Money refunded to client

[#1]

Hi,

I worked an hourly job. After ending the contract the half of the money refunded to the client. Everything was nice, he was OK with manually added hours and he gave me 5 stars, but the system did what it did. How can I get that money back ? 

Thank you!

Dilshodbek.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

re: "I worked an hourly job. After ending the contract the half of the money refunded to the client. Everything was nice, he was OK with manually added hours and he gave me 5 stars, but the system did what it did. How can I get that money back?"

How can you get that money back?

You probably can't the money back.

Manually-added hours do not qualify for Upwork Payment Protection.

If it had been ME working for that client, I would have received ALL of the money, because I use the Upwork desktop time-tracker.

In the future, I recommend that you use it, too.

As for the money for this contract? You are allowed to contact the client and ask him to pay you using the client-side "Send bonus" tool. This is a matter between you and the client. Upwork support staff can not help you get that money back.

[#3]

The client never paid Upwork, so Upwork didn't pay you out of their own pocket.

Even though it is called a refund, it isn't really a refund because the money was never paid in the first place.

[#4]

Hello I see you have replied to this related topic many times, so let me ask you this. A client hired me to do a crypto marketing task through hourly contract. Now I was new to hourly contracts and did not know what "time tracking" meant. He tried explaining it to me and I suffered understanding too what I really needed to do. Then he came up with a better suggestion, that he just pays through bonus option on the contract. The job involved me using my funds at hand to be able to do trade transfers for him, and he will reimburse me through here. He successfully paid me the bonuses twice which showed in pending and I closed the contract. Then a couple hours later, I get refund notifications that "I" sent the funds back to him. This is unbelievable. I contacted support and they are telling me about fraudulent activity on the client's account. But that does not mean you take away money I worked and spent to aquire away from me, worst of all refunding it to the client, the alleged fraudser. In this case Upwork is indirectly assisting the client to scam me.

Freelancers should have the right to start work on any contract, with the trust that Upwork has the client's deposit funds in escrow and will pay the freelancer even if the client gets his account in trouble or banned. So when I read the statement "the client did not pay Upwork, so Upwork did not pay you" it's ridiculous to me. Maybe you guys should learn from Fiverr when it comes to controlling contracts and escrow funds.

I really want my money back honestly, it was above $300 total and from what I know, bonuses are manual payments initiated by the client himself. That is enough proof that I deserve the payment. Please I want my money back in any possible way

[#5]

---

Marcel B wrote:

Then he came up with a better suggestion, that he just pays through bonus option on the contract. The job involved me using my funds at hand to be able to do trade transfers for him, and he will reimburse me through here.

---

This is an extremely common scam here. You will not get your money back. Never buy something for a client or send them money on the promise they'll reimburse you. 

Please read this post for more information on avoiding scams.

[#6]

Marcel:

I really am sorry to hear about what happened to you.

I am sorry that there is no way for you to get your money back.

But the good news is that you will never again fall for that scam.

[#7]

---

Marcel B wrote:

I really want my money back honestly, it was above $300 total and from what I know, bonuses are manual payments initiated by the client himself. That is enough proof that I deserve the payment. Please I want my money back in any possible way

---

You can't get that money "back" - to get something "back" would require it to have been paid in the first place. Nobody "refunded" anything because nothing was paid in the first place. The "refund" you saw is simply Upwork reversing the transaction for money that was never paid.

---

Marcel B wrote: with the trust that Upwork has the client's deposit funds in escrow

---

"Escrow funds" apply to fixed-rate milestones only.

And anyway, when you violate Upwork's terms of service, all bets are off anyway.

[#8]

You seem to refuse to understand what you did wrong. 

Be assured, you wouldn't get paid the fantasy rate you used for this "job" either even if you had used the time tracker properly. Why? BECAUSE THE "JOB" ITSELF IS NOT ALLOWED!  

Your complaint is futile. This is like complaining to the police that the guy you robbed a bank with gave you less than the share you agreed on before you robbed the bank. 

Instead of acknowledging what you did wrong, you keep complaining. The only aim you will achieve is getting suspended permanently. At least you don't have to worry about understanding upwork in that case any longer. 

