THE CUSTOMER STOLE ME

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

I was hired by that person, I did everything that was asked of me, I trusted the reviews that this customer has, but after it was stolen, I went to check that the feedback is always from the same person.
I did the job the client asked me to do, and now I'm at a loss! The client ended the contract without saying anything, and he didn't pay me, and he probably blocked me too.

This is the job post: **Edited for Community Guidelines**

This is the person who i helped: **Edited for Community Guidelines**

I'm really upset, and now I have a huge loss

colettelewis · ‎08-13-2020

Bruna S wrote:
I was hired by that person, I did everything that was asked of me, I trusted the reviews that this customer has, but after it was stolen, I went to check that the feedback is always from the same person.
I did the job the client asked me to do, and now I'm at a loss! The client ended the contract without saying anything, and he didn't pay me, and he probably blocked me too.

This is the job post: **Edited for Community Guidelines**
This is the person who i helped: **Edited for Community Guidelines**

I'm really upset, and now I have a huge loss

___________________

Bruna can you go back to the beginning? When you accepted the job, did the client set it up as an official Upwork contract on either an hourly (tracked) or set-price basis? You would have received this official offer in your email and you would have had to accept the offer to start the contract, which would then have been confirmed by Upwork.

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

the client hired me as a fixed-price and then in the middle of our conversation he said he would pay extra to cover the upwork fee and he said he would have to make a change to the contract. However, I did not have any notification of contract change and we continue to work together through the chat. In the end, when the job was 100% done, he said he would prepare the payment and finalized the contract. When I went to see him, he had changed the contract to look like this in the attached image.

**Edited for community guidelines**

The customer is verified and the payments as well.

He has 27 reviews and 5 stars, but when I went to see it, most are from the same customer. That is, I fell into a blow within the upwork, by a customer who is verified.
All prints are below.

**Edited for community guidelines**

I would like to know if I can get any help in this case, and warn that this client is banned from upwork.

AndreaG · ‎08-13-2020

Hi Bruna,

I'm sorry to hear about the experience you had with this client. Please note, that there are several options for getting paid on hourly contracts and you can find more information about them here. However, not all payments are covered by Hourly Protection. If you want your payment to be protected, make sure you log time using Upwork App while working, annotate your Work Diary with memos, and your client has a verified payment method.

~Andrea

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

Please see the post above.
Also see the last conversation we had.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

tlbp · ‎08-13-2020

The agreements in chat are not what determines how you will be paid. You must follow all the steps listed in the links that have been shared with you. The client you worked with has probably stolen your time, but there is nothing Upwork can do about it. Be very careful when making deals with potential clients and study the other freelancers' posts about avoiding scammers.

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

Please read again.

Stolen my time? not only my time dear, but my money too. Please read again and don't blame the victim

lysis10 · ‎08-13-2020

Bruna S wrote:
Please read again.
Stolen my time? not only my time dear, but my money too. Please read again and don't blame the victim

lol did it ever occur to you to ask him why he wouldn't just buy the product himself?

wescowley · ‎08-13-2020

Judging from the job post and chat screenshots, which will probably be removed shortly, it looks like you paid for something (pubg in-game stuff?) on the client's behalf and expected to be repaid for that through the Upwork contract?

If so, you were scammed. Don't agree to do that. There's a bunch of information for new freelancers in these two threads. I strongly suggest you read them before bidding again:

Stickied thread in New to Upwork forum: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Getting-Started-on-Upwork/m-p/264214#M2460
Long thread on recognizing scams: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Tips-to-Avoid-Questionable-Jobs/m-p/240833#M25

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

Yes, I agree 100% with you. It was exactly that, normally I am very careful with it, but I trusted it because it is a verified customer and has good reviews (but from the same person, super strange right?)

The question now is the platform to ban this customer and the people who work with him, because I believe I was not the only one, for sure he has already made some victims here, because he took the trouble to create a good upwork profile for that

wescowley · ‎08-13-2020

The only thing that is verified is the client's payment method, which means he was able to verify he has a credit card. That's it.

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-13-2020

even so, because here it is always said that we need to see if the client is verified or not.
Anyway, I don't see anyone wanting to solve the problem, instead they prefer to be blaming me

wescowley · ‎08-13-2020

Don't get me wrong: the client ripped you off and should be banned for it, and hopefully when a mod comes along they'll take care of that.

But, if you want to avoid getting ripped off in the future and be successful here, you need to learn how Upwork works and how to recognize scams.

Making sure the payment method is verified is important, but it tells you nothing about whether or not the job is a scam. The whole buying something up front for the client, or even worse, for the client's client in this case, is a huge red flag.

prestonhunter · ‎08-13-2020

re: "I don't see anyone wanting to solve the problem, instead they prefer to be blaming me"

You don't need to look at it that way.

