Unauthorized refund

[#1]

Hi, I recently finished a contract with a client on upwork. Things went ok, client got what they asked and finished my contract. Today, a week after the contract was closed I receive an email stating “I refunded” the client money. I haven’t authorized such thing, all hours were under the terms of the contract and logged using the time tracker... I have no idea what just happened.

Please do excuse any possible mistakes, I am currently on mobile.

[#2]

They don't have to ask for your permission or get it. They didn't "refund" it although they use that word. They probably tried to charge the client's card and it didn't go through. Unless you used the time tracker, you will not get the money.

[#3]

Hi Michelle,

I'm really sorry to hear about this unpleasant experience. Please note that on hourly contracts when a client fails to pay for the hours logged by the freelancer and those hours don’t meet the requirements for Hourly Protection, the payment may be reversed.

Our team will be reaching out to you via email with updates and more information. We seek your patience and utmost understanding.

[#4]

Hello,

I'm a newbie here. I completed my first job for a client. It was a fixed price job. I was notified that payment was made last week Tuesday and it was pending. 

Today, I was notified that a refund has been made to the client, something I did not initiate. 

What could be the problem? 

I need help.

[#5]

For the second time withing 5 months i have to returned my hard earned money back to client . 

Is this chain of scam , How TO PREVENT THIS in the future or what should i look about clients . 

Totally Disappointing and don't know what to do . UpWork need to address this . Every time pain is for freelancers . Believe you can change the ToS to address this .

**Edited for community guidelines**

[#6]

Hi Kalaani,

I checked your account and it looks like one of our agents has reached out to you already regarding the reversed payment. One of our agents will update your ticket to assist you further. 

[#7]

Hello there,

I have found and my client was refunded money by upwork for the work I have already done for my client !

I did not made this refund .So how is it possible?

Now I want my money back to my upwork account.

Can anyone give me a suggestion please.

Thanks,

Adnan

[#8]

This happens all the time. You will not get your money. The client's payment didn't go through because the card was probably stolen and Upwork does not verify that it wasn't when they first charge the card. That is only discovered by the bank or actual card holder when they notice the charge sometime later.

[#9]

I did all the work the client requested. I requested for the client to end the contract after I was treated unfairly. Now I am seeing that I processed a refund to the client which I did not.

Please help!

[#10]

Was this job in addition to the 2 jobs you have completed? Or is it one of those? 

[#11]

You don't have to give permission for that to happen. Upwork probably was unable to charge thir card. You won't get any money from either them or Upwork.

[#12]

Hi everyone. I just got an email that my money was refunded to a client. I did the work. Can someone please help me?

[#13]

It was not actually "refunded". Upwork really needs to stop using that word when notifying freelancers. Most likely, their card was discoverd as being stolen and the charge was declined by their bank. You won't get your money back.

[#14]

Hi Tatume, 

I'm sorry to learn that your hours were returned to the client's billing method. When the client fails to pay for hours logged by the freelancer, any hours that aren't covered by Upwork Hourly Protection may be reversed. Please check out this article for more information. When this happens, an automatic notification is sent, which I believe you have already received. The team will also be reaching out to you directly via email with more information about your specific account.

[#15]

Hi Avery, 

I was refunded two times already from Upwork, how can I get them back? Thanks!

[#16]

Ok, so I'm puzzled.

I had a contract with a client.  He wanted to have a project completed within 72 hours.  I was able to do this, and he was happy with the work.  I used the desktop app to log my hours, but when UpWork went down last week, I needed to log some hours in the diary.

My employer set the contract for $50/hour, a max of 15 hours in the week.  However, we both agreed that we needed more time to finish the project, so I continued to work past the 15 hours.  He paid me for all of my hours after the job was completed.  As the payment was pending, I recieved a message today saying that I paid back $125 to the employer (5 hours of work).  I did not do this, so it must have been UpWork?

Can someone tell me what is going on?  The only notice I got was that I submitted a refund to the employer, but I never did this!

I attached the invoice history.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#17]

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@Chuck C wrote:

Ok, so I'm puzzled.

I had a contract with a client.  He wanted to have a project completed within 72 hours.  I was able to do this, and he was happy with the work.  I used the desktop app to log my hours, but when UpWork went down last week, I needed to log some hours in the diary.

My employer set the contract for $50/hour, a max of 15 hours in the week.  However, we both agreed that we needed more time to finish the project, so I continued to work past the 15 hours.  He paid me for all of my hours after the job was completed.  As the payment was pending, I recieved a message today saying that I paid back $125 to the employer (5 hours of work).  I did not do this, so it must have been UpWork?

Can someone tell me what is going on?  The only notice I got was that I submitted a refund to the employer, but I never did this!

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 Chances are the client's payment method failed, so Upwork never got paid, so only hours qualifying for the guarantee were paid.

$ 125 would be 2.5 hours at $ 50 per hour.

[#18]

Thanks for the reply.  (sorry about the math, I did a few more hours that I forgot to log and just chalked those up as a loss).

But, I origionally thought that might be the case.  However, his payment was unverified.  So, UpWork wouldn't have paid me at all (unless I'm understanding that incorrectly).

[#19]

Hi Chuck,

Unfortunately, there were issues with your client's account. As Petra guessed, some hours weren't covered by Upwork Hourly Protection and therefore had to be reversed. Please, communicate with your client and ask them to issue a payment to you in a form of a bonus once they sort out issues with their account.

[#20]

I just had the same issue with a client. I delivered all agreed upon work and client was happy, but I just got a notification that I sent a refund to the client??

[#21]

Hi Matt,

This usually happens when a client's payment method becomes unverified and your work did not qualify for Upwork's Payment Protection. You will be receiving a notification with more detailed information about this today.

[#22]

Hi,

This just happened to me, im not sure why. I got the notification that the contract was on hold and client stated issues with his CC and that it will take time to fix, so i stopped working on the contract and then i get a notification that I granted the refund. 

So i should contact the client and ask that the refund be placed to my account in the form of a Bonus or will the client be aware of what happened

[#23]

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Jose S wrote:

This just happened to me, im not sure why. I got the notification that the contract was on hold and client stated issues with his CC and that it will take time to fix, so i stopped working on the contract and then i get a notification that I granted the refund. 

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That's because your client didn't pay Upwork and you didn't track your hours properly, so you did not qualify for Hourly protection (in which case Upwork would have paid you out of their own pocket.)

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Jose S wrote:

So i should contact the client and ask that the refund be placed to my account in the form of a Bonus or will the client be aware of what happened

---

Until the client fixes their card and their Upwork account, they can't ay you a bonus any more than they paid your hourly payments....

[#24]

Thanks for reply. 

but i always used the desktop app to track my hours and also included a memo. 

Which ways could i not have tracked my hours properly?

[#25]

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Jose S wrote:

Thanks for reply. 

but i always used the desktop app to track my hours and also included a memo. 

Which was could i not have tracked my hours properly?

---

low activity levels? Memo not clearly describing what exactly you were working on?

[#26]

Hi Jose,

We're sorry to hear about this, on hourly contracts when a client fails to pay for the hours logged by the freelancer and those hours don't meet the requirements for Hourly Protection, the payment may be reversed. Please check out this article for more information. Our team will also be reaching out to you via email with more information.

Thank you!