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]

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

[#3]

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

[#4]

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.