Milestone change does not prompt client to automatically fund the new milestone

[gina-herrera]

Hello, I've noticed that lately something has changed about Upwork's system that seems like it could harm freelancers and promote scamming. Each time I add a milestone onto a contract (as a freelancer, or as a client), Upwork no longer prompts the client to fund the milestone. So they approve the request, and one would think that would mean the money is in escrow, but it's not.

The last three interactions with adding new milestones for clients have gone like this:
1. They ask for another piece of work.
2. I add a milestone
3. They approve the milestone, and then do nothing
4. I awkwardly have to ask them to make sure it's funded (which I only know because the first time, I accidentally worked before realizing it was not activated, and luckily got paid anyways).

I'm not a newbie, I've been on the platform for a few years now and I feel like it was not always like this - I believe in the past that adding a new milestone would ask the client to fund it after they accepted the change. Often trying to bring anything to an Upwork mod's attention feels like talking to a wall; however this seems pretty important. I also had a freelancer I hired myself to help with a trademark - same thing happened. It did not prompt me to fund. I didn't say anything because I wanted to see what happened or if the freelancer would be alerted. She then completed the work, and had to ask me to fund the milestone even though the work was already done (which I did because I'm not a bad person and of course I always intended to pay her). But, the experiment confirmed my suspicions. When a milestone is added, there's no way for the freelancer to know that it's not funded without having to go into the contract, and the client is not asked by Upwork to fund it.

Anyone have any insight into if it was always this way? I feel like it just recently changed. It's good to know I have to check in on it, but considering that in order to start a contract a client gets prompted to fund, it seems weird that just because you're part of the way through a contract you'd add a milestone and not fund it...

[martina_plaschka]

It was always this way. It's probably better if you let the client create and fund the milestone, though it should be pretty clear to a client that if the freelancer proposes a milestone, the freelancer can't fund it. 

[PradeepH]

Hi Gina,

Thank you for your message. It is a mandatory requirement for the client to fund a minimum of $5 per milestone. Freelancers will need to review the milestones terms before they initiate the work on the milestone. Check out this help page for more information.

When a client sends an offer or creates a new milestone on the existing contract, freelancers will be notified via Upwork message with the milestone number, title, escrow amount and a link to view the same information on their contract page.  Feel free to message us if you need further assistance.

Thank you,

Pradeep