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d_hargy-louden
Community Member

Upwork part refunded client BC he couldnt pay whole bill

I'm so mad I could honestly scream.
I'm a long term Upwork user and today I received an email that they had issued a 20% refund to my client on a large project. They didn't ask me they just told me.

Here's why I'm so mad. The contract was held due to clients card I'm assuming not having enough money on it. It was a large project and you guys know it well. Client wants the world doesn't want to pay for it, and doesn't have a clue about it.

So this guy wants an elaborate business plan he can apply for funding with, take to banks. That's a hefty workload. He hadn't a clue about the industry he wanted to work in, no name, no idea of prices competitors, nothing. He gave me one line, I want to do this.

So I write him a 17 page business plan and it is excellent if I do say so myself. It took a lot of research, and I brought it in on our agreed on 16 hours.

So I contact Upwork about the hold, they tell me its not you it's them. Then today I get a message saying
'We are writing to inform you that your client’s payment was unsuccessful for the week of March 18, 2019 - March 24, 2019. As such, we have reviewed your Work Diary and reversed funds that did not meet the criteria for Upwork’s Hourly Protection policy.'

Now I work on dual screens for a start and I checked with them what this supposed low activity was, apparently it was as bc the screen was on the same area they expected more movement. Well yes of course it was. Anyone who is writing dense text frequently does rewrite and change the same area.

Basically he can't afford what he wanted and instead of actually dealing with him properly upwork just took the difference off me.

No authorisation, nothing. Just took it because he couldn't pay his bill. I'm so mad.
This is completely crazy. Any idea what the hell I can do about this? It's $81, so not exactly small change.

22 REPLIES 22
tlbp
Community Member

If the client didn't pay, then the client received no refund. Instead, Upwork is paying you 80% of the value of the contract out of pocket. The client is walking away with free work and Upwork is footing most of the bill. 

This is totally crazy. Is this common?


Dawn H wrote:
This is totally crazy. Is this common?

No. Just make sure you do the clicky clicky and all that for payment protections. Looks like you only lost 2 hours so not too bad.

What's the clicky clicky?

Yes.. What is clicky..clicky
tlbp
Community Member


Miriam H wrote:
Yes.. What is clicky..clicky

For Upwork Payment Protection to apply each screenshot needs to show a minimum level of activity. Activity is measured by mouse clicks and keyboard movements. So, no clicky--no payee. 

I'm going to have to get rid of my dual screen then as clearly its not picking up both screens. Thats really irritating though I thought as they were networked to the same desktop they would. But I can't lose money due to it, so might have to get out my laptop.

I think there is a way to set it up so it gets both monitors.. Does Upwork have a way for you to test the clicky clicky with both monitors?

Hi Dawn. According to your opening post, if I understood correctly, customer support gave you the impression that the reason you weren't protected was to do with the displayed screen area not changing, rather than too few clicks. Do you still think this might be what they meant? Or have you reinterpreted their comments in the light of what you've read here?


Richard W wrote:

Hi Dawn. According to your opening post, if I understood correctly, customer support gave you the impression that the reason you weren't protected was to do with the displayed screen area not changing, rather than too few clicks. Do you still think this might be what they meant? Or have you reinterpreted their comments in the light of what you've read here?


I don't understand CS's reply because you can either have it take a snapshot of all monitors or the active one. It doesn't matter which monitor is the active one. Activity would be the same. I don't think she's understanding the CS reply or maybe it's a case of CS being wrong idk.

That worries me, I work with three screens and I use two for Upwork so now I am worried if this happens to me it will be because of my three screens. Ugh


Tami B wrote:

That worries me, I work with three screens and I use two for Upwork so now I am worried if this happens to me it will be because of my three screens. Ugh


Change the tracker settings to only snapshot the active screen. I have three too and one plays Netflix and two are work stuff, and this is what I do. 

upgrayed
Community Member

How can you say, "Just do the clicky-clicky"? If you don't do the clicky-clicky, then you can't proceed. If Upwork is footing the bill, then this just proves my point that the internet is not secure and time to move on to more traditional and secure business practices.

petra_r
Community Member


Michael G wrote:

... this just proves my point that the internet is not secure and time to move on to more traditional and secure business practices.


Good idea. Off you go! Good luck. Leave "the internet" to those who can handle it.

 

Close the door quietly on your way out.

Thanks.

It is becoming more common...people are starting to learn that the internet is not secure and never will be. Seems like the ride is over and time to go back to more stable sources of income.


Dawn H wrote:
This is totally crazy. Is this common?

I would say it is more common when agreeing to work with dreamers. "I have a dream! You should give me your work to make it real."

 

They have a dream but they frequently don't actually have the money to pay for that dream.  People who want to "try" to start a blog, wantapreneurs who want you to create their business plan (not just help them write it), people who want to become influencers so they can make money. These are people who don't have money so there's a good chance they won't be able to pay you. 

Urgh, I know these people, normally I avoid them but I'd discussed the cost and the time block with this guy so I had hoped that he was being genuine. More fool me.
I should have known when we got to financials and he asked me to put in what I thought would be about right.
wlyonsatl
Community Member

Yeah, if Upwork isn't paid by a client Upwork will review the freelancer's claimed hours and claw back some money. The freelancer can't contest the move because Upwork won't provide specifics. For freelancers who have to spend time away from their keyboard this could be big problem - clients would know when hour-long phone calls occurred or large amounts of hard copy had to be read, neither of which requires moving a mouse or using a keyboard, but Upwork doesn't have a clue and can claim that time billed by the freelancer wasn't really time spent working.

 

I've had it happen to me (once), but I rarely work with clients who can't afford to pay for my services. So Upwork doesn't have any incentive to find a problem with my billed hours where there really isn't one.

 

 

eh....that clicky clicky....

 

really terrible when editing someone's very well written document...and you read half a perfectly written page and remember...oooohhhh crikes...no clicks!


Irene B wrote:

eh....that clicky clicky....

 

really terrible when editing someone's very well written document...and you read half a perfectly written page and remember...oooohhhh crikes...no clicks!


yeah I know. When I'm reading something I'm also thinking "clicky click mouse for activity." -_-

mtngigi
Community Member


Jennifer M wrote:

Irene B wrote:

eh....that clicky clicky....

 

really terrible when editing someone's very well written document...and you read half a perfectly written page and remember...oooohhhh crikes...no clicks!


yeah I know. When I'm reading something I'm also thinking "clicky click mouse for activity." -_-


Maybe you and Irene could set up a GoPro to take movies of yourselves reading a client's document. 

 

ETA: Smiley Tongue

tirahayu
Community Member

Would love to subscribe that clicky clicky video Smiley Very Happy

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