Solved: Upword withdraws my offers

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Hi all,

I'd just like to alert other freelancers to the fact that due to a glitch in the system your offers are withdrawn and archived without you knowing it.

I was alerted to this by a client today who was looking for my offer and found it in his archived offers, saying that I had withdrawn it.

I just checked my submitted offers and DOZENS OF OFFERS have been withdrawn. I've been wondering recently why so many clients are so unresponsive and now I know why.

I expect that an Upwork team member will make a statement as to what is happening and how you're planning to address this issue and when it will be fixed.

Obviousy I want all the connects returned that I used on these offers and I want you to be aware that potentially I have lost a lot of business. I have no idea how this could have been going on for so long without someone fixing it (or even noticing it?).

I expect a quick response

Sincerely

An annoyed freelancer

Phyllis G · ‎12-12-2019

angela l wrote:
No. Not a bug apparently. Although my client's words were: "Did you withdraw your proposal or is this Upwork acting up again?" Which was the first time that I was alerted to the fact, that my proposals had been withdrawn. (The verification and preceeding account suspension happened on the 6th of December!) I knew NOTHING about the cancellations. While this may not be a system bug it certainly is a bug in Upworks rules and regulations, which needs fixing.

I disagree. Annoying as it is, UW is entitled to require us to re-verify our identity as often as they wish. They give us seven days in which to do it, and make it clear that if we miss that deadline, extreme aggravation and inconvenience will ensue. You missed the deadline and guess what -- aggravation and inconvenience. It wasn't UW "acting up" -- it was UW doing exactly what they said they would do.

Your initial post created the impression that you had complied with the re-verification request within two hours and still had proposals withdrawn. Sadly, UW is flaky enough that many generally level-headed FLs (me included) found that plausible enough to be alarmed. Come to find out, it all resulted from you missing the seven-day deadline. Personally, I find that somewhat annoying. There are enough genuine bugs and malfunctions on teh platform that cost people real money through no fault of their own. Complaining when one gets caught in a net of their own making just muddies the water unnecessarily.

View solution in original post

Jennifer R · ‎12-12-2019

angela l wrote:
Hi all,

I'd just like to alert other freelancers to the fact that due to a glitch in the system your offers are withdrawn and archived without you knowing it.
I was alerted to this by a client today who was looking for my offer and found it in his archived offers, saying that I had withdrawn it.
I just checked my submitted offers and DOZENS OF OFFERS have been withdrawn. I've been wondering recently why so many clients are so unresponsive and now I know why.
I expect that an Upwork team member will make a statement as to what is happening and how you're planning to address this issue and when it will be fixed.
Obviousy I want all the connects returned that I used on these offers and I want you to be aware that potentially I have lost a lot of business. I have no idea how this could have been going on for so long without someone fixing it (or even noticing it?).
I expect a quick response
Sincerely
An annoyed freelancer

Has your profile been on hold recently?

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Hi Jennifer,

I have replied to Gorans message. See the information there, please.

Regards

Goran V · ‎12-12-2019

Hi Angela,

I understand your frustration with this and I`m sorry about the inconvenience it had caused you. I can see that your account was recently on hold. Due to this reason your active proposals were archived.

If you have any additional questions let me know, thank you.

~ Goran

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Hi Goran,

if this were the case then all my offers would have been withdrawn not just selected ones.

The account was on hold for all of 2 hours. Reason was account verification. Which I had completed (confirmed by Upwork) not long ago in September this year. Suddenly Upwork decides that it needs to verifiy again, this time with a video call and puts the account on hold. the call was done straight away. ID confirmed again.

Nobody told me that within this short timeframe my proposals had been withdrawn, no notification, nada.

This is Upwork willfully taking away business opportunities and the connects that I used on these proposals and that I've paid for.

I want customer service to review this and come up with an agreeable solution.

Regards

Goran V · ‎12-12-2019

Hi Angela,

I would like to confirm that all of your active proposals were withdraw and not just a selected number of proposals. I can also see that our team has reached out to you via ticket with detailed instructions about your verification, you can access your tickets on this link.

If you do not complete your verification in the specified timeframe your account will be put on hold. and all active proposals/interviews will be archived. I understand your frustration with this and also would like to confirm that we do not refund connects in this case. Thank you.

~ Goran

Jennifer R · ‎12-12-2019

Goran V wrote:
Hi Angela,

I would like to confirm that all of your active proposals were withdraw and not just a selected number of proposals. I can also see that our team has reached out to you via ticket with detailed instructions about your verification, you can access your tickets on this link.

