🐈
» Forums » Freelancers » Payment reversed by client's bank
Page options
eugenbootcov
Community Member

Payment reversed by client's bank

Hi to all. Today I received this message:
**Edited for Community Guidelines**

How it happens and why Upwork asking money from me and want to block my account?
I did a job (It was a fixed-price job.) and the Client approved it (almost a year ago in 2018).
Today, I received this mail. Why Upwork wants to block my account and ask this money from me, not from the Client?

21 REPLIES 21
abinadab-agbo
Community Member

Did Upwork specifically hint at blocking your account because of this?

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Bummer, this.
I would have thought that if you have a case, Upwork would at least allow you present evidence that will help defeat the refund request?

In all cases, note that the client's account would be suspended by now, as all Upwork clients agreed to not do chargebacks when signing the Terms of Service.

Now, that's not too much succour in your situation, but hey.

Was it a two-, three-, or four-figure contract?
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Eugene,

 

I'm sorry the payment has to be reversed according to Upwork ToS. I see that you are communicating with one of our agents and they have provided the information to assist you with this situation. Feel free to respond to the ticket with screenshots and details about the deliverables for the contract. 

 

Please, note that I had to remove the content of private communication from your posts as it's not allowed by our Community Guidelines.

~ Valeria
Upwork

What are the client ToS that allow them to request a refund after paying for a job done a year ago?  Is that all they have to do - ask UpWork for a refund - and it's honored and collected from the freelancer?


Terese J wrote:

What are the client ToS that allow them to request a refund after paying for a job done a year ago?  Is that all they have to do - ask UpWork for a refund - and it's honored and collected from the freelancer?


What do you mean?

 

A client can "request" a refund after a year, but no, Upwork will not just take it from the freelancer. 

 

This thread is about Chargebacks, which are a different matter altogether, are not allowed under the ToS and can't usually be done after a year either.

 

Thank you. What circumstances prompt a charge back? I'm not clear on the
difference from a refund request.


Terese J wrote:
Thank you. What circumstances prompt a charge back? I'm not clear on the
difference from a refund request.

A chargeback is when the bank / Credit card issuer / PayPal of the owner of a credit card or PayPal account pulls the funds back from Upwork. (And Upwork will then, in turn, pull the funds back from the freelancer.)

 

Usual reasons for a chargeback are fraudulent use of the payment method (stolen or hacked accounts) - unauthorised use or the owner claiming they never received the goods or service or it was defective.

 

Chargebacks that are caused by fraud or theft are impossible to defend.

Wow. Good to know, thank you!
tlsanders
Community Member

It's been suggested before that Upwork makes at least some cursory effort to fight chargebacks (though I'm skeptical of that, since I've never seen a freelancer this happened to report being asked to provide supporting information for the dispute). 

 

But, what about the next step? If chargebacks violate TOS, then the client is in breach of his/her contract with Upwork. Does Upwork make any effort to recover those funds in breach of contract actions? In addition to potentially helping the individual freelancers affected, establishing a pattern of pursuing damages in civil court when clients commit chargeback fraud would certainly offer a deterrent.

The same thing happened to me today. The client contacting their bank and asking them to reverse the payment. $950.

 

What does PROTECTION mean?

 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Stephen,

 

I'm sorry to hear about the inconvenience this caused. It looks like you have an open ticket with our team about this case. Please consider following up on your open ticket and kindly communicate with our team through that ticket if you have any questions, in order to keep all the information in one place.

 

Thank you!

 

~ Bojan
Upwork


Stephen A wrote:

The same thing happened to me today. The client contacting their bank and asking them to reverse the payment. $950.

 

What does PROTECTION mean?

 


The money isn't the client's just yet.

But it will be if you fail to respond as required.

If you have a case (you did your job, you delivered), be sure to not take it lying down.

 

If you have a case, be sure to present your evidence and defeat any chargeback fraud.

 

Be sure to not establish a precedent that you let people easily steal from, and destroy your business!

c90cb1a7
Community Member

I have the same issue, recently i have got a message from the Upwork support that my client bank want a charge back request and i have to submit the evidence that i have completed the work so i have submitted the evidence that i have completed all the work yet client doing this fraud but i didn't understand why this thing happened if i have done the work and submitted to the client. By the way the contract is direct contract.

What does the client say about it?

Nothing yet , The Upwork support contact me that this request is raised by the client side and you have to submit the evidence that you have done the full work .

I don't know how and why this thing happened because everything is done and the contract is also ended but yet client doing this fraud thing.

This is happening for the first time with me as i have working as freelancer from two years.

That's why you need to ask the client why he is doing this. 

Hi, Rajat.

 

Are you sure your client is the person who actually owns the credit card used to pay you?

 

A chargeback occurs because either a) the owner of the credit card used was also the person you had a contract with and wants his/her money back or b) your "client" didn't owner the credit card used and actual card owner told his/her bank than the charge was fraudulent.

 

If b) is the case then it doesn't matter whether you did the work you were hired to do. Upwork will repay the amount it received from the bank that issued the card used to pay you and you will have to reimburse Upwork for that amount.

 

There is no payment protection against such fraud under fixed price contracts. 

I don't know if he was using their card or not but i can clearly see that he is going to do some fraud activity.

c90cb1a7
Community Member

He just blocked me recently. That's why i am not able to contact him.

And if i talk about the work then i have already submitted the work to the client as we all know after submitting the work client will be approved the payment release but now after everything this client doing this fraud activity.

babul_hoq
Community Member

Payment reversed by Upwork.

 

It's time to say "Good Bye" to upwork. It's been 6 months since I am struggling to get a job and suddenly I received a job offer last week and accepted it. The client discussed several things about his project with me. The next day, he requested I help him make a payment. So, I discussed Upwork TOS with him and he agreed and paid me $1250 as a bonus. After getting the payment, I checked my reports properly, and it was showing as "Pending, " meaning Upwork accepted and reviewed his payment. Suddenly, the next morning (which means after 48 hours) I can see -$1056 in my profile. So, I was worried and frustrated and immediately contacted the support team. After 24 hours I got a reply from the support that they have reversed the payment to the client's account. Uff.... Then I came to realize that I have been cheated. I received no help from the support and they only say that "They are following upwork TOS.

 

I am destroyed. Somehow I managed 50000 INR and paid the client as I already received the payment as bonus but I never new that the bonus amount that have already been reviewd by upwork can take return. Now, I left empty pocket. After fasting whole day I could not even purchase my food. This was one of the worst experience of my life.

 

Now UPWORK is a complete useless platform. Yesterday, I proposed a job with 80 connects and then I noticed that someone else have beeded with 115 connects. What's going on here...Connects Game ... LOL

Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths