re: "My client stopped responding"
It doesn't matter if a client stop responding.
Clients are not required to respond.
I get paid for all of my work whether or not a client responds.
re: "and didn't pay half the money."
If you feel that you did not get paid something because a client did not respond, then it means that you (the freelancer) made a mistake in how you used the Upwork system.
This is GOOD NEWS.
It is good because it means that YOU HAVE THE POWER.
All you need to do is learn what your mistake is, and not make that same mistake again in the future.
re: "My client stopped responding and didn't pay half the money. The work consisted of two milestones. At the first milestone, the client deposited money and I sent the corresponding part of the work. Everything was fine. At the second milestone, I sent the work without the client depositing money"
Why did you do that?
You're not supposed to do that.
You are not supposed to work on a milestone until the client has funded the escrow payment for it.
re: "She promised that she would check my work and did not answer, disappeared."
Promises don't count.
Funded escrow payment is what counts.
A client who "disappears" has not violated any Upwork rules.
re: "She isn't also active on social media."
I would never check to see if a client is "active on social media."
Isn't that a "stalker move?"
(Note that I'm not accusing you of stalking anyone. I'm asking a question.)
You should know that it is a violation of Upwork ToS for a freelancer to look up on social media or look up contact information using a search engine such as Google and then contact the client using that information or social media platform. Making contact with a client that way is not allowed, and if a freelancer is caught doing that, the freelancer could be suspended or otherwise penalized by Upwork.
A freelancer may ONLY contact a client via social media or other methods if the client provides the contact information to the client and invites the freelancer to contact her using that method.
re: "I don't know how I feel about this."
I know how you feel about this.
You are not happy about it.
You feel that the client promised to pay you some money for doing some work. You did the work, and you didn't get the money.
But the important thing to learn from this experience is:
"Don't work on unfunded milestones."
re: "Was I scammed or did something bad happen to my client?"
Maybe the client died.
re: "May I name a client here."
No.
Naming the client here would be a violation of Community Forum rules. And Upwork would censor the name from your post.
And anyway: We don't know her. So it wouldn't do any good to name her. Millions of people use Upwork. Upwork users who visit the Forum don't know all of the clients who use the platform.
re: "On Upwork, she is registered under a pseudonym. Was that supposed to alert me?"
Honestly? I don't care about clients' names. I focus on the work.
A client could be named "Sassafrass Moonjumper" and I wouldn't care. I care about what the client asks me to do and I care about the fact that they pay me money.
Leonid:
Don't feel bad about this!
LOTS of inexperienced freelancers make the same mistake.
Just chalk it up to experience and move on.
