Need Advice to Tackle Irresponsive Clients

[#1]

HI there, I have worked with 25 clients of Upwork and most of them are professional but I have also faced some irresponsive clients. These clients never respond despite being online and do not approve the work despite of It completion. Now, What If you are hired by someone who is super irresponsive and disappears when you submit their work?

1- Should we close the contract without earning?

2- Should we wait for clients response and if he doesn't response wait for 14 days for automatic approval, Will it affect the JSS?

3- Does the milestones which are not being approved on time or milestones with many resubmittions affect JSS?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

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Zain M wrote:

1- Should we close the contract without earning?

2- Should we wait for clients response and if he doesn't response wait for 14 days for automatic approval, Will it affect the JSS?

3- Does the milestones which are not being approved on time or milestones with many resubmittions affect JSS?

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1. Why would you do that? Not only woud you have worked for free, you woud also hurt your JSS with a "nothing paid" contract.

2. When your work is done, you submit for payment and get paid, either when the client approves, or when the 14 days are up. That is how the system is designed to work.

3. No. Just about only "nothing ever paid" contracts and poor feedback (mainy private feedback) negatively affect the JSS. "Many Resubmissions" woud indicate a not-so.happy client though if clients keep asking for changes? There is no other reason for "resubmissions!"

[#3]

Thanks, I have understood this. I have 2 more questions

1-I know jobs with no earnings affects your JSS but can client give us private feedbacks on Contracts with no earnings. If "YES", then does this Feedback is included in our "Clients who recommends you score"?

2- If we have successfully completed and got paid in a Contract, Can a client give a private feedback without a public feedback ?

[#4]

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Zain M wrote:

 I have 2 more questions

1-I know jobs with no earnings affects your JSS but can client give us private feedbacks on Contracts with no earnings. If "YES", then does this Feedback is included in our "Clients who recommends you score"?

2- If we have successfully completed and got paid in a Contract, Can a client give a private feedback without a public feedback ?

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1. Yes, clients can leave private feedback. It may be included, depending on how the contract ended up to be without payment.

2. No, it's either both (public and private) or none. A client can not leave only one or only the other.

In general, provided you understand that avoiding contracts without payment and unhappy clients hurt yur JSS, you can more or less ignore the inner workings of the JSS and certainly not obsess over it.

If you choose your clients carefully and do a truly great job every time, your JSS takes care of itself.

[#5]

Yeah, That's my mistake. I have completed and satisfied almost all responsive clients except one. But, I have choosen clients that are highly irresponsive. Now, my JSS was 78 and wasn't getting any response. Yesterday, I applied to a proposal and got a client for a simple work. I did the work and submitted but client become irresponsive after that. Recently got his reply that I did not completed his work. When, I gave him proof of my work.he said I'll check again and disappears. Now, this is leading to a failed Contract. Wondering , how bad this JSS can go after that.

Now, I have got a lesson to communicate with client before accepting the offer. Some clients just send the offer from our proposal and then disappears. 

Thanks for reflecting on the most important of JSS which is choosing clients carefully rather than accepting their offers blindly

[#6]

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Zain M wrote:

Thanks for reflecting on the most important of JSS which is choosing clients carefully rather than accepting their offers blindly.

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It really, REALLY is, Zain.

I am convinced a freelancer's success or failure on any platform (not just Upwork) is as much determined by the clients we reject as it is by the contracts we complete. 

Choose your clients carefully, then manage your contracts well, and the JSS stops being an issue all by itself.

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Zain M wrote:

Yesterday, I applied to a proposal and got a client for a simple work. I did the work and submitted but client become irresponsive after that. Recently got his reply that I did not completed his work. When, I gave him proof of my work.he said I'll check again and disappears. Now, this is leading to a failed Contract.

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It need not. Careful and skilled conflict resolution is as much part of the job as the technical skills. It is entirely possible to turn an unhappy client into a happy one before it all goes wrong. That requires client-management skills.

[#7]

Yeah Thanks for helping out Petra, I am well-known of some of my mistakes now.

I am going to ask a stupid question now.

Does giving bad public or private feedback to client affect JSS?

Because I have given bad feedbacks to client who have gave me 5-star ratings but have rude/irresponsive behaviours. Does that thing also count? So, I will ignore it for future

[#8]

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Zain M wrote:

Does giving bad public or private feedback to client affect JSS?

Because I have given bad feedbacks to client who have gave me 5-star ratings but have rude/irresponsive behaviours. Does that thing also count? So, I will ignore it for future

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No, the feedback you leave has no effect on your JSS. Just the client's equivalent.

[#9]

Okay Thanks