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splivy1
Community Member

Requesting refund on credits for blocked proposals

I'm requesting a refund for all the proposals I submitted this year. I have 20 years of high-tech PR experience working for some of the most well known startups and household name brands. At first I thought my hourly rate was too high ($60 to $85), which is why no one was responding back (except for one employer). I then decided to drop my hourly rate to sometimes $10 an hour, and still no response to my proposals. I'm not even sure if I offered to volunteer for the job I would get a response back. Either these employers are not hiring anyone for the jobs they're listing or my proposals are not actually being delivered to them. It's one of the two. If an experienced Silicon Valley and DC pro can't even get invited for an interview with an hourly rate exponentially lower than what the employer has listed then something is awry. I welcome responses back.

10 REPLIES 10
feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Freelancing requires sales skills in addition to expertise and experience. Your proposals weren't blocked; it's more likely that whatever you're been saying didn't make you stand out from your competitors or convince clients that you were going to solve their problems. There's plenty of advice about how to market yourself and craft effective proposals if you read the many resources that Upwork offers.

 

It's also possible that your initial hourly rate was too high (I'm not familiar with pricing for your industry), but dropping it to $10 could have had the reverse effect of making clients think that somebody who charges so little must not know what they're doing.

 

The price that you pay for connects is for the opportunity to propose to clients; if you used your connects to bid on projects, then you got what you paid for. As far as I'm aware, Upwork doesn't offer any refunds for used connects.

 

I appreciate the response back. Can you unequivocally confirm that my proposals are not being blocked? Are you speaking on behalf of Upwork or you just making a general assumption? My sense is that something happened after my profile went back-and-forth from being private to public several times this year and in doing so it's adversely affecting my proposals. I should also point out that I actually contacted one of the employers and they confirmed to me that they never received my proposal. So it could be an isolated technical issue or something else. I don't care for conspiracy theories, however the issue I'm experiening with my proposals not generating any interviews (and then doing some investigative work) leads me to believe something is awry.

petra_r
Community Member


David wrote:

 I should also point out that I actually contacted one of the employers and they confirmed to me that they never received my proposal.


I don't think so. How would you have done that? Considering that it isn't possible to contact clients (No "employers" here) via the site unless they responded to your proposal and contacting them outside would see you banned? It would also be incredibly creepy and unprofessional to hunt down a client who clearly posted a job post on Upwork and then contact them outside to inquire if they received your proposal. It's also a serious violation of Upwork's terms of service.

 

I'm requesting a refund for all the proposals I submitted this year.

That (obviously) aint going to happen. 

 

I agree with Amanda. Your profile would benefit from a complete overhaul, including the profile picture.It' all about you, not about your USP or how clients benefit from hiring you rather than the next person. I would also lose the bit about the direct descendant of founding fathers...

 

 Look at the profiles of people in your area(s) of expertise who are successful. What do they do differently?

 

It is human nature to want to believe that we are not rejected, which is probably why you want to adopt a "I'm a victim of Upwork hiding my proposals" rather than a "Clients aren't attracted by my profile and proposals, what can I do to change that?" attitude.

 

That is holding you back.

 

David S wrote:

My sense is that something happened after my profile went back-and-forth from being private to public several times this year and in doing so it's adversely affecting my proposals..


It doesn't affect your proposals in any way. Clients you send proposals to can see your profile even while it has been set to private for 90 days of inactivity.

 


David S wrote:

I don't care for conspiracy theories.


I think you do....

 

 

splivy1
Community Member

Some employers list their brand's names on the job jacket and if you check feedback from past hires you can sometimes learn who the "hiring manager" is. Please keep responses to me professional and factual. I welcome constructive feedback, but to call me a blatant liar is uncalled for. Regarding my bio, to each his own, but I'm not buying that my profile is why I'm being rejected. Yes, it would be helpful to make some improvements, and yes I could change my profile pic but if that pic is what' causing people to turn away then I want no part of UpWork.  I have several business opportunities in the works outside of Upwork. I should also point out that I've headed up business development for over a dozen years and have generated over 60 long term clients under retainer.  So again, does anyone on this forum actually work for Upwork and if so I'd like to understand what's going on with the delivery of my propsoals please, otherwise I'd like a refund for the proposals I've sent. Thank you.

