Non-release of milestone on fixed-price contract

[jyotidev]

Hi,

I have a concern for one of active fixed price contract on  my profile,

I have already requested 4-5 times for release of excrow price on set milestone , as work files is already submittied to client,

but again and again on submission of milestone work , client is re-requesting for changes ,

client has complications on his server and can't provide some of the basic details of his server which will be helpful in showing the work on his server.

Thr project was supposed to end on decemeber , but its already extended a lot , and since I have spend my time and efforts , I need that payment , I cant give any extra efforts or any additional time as I know client will never release the milestone budget or end the contract.

Please close the contract and release the funds on my account.

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Jyoti,

I`m sorry to hear about the bad experience you`re having with your client. 
I can see that you already have a ticket with our team and our team will assist you further directly on your ticket. Thank you.

[jyotidev]

yes there is ticket , and upwork executive tole me that she will raise disput , still no action?

[wlyonsatl]

Don't re-submit the same work again. That re-starts the 14-day automatic payment period each time you re-submit.

[petra_r]

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Will L wrote:

Don't re-submit the same work again. That re-starts the 14-day automatic payment period each time you re-submit.

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She only does it as a response to the client requesting changes, so she has no choice. Once a client requests changes, the 14 day count down is out of the window.

If the client keeps doing this, a dispute is the only way forward.

[prestonhunter]

This is what I refer to as the "fixed-price loophole."

It genuinely is a big problem with the Upwork system.

The whole fixed-price system works FINE as long as you are dealing with an honest, professional client who undestands the fixed-price contract model.

But if you get a dishonest client, then yes, they can exploit this loophole in an attempt to avoid paying the freelancer, or to try to get the freelancer to do out-of-scope work.

[wlyonsatl]

Each person has to make these decisions for themselves, but I would quickly call halt to repeated changes to a milestone if the client repeatedly tried to tell me my work on a milestone was inadequate and demanded revisions more than a couple of times. (I have never had a client who knew more about what I was doing than I do. If they did, they'd be doing the work for themselves.)

This is partly a matter of defining each milestone well enough before the contract starts in order to not to leave much room for a client's unending claims of inadequacy for a milestone submission. (Judging from  many freelancers' problems brought to this board, not adequately defining the work to be done before a contract starts is a common source of the problems they run into with honest and dishonest clients alike.)

And I wouldn't submit work through the Upwork submission process more than once. The 14-day clock keeps ticking and there is no problem I can't fix in 14 days, but I'm not moving on to the next milestone until the current milestone is paid and the next milestone is funded. 

I have also been lucky enough not to have to deal with many unreasonable clients, which I suspect are more common on low-priced projects.

[petra_r]

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Will L wrote:

The 14-day clock keeps ticking and there is no problem I can't fix in 14 days,

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No, it does not "keep ticking" - the second a client clicks on "request changes" the 14 day clock stops and will not start again (at 14 days) until the work is resubmitted.

[wlyonsatl]

Well, Petra, I have never had a client click on whatever "dispute" button is available to them on fixed price contracts, so that is good to know for the few fixed price contracts I do agree to from time to time.

When the few such clients have asked me to make changes to work I submit on a milestone, I make them or I don't. And we move on to the next milestone.

So, for me, each time the milestone payment clock has started ticking I don't remember any client re-starting it. And the clock has never counted down all the way to 14 days for any milestone I have submitted.

I have been lucky not to have to deal with the type of clients who create problems for their freelancers in this respect.

[jyotidev]

my only concern is that how I will get the payment?

will the looping continues?

I will never get payment even spending my time & efforts for 3 months?

[petra_r]

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Jyoti S wrote:

my only concern is that how I will get the payment?

will the looping continues?

I will never get payment even spending my time & efforts for 3 months?

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If you can't reason with the client, all you can do is request dispute assistance from Upwork.

[jyotidev]

I have already coordinated and rquested to upwork team to raise dispute , still no response?

[BojanS]

Hi Jyoti,

I checked and I see that your ticket has already been escalated to our Mediation team. They will review and respond to the ticket within 2-3 business days.