Unauthorized refund

[#1]

Hi, last week my contract with my client got suspended I told her and she fixed it immediately. The second time, I finished my work for her for 5 hours and got suspended again but this time I got no reply from her. This morning Upwork notified me that I refunded her without my permission. Also, the tasks were done. I feel robbed 😞 Upwork should also protect freelancers from this kind of clients having trouble with their cards etc. and double checking the work before the unauthorized refund. This is so unfair.

[#2]

Was a it fixed priced contract? Those are not protected. Hourly contracts are tracker with the tracker - are. Fixed priced contracts with new clients are always risky.

[#3]

Hi, It's an hourly contract. Also, the job was approved by the client. Then the contract was suspended and then to my surprise, Upwork refunded the client automatically. 😞

[#4]

Same as for me! It happened today. The job is accepted and he's using what I did on his own website and Upwork takes a refund from me without permission!

[#5]

Hi Ali,

I'm sorry to learn about this unexpected refund that's been processed on your account. I see that the team has reached out with more information and further instructions for resolving the issue. I can also see that you've raised a support ticket about your concern. Please don't hesitate to coordinate with the team through the email linked to your case, and they'll surely assist you accordingly.

[#6]

Upwork also issued a refund from my account to a client without my permission. The client never requested a refund in the first place and the job was a hourly contract. The client's account was also suspended by Upwork and an email had been sent to me by Upwork, then today they took the money when they could not reach the client. This is not fair because my work should have been under the hourly protection plan since my identity is confiirmed.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Hi Samera,

Unfortunately, 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 help article for more information. When this happens, first an automatic notification is sent but the team will also be reaching out to you directly via email with more information about your specific account.

[#8]

Hi, She is a paying client and It's an hourly contract. Also, the job was approved by the client. Then the contract was suspended and then to my surprise, Upwork refunded the client automatically. 

[#9]

Very interesting

[#10]

I have provided all the necessary evidence to Upwork customer support to get a refund for the work I did, but they keep replying to me with the same automated messages without actually solving the problem.
What should I do?

[#11]

"The same thing happened to me with a different contract. Even though hours was covered by Upwork hourly protection, the refund still went through. It doesn't make sense , so how do you explain that ?

[#12]

That's not true, I got my hours right, my client said that everything was perfect, he just had problems with his card, and what did upwork say? "The client didn't pay, so we don't pay you", there is no such thing as protection of hours, much less advance payments, they scammed me recently with 2700 dollars, it's not fair.

[#13]

This means that when client fails to pay me for logged hours, upwork will only pay me for time tracked and reverse the time added manually, is this how it works?

[#14]

Please help, i have the same situation. I felt like i've been robbed. I was suddenly notified that i refunded my client without my knowledge and it is a very big chunk of my hard earned money. And i used the time tracker most often. Please help

[#15]

Hi, i also have the same problem. Will we get that money back when the client pays? Cause we earned that and it's so unfair that my hard earned money suddenly gets redunded. This also happened to me the clients account gets suspended then refund happens without my knowledge. 

[#16]

Here are the rules for hourly payment protection 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068288-Hourly-Payment-Protection

[#17]

Thank you sophie, so that explains it. Thank you so much

[#18]

Hi, once the client pays, will our money be sent back? Cause there aint no way they be robbing my hard earn money

[#19]

It's not a refund. Upwork is just too lazy or cheap to send coherent emails. The client never paid.

[#20]

This is so sad. I feel that Upwork can't really protect us freelancers from this kind of client and yet they're giving unauthorize refund. The client is not replying for a week. Should I end the contract my self?

[#21]

UpWork doesn't want to be liable for the payment, that's why they have an automated refund structure in place.  The problem with the hourly protection is that it is misleading, the time tracker tracks you at an average of 10 minute intervals, each of those intervals needs to qualify (have 6 bars) in order for the single hour to actually count and it is still disputable since:

• Idle or empty (I.e. not active enough during any 10 minute period)
• Over the weekly limit
• Showing the freelancer engaged in non-work-related activity (I.e. they can claim that about just about anything)
• Missing memos or have inadequately described memos (I.e. they can claim that about just about anything)

All mean that they can revoke the "hourly" protection.  I have had it happen where a client was simply changing credit cards, was absolutely OK with all my hours and it still got auto-refunded.  Result, very confused long term client on the line thinking I didn't want to work with them any more.

I do understand that UpWork needs to protect itself, but this would be far better handled by us signing a waver for the hourly protection and not having auto refund.  Even worse is their solution, "simply ask the client for a bonus", in many countries bonuses fall under different taxation.

[#22]

I totally agree about the misleading part because they can just create anything they like so hours wont be covered. I have almost the same issue on my post but the only difference is that I asked them and they gave me assurance that the payment was made by the client already and that i was covered by the protection but regardless; my main point now is the emotional distress this has caused me. They provided me wrong info and I already made a promise to my creditor which obviously I wasnt able to fullfil because UW refunded the amt after it was placed on pending. 

[#23]

This same thing happened to me a few days ago! Next time when you start an hourly contract, make sure to use the "Time Tracker" so that Upwork can protect your pay. If you log the hours manually, they can't do anything, even if you complete the task. it's part of the Upwork Hourly Protection.

[#24]

Hello, I recently completed a contract on upwork with a client. Things went well, the client got what he wanted and finished my contract. Today, one week after the contract was closed, I received an e-mail saying "I have refunded" the customer money. I did not authorize such a thing, all watches were under contract terms and I logged using the time tracker... I have no idea what just happened.

[#25]

Invoice #: 579257946

Description: (33476964) Auer, West and Mann - 2:00 hrs @ $***/hr - 04/24/2023 - 04/30/2023

Amount Refunded: $***

this is the message