[#9]

The job itself is not allowed here but it was up. That's how I saw it, that's how I applied for it. Because it was posted here. I disagree with your analysis of the situation. Instead, this is like complaining to the police I was a victim of scam or circumstance by someone whom they they could've stop, in a case where they assisted by helping the scammer by failing to protect the money, and the police think what happened to me is not their problem and they can't do anything about it. Worst, they think i should be punished for complaining to them. I don't get how bonus paid can be refunded to a client, the suspected fraudster... Even if the job he made a contract for violated TOS. You don't refund bonuses to him.. Upwork is to blame for this, that's a fact

[#10]

---

Marcel B wrote: I don't get how bonus paid can be refunded to a client, the suspected fraudster...t

---

And once again: THAT BONUS WAS NEVER EVER PAID!

[#11]

Which I keep stressing is a very messed up and annoying part of my situation! So now what does the alert notification "Client sent you a bonus of $x amount" really means to a freelancer if it's not a protected payment that Upwork can actually charge from a client? I am a scam victim and I admit, but I would never have done a transaction for the client if I did not receive such notifications. You guys need a wealthy person to sue you on this kind of misleadings and irresponsibility actually

[#12]

My client release payment after i finish the job and she get refunded...

[#13]

Hi Musa,

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear about the action taken on your account. I see that the relevant team has already reached you via support here. Please don't hesitate to follow up with them on the same support ticket if you have additional questions regarding your concern.

Thank you

Pradeep

[#14]

If you believe that every job posted on upwork is legit, you should stop using the platform right now and educate yourself better. 

I agree upwork should do a better job deleting scam job offers as soon as somebody reports it, or as soon as the algorithm catches it. Nobody is disputing that. 

It does not absolve any user to do his on due diligence. 

1. Is the job against ToS? (yes it was)

2. Does the job itself make sense? Are there really stupid rich people who can't figure out how to buy crypto/PUBG/etc.? (No, there aren't.)

3. Is it normal to pay a fantasy hourly rate and a bonus? (obviously not)

Why did you not ask yourself these questions before spending your own money? 

[#15]

Again I agree, I might be an uneducated individual to you but even so there are  certain things that gives someone an assurance of safety even when being scammed, and I am mostly annoyed that in this case mine is Upwork and you guys are replying like it's not your business. I have been hired here before to do verification and testing services, which all required me to spend some little money at hand. I did it not minding because I knew there is safe escrow funds in my contract or bonus. So to me a job like the one I took is not so different. If it was against TOS it probably won't be up or there'll be some kind of warning on it from keywords too, so it is safe for me to assume that Upwork has a fault in this too. And yes, I know rich people who don't have the knowledge of crypto trading or can't buy it themselves because of their office or bank card restrictions and they are willing to pay to get someone do it for them. It makes sense! The job was only fantasy hourly at first. Client told me to track an hour and he pays before I do the transaction. It was when I made it clear I did not have any idea what time tracking was that he proposed bonuses. But I never started tracking the contract again, and only did the first transaction when I received a notification of a bonus received. That was my assurance right there...

I was scammed here on Upwork and have all right to be angry or complain about this, on the same Upwork. Maybe you guys can start considering to fix things like this for freelancers. 

I have lost meanwhile I don't even have much, and staff is behaving like it is my fault and does not concern them. Nice customer service

[#16]

They are explaining it to you over and over again.
If you had read the ToS you would have two things clear:
- Forbidden to communicate outside of Upwork before having a contract.
- Forbidden to send money or anything else outside of Upwork. As well as receiving payments outside the platform.

And if you had informed yourself about how the platform works:
- Hours that are not recorded correctly are not protected.
- Bonuses are not protected. You must not accept them as a form of payment.

So, your money is gone. In any case, as explained in the hourly payment, if Upwork were to pay you, it would not be for $99 per hour, but for your hourly price.

And now, before continuing, you must inform yourself well. Read the TOS, learn how Upwork works, and search the forums for information. This is one of the scams that are swarming around here, but there are more.
There is a lot of information on the forums. Look for scam and you will see it.

[#17]

Upwork can't monitor all the jobs posted (although it's not doing nearly enough to weed out the scams), and it's up to the freelancers to recognise fake jobs.

The terms of service that you agreed to when you joined the site allow for compensation for fraud in certain circumstances, i.e. for jobs worked at the freelancer's normal hourly rate, using the tracker and keeping memos. Even if you had done that, you would have already forfeited your right to compensation, because you violated the terms of service by buying something for the client. 

If you abide by the terms of service, the chances of being defrauded are negligible.

[#18]

I don't work for upwork.