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gixxermkd
Community Member

No hourly protection if you don't write memo!?

Ok guys, i've just received a notification from UpWork that i wont get paid for last weeks work because the client’s payment was unsuccessful. According to them if there is no memo recorded in your Work Diary you are not eligible for the hourly protection. 

 

Nice job UpWork, bravo. Can you please let me know why the memo is not a required field for hourly contracts? Oh i know, so that you can rip off freelancers...

11 REPLIES 11
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "No hourly protection if you don't write memo"

 

Um... yeah.

I'm sorry if you got bit by this.

But this has been the rule for many, many years.

Nothing new about it.

 

The reason that the memos are not required is certainly not some scheme for "ripping off" freelancers.

 

You were hired by a client who used a fraudulent credit card, or cancelled his card or something, so that his card could not be successfully billed to pay for that you did.

 

Upwork's Payment Protection for hourly contracts is really quite extraordinary! Where else can you find that?

 

That they require meaningful memos is a reasonable accommodation. Also, it is a sign of respect to the clients who hire you when you enter memos.

 

Like I said, I'm sorry that you took a hit because of this, but I doubt you will make the same mistake again in the future.

right...but - why isn't that field mandatory?

something like - if you try to submit it with no memo, you get a warning of some sort?

I'm not really familiar with how tracker works - I don't use it, because it keeps crashing my illustrator...


Preston H wrote:

re: "No hourly protection if you don't write memo"

 

Um... yeah.

I'm sorry if you got bit by this.

But this has been the rule for many, many rules.

Nothing new about it.

 

The reason that the memos are not required is certainly not some scheme for "ripping off" freelancers.

 

You were hired by a client who used a fraudulent credit card, or cancelled his card or something, so that his card could not be successfully billed to pay for that you did.

 

Upwork's Payment Protection for hourly contracts is really quite extraordinary! Where else can you find that?

 

That they require meaningful memos is a reasonable accommodation. Also, it is a sign of respect to the clients who hire you when you enter memos.

 

Like I said, I'm sorry that you took a hit because of this, but I doubt you will make the same mistake again in the future.


Preston, I haven't done an hourly job for a while. Can't you enter in the memos before the work diary gets submitted? You don't have to stop work immeidately every time the screenshot happens, do you? 

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Amanda, 


Freelancers should be able to update the Work Diary anytime during the Work Week, and one last time during the Freelancer review period which is from Monday 00:00 midnight to 11:59 a.m. UTC, every week before the Work Diary gets locked for the client's review.


~ Avery
Upwork
petra_r
Community Member


Amanda L wrote:

. Can't you enter in the memos before the work diary gets submitted? You don't have to stop work immeidately every time the screenshot happens, do you? 

You can enter a memo directly in the tracker as you work, only changing the memo when you start to work on something else (which could be hours or days,) or afterward in the work diary. No, of course you don't have to stop work and mess with the memo every time a screenshot occurs.

 

Most people work on the same thing for hours and the memo stays the same until you change it. .

 



 

optimist178
Community Member

Memos are very important in terms of Upwork Hourly Protection for both ends. This is a rule for all but I also agree that this should be a REQUIRED field so all the new Freelancers know about its importance.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Blagoja, 

I'm sorry to learn about your experience on this contract. To qualify for hourly protection, you must meet the following requirements: 

  • Have an Hourly contract
  • Work with a client with a verified billing method
  • Use an Upwork account in good standing
  • Log your hours with the Upwork Desktop App
  • Be visibly working on contract-related activity in your Work Diary
  • Annotate your Work Diary with memos or activities labels that describe the activity performed
  • Maintain adequate and fair activity levels
  • Stay within the contract's weekly limit

You may read more about it here


~ Avery
Upwork

Hi Avery,
I agree with Muhammad.
Since memos are so important, it would be nice if it were a mandatory field. Unable to activate the tracker if nothing is written, por ejemplo for example.
No wonder there are people (especially new freelancers) who forget to fill in that field.
I have worked quite by hour, I know how it works, and, there are still times that I forget to fill in that field 😞

I usually review the tracked hours to verify that everything is correct, basically in case I forgot to write memos.

Hi Maria,

 

Thank you for your suggestion. I will make sure to send your feedback to the team for consideration.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
92a80e21
Community Member

This just happened to me too. I am disgusted!


Antonia D wrote:
This just happened to me too. I am disgusted!

I hope when you say you are disgusted that you are disgusted either with the client who disputed hours that weren't properly logged or with yourself for not triple checking to make sure you were doing it properly and for not communicating better with the client/vetting the client. 

 

It really sucks to have this happen. I use manual time myself, and it's definitely a risk. It's a risk I am willing to take in my line of work and for myself. I would never recommend anyone else take that risk. 

 

It's definitely a hard lesson to learn the hard way - a client using it to their advantage. But you have to agree it's not on Upwork. They make it very clear how to use the time tracker, and they make it very clear that manual time isn't covered by payment protection. 

 

The good thing is now you know, and you can ensure it doesn't happen again. 

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