My success story or "how to lose a week's earnings".
Let me start by saying that I have been working here for several years. This platform provides many opportunities and is quite useful. Especially lately, when a war going here, in Ukraine and it is more difficult to survive. Yes, working for Upwork is unsafe, with a risk to life, requires huge additional costs.. but it is one of the few opportunities currently available. The story is about something else. So, let's get to the point: Upwork Hourly Protection.
So I received another joyful message that I returned all the money to the client. This is not the first such refund, it happens periodically. And every time they take money from me under different pretexts. In many cases, it was my fault: I didn’t describe the work clearly enough, I didn’t constantly click the mouse, various things. But every time I lost money, I studied, read the rules, found out what was wrong and improved. But this case was outstanding and I want to tell you more about it.
I submitted another application and the client answered me because he needed a very complex and urgent job. My qualifications are sufficient. The price suited the client and after a short interview I reserved the time, he opened the contract and we started. I will not go into the details of the work as I am a professional and just did what I can. Of course, taught by previous forced refunds, I started the tracking program, fill the description and conducted all the negotiations through Upwork messages. The timer was running, the keys were clicking, the work was being done and there were no signs of trouble. I completed the work within the stipulated time and in a proper manner. Client was completely satisfied with the work, thanked me and closed the contact with a good review.
And now I find out that I returned my money back to the client. Of course I decided to figure out what happened because these are my livelihoods and I was not happy about their loss. Reason was: "Low Activity & High Hourly Rate". I was sure that this was a mistake because of the activity, since I took the time to complete the check before handing over the work, everything was fine. So I contacted support and asked to figure out what's going on. I also asked the client what happened. The client responded immediately. He said that he was surprised by the message about the refund. And he did not ask for a refund and paid everything properly. Let's get back to support. The agent replied that there were problems with the payment and I did not qualify for protection. He explained that I had requested a huge hourly for the work, exceeding my previous earnings by a staggering 5%. Of course I don't understand why the agent decides what price I'm worth. Yes, I take less for easy work, more for difficult work, and I don’t see any violations in this. The client is satisfied with the price - he pays, not satisfied - he is looking for another. I showed the agent a screenshot of my earnings and they were the same, less and even more. There were no anomalies in my hourly. The agent studied my arguments and answered: "We cannot force the client to issue a bonus payment to you for the amount reversed and Upwork will not cover those payments. Moving forward, to avoid this thing happening again, please use the Upwork Team app to track your time and make sure that your hours are logged according to the Upwork Hourly Protection guidelines."
So I followed all the payment protection rules: Made screenshots, accounted for activity, conducted all negotiations through Upwork, checked everything and did everything as required. Then they simply took my money and advised me to move forward.
I am confused, maybe that this was some kind of mistake and someone from the Upwork managers will want to look into the situation.
I hope my story will be interesting to the community and bring some joy and variety to your lives. I wish you all happiness, peace and great jobs.
ps. I apologize for possible errors in the text. It may be unpleasant for English speakers to read this, but English is not my native language and I tried to write better.