If you do not complete your verification in the specified timeframe your account will be put on hold. and all active proposals/interviews will be archived. I understand your frustration with this and also would like to confirm that we do not refund connects in this case. Thank you.

Do we get a fair warning and a reasonable deadline for the verification?

And what happens to current contracts? Will they be cancelled as well?

Vladimir G · ‎12-12-2019

Hi Jennifer,

Yes on both initial questions, you can also find the information you're looking for in the Help Center:

What happens if I do not pass the verification process?

Freelancers that are required to verify but do not do so within 7 days of our notification will have their accounts placed on hold. The hold will prevent freelancers from withdrawing earnings, submitting proposals to new jobs, accepting direct hires, or showing up in search results. Any active proposals that have been submitted will also be canceled. The hold will not affect your ability to work on existing contracts.

Once you successfully pass the verification process, this hold will be removed.

~ Vladimir

Jennifer R · ‎12-12-2019

Vladimir G wrote:
Hi Jennifer,

Yes on both initial questions, you can also find the information you're looking for in the Help Center:

What happens if I do not pass the verification process?

Freelancers that are required to verify but do not do so within 7 days of our notification will have their accounts placed on hold. The hold will prevent freelancers from withdrawing earnings, submitting proposals to new jobs, accepting direct hires, or showing up in search results. Any active proposals that have been submitted will also be canceled. The hold will not affect your ability to work on existing contracts.
Once you successfully pass the verification process, this hold will be removed.

So, YES, we get a 7 day warning before the profile is set on hold.

But NO, existing contracts are not affected.

Preston H · ‎12-12-2019

I have personally gone through the video verification and document identification processes. Took five minutes and ten minutes respectively.

Seven days is plenty of time.

If a person has issues with the verification process, then they can work with customer service to address those specific issues.

Christine A · ‎12-12-2019

Preston H wrote:
I have personally gone through the video verification and document identification processes. Took five minutes and ten minutes respectively.

Seven days is plenty of time.

If a person has issues with the verification process, then they can work with customer service to address those specific issues.

The problem isn't having to do video verfications, but doesn't it seem unreasonable to have all of your active proposals withdrawn when you've done nothing wrong?

Preston H · ‎12-12-2019

re: "The problem isn't having to do video verfications, but doesn't it seem unreasonable to have all of your active proposals withdrawn when you've done nothing wrong?"

If active proposals are withdrawn when video verification is requested, that would be very wrong and very unreasonable.

It is my undestanding that what happens is that the active proposals are withdrawn if a freelancer does not complete the verification process within 7 days after having been requested to do so.

If you disagree with this prace, then what do you suggest as an alternative?

I didn't make the rules about this, and I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other about it. If anyone has ideas about how to improve this, this is a good place to suggest them.

Christine A · ‎12-12-2019

Preston H wrote:
re: "The problem isn't having to do video verfications, but doesn't it seem unreasonable to have all of your active proposals withdrawn when you've done nothing wrong?"

If active proposals are withdrawn when video verification is requested, that would be very wrong and very unreasonable.

It is my undestanding that what happens is that the active proposals are withdrawn if a freelancer does not complete the verification process within 7 days after having been requested to do so.

If you disagree with this prace, then what do you suggest as an alternative?

I didn't make the rules about this, and I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other about it. If anyone has ideas about how to improve this, this is a good place to sugggest them.

Angela said that her account was on hold for two hours, and Goran responded, "I would like to confirm that all of your active proposals were withdrawn." So that's where I got the idea that as soon as Upwork decides that you need to video verify, all of your proposals are withdrawn (though not your active contracts). So either you've misunderstood, or I have. If I haven't misunderstood, then my suggestion for an improvement would be: DON'T withdraw all our active proposals until the 7 days have passed.

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Recently I've been using Upwork every day. My account was put on hold some time during the night (I'm in Europe) or in the early morning. When I logged in in the morning I was told the account was on hold and I had to do verification. (the 2nd time within 2 months)

The account was not on hold for 7 days. And even then the proposals could have been put on hold as well - the only reasonable, and decent, way to treat the subject.

I have done video verification before and I have no problem with it. I've worked in the security myself and know all there is to know about KYC processes.

Tonya P · ‎12-12-2019

Christine A wrote:
Preston H wrote:
re: "The problem isn't having to do video verfications, but doesn't it seem unreasonable to have all of your active proposals withdrawn when you've done nothing wrong?"

If active proposals are withdrawn when video verification is requested, that would be very wrong and very unreasonable.

It is my undestanding that what happens is that the active proposals are withdrawn if a freelancer does not complete the verification process within 7 days after having been requested to do so.

If you disagree with this prace, then what do you suggest as an alternative?

