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harizsuzairy
Community Member

Should I do the amendments even though the contract is over?

Hi Upwork community,

 

Do I have to do the amendments that the client asked me to do even though the contract period was already over? 

 

Example :

Contract start on 25 January 2020, end on 4 February. Fixed price project. Then on 5 February 2020, if the client ask me to fix something for them, should I do it?

 

Hopefully Upwork can give a clarify about this issue.

 

Thank you. 

 

P.S I'm not experiencing this problem at the momment, just a thought. Cheers! 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
prestonhunter
Community Member

The "contract period" on a fixed-price contract is meaningless to Upwork systems. It is just a text string that you can look at for reference purposes.

 

The important things are if a payment has been released and if a fixed-price contract has been closed or not.

 

When you do a fixed-price task, you should submit it. And the client should release payment. And then the contract should be closed.

 

There is no such thing as an "amendment."

 

When a task is set up, there is a deliverable. For example example: "draw a picture of 10 cats." A specific payment is associated with the task.

 

A client may not later ask you to draw 11 cats. Or 9 cats and a mouse. Or "draw a hat on one of the cats."

 

A client who asks for changes is asking for free work, which is a violation of Upwork TOS.

 

Now... sometimes we are nice and look the other way, and if the request is small we do it in order to promote customer satisfaction. But that does not mean it is okay for the client to ask.

 

If a client wants a change, then the proper thing for the client to do is to release the current escrow funds to the freelancer and negotiate a new contract or milestone.

 

re: "I'm not experiencing this problem at the momment, just a thought."

 

That is good to hear. Then the important thing for you to understand is that the date that the fixed-price contract doesn't really have anything to do with this. If the date says the 4th of the month, and it takes you until the 21st of the month to finish the task, then that does not really matter as long as you are communicating with the client and the client is satisfied.

 

Once you finish the task, you want to get the money released and then you want to get the contract closed, no matter what the date is. Whether it is later or earlier than the specified contract end date.

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6 REPLIES 6
wescowley
Community Member

To me, it depends on what the change is. If it's something I missed, then, of course, I'd do it. If it's minor in comparison to the project, then I'd probably do it in the spirit of good client relations. But if it's more than that, I'd probably suggest a new contract to cover it. 

 

Where those boundaries are is something you'll need to work out as part of your business model.

prestonhunter
Community Member

The "contract period" on a fixed-price contract is meaningless to Upwork systems. It is just a text string that you can look at for reference purposes.

 

The important things are if a payment has been released and if a fixed-price contract has been closed or not.

 

When you do a fixed-price task, you should submit it. And the client should release payment. And then the contract should be closed.

 

There is no such thing as an "amendment."

 

When a task is set up, there is a deliverable. For example example: "draw a picture of 10 cats." A specific payment is associated with the task.

 

A client may not later ask you to draw 11 cats. Or 9 cats and a mouse. Or "draw a hat on one of the cats."

 

A client who asks for changes is asking for free work, which is a violation of Upwork TOS.

 

Now... sometimes we are nice and look the other way, and if the request is small we do it in order to promote customer satisfaction. But that does not mean it is okay for the client to ask.

 

If a client wants a change, then the proper thing for the client to do is to release the current escrow funds to the freelancer and negotiate a new contract or milestone.

 

re: "I'm not experiencing this problem at the momment, just a thought."

 

That is good to hear. Then the important thing for you to understand is that the date that the fixed-price contract doesn't really have anything to do with this. If the date says the 4th of the month, and it takes you until the 21st of the month to finish the task, then that does not really matter as long as you are communicating with the client and the client is satisfied.

 

Once you finish the task, you want to get the money released and then you want to get the contract closed, no matter what the date is. Whether it is later or earlier than the specified contract end date.


Preston H wrote:

 

A client may not later ask you to draw 11 cats. Or 9 cats and a mouse. Or "draw a hat on one of the cats."

 

A client who asks for changes is asking for free work, which is a violation of Upwork TOS.

 


Not necessarily. If the client asked for a drawing of 11 cats and the freelancer sent a drawing of 9 cats, and the client pays and closes the contract before realizing there are 2 cats missing, and asks for the two cats to be added the day after the contract is closed, the client is not asking for free work. The client is asking for what they have already paid for. The same is true if the drawing contains 11 hamsters.

 


Preston H wrote:

 

There is no such thing as an "amendment."


There sure as hell is.

There is also the client's ability to meet any refusal to add missing cats or the exchange of cats for hamsters with a dispute, and then the whole idea of "No amendments" goes out of the window that very minute.

 

Whether you like it or not, that is the way the system works, and it is misleading to allow inexperienced freelancers to think otherwise and to let them walk straight into a bad situation with an unhappy client, who just wants his 9 cats.

 

My personal line is that if a client finds a mistake I made some time down the line, then OF COURSE I will fix it with a smile and an apology.

 

If the client wants a small adjustment of something that wasn't in the original scope and that takes minutes, I do it with a smile and refuse any payment. It's called customer service.

Petra, I don't have any disagreement with you here. I think we may be talking about different things.

 

I am looking at an "amendment" as a change to the original agreement.

 

I am not referring to a client asking the freelancer to fulfill the original agreement because a mistake was made or because the original task was not completed.


Preston H wrote:

 

I am not referring to a client asking the freelancer to fulfill the original agreement because a mistake was made or because the original task was not completed.


The majority of requests for amendments that happen after a contract is closed are exactly that.

 

Hi Preston,

Thank you for answering my question with complete details.  I really appreciate it. The explanation that you gave are really helpful and crystal clear. I'm still new on Upwork so that's why sometimes I do have random thoughts and questions.

 

Upwork does have a good community. Thank you for using Upwork.

 

Cheers!

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