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bassmah
Community Member

The client disappeared after I delivered the work. Should I contact him on LinkedIn?

He didn't share his LinkedIn with me. I found it using his name and his company's name. I feel like this is going to be a bit rude and invasive, but the last thing I need is an idle contract. I'm working towards top-rated status with 4 weeks left.

P.S.  He wasn't very responsive or friendly so there is a big chance he'll leave a bad review. So, which is worse? An idle hourly contract (total: $228 billed) or a bad review after I end the contract myself?

 

Thank you.

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "The client disappeared after I delivered the work. Should I contact him on LinkedIn?"

 

No.

That would be wrong.

I would prefer to see freelancers who do something like that have their accounts suspended.

 

This client has not broken any rules or Upwork ToS. Clients are not obligated to respond to freelancers.

 

Do you think that he will give you better review if you contact him via LinkedIn?

 

An idle contract on which you already earned money is not dragging your Upwork JSS down.

 

If nothing happens after a while, you can close the contract yourself with no detriment to your JSS.

re "Do you think that he will give you better review if you contact him via LinkedIn?"

 

No, I'm pretty sure he'll give me a really bad review if I do so.

You're right, I won't be contacting him and thank you for the info on the JSS.

hoyle_editing
Community Member

If the work is billed and paid then i dont think leaving it idle will harm your JSS (though im not sure, but im sure someone will clarify soon) however, was the job completed to the clients satisfaction? just because the client comes over 'not friendly', it doesnt neccesarily mean they will leave negative feedback.

 

I had a client that i was adamant i would get bad feedback from. - I went out of my way to do a little extra and try to make sure he was happy, but i felt he was very very dissapointed no matter what i did. - I personally found the client very akward and hard to work with, communication was very poor and I was certain i'd get bad feedback.

It ended up being one of the best reviews ive had! i felt a little bad as the feedback i left for him wasnt the best (not bad, but certainly not great) having said that it WAS a true representation to my experiance working with him.

 

The moral is - dont assume the worst!

And here is the thing:

We DO want clients to close contracts and leave honest, accurate, positive feedback if we deserve it.

 

But if a client has truly stopped paying attention to the contract, and is just gone from Upwork these days... then if you close the contract yourself eventually, there will not be any bad feedback. There will be no feedback at all.

 

If we have some of those no-feedback contracts, they won't drag our JSS down. Petra has been pointing out that as far as she can tell, the impact of no-feedback contracts where we have earned money is now far less than it previously was, and may now be quite minimal or negligible.


Preston H wrote:

Petra has been pointing out that as far as she can tell, the impact of no-feedback contracts where we have earned money is now far less than it previously was, and may now be quite minimal or negligible.


Huh? "quite minimal or negligible?" I never said anything of the sort. The effect of an idle contract with money paid, unless there is a silly high percentage of such contracts, is nil. Nothing. None at all.

Kindly do not post that I said nonsense I never did say.

Thank you.

 

It was not my intention to misrepresent anything you have said.

 

Regardless of anything you have said...

 

I was referring to CLOSED no-feedback contracts, with some payment.

 

I wasn't referring to idle (still-open) contracts in that statement.

 

To clarify:

In the past I have spoken of closed no-feedback contracts (with some payment) as being harmful to JSS. I think they are less so now then they previously were, and apparently the impact now is minimal.


Preston H wrote:

It was not my intention to misrepresent anything you have said.

 


And yet, you did.

 


Preston H wrote:

To clarify:

In the past I have spoken of closed no-feedback contracts (with some payment) as being harmful to JSS. I think they are less so now then they previously were, and apparently the impact now is minimal.


No, the impact, as long as money was paid and such contracts do not represent an insane percentage of such contracts, is nil. Not "less". Not "minimal."

Nil. Nothing. Nada.

 

This has been the case for a long time.

re: "The moral is - don't assume the worst. "

 

Thanks for sharing, Jonathan. I'm kind of a brooding pessimist so it comes naturally to me to just assume the absolute worst. 

Im sure we all are at times - i know i am! 

 

Dont forget, clients might be really busy - the project your working on might be your biggest prority and really important to YOU, as your trying to build a reputation and a business. To the client that same project might just be a pain in the backside that they dont really want to do but have been forced into it by management. If thats the case communicating with you is probably last thing on the clients agenda - doesnt mean they will leave bad reviews though 🙂

 

(dont get me wrong, im a little guilty of this sometimes to - it can be hard not to when your trying your hardest to build something that you can rely on as a feasable long term income and every hurdle seems to want to bite you, but when that happens just try to step back and look at the bigger picture) Smiley Very Happy

petra_r
Community Member


Bassma h wrote:

 but the last thing I need is an idle contract.


idle contracts with money paid do not hurt your JSS at all.

Take a deep breath and leave the client alone.

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