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d994257b
Community Member

Unresponsive client suddenly ended the contract and left a bad review

I have accepted an hourly contract three weeks ago but as soon as I was ready to begin the work, the client became inactive. I have been sending him messages over the past weeks (since I avoid open contracts with no progress to show up on my profile) but he's not responding to my questions, so I went ahead and logged my work. But I guess he was notified of it, so now he abruptly ended the contract and even managed to leave me feedback (which I think isn't good)

 

I know that this contract can't be deleted from my job history, but is there any way that I can file for a dispute to his feedback (whether good or bad, I don't want it affecting my JSS). I'm not interested in his money either, so it doesn't matter if he pays me or not.

5 REPLIES 5
prestonhunter
Community Member

Clients are not obligated to respond to freelancers. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

A client may end a contract at any time. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

re: "is there any way that I can file for a dispute to his feedback"

 

No.

 

re: "I'm not interested in his money either, so it doesn't matter if he pays me or not."

 

If you refund all the money from this contract, nothing about the contract, including public feedback, will appear on your profile page.

 

I advise you to not do that until you see the client's feedback.

 

You may look at the feedback now simply by leaving your feedback, and then clicking on the contract listing under My Jobs: All Contracts.

petra_r
Community Member


Trixie Shane M wrote:

I have accepted an hourly contract three weeks ago but as soon as I was ready to begin the work, the client became inactive. I have been sending him messages over the past weeks (since I avoid open contracts with no progress to show up on my profile) but he's not responding to my questions, so I went ahead and logged my work.

That makes no sense. If you had what you needed, why didn't you start right away? If you didn't have what you needed, what did you actually do while "logging your work?"

Also, your reasoning doesn't make sense. Contracts with nothing paid don't show on your profile. And you have 12 contracts showing in progress, one more wouldn't make any difference lol

 


Trixie Shane M wrote:

I know that this contract can't be deleted from my job history


The contract can be made to vanish from your profile if you return all money paid (if you logged hours this week, the client is charged on Monday.)

 


Trixie Shane M wrote:

 is there any way that I can file for a dispute to his feedback (whether good or bad, I don't want it affecting my JSS).


No, there isn't. There are no grounds on which to dispute the feedback (which resumably you haven't even seen?) and the private feedback will affect your JSS (for better or for worse) regardless of whether you refund to get the public feedback off your profile.

d994257b
Community Member

I wanted to confirm something regarding the work, but since he wasn't responsive I proceeded to do my research and I got the solution.

 

Wouldn't it be biased if a client leaves you unjustifiable negative feedback and you can't do anything about it other than pay to have it removed? Not to mention the fact that it would still affect my score even I would give a refund for the work I spent time and effort on.

 

Also, I don't think you have to bring up the fact that I don't want idle contracts on my profile. I'm not doing someone any harm with it, lol.

petra_r
Community Member


Trixie Shane M wrote:

Also, I don't think you have to bring up the fact that I don't want idle contracts on my profile.


I did have to bring it up because you obviously didn't understand that contracts with no work done don't show on your profile at all.

 


Trixie Shane M wrote:

I wanted to confirm something regarding the work, but since he wasn't responsive I proceeded to do my research and I got the solution.


The time to "confirm something about the work" is before you accept the contract.

 


Trixie Shane M wrote:

Wouldn't it be biased if a client leaves you unjustifiable negative feedback and you can't do anything about it other than pay to have it removed?


You don't even know what the feedback is... The fact that you somehow know that it is bad would indicate that you are aware that something wasn't right. Feedback is one party's honest assessment of how they enjoyed working with the other party's. There is no "right" or "wrong" and Upwork do not get involved in "This feedback is unfair" discussions. They'd have to double their workforce and double their fees....

 

You can't "pay" to have it removed, it's just a side effect of "nothing paid" contracts not showing on the public profile.

 


Trixie Shane M wrote:

Not to mention the fact that it would still affect my score even I would give a refund for the work I spent time and effort on.


That is to stop freelancers messing up contracts and then, if the client gives poor feedback, refunding to get rid of the visible effect. The reason why we have private feedback and why that private feedback can't be removed or changed is to make sure that the JSS is a reflection of how clients really feel, rather than the standard 5 star feedback on everything that is the norm these days.

tlbp
Community Member


Trixie Shane M wrote:

I wanted to confirm something regarding the work, but since he wasn't responsive I proceeded to do my research and I got the solution.

 

Wouldn't it be biased if a client leaves you unjustifiable negative feedback and you can't do anything about it other than pay to have it removed? Not to mention the fact that it would still affect my score even I would give a refund for the work I spent time and effort on.

 

Also, I don't think you have to bring up the fact that I don't want idle contracts on my profile. I'm not doing someone any harm with it, lol.


When you joined a platform that users client feedback as part of the system, and agreed to enter into a contract with a client on that platform, you accepted the client's right to leave you feedback. You do not have right to direct what the client says. Their feedback is their opinion. The can assess the work however they want.

 

You aren't entitled to positive feedback, regardless of your time and effort. You can respond to feeback by saying it's biased and unfair if you want to. But, you can't eliminate any client opinions that you don't like. 

 

No one's making you pay for anything. Your are being asked to live up to the terms of your agreement. Contract = client feedback. Would you prefer that Upwork not allow you to remove the contract from your public profile at all? They could just leave the contract visible with the feedback and a note indicating that the freelancer made a full refund. 

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