Unpaid Training

[iamchlrslopez]

Hi, I am just new to Upwork. I have a client who sent me contract immediately though I never did really applied to him in the first place. He invited me for zoom interview and I accepted it. He explained to me the scope of work including the Business he's in. He said, he is just new to Upwork that's why his payment method were not verified yet. Our starting date will be next week however, a week before the start date, we are having a training which is 1-2hours per day. He also told me to study and review the job description and the task I'll handle which I did on my free time. Manual time is allowed too!

My question is, is it okay to ask for additional payment for the training? I believe I will not be paid for it for the contract will start just yet. This is for a long term project by the way. If yes, how can I ask additional payment? Should I tell him directly or should I make a proposal for it? How much would I tell him?

I'm hesitant to ask my client about this. Please help! Thanks.

-Cy

[martina_plaschka]

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Chlarise L wrote:
Hi, I am just new to Upwork. I have a client who sent me contract immediately though I never did really applied to him in the first place. He invited me for zoom interview and I accepted it. He explained to me the scope of work including the Business he's in. He said, he is just new to Upwork that's why his payment method were not verified yet. Our starting date will be next week however, a week before the start date, we are having a training which is 1-2hours per day. He also told me to study and review the job description and the task I'll handle which I did on my free time. Manual time is allowed too!

My question is, is it okay to ask for additional payment for the training? I believe I will not be paid for it for the contract will start just yet. This is for a long term project by the way. If yes, how can I ask additional payment? Should I tell him directly or should I make a proposal for it? How much would I tell him?

I'm hesitant to ask my client about this. Please help! Thanks.

-Cy

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First, no interview outside of upwork before hire. Not allowed.

Second, I would not entertain this training nonsense. This is not employment. Ask yourself why they don't hire people who already have what they need. There are millions of freelancers to chose from.

I don't know what their game is, probably getting work for free. I find it very suspicious that you didn't even apply. (If you are in the US, then it's the fake check cashing scam.)

Tell them you are happy to do the training after you are hired on an hourly contract with your usual rate. You will never hear from them again. 

[iamchlrslopez]

Hi Martina,

Thanks for the response. We conduct the zoom interview on Upwork. He contacted me through Upwork too!

He is from Melbourne, Australia. We began the training the next day after I accepted the contract. I was hired by him already.

[petra_r]

It is an hourly contract? Just use the tracker while working/training.

Why would you assume that it's not paid? Did the client say so?

[iamchlrslopez]

Yes it is an hourly contract. Client did not say it will be unpaid. I assume it is because the start date on the contract is next week.

[jr-translation]

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Chlarise L wrote:
Hi Martina,

Thanks for the response. We conduct the zoom interview on Upwork. He contacted me through Upwork too!

He is from Melbourne, Australia. We began the training the next day after I accepted the contract. I was hired by him already.

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There are two things to keep in mind:
1. Manual time is not protected and the client can refuse to pay for it. Better use the app all the time.

2. Make sure his payment method is verified or again the time is not protected even if you use the app.

[iamchlrslopez]

Can I use the tracker even though our contract will start just yet?

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

Ah, no, if the contract doesn't start until next week you can't. Talk to the client!

[wlyonsatl]

Hi, Chlarise.

Far too many clients on Upwork do not know the details of how Upwork works. Your client may be one of them, so if either his payment method is not approved or TimeTracker is not yet available, tell the client, as diplomatically as possible, that you've just noticed the problem(s) and he needs to address this as soon as possible.

In my experience, getting a payment method approved by Upwork is not a long process, so the approval should be in place within a couple of days. But the client needs to start the process immediately, if he hasn't already.

Under Upwork's rules you don't have a valid hourly contract to do work on until Time Tracker is available for you to document your work time for a client. And if the client's payment method has not been approved by Upwork, even if you track your work time using Time Tracker it is not covered by Upwork's excellent hourly payment protection. (This should not be allowed, but it is.)

So, you shouldn't do any work on an hourly contract until you can use Time Tracker to keep track of your work time and Upwork confirms the client's payment method is approved. 

If things are going well and your training really is about training and is not about doing work the client can use without being paid for it, then your best option, if the client has given you no reason to distrust him, may be to keep close track of your manual time and add it to Time Tracker as soon as TimeTracker is available to you, then switch to tracking all work time using Time Tracker properly. When you add the manual time Time Tracker, tell the client so he isn't surprised when he sees it in his Upwork invoice. I'd also send him a daily accounting of my manual work time, so he knows what to expect.

As others here have said, all work time you add manually on any project is not covered by Upwork's excellent hourly protection. By definition, you do not know and have no reason to trust this new client will pay you, so do anything possible to avoid using additional manual time during the earliest days of your work with him. 

Good luck!

[iamchlrslopez]

Woooow! Thank you so much for the onpoint response. This is really helpful. This is the answer I've been looking for! Thanks again.

[martina_plaschka]

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Chlarise L wrote:
Hi Martina,

Thanks for the response. We conduct the zoom interview on Upwork. He contacted me through Upwork too!

He is from Melbourne, Australia. We began the training the next day after I accepted the contract. I was hired by him already.

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I'm glad to hear this turned out well. Not many forum stories do, so consider yourself a rare exception!