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rohan999
Community Member

Payment Request and Duration

I think upwork should take care of this matter seriously now. A lot of times clients do not release the fund and left leave. So only the "submit work and request payment" option remains for us which takes 14 days.

But the question is why should I wait for TWO WEEKS for that work which took me just two hours ????? If upwork can charge for connects, then why can't upwork reduce the time ?

If a client just forgets to pay, why it should cost me this long ? 

Two days ago I requested for payment and sent further message to approve that but he didn't even respond. By force, I talked with upwork to solve this and Upwork sent him mail. And after that my clients responded saying "you should get paid in a few days after you request" 

He thinks that was the common way for payments. He doesn't understand that he should approve it.

Another client was not paying me without any reason. Everyday he comes online but doesn't reply. Isn't it weired ?? You can't even close or cancel it as you will lose the payment. And then you will have wait for those 14 days!!!!! 

 

10 REPLIES 10
feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Rohan S wrote:

I think upwork should take care of this matter seriously now. A lot of times clients do not release the fund and left leave. So only the "submit work and request payment" option remains for us which takes 14 days.

But the question is why should I wait for TWO WEEKS for that work which took me just two hours ????? If upwork can charge for connects, then why can't upwork reduce the time ?

If a client just forgets to pay, why it should cost me this long ? 

Two days ago I requested for payment and sent further message to approve that but he didn't even respond. By force, I talked with upwork to solve this and Upwork sent him mail. And after that my clients responded saying "you should get paid in a few days after you request" 

He thinks that was the common way for payments. He doesn't understand that he should approve it.

Another client was not paying me without any reason. Everyday he comes online but doesn't reply. Isn't it weired ?? You can't even close or cancel it as you will lose the payment. And then you will have wait for those 14 days!!!!! 

 


Maybe your clients are busy, so it's not their number 1 priority to review your work immediately? They shouldn't have to hurry up just because you're in a rush, and Upwork can't force them to hurry up, either. If I were your client and you started pestering me to approve your work, I'd give you a bad review, so perhaps you should be a bit more patient?

 

I think you didn't get my point, or you read all. It's not like client's didn't review works. They reviewed, they finalized and took their files. And I waited for more than a week. Even they were in a rush to get their files. But when you finalize the work and declare the work done, you should approve it. You can't take a week, Can you ?

We know how long it potentially takes for milestones to be released when we accept jobs. It is an agreement we enter into (with upwork) when accepting jobs. 

Clients can have a multitude of reasons for not releasing the funds straight away. The reason doesn't matter - they have the right to not release funds until the 14 days is up (at which point it happens automatically anyway). If you are not happy with the length of time they are taking then you are free to close the contract and move on.  

If everything was about rules and terms then there wouldn't be any place called "Community Discussions" here. Everyone would just follow the rules. We all know the rules, fact is how do they work for clients and freelancers. 

petra_r
Community Member


Rohan S wrote:

s. But when you finalize the work and declare the work done, you should approve it. You can't take a week, Can you ?


Clients have 14 days and yes, obviously they CAN take a week. They CAN take 14 days.

Mine usually don't (I've only had to wait the full 14 days twice.)

 

I wouldn't chase such clients, I might just not work with them again in the future.

 

rohan999
Community Member

The worst thing is they don't response at all. If they say anything about or just response, then it's a different thing. Like sometimes my clients say, "I have some other works, I will make it together" or "Sorry I forgot that, I am doing now" or "I am away now, will do it in two or three days". Those are different things. But my concern is when they don't response at all, that period should be reduce. When we request, obviously they got mail. And not a single person in this world who doesn't check mails in 7 days, and moreover you don't even need to check it, today it pops up in your computer or phone display. So there is no way they can avoid it, is it ? 


Rohan S wrote:

So there is no way they can avoid it, is it ? 


Maybe. Maybe not. I won't pretend to know their reasons. Maybe they just don't feel like releasing funds just yet. 

Again, if you don't like the way the contract is going then you have the choice to close it. You are well within your rights to do that if you are not happy with the way things are going.

I'd consider closing a contract myself if I was made to wait for payment every time, depending on what other jobs I have to work on. 

But If I close the contract before he/she approve the milestone, then I will lose the escrow, won't I ?

You will, but at least you won't be waiting anymore. The fact is that the waiting period is in place to protect the client as well as the freelancer. Look at it this way, if you as a freelancer did some work for the client and they quickly reviewed it and released the funds immediately. If you got the funds right away, you could bounce and never respond to the client again. Similarly, if you sent the client your work outside of Upwork, they got their art for free. No need to pay you. It is a pain but it is also a safer way to deliver your creations to the paying client without worrying about the ol' dine-n-dash.

Freelancers have bills to pay.  They shouldn't have to chase up clients and wait forever to get paid. Imagine you did the same with a plumber or an electrician?

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