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qadeer_sh
Community Member

Refund dispute

My client is asking for a refund and I need to know what are my rights in this case. I have worked more than 35 hours on this job and according to the terms we set in the beginning, I completed the work on excel and helped him with everything on filing. I also manually inputted hours to not exceed 35 hours as he requested me. Then he told me to do those tasks again on accounting software. Now, he is asking for a refund. This is an abuse of my resources. I need help.

 

He did not say anything for more than 14 days and now this. 

7 REPLIES 7
lysis10
Community Member


Qadeer S wrote:

My client is asking for a refund and I need to know what are my rights in this case. I have worked more than 35 hours on this job and according to the terms we set in the beginning, I completed the work on excel and helped him with everything on filing. I also manually inputted hours to not exceed 35 hours as he requested me. Then he told me to do those tasks again on accounting software. Now, he is asking for a refund. This is an abuse of my resources. I need help.

 

He did not say anything for more than 14 days and now this. 


If he disputes, you lose the manual hours. If he asked you to do manual hours, that's a flag.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Qadeer S.,

 

In case you don't know this already, even if a client "allows" you to add manual time to your weekly timelog for their project the client has no obligation of any kind under Upwork’s rules to ever actually pay you for that added time. Manual time is not protected in any way under Upwork's payment protection rules and Upwork will make no effort to enforce payment due to you for manually-booked work time.

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062568-Upwork-Payment-Protection

If you want to try to be sure you're paid for all manual hours you book, the best you can do is only use manual time for a client you know well and trust completely.

It's not about adding hours. He says that the work is not acceptable and that he wants the refund for the whole job.

Qadeer S.,


Upwork cannot/will not typically help you get paid for your hard work because you accounted for your time using manual hours, which are specifically not covered by Upwork’s payment protection.


If you had used the Upwork TimeTracker app to track your work time with good memos describing your work activities, the client would not have any luck demanding a refund unless you chose to give him one.

 

Since you manually added work time, the client doesn't need to give Upwork a reason if he chooses not to pay you for some or all of the time you worked on this project. That he claims your work is not acceptable is irrelevant - he can refuse to pay for that reason or no reason at all.

 

When did Upwork pay you for the time worked, or is this work so recent that you haven't been paid for it?

Upwork paid me last month. The work is not recent. Since all the payment had been transferred, he wants the refund for all of it.

If there is no dispute (just a refund request) then politely decline to refund.

 

In the unlikely event that the client seeks mediation, come back and update this thread for further advice.

re: "Upwork paid me last month. The work is not recent. Since all the payment had been transferred, he wants the refund for all of it."

 

Yeah, that timeframe for when you were paid makes a huge difference.

 

Basically, the client can dispute your hours during the first five days after a work week has ended. That is the dispute period. If a client disputes your manually-logged hours during that time, Upwork WILL remove those hours.

 

But after thst time period, the client can not dispute your hours. After that, the client is just "requesting" a refund. And as a freelancer, you can and should do as Petra suggests, which is to politely decline.

 

It is like if your nephew "requests" that you buy him a pony. Be nice, but don't actually buy him a pony.

 

The request by this client was inappropriate.

 

You can read more about this topic, including the five day dispute period, here:

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062158-Dispute-a-Freelancer-s-Hours

 

I often recommend that freelancers politely ask the client about why they are asking for a refund. I believe that clients who ask for refunds like this, weeks after work has already been done, do so simply because they found the "request refund" button and they don't think of the freelancer as a person. So they figure they may as well click the button and get some "free money." If a freelancer asks the client to explain why he is requesting a refund, many such clients will be too embarrassed to reply and will drop the matter.

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