I play tennis.*

I'm still learning. Still trying to improve.

The tennis pro who teaches me often points out mistakes that I have made.

This coach is not "blaming me." He is letting me know about things I CAN CHANGE to do better.

If my coach told me: "Too bad about that last match. That player is just too good. Nothing you could have done..."

...That would be of no use to me.

But if the coach identifies things that I HAVE CONTROL OVER, that is useful.

No matter how bad things are, if I have the power to change how things go in the future, it's a good thing for me.

* not really

martina_plaschka · ‎08-13-2020

Bruna S wrote:
even so, because here it is always said that we need to see if the client is verified or not.
Anyway, I don't see anyone wanting to solve the problem, instead they prefer to be blaming me

First red flag: Person pretends he needs somebody to purchase something because he can't because he is in a different country. That of course is utter nonsense.

No other red flags needed.

filip_knezevic · ‎08-13-2020

I can't believe you seriously paid for more than 100 dollars for client's gaming???

Couldn't you say, send me the money via Payoneer and I will make the purchace...

But, unfortunalely, that's what you get from **Edited for Community Guidelines**.

a_lipsey · ‎08-13-2020

Filip K wrote:

I can't believe you seriously paid for more than 100 dollars for client's gaming???

Couldn't you say, send me the money via Payoneer and I will make the purchace...

But, unfortunalely, that's what you get from **Edited for Community Guidelines**.

Well, she can't say that because it would violate Upwork's TOS to take a payment off platform, even for a purchase on the client's behalf.

filip_knezevic · ‎08-14-2020

Yes, that's also true. Only way would be if the 'client' would pay for the purchase in one milestone and for the freelancer's service in a second milestone. 🙂

martina_plaschka · ‎08-14-2020

Filip K wrote:
Yes, that's also true. Only way would be if the 'client' would pay for the purchase in one milestone and for the freelancer's service in a second milestone. 🙂

No, it can be in one milestone, or 10, or converted into hours, or a bonus, it does not matter, upwork will collect their fee on any payment, so that will have to be factored in.

martina_plaschka · ‎08-14-2020

Bruna S wrote:
even so, because here it is always said that we need to see if the client is verified or not.
Anyway, I don't see anyone wanting to solve the problem, instead they prefer to be blaming me

Nobody is saying that. Or maybe they are, but then they (whoever they are) are misinformed.

Upwork does not verify clients the same way as it does freelancers.

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-14-2020

but i think they should do, dont you?

prestonhunter · ‎08-14-2020

re: "but i think they should do, dont you?"

No, because the numbers don't work out.

Upwork would incur the cost of verifying clients and jobs, which would be very costly, and it would also present impedements to clients coming to the site to hire and pay freelancers.

That would be a very different business model.

The truth of the matter is that experienced freelancers don't get scammed, and don't want their earnings diminished by changing things to a system that vets clients.

VladimirG · ‎08-13-2020

Hi Bruna,

I'm sorry about your experience on this contract. I'd like to follow up on the information you received from Andrea and fellow freelancers. I checked your contract and see it was set up as an Hourly contract with a weekly payment in the amount mentioned in your conversation with the client in one of the screenshots you've shared. While weekly payments aren't covered by Payment Protection, feel free to reach out to the client to discuss payment for the work you performed.

~ Vladimir

brunapinheiro89 · ‎08-14-2020

I think that before he hired me he changed for hourly contract, when he invited me ít was fixed.
I can’t reach the client because he blocked me after end contract.
Anyway, I got refund from my credit card, but I’m really felling so bad that I couldn’t sleep last night

martina_plaschka · ‎08-14-2020

Bruna S wrote:
I think that before he hired me he changed for hourly contract, when he invited me ít was fixed.
I can’t reach the client because he blocked me after end contract.
Anyway, I got refund from my credit card, but I’m really felling so bad that I couldn’t sleep last night

This is definitely not a great experience, but don't give up on upwork just yet. There are nice and serious clients here, and as Preston said, with experience you will not be targeted by people trying to scam you any longer, plus you will recognize them in a matter of seconds.

But before you do anything else, you need to spend some time reading everything about how the platform works and how to stay safe.

colettelewis · ‎08-14-2020

Bruna, there is no doubt that this client should be suspended - permanently - and I hope Upwork does something about it.

But as far as your situation is concerned, Upwork can do nothing to help you, nor can we freelancers. As Martina and Preston have said - treat it as a bad experience, but a good learning curve and don't give up. But do read all the help pages (see the post by Wes). For your next job, make sure that you call the shots. You have a price, stick to it. If you want a fixed-rate contract, then the client must fund escrow with the entire amount agreed between you. The most secure payment model for freelancers is an hourly, tracked contract.