🐈
» Forums » Freelancers » Re: Mediation required for non-payment of due...
Page options
suryasnata_96
Community Member

Mediation required for non-payment of dues!

Dear Upwork community!
I have been a new freelancer on the Upwork community and have joined since April 2020, under my agency **edited for Community Guidelines**. This is to inform that I was offered a job proposal by an agency through one of their agents by the name of **edited for Community Guidelines** on May 2, 2020. The proposal contained a message mentioning that I should send my resume as well as a few of my work samples on their mentioned email id if I'm interested in their job offer. After replying through email, the agency kept communicating with me further through email and sent their fixed price offer through email, and asked me to send the deliverables through email as well, in order to receive the payment. I accepted the offer, started working for the same and just before their mentioned deadline of 24 hours, when I was about the submit the project, the agency refused to accept the entire project but after hearing that I've completed the project by that time the agency asked me to deliver the entire project, promising a full payment within two days. Initially, the agent refused full payment on the next day claiming that the client wouldn't pay in full, but eventually, he refused to pay me a single penny, even after accepting submission of the entire project. In the meantime, he had offered me a second project, which I started doing and sent the draft within the mentioned deadline, but suddenly the agency started to behave in a ridiculous manner mentioning that he needs a case study whereas he had asked for market research which was clearly mentioned on the contract. Just for not wanting to clear the payment, he suddenly asked me to stop working on the second project, and when I asked for the payment of my first project which I well deserved for submitting the entire project within the mentioned deadline, he refused to pay a single penny even for the initial project and blamed me for holding the second project. I didnt know how to reach out to anyone from the Upwork customer support in person, therefore I'm writing on this platform, expecting to file a dispute and settle the same with a positive outlook. I have all the proofs regarding the contract sent to me and all the conversation done with the agency, which I can forward on a dispute agency platform. Please let me know further procedures or how to file a dispute regarding this incident and whom to contact for mediation. Thank you!
Regards,

Suryasnata Sarkar

4 REPLIES 4
lysis10
Community Member

Why are you spamming the forum with the same thread across all forums? The only amount you can get is what is in escrow, so submit to the milestone at least.

jr-translation
Community Member


Suryasnata S wrote:

Dear Upwork community!
I have been a new freelancer on the Upwork community and have joined since April 2020, under my agency **edited for Community Guidelines**. This is to inform that I was offered a job proposal by an agency through one of their agents by the name of **edited for Community Guidelines** on May 2, 2020. The proposal contained a message mentioning that I should send my resume as well as a few of my work samples on their mentioned email id if I'm interested in their job offer. After replying through email, the agency kept communicating with me further through email and sent their fixed price offer through email, and asked me to send the deliverables through email as well, in order to receive the payment. I accepted the offer, started working for the same and just before their mentioned deadline of 24 hours, when I was about the submit the project, the agency refused to accept the entire project but after hearing that I've completed the project by that time the agency asked me to deliver the entire project, promising a full payment within two days. Initially, the agent refused full payment on the next day claiming that the client wouldn't pay in full, but eventually, he refused to pay me a single penny, even after accepting submission of the entire project. In the meantime, he had offered me a second project, which I started doing and sent the draft within the mentioned deadline, but suddenly the agency started to behave in a ridiculous manner mentioning that he needs a case study whereas he had asked for market research which was clearly mentioned on the contract. Just for not wanting to clear the payment, he suddenly asked me to stop working on the second project, and when I asked for the payment of my first project which I well deserved for submitting the entire project within the mentioned deadline, he refused to pay a single penny even for the initial project and blamed me for holding the second project. I didnt know how to reach out to anyone from the Upwork customer support in person, therefore I'm writing on this platform, expecting to file a dispute and settle the same with a positive outlook. I have all the proofs regarding the contract sent to me and all the conversation done with the agency, which I can forward on a dispute agency platform. Please let me know further procedures or how to file a dispute regarding this incident and whom to contact for mediation. Thank you!
Regards,

Suryasnata Sarkar


The only thing left for you at this point is to read the ToS ans stop violating them. There is no contract on Upwork, so there is no reason for Upwork to help you get paid.

a_lipsey
Community Member

It sounds like you made the mistake of working without an Upwork contract, violating the TOS, and are not going to get paid. Upwork can do nothing to get you paid. Next time make sure you read the TOS more carefully and know that you can't get paid outside of Upwork. If a client meets you here, then you have to have a contract ON Upwork, which will ensure you get paid (mostly). 

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Suryasnata, 

 

I looked into your account and can confirm that you did not have any contract with this client. On Upwork, we always recommend for freelancers not to start working unless the client sent an offer to the freelancer, the freelancer accepted the offer, the contract is showing as an active contract on the freelancer's My Jobs page, and the client's payment method is verified. These are minimum requirements for a freelancer to be eligible for Payment Protection. Since there were not active contracts, a dispute is not possible at this time. 

 

Since you are new to Upwork, you may want to read up on the "Safety First!" section of the freelancer resources we have compiled, and these tips for avoiding questionable jobs for more information about working safely through Upwork.

As for the client, I have investigated it further, and have reported it to the team for their further review. 


~ Avery
Upwork
Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths