Reporting a client

[pma18]

I was wondering if I should report a client that interview 7 people for the same job, without hiring anyone for the job until she saw the work of each freelancer she interviewed. The job had a fixed price of 20$, after my initial proposal she asked if the price could be changed for 10$ which I agreed with. I was expecting to get the job offer since she was making the deal with me, but it never happened. The client requested three mockups of the logo she needed for the job, and I informed her that she needed to make the offer so I could submit the files to her. She never made the offer, saying that after I sent the mockups she would submit them to her supposed client and if her client liked the logos she would pay me. Seeing that she did 7 interviews on this job I am assuming she did the same to other freelancers until she found a project that she liked. So basically she made 7 freelancers work for free and when she found a suitable project she cancelled the other candidacies. Although it's my fault for going along with this, plus she doesn't even have a verified payment method, I thought it was a good idea to report her so this doesn't happen to other freelancers in the future. Should I report this client, and if so how can I do it since when you go to "Get help" the only option available is to search this issue in the upwork community?

Thank you.

[yitwail · Accepted solution]

Patricia, you can report the client for asking you for free work, but not for interviewing 7 people. For example, she might have asked the other 6 if they would do the job for $10 and they all said no, so then she interviewed you.

[mtngigi]

"So basically she made 7 freelancers work for free".

Clients can't "make" anyone work for free - those that do it have only themselves to blame. As John suggests, there is nothing to report except a client asking for free work. Clients can interview as many people as they want to.

ETA: And by the way, clients offering a measly $10-$20 for a logo are clients not worth bothering with. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

[jcullinan]

I agree with John and Virginia.

Also, NEVER send files to a client without a contract in place, even watermarked files. If they can't hire you from your portfolio, you don't want that job. If they insist on test files, insist on a test contract, with pay. Otherwise, make sure your portfolio represents the best work you can do and send that.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Patricia,

As others pointed out on this thread, requesting freelancers to work for free is against Upwork ToS. When clients ask you to start working on the project before sending an offer, you can either flag their job as inappropriate or report the message itself by clicking on the cogwheel next to the message time stamp.

[fkidd]

I'm sorry that happened to you. Freelancers work incredibly hard and that's does not seem fair.

I won't knock you for working at that rate.  Freelancers have to build a portfolio, and or sometimes we work at a rate depending on where we live or what will use the money for.

Best of luck with future projects. 

[mtngigi]

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undefined:

I'm sorry that happened to you. Freelancers work incredibly hard and that's does not seem fair.

I won't knock you for working at that rate.  Freelancers have to build a portfolio, and or sometimes we work at a rate depending on where we live or what will use the money for.

Best of luck with future projects. 

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It's not about knocking what someone will work for. It's about pointing out that the majority of clients who pay peanuts are not going to be good clients to work with. After fees and taxes you might as well be working for free if you're taking jobs for $10. You can build a good portfolio with or without cheap clients.