Trapped ! Show me a safe exit.

[timefighter11]

Hay, 
After having quite success at Upwork, finally landed on a client which is causing many problems for me. It's an hourly contract. The thing is, he is not a good communicator and not clear in the instructions. Talks in cold way and don't understand what I tell him about the project. Also, he don't explain what I really need to do have done lot of work on this project. Now, he has paused the contract and not responding too. 
I need help in these things:

1. As I know, the client will ruin my profile stats even how much I work on it (based on his cold and rude attitude from very start & pervious one review to a freelancer who removed it from her profile), How can I save myself?
2. How will Upwork help me if someone intentionally give bad reviews(rating)? I am not top rated, so can't remove feedback. 
3. Should I stop working on it (Client has even paused the contract/time tracking) & not responsive? 

Everyone is welcomed to advise me based on their knowledge and expertise.

Kind Regards,
Muhammad Zeeshan

[yitwail]

Muhammad, it sounds to me like the best outcome for you would be for the client to just go away and forget about you. So don't do anything like sending him messages. As long as you were paid some money on the contract, a paused contract won't hurt your JSS, and don't close the job yourself, because if you do, he might decide to give you a nasty review.

[bizwriterjohn]

I have experienced this problem.  This is the tactic I take.

1. I keep the project open, let it sit for a while, have it go into the back of this problematic client's mind.

2. Then I wait for a holiday to come within the client's world.   And I quietly close the project down at the beginning of the holiday.

3. With the hoped for outcome of having the client in mindsets related to his holiday, and not leaving a terrible rating.

4. There is a small hit administered by the JSS Big Math for contractor-closed projects.  It is less than the hit a super-bad rating administers.

- Let the project go dark and cold

- Wait for a holiday weekend to quietly close the deal

- Hope.