My client closed the contract without making all of the payment.

[weareeditmakers]

Hi Upwork, I did my second job with one of my clients. I did not ask my customer to activate Milestones because I trusted my client, he already told me that the deadline is not clear, so he said I will not activate all Milestones for now. All of these conversations are recorded through Upwork. My client said he liked my last job and asked me for the final version of the project, I gave the final version, but did not make the final payment. The contract was 500 dollars, only 400 dollars paid. He did not reply to my messages and closed the contract. I told my client, if you're not paying, I'm sorry I will open a dispute. What should I do in this situation?

[petra_r]

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Murat Y wrote:

The contract was 500 dollars, only 400 dollars paid. He did not reply to my messages and closed the contract. I told my client, if you're not paying, I'm sorry I will open a dispute. 

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You can't dispute unfunded milestones. There is nothing you can do.

In future, don't hand over work unless there is a corresponding funded milestone.

[weareeditmakers]

So, contracts and messages are not important?

[petra_r]

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Murat Y wrote:

So, contracts and messages are not important?

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Not when it comes to this sort of thing. There is nothing to dispute, because there is nothing in escrow that can be disputed.