Unresponsive client

[#1]

Till now I have completed 2 small fixed-price jobs. I have one hourly project ongoing. But the client seems to be unresponsive. Before the contract was given to me, we agreed on some terms and conditions (it will be a commission-based project and not hourly). Technically it's an hourly project. The task was to schedule emails for every 2 weeks. The first day the client gave me leads that were finished after 2 weeks. I was told that I would get more leads for another 2 weeks, but I didn't get any. Now when I tried contacting the client, he didn't respond. What should I do? Should I close the contract? But there are no logged hours and I think ending the contract will not work as manual hours are not payment protected.

[#2]

Why would you close it if you haven't been paid? You agreed to commission, and received none?

[#3]

Hi Biljana
As you said it's a commission-only project (as agreed with the client ), so I was not allowed to log hours and yes I didn't receive any payment.

[#4]

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Abhijit K wrote:

As you said it's a commission-only project (as agreed with the client ), so I was not allowed to log hours and yes I didn't receive any payment.

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Hourly contract with no hours tracked = no payment.

How would you even track how much commission is owed?

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Abhijit K wrote:

as manual hours are not payment protected.

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Nor is commission

[#5]

Abhijit:
If this is an hourly contract... and you logged time...

Then it doesn't matter if the client is responsive or unresponsive.

It doesn't matter if the hours were logged manually or using the desktop time-tracker application.

It doesn't matter if you close the contract or if the client closes the contract.

It doesn't matter if the contract is open or closed.

You get paid automatically for the time that you log.

That's all.

[#6]

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Preston H wrote:

Abhijit:
If this is an hourly contract... and you logged time...

Then it doesn't matter if the client is responsive or unresponsive.

It doesn't matter if the hours were logged manually or using the desktop time-tracker application.

It doesn't matter if you close the contract or if the client closes the contract.

It doesn't matter if the contract is open or closed.

You get paid automatically for the time that you log.

That's all.

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I think it's commission only but set under hourly contract. No hours logged, he's waiting for a commission to possibly arrive or to be given more leads which would raise the chances for a commission. Meanwhile, the client disappeared.

[#7]

Hi Biljana,
You got it right. But still, I don't know what to do.🤔

[#8 · Accepted solution]

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Abhijit K wrote:

Hi Biljana,
You got it right. But still, I don't know what to do.🤔

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Well you are aware that the client is not bound with anything if you agreed to a commission. They are free to pay or not to pay and can always find an excuse not to pay. You created another problem - if a contract is set as hourly and you cancel without any payment, I think it can affect your JSS. The system sees it as you not performing if a contract is closed/refunded/canceled and no payment has been made.

Do not close the contract though, it won't help you in any way. Try contacting them through different channels and keep it open for some time.

In the future, I advise against commission only projects (I thought they were not allowed on Upwork). You can ask for some hourly minimum, with commission or bonus structure on top. 

[#9]

Upwork has specific contract types established:

- hourly

- fixed-price

And clients can also use these methods to pay freelancers:

- bonus payment

- automated weekly payment

This is what the user interface is designed to do.
Upwork does not have a commission option, and any attempt to do commission-based payments is a workaround.

If a freelancer and client agree together on a way to work together that uses the existing physical Upwork software and doesn't violate Upwork rules... I'm fine with it. But they need to understand that what they are doing will not be officially supported or understood by Upwork. And they might confuse regular Upwork users if they describe what they're doing in the Forum.

I wish the original poster well... But if he is engaged in some sort of "commission-only" arrangement on Upwork, I think it is best if he understands that he is pretty much on his own and there's not much that anybody can do to help him.