating the client's behavior.

I was simply anwering the freelancer's question about negative impact on her profile.

If that is her primary concern, and if we put concern over payment aside, then she made a tactical error.

None of this excuses bad behavior on the client's part. The ethical and professional thing for the client to do would have been to pay the freelancer for the work despite his dissatisfaction with how things turned out.

[petra_r]

---

@Preston H wrote:

If that is her primary concern, and if we put concern over payment aside, then she made a tactical error.

---

 No.  She didn't. A nothing paid contract with poor feedback would have an even worse impact on her profile...

The "roll over, silly freelancer" and almost sneering attitude that the freelancer clearly chose to damage her own profile is getting a bit old, and is also factually incorrect as even had the client not left any feedback, a nothing paid - no feedback contract will always harm the JSS.

By the time the refund request appeared the contract was already ended anyway.

[tareqtariqul]

It's about 3 months to go, but this client is not responding. It's a content creation job, 10 hours per week. I worked for 13 hours then he said, "I will send you your next assignment tomorrow". But he didn't provide me any details to continue working. I sent several messages to him, but there was no reply. So I am not using this 10 hours for a long time. 

Doesn't it effect on my job success score?

What should I do now?

I want to contact with him and tell him to end the contract with a feedback.

Thanks in advance.

[aocumen]

Hi Tariqul, 

Contracts with a history of earnings but no feedback, whether closed or not, are mostly excluded from your JSS. However, if you have many contracts where no feedback has been given, it can impact your score (a little) negatively. You may read more about changes to your job success score through this help article.