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94e6a8d0
Community Member

Merging An Old Account

I recently discovered that an old Upwork account is still active and would like to know if there is a way I could merge the two and get rid of one. When I created the new account, I was under the impression that my old one had been terminated.

 

I have an active contract under the new account, but the old one has a slightly larger work history.

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prestonhunter
Community Member

Steven:
I want to be very blunt with you: Upwork has been pretty consistent about NOT WANTING TO MERGE accounts.

 

Upwork closes multiple accounts.

In fact, Upwork actively look for instances where a single freelancer has more than one account, and it may even close ALL of those accounts and block the freelancer from every using Upwork again.

 

BUT: If users approach Upwork Customer Service themselves, and ask for help in closing their additional accounts, then Upwork works with them. Many people have made mistakes but after approaching Upwork to ask for help, they were not penalized at all. Upwork helped them close subsequent accounts and resume use of their original account.

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prestonhunter
Community Member

Steven:
I want to be very blunt with you: Upwork has been pretty consistent about NOT WANTING TO MERGE accounts.

 

Upwork closes multiple accounts.

In fact, Upwork actively look for instances where a single freelancer has more than one account, and it may even close ALL of those accounts and block the freelancer from every using Upwork again.

 

BUT: If users approach Upwork Customer Service themselves, and ask for help in closing their additional accounts, then Upwork works with them. Many people have made mistakes but after approaching Upwork to ask for help, they were not penalized at all. Upwork helped them close subsequent accounts and resume use of their original account.

Thank you, Preston.

 

Unfortunately, I'll need to wait for payments to process before I can close the newest account. Let's hope neither are flagged before then.

In my experience, Upwork employees are thoughtful and reasonable. The fact that you posted in this public Forum - which you know is monitored by Upwork employees - counts for a lot. I think will be clear to them that you are just trying to resolve an issue you didn't know about until just now, and that you aren't trying to be "sneaky."

 

I think it is a good plan to let your current payments go through and then contact Customer Support as quickly as possible and ask for their help in closing subsequent accounts.

After reading your reply, I immediately contacted customer support to see what could be done.

 

We've decided to close the old account and start fresh under the new one.

 

Thanks again, Preston.

Steven:
Thank you for letting us know what happened.

 

Your story confirms what I said about Upwork employees being thoughtful and reasonable. They tried to get you into compliance with the rules, while also helping you out.

I thought that it was impossible to close an old account and "start fresh"? I wonder if a moderator would like to comment. Otherwise some of us (including me) have been giving incorrect advice all this time.

If you've said it's "impossible" then you have been giving incorrect advice.

 

Creating a new account solely for the sake of "starting fresh" is against Upwork's policies as it synonymous with having multiple accounts. I did not do this and, in fact, would have preferred to keep my old account had I known (upon creating the new one) that it was still active.

 

The fact is - I made a mistake and one of the accounts had to be closed. In my specific situation, it was necessary to close the old one as per my discussion with a representative. I suggest reading all of Preston's responses.

I also have the same problem. Can anyone please help me with this? My old account has nothin in it and I would really like to keep this active account since it has more information.
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