Unauthorized refund

[cecilia_marquez]

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.

[ArjayM]

Hi Salman,

Arjay here stepping in for Annie Jane. We certainly understand how you want this issue resolved immediately. I've escalated your community post to a support ticket. One of our agents will be in touch with you soon to assist. You may access your ticket and coordinate with the team here.

[salmannaseer78]

Moderator Annie Jane B -  Will u please guide me 

[salmannaseer78]

Hi,
One of my client created dispute and upwork reserves its milestones payment some of my account and reclear the disputes. I want to clear that is my account balance is negative or not. So, I can indentify that payments. Thank you 

[salmannaseer78]

Please help me to get it know so i confirm that I have negative balance or not

[sparbrand]

Upwork just deducted $7.5 from my account and from what I can see they intend to deduct even more. A client of mine who was supposed to pay me for an hourly contract defaulted in payment I guess but I do not know what is wrong at this point.  

[prestonhunter]

It sounds like you did not follow the rules for Upwork Payment Protection.

Personally, I follow those rules. So if a client's payment method could not be charged, Upwork pays me out of their own pocket.

In the future, follow those rules.

[ArjayM]

Hi Ifedi,

Thank you for reaching out and I'm sorry to hear about the unexpected refund that's been processed on your account. Please note that 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.

I can see that the team has reached out to you via email with more information about the issue and further instructions on how to proceed. Please don't hesitate to coordinate with the team by responding to the email and they will surely assist you accordingly. You may also check this page for the support ticket linked to your case. We would appreciate your patience and cooperation while we sort this out for you.

[mohammadali110]

Hello, I wanted to bring to your attention that I was supposed to receive a pending payment today, April 19th, from my client for an hourly contract on Upwork. However, Upwork refunded the client without any dispute or consent.  

Although, My ID is fully verified, and I believe my payment should have been protected under Upwork's hourly protection policy. However, I was surprised to see that Upwork refunded my pending payment to the client without notifying me. Also, I take this into your consideration that I have been working on Upwork since it was known as Odesk. I've started work on Upwork since it was Odesk and I would appreciate clarification on this matter, as it has left me feeling disappointed with Upwork.

Thanks

[spectralua]

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Unauthorized-refund/td-p/873154/jump-to/first-unread-mes...

[ArjayM]

Hi Muhammad,

I'm sorry to hear about the unexpected refund that's been processed on your account. Please note that 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.

I can see that you've been in contact with the team through the reversal email notification. Also, a couple of support tickets have been set up with the same concern. We highly suggest you continue coordinating with the team through email and they will surely assist you accordingly. You may also check this page for the support tickets linked to your case. 

A gentle reminder, please avoid creating several tickets or posts for the same concern so that the team could assist you more efficiently. We seek your patience and utmost understanding while sorting this out for you. Thank you!

[lroy]

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

One of my clients,**Edited for Community Guidelines**, has not paid me, and the fact that Upwork payment is not validated indicates that Upwork does not give guaranteed payment for hourly jobs???

If Upwork fails to provide money as agreed for any hourly jobs, they will accuse me of keyboard mouse manipulation and refund earnings. Despite the fact that I have not used any such software, I have been working for 15 years. I've never used software like this. Before this false charge, I had no knowledge of this type of software existed. I am much older and have never participated in such activities for any of my previous jobs.

Guaranteed payout jobs are specified on Upwork, and we, providers are available to work for them. This platform deducts service charges and all, however, 
there is no such functionality as PAYMENT METHOD VERIFIED or GUARANTEED PAYMENT jobs. If they are required, they will simply accuse without providing proof and will refund money from the provider's earnings.

[ahsanshamoon]

EXACTLY what is happening with me right now. This Auto Clicker tactic is an utterly cheap move being used by Upwork. They're detecting my routine Graphics Design work as "Keyboard or mouse manipulation" and exactly on those dates where the client was unable to pay up due to some account issues. The client will eventually pay me since we're on good terms and his card maxes out often but this Upwork blame and threat of permanent account suspension has greatly jeopardized my confidence in this platform!

[759e32fa]

Hi Lily and Ahsan,

Thank you for reaching out. Please note that 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.

It looks like the team has reached out with more information about the issue and further instructions on how to resolve the issue. Please don't hesitate to coordinate with the team through your email or this page with your support ticket if you have concerns or still need further assistance.

[35a3f4dd]

Hello,
A client suddenly cancelled my contract because the client wanted to renogiate the project charges. I asked for the payment of hours I had logged in response client said that every one knows that first few days are considered as test yet no such thing was mentioned before starting the contract. I had already asked for help from Upwork previously and I was told Upwork will componsate. The amount I was supposed to receive was held in pending and instead of me receiving the amount, Upwork refunded it to the Client. Any help?? 

[759e32fa]

Hi Komal,

Thank you for reaching out. Please note that 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.

It looks like the team has reached out with more information about the issue and further instructions on how to resolve the issue. Please don't hesitate to coordinate with the team through your email or this page with your support ticket if you have concerns or still need further assistance.

[35a3f4dd]

I had logged most of the hours through Upwork's automatic timetracker yet all the payment has been refunded to the client

[PradeepH]

Hi Komal,

I am sorry to hear about your contract. I understand your situation and I suggest you refer to the support ticket initiated on your account for more information. As mentioned on the support ticket, the logged hours do not meet the criteria to be covered for payment protection. You can access your support tickets here. Please don't hesitate to follow up with them on the same support ticket if you have additional questions regarding your concern. Note that support requests are responded to in the order they are received. Kindly allow 24-48 hours for the team to follow up with you and assist you further.

Thank you,
Pradeep

[50c10087]

So this happened to me a few weeks back, I had been working on a long-term contract for almost a year, and I got a notification from Upwork that they were not able to charge the client so pause the work until further notice. as soon as I received this notification I paused the work, mind you I always used the time tracker for this job with proper memos even though the client was happy with manual time addition. 

A week went by and I got this notification that I issued a "Refund" to the client, I was both shocked and surprised to hear that, I contacted the support team and they told me that I did not qualify for the "Upwork payment protection" even though
- I used time tracker app by Upwork
- My activity levels were high
- I used memos of the work I did

after going back and forwards with them I requested them to at least tell me why I am not qualified for that even though I fulfilled every requirement for payment protection that is available publically, I wanted to know so I could improve myself if I indeed did something wrong (which I did not)  but instead of responding to me and they marked the ticket solved and acted like they solved my issue. 

I don't understand the refund system. like its not my fault I did the work and even if Upwork does not want to refund me my due amount why don't they ask the client? they can restrict the client or flag them so they are unable to just open upwork and continue hiring new people as if nothing happened?  They can at least restrict the client from opening a new contract until they settle this payment? The support asked me to contact the client directly and beg them to give me a bonus for the refunded amount, what is Upwork here to do? they get a 20% commission but when it comes to protecting the rights of freelancers they turn a blind eye.