Strange problem with client

Nikola S · ‎05-31-2022

I am currently performing work under contract, for **Edited for Community Guidelines**. The last time we traded messages

was the middle of last week (5/20/22 - 5/27/22), he stated, quite vociforously, that I was doing an

"awesome job". Then, suddenly, today, he's asking for a complete refund for everything I did last week.

He is complaining that, somehow, researching his system, to be familiar with it in order to do the

work correctly, while being paid to do so is "bull". Having done this work for more than 40 years now,

I have always had to spend some time, at first, getting familiar with a new system to figure out how

to do the job, and do it right. There really is no other way to get past the initial, overwhelming, learning

curve. I discussed this with him when I first started and he seemed to understand perfectly and agree

that it would take some time for me to do this. I have recommneded that he allow me to talk with a

couple of experts, who have worked on this system, in the past, to help me get past the hurdles I

am encountering, but he is not cooperating with me in this regard. What I think is really strange is

that he is asking for a complete refund, of all 10 hours worth of work when I have yet to receive a

single penny for the work I have done.

Christine A · ‎05-31-2022

Is it an hourly contract, and if so, did you use the time tracker?

Will L · ‎05-31-2022

And how many total hours did you tell him (or yourself, if a fixed price contract), this work would require? Are you still on track to stay within the total budgeted hours?

Many clients don't understand the work they want done, and if they don't understand what you are doing, some will assume you don't know what you're doing.

If you have done the work you know you agreed to do, don't agree to any refund.

Radoslav N · ‎05-31-2022

I had the same situation few weeks ago. My suggestion is to end the contract immediately and cross your fingers you won't lose too much JSS from that client's bad private feedback.

Another thing i am realizing recently is that its not a bad thing to forfeit a job even with the slightest red flag that a clinet can be "difficult".

Attila H · ‎05-31-2022

Writing an SOW for safety outlining the major steps and phases always helps.

Blake M · ‎06-01-2022

Yes, this is an hourly contract. 10 hours per week. My first week was last week and I put in the 10 hours,

all of which was logged with the upwork time tracker. Everything I did was perfectly legitimate and I

absolutely will NOT agree to a refund. A refund is dumb anyway, he has yet to pay me a single penny

for any of the work I have done. How do I go about making my response official?

Blake M · ‎06-01-2022

Hello,

I recently started a new contract (last week). We agreed on 10 hours per week @25.00 per hour. Yesterday, I got a notification he was asking for a refund even though I worked the contract and logged

the hours through the Upwork Desktop app. How do I dispute the refund request?

Nikola S · ‎06-01-2022

Hi Blake,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I checked and it looks like you were able to communicate with our team regarding your concern on your support ticket. Could you please confirm if you need further assistance?

~ Nikola

CJ A · ‎06-01-2022

I think you have a customer that either has unreasonable expectations or had no intention of paying anyway. Nobody steps into a new system, office, organization, job or anything else and "immediately" knows everything. There is always some type of orientation or 'ramp up' time. When it comes to systems, the person that does NOT take time to research and understand a system before they TOUCH the system, is a person I don't want touching any of my systems at all - ever. If you ended up causing damage to the system because you were careless and didn't take time to understand it, he'd be whining about that right now. If you did all your interviewing on Upwork via messages and Video calls, there should a record of him agreeing to you needing time to 'ramp up' and get up to speed. I would recommend you take screenshots of any such messages because some shady clients have been known to delete messages when they're trying to rip somebody off to remove evidence of any agreements.

Blake M · ‎06-03-2022

Thank You for this response. I have been doing this kind of work for 40+ years now and my universal experience has been that what you are saying is right on the money. These are truths

I learned the hard way over the years. I have insisted, for a long time, that I be allowed to go through a standard set of exercises, which I have developed, to get through the 'ramp up' period in as timely a manner as possible without risking damage to the client's system. I believe I 'bent over backwards' to make it clear to him that I would NOT be able to immediately come in and do the same job as another programmer he had had working on the project. The simple truth of the matter is that I had a client very much like this a few years back and I was suspicious that he really didn't like to have to pay people for their work. He had been working with the other guy by making a list of what he wanted done and then getting a bill for it. For some strange reason, the

guy no longer wanted to do work for him. Makes me wonder how far behind he was in paying his bills. I don't think he understood that once there was an hourly contract in place, he could not pull the same stunts with Upwork. This was the very reason I insisted on an hourly contract rather than the same way he had been working with the other guy. I highly commend Upwork for living up to the promise they make to their free lancers and thank you for this awesome reply.

Sincerely,

Blake M.

Malkeet S · ‎06-01-2022

Welcome to upwork.