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b69a582f
Community Member

Next time what do I do? Escrow not fully funded, contract ended

I was helping a client with an editorial read. We agreed $200 for the job, fixed rate, had a call, and she explained she'd fund part of it, and after our call, do the rest. She funded and paid $50, and we had our call. I politely explained that she didn't fund the rest, and told her no rush, she was new and I wasn't wanting to make her feel pressured. She said oh, I see what I did wrong, and ended the contract, thinking that the rest would automatically fund. Left a nice review...but...now I'm out $150 and the time I spent on her work. I'm not wanting to chase after her, she's a nice person. Young, and so I'm sure this wasn't in malace. She wants to use me again, so I'll make sure it's fully funded, but any suggestions I'm not seeing, or am I totally out that money and the time and work I put into the job? 

6 REPLIES 6
petra_r
Community Member


Sarah L wrote: Next time what do I do?

Next time, when a client funds 1/4 of the money, you do 1/4 of the work and wait for the next milestone to be funded

 

I would suggest you write to the client and inform her that she hasn't actually paid you and ask her to pay the remaining money as a bonus on the closed contract.

 

martina_plaschka
Community Member

If you believe that the client really was unaware what happened and fully intends to pay you, she can do it as a bonus on an open or ended contract, doesn't matter. I'm a bit sceptic because these stories usually all end the same way, but am open to be educated that they don't have to.

So you could say: Susan, I see something went wrong when you ended the contract, as we agreed on a total amount of $200, but you can pay me via bonus on the ended contract now. Thank you!

Edit: you asked the same question in November. Same client? Next time, don't do it. It can fall on the freelancer to educate clients how things work here, or decline the job if the client insists on tiny milestones. 

It was not the same client, the other never replied. This one geinuinely seemed to think that she put the funds in escrow, and ending the contract would pay me. I let her know it's  not there, and I've submitted an email to Upwork, maybe it really IS a glitch. I'm not sure. I'm trying very hard to have bneifit of the doubt, and be polite, I'm not keen on the idea of risking someone getting upset and wanting a refund or filing a dispute, but I really worked very hard on this and it's kind of fustrating. 

 

 

Would anyone happen to now how long after you contact Upwork that they create a ticket? It's been about an hour, and I still don't see it. 

petra_r
Community Member


Sarah L wrote:

 I let her know it's  not there, and I've submitted an email to Upwork


Sarah, there is nothing Upwork can do if your client only funded a quarter of the funds. Surely you saw how much the milestone was? If there was a $50 milestone, nothing else can have been in escrow.

 


Sarah L wrote:

Would anyone happen to now how long after you contact Upwork that they create a ticket? It's been about an hour, and I still don't see it. 


On a day when much of the site is down and everyone is trying to contact support?

And as I said, it's not as if they can do anything about it. The client only funded $50 and that's what you were paid.

 

 

Well, both you and the client can see in the contract exactly what was paid, the escrow amount, so there really is no secret there. Upwork does nothing when people work on unfunded milestones, they keep telling people to not do that. That's what the system is for, to use it correctly and get paid. 

Ending a contract does not release a remaining budget or escrow amount to the freelancer, it releases it back to the client. To get paid, the client needs to activate and fund the next milestone. If he doesn't do that, there is no payment. 

b69a582f
Community Member

Thank you both for your help. 🙂 The client actually messaged and said she talked to Upwork and fixed it. I had no idea much of the site was down, what I've used has worked perfectly. Hearing that though makes me glad that I did check, because what if she had funded it, like she thought, and it was some sort of an error due to tech problems. 

 

Anyway, glad it's worked out, and that she's not missing money floating around somewhere. If the site is having difficulties, that could have been a possibility, and I'd hate for someone to have a problem with that. 

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