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anushe_k
Community Member

Payment pending

Hi,
I have worked with a client on three projects and he is responsive and we had a great working relationship.
My most recent project with him was a large one (all my communication is on Upwork so I can send you any screenshots required).
I know that he uploaded my book on Amazon so he was satisfied with the work and we had a good working relationship. However, he owes me 7400$ for this particular project. He initiated another project with me meanwhile, and my last communication with him was 15th Jan. I have followed up repeatedly but he is missing.
What do I do?
11 REPLIES 11
petra_r
Community Member


Anushe K wrote:
However, he owes me 7400$ for this particular project.
He initiated another project with me meanwhile, and my last communication with him was 15th Jan. I have followed up repeatedly but he is missing.
What do I do?

 

How did you let that happen?

If there is no money in Escrow, you can't do a thing via Upwork.

 

How can the client owe you $7400? Didn't you have a correctly set up (hourly or funded milestone-based) contract?

 

You could try to have the book taken down from Amazon via Amazon because you actually own it if it wasn't paid for.

 

anushe_k
Community Member

I’ve worked with him before and I did not anticipate this to be a problem.
Is there anyone from Upwork who can at least contact the client for me to
see what’s happened? Have they just been inactive for four months?
petra_r
Community Member


Anushe K wrote:
I’ve worked with him before and I did not anticipate this to be a problem.

I can understand not anticipating a problem over a few hundred Dollars, but multiple thousands of Dollars????

 


Anushe K wrote:
Is there anyone from Upwork who can at least contact the client for me to
see what’s happened?

If the client (as is obvious) is ignoring you, chances are they will ignore Upwork. With no funded milestone, there is nothing Upwork can do. Even if they did send the client an email saying that you're trying to get in in touch, the client can ultimately ignore that.

 


Anushe K wrote:
Have they just been inactive for four months?

I would say the client is most likely just ignoring you. But you could look at the original job post and see if the client has been hiring or leaving feedback since you have last heard from them.

anushe_k
Community Member

Yeah multiple thousand dollars does sound a lot but it was one of those
jobs where the word count couldn’t be decided beforehand or the book was
365 days of communication so whatever I wrote per day could only really be
calculated once I was done with the book which was December. Then my last
contact was Jan 15th. Since we’ve done three books prior I was counting on
our relationship, all our communication is on Upwork so the messages do
indicate the commitment, it’s a written agreement.

If a client defaults like that they’re probably not active on Upwork
because in that situation can’t they be held accountable? How can they stop
Responding to one client while
Working with others? Can’t they be banned for
Something like that?
petra_r
Community Member


Anushe K wrote:
Yeah multiple thousand dollars does sound a lot but it was one of those
jobs where the word count couldn’t be decided beforehand or the book was
365 days of communication so whatever I wrote per day could only really be
calculated once I was done with the book which was December. 

Then you set milestones for every 20 000 words. Funded. Problem solved

 


Anushe K wrote:
If a client defaults like that they’re probably not active on Upwork
because in that situation can’t they be held accountable? 

No.You don't have a milestone so essentially the client has done nothing that violates the terms of service. And even if Upwork did ban the client, how would that help you? 

 


Anushe K wrote:
 all our communication is on Upwork so the messages do
indicate the commitment, it’s a written agreement.

That's irrelevant unless you decide to take the client to court (if you are in the same jurisdiction and have enough money to sue). As far as Upwork are concerned, there is no money in escrow, so there is nothing Upwork can do.

anushe_k
Community Member

Are you an official Upwork representative? If not can you suggest a way
that I can get in touch with one to discuss ?
petra_r
Community Member


Anushe K wrote:
If not can you suggest a way that I can get in touch with one to discuss ?

 

You can contact Support, who will tell you the same thing.

 

Go to the Support page and scroll right to the bottom. Click on the tiny ? icon in the bottom right corner. Choose "Freelancer", then "Ask something else" then "Contact Support" -  You'll be able to open a ticket.

anushe_k
Community Member

Great I’ll speak to them. Even if they have the same response it’s always
great to speak to the people who work for the company for the actual
response. Thanks for your feedback 😊

Hi Anushe,

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Great - do I just wait for them to get in touch or do I have to fill
something out?

Hi Anushe,

 

Our team already reached out to you via this support ticket.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
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