I didn't make the rules about this, and I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other about it. If anyone has ideas about how to improve this, this is a good place to sugggest them.
Angela said that her account was on hold for two hours, and Goran responded, "I would like to confirm that all of your active proposals were withdrawn." So that's where I got the idea that as soon as Upwork decides that you need to video verify, all of your proposals are withdrawn (though not your active contracts). So either you've misunderstood, or I have. If I haven't misunderstood, then my suggestion for an improvement would be: DON'T withdraw all our active proposals until the 7 days have passed.

When I was asked to do verification, the instructions indicated that I had 7 days to complete the process. I don't think the account hold occurs until after that 7 days has passed.

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

So this means it justifies the irrevocable cancellation of all active proposals?

Petra R · ‎12-12-2019

Angela wrote:
So this means it justifies the irrevocable cancellation of all active proposals?

That's the long and short of it.

And let's just circle back to this alarming / alarmist part of your original post:

I'd just like to alert other freelancers to the fact that due to a glitch in the system your offers are withdrawn and archived

No, "our" proposals were not withdrawn, there was no "glitch in the system" - you just ignored the request and the notice for longer than acceptable to Upwork.

Douglas Michael M · ‎12-12-2019

angela l wrote:
So this means it justifies the irrevocable cancellation of all active proposals?

Justified or not, it mean it was avoidable.

Petra R · ‎12-12-2019

Christine A wrote:
Angela said that her account was on hold for two hours,

As far as I know the hold is only placed on the account if the freelancer does not respond to the request for 7 days.

She seems to have been placed on hold after the 7 days, and then sorted it within 2 hours.

Phyllis G · ‎12-12-2019

Petra R wrote:
Christine A wrote:
Angela said that her account was on hold for two hours,
As far as I know the hold is only placed on the account if the freelancer does not respond to the request for 7 days.

She seems to have been placed on hold after the 7 days, and then sorted it within 2 hours.

Oh, for crying out loud. That means whatever inconvenience or nonsense OP experienced, happened as a result of her not complying with UW's request to re-verify her identity within seven days. #tempestinateapot #featurenotabug

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

No. Not a bug apparently. Although my client's words were: "Did you withdraw your proposal or is this Upwork acting up again?" Which was the first time that I was alerted to the fact, that my proposals had been withdrawn. (The verification and preceeding account suspension happened on the 6th of December!) I knew NOTHING about the cancellations. While this may not be a system bug it certainly is a bug in Upworks rules and regulations, which needs fixing.

Phyllis G · ‎12-12-2019

angela l wrote:
No. Not a bug apparently. Although my client's words were: "Did you withdraw your proposal or is this Upwork acting up again?" Which was the first time that I was alerted to the fact, that my proposals had been withdrawn. (The verification and preceeding account suspension happened on the 6th of December!) I knew NOTHING about the cancellations. While this may not be a system bug it certainly is a bug in Upworks rules and regulations, which needs fixing.

I disagree. Annoying as it is, UW is entitled to require us to re-verify our identity as often as they wish. They give us seven days in which to do it, and make it clear that if we miss that deadline, extreme aggravation and inconvenience will ensue. You missed the deadline and guess what -- aggravation and inconvenience. It wasn't UW "acting up" -- it was UW doing exactly what they said they would do.

Your initial post created the impression that you had complied with the re-verification request within two hours and still had proposals withdrawn. Sadly, UW is flaky enough that many generally level-headed FLs (me included) found that plausible enough to be alarmed. Come to find out, it all resulted from you missing the seven-day deadline. Personally, I find that somewhat annoying. There are enough genuine bugs and malfunctions on teh platform that cost people real money through no fault of their own. Complaining when one gets caught in a net of their own making just muddies the water unnecessarily.

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Super answer. Kudos to you.

Petra R · ‎12-12-2019

Phyllis G wrote:
As far as I know the hold is only placed on the account if the freelancer does not respond to the request for 7 days.

She seems to have been placed on hold after the 7 days, and then sorted it within 2 hours.
Oh, for crying out loud. That means whatever inconvenience or nonsense OP experienced, happened as a result of her not complying with UW's request to re-verify her identity within seven days. #tempestinateapot #featurenotabug

Perfectly summed up.

angela l · ‎12-12-2019

Active Proposals can be put on hold, just like the account is put on hold and any active contracts might be
I do not see any valid reasons to cancel active proposals. After all a lot of work is put in them sometimes if you write individual proposals.

And then the freelancer might not even be aware that all the proposals have been cancelled (I certainly wasn't) and still expects replies from clients/does not propose again.

cancelling active proposals is the most counterproductive way to deal with this