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shamsabir
Community Member

Need to take action on a contract

I have been working on a fairly big contract for a while and the client said that he wasn't in a rush. So, I was delivering the work a bit slowly. And today I received this mail from upwork. The job is half way done. I would like to know if no action is taken in the next 14 days will I get no money for my work?

ACCEPTED SOLUTION



Shams A wrote:

Thank you for your suggestion. But what if the client doesn't accept the payment request. Upwork will close the contract within the next 14 days.


You requesting payment is TAKING action, it should restart the upwork clock.

 

If the client rejects it, then you can stop working for him/her, but for now, just submit for some amount of money. 

View solution in original post

14 REPLIES 14
prestonhunter
Community Member

Shams: 76 days is a LONG time to be working on a single fixed-price milestone.

 

Upwork's action here is understandable.

 

To answer your question, yes... if you don't take any action in 14 days then the $300 in escrow will go back to the client.

Yes, I understand that. The milestone was for writing 50 articles. So, I don't think 76 days were way too much. I would like to know the solution.

Can you please tell me what would be the most appropriate action to take?

*I can finish the work within the next 14 days.

*the client isn't very responsive.


Shams A wrote:

Can you please tell me what would be the most appropriate action to take?

*I can finish the work within the next 14 days.

*the client isn't very responsive.


We have told you - submit for partial payment and it will be released to you within 14 days if the client doesn't respond.  Is it the 200 dollar job? How many articles have you written? Submit for an amount that corresponds to the number of articles submitted (it's 5 dollars an article, right?)

m_sharman
Community Member

Have you submitted any work for payment, even partial payment? It sounds like the money has been in escrow with no activity and that's why Upwork is messaging you.

 

If you haven't already, submit for some amount (agreed b/t you and the client) from the funded escrow money. 

No, the job is still under the work in progress tab. The problem is, the client is not very responsive. The last conversation we had was 2 months ago. He didn't seem to have any problem with my work. So, I want to finish the job and then ask for payment.


Shams A wrote:

No, the job is still under the work in progress tab. The problem is, the client is not very responsive. The last conversation we had was 2 months ago. He didn't seem to have any problem with my work. So, I want to finish the job and then ask for payment.


You need to submit for payment, partial payment is fine. You should not be working without any payment for this long. 

Thank you for your suggestion. Should I continue my work after submitting the request for partial payment?



Shams A wrote:

Thank you for your suggestion. But what if the client doesn't accept the payment request. Upwork will close the contract within the next 14 days.


You requesting payment is TAKING action, it should restart the upwork clock.

 

If the client rejects it, then you can stop working for him/her, but for now, just submit for some amount of money. 

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Shams, 

If you click on the Submit work/Request for payment button, the client will have 14-days to review the work you submitted. If the client does not come back to request for any changes on the contract, the payment will be automatically released to your account. You may read more about it here.

 

Now, if the contract is automatically closed, as noted in the email you received, you will be asked to refund the money in escrow. If you feel that the refund is not warranted, you can dispute it within 7 days of receiving the request. 


~ Avery
Upwork
shamsabir
Community Member

Mam, I understand what are you saying. But if I am not wrong, the countdown of 14 days for closing the contract should end before the countdown for automatic release of the payment.

And can you please explain the last two lines of your reply. What if I complete the work within the next 14 days, upwork closes the contract and I don't refund the payment.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Shams, 


When a freelancer receives a request to refund money in escrow, the freelancer has seven days to take action on the request. If the freelancer fails to take action on the refund request (whether to release it ahead of the 7 days or dispute it), the money in escrow will automatically be returned to the source (the client's billing method).


~ Avery
Upwork
shamsabir
Community Member

Thanks a lot for your reply. One last thing, if I dispute the the refund request will I receive the full payment?

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Shams, 


Receiving full payment will depend on the outcome of the dispute. In the future, it's always best to make use of the different products and programs on Upwork (such as the milestone-submission page/contract page, fixed-price protection, etc.) to ensure that you get paid for the work you do on a contract. 


~ Avery
Upwork
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