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curtasmith
Community Member

Last-Minute Contract Weirdness

I need help figuring out how to proceed with my client. I have submitted the final milestone on a project, and my client is telling me via email that he is satisfied with the results. However, he is telling me he will not release payment until I sign another contract which supersedes the Upwork contract. I have a bad feeling about it, not because of the client personally, more because I've recently been burned in other online transactions... can he dispute the Upwork contract for refusing to sign his outside contract? I feel like he may lie and say he is dissatisfied with the work; even though I have emails where he expresses satisfaction, they aren't on Upwork. Almost feels calculated. Any advice?

3 REPLIES 3
wlyonsatl
Community Member

You will be violating Upwork's Terms of Service if you agree to sign a non-Upwork contract.

 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Working-outside-Upwork/td-p/294217

 

roberty1y
Community Member

If he's refusing to pay except under certain conditions, he's someone you should never work for again. As for getting paid for the present contract, the money will be released automatically in 14 days even if the client refuses to pay you now.

 

Also, you seem to be saying he wants to go outside of Upwork for the next contract, which means there's a good chance he's planning to rip you off (also, it would be against the site's rules if it's a job he advertised on Upwork).

petra_r
Community Member


Curtis S wrote:

However, he is telling me he will not release payment until I sign another contract which supersedes the Upwork contract. 


Take a look at that outside contract first and see if there is anthing in it that concerns you. Upwork have no problem with you signing any additional contracts that don't violate any terms of service, they just don't care about enforcing anything other than their own terms and of course payment needs to stay on Upwork.

 


Curtis S wrote:

 I feel like he may lie and say he is dissatisfied with the work; even though I have emails where he expresses satisfaction, they aren't on Upwork. 


There is literally nothing stopping any client doing so whether you signed some other contract or not. The client has been happy enough so far so there isn't really any reason to assume that they will now pull any kind of stunt, and if they were to pull some kind of stunt, whether you signed some standard contract or not won't make a difference as far as Upwork are concerned.

 

Take a look at the contract to see if it contains anything worrying and then take it from there.

 

Will L wrote:

You will be violating Upwork's Terms of Service if you agree to sign a non-Upwork contract.


No, he won't. As long as payment is made on Upwork and nothing in that external contract violates Upwork's terms of service, it doesn't matter what additional contract he signs.

 

The thread you linked to was a situation where payment would be made via PayPal. That was the ToS violation, not having a Non-Upwork contract

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