 

petra_r
Community Member


David S wrote:

Some employers list their brand's names on the job jacket and if you check feedback from past hires you can sometimes learn who the "hiring manager" is. Please keep responses to me professional and factual.


It is entirely professional and factual to point out the fact that contacting prospective clients you have no contract with outside the platform is a double violation of Upwork's terms of service, each able to get your account suspended. Funny how those clients, after you hunted them down, still refused to hire you, isn't it? It is also entirely factual that contacting prospective clients you have never spoken to outside the platform you saw them on is creepy, unprofessional and unacceptable behaviour (quite apart from being forbidden).

 

An Upwork employee (clearly identifiable as such (Bojan S) ) has confirmed that all your proposals were delivered to the clients (NOT employers) and that they were all able to see them. So essentially they saw your proposals and decided not to proceed. Clearly you decided that you don't want to hear the reasons for this. Your choice. You don't have to use Upwork

 

And no, you won't get your connects back. On what basis would that be?

 



a_lipsey
Community Member


David S wrote:

Some employers list their brand's names on the job jacket and if you check feedback from past hires you can sometimes learn who the "hiring manager" is. Please keep responses to me professional and factual. I welcome constructive feedback, but to call me a blatant liar is uncalled for. Regarding my bio, to each his own, but I'm not buying that my profile is why I'm being rejected. Yes, it would be helpful to make some improvements, and yes I could change my profile pic but if that pic is what' causing people to turn away then I want no part of UpWork.  I have several business opportunities in the works outside of Upwork. I should also point out that I've headed up business development for over a dozen years and have generated over 60 long term clients under retainer.  So again, does anyone on this forum actually work for Upwork and if so I'd like to understand what's going on with the delivery of my propsoals please, otherwise I'd like a refund for the proposals I've sent. Thank you.

 


As I said, some people would rather fail than listen to good advice. If you have business opportunities outside Upwork then you should leave Upwork and go pursue those. You won't find much success on Upwork unless you change your mindset and how you market yourself. It doesn't matter how long you were in charge of business development for some other company. You can still learn to use a new platform and learn how THAT platform works instead of insisting that it work how you believe it should. 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi David,

 

I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been getting a responses to your proposals. I can assure you that all proposals are delivered to and can be viewed by clients.

 

I would recommend that you check out these topics to help you create proposals that win jobs, and help you boost your career on Upwork: 

Good luck! 

~ Bojan
Upwork
a_lipsey
Community Member

Your profile isn't helping you either. Your title is not search word optimized. It's not what you want to call yourself but what clients are looking for. You likely don't show up in many searches because you simply don't use the word "PR" in your title. Profiles are indicative of proposal quality, so I wonder if your proposals are all about you and not about the prospective clients and their needs. A lot of "veterans" in the field come to Upwork and think the same thing that worked in the brick and mortar world works here. I think you're operating like selling yourself to an employer versus a client, and you're approaching it more like an employee than a freelancer/business owner. That's just the impression I get. 

 

You could probably make some adjustments and start getting work. But a lot of people aren't willing to budge. They think they've been in the industry a long time so the way they do it should work. And even as it continues to not work, they refuse to budge and do things differently. I encourage you to employ some different tactics to marketing yourself. 

moonraker
Community Member

"I didn't receive the application" is exactly the kind of thing somebody might say if they did receive the application but are trying to end the conversation...

OP: This is an interesting thread. I'm sorry that you have been disappointed by your initial foray into freelancing on Upwork, and I wish you the best.

 

But:

I have never actually heard of a freelancer requesting refunds for connects, on the basis of not getting hired (or based on a belief that proposals were blocked), and then receiving such a refund.

 

How much money in total were you hoping to receive a refund for?

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