Urgent Assistance Needed: Pending Bonus from Client Removed Due to Violations

[748da282]

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to bring to your attention an issue regarding a pending bonus on my Upwork account. Recently, I completed a project for a client who, regrettably, was removed from the platform due to violations of Upwork policies. Despite the completion of the project, I have yet to receive the bonus payment of $1000 promised by the client. Given the circumstances, I kindly request your assistance in expediting the release of this pending bonus to my account. Your prompt attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated, as the bonus payment is crucial for my financial stability. Please let me know if any further information is required from my end. 

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Best regards,

Aslam Baig

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[spectralua]

Did you purchaced some crypto for $1000? I think your money is gone.

[luce-neidert]

When a client promisses a bonus for this or that, I just hope he's going to do it. There's never any obligation to give a bonus. Usually, a client you can trust doesn't use a bonus as a sort of blackmail. He or she just releases the bonus because he/she feels like it, and this is the way a bonus should work.

[LuiggiR]

Hi Aslam,

I'm afraid that Bonus payments are not covered by payment protection. I checked the job you were referring to and can confirm that it has been taken down for violating the Terms of Service. 

A real client will never ask you to buy something for them, work for free, give them money to start working or provide your personal information. Whenever you encounter these situations, please report them using the available flagging options so the team can investigate further. Please take some time to read through this article for more information on how you can stay safe on Upwork.

[dfe177a9]

can i get the money. from upwork

[748da282]

This is the Invoice of the payment.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[rekasesh]

Bonus payments are not protected by Upwork.

Besides, this was a scam job and you will not get paid anything. The job has been removed and you don't have a contract for tracker - based hourly or funded milestones.

[748da282]

I would appreciate further clarification as I am currently employed on an hourly basis. The payment corresponding to my hourly work is currently marked as pending, reflecting a total of $1400 on my profile. Despite having received the invoice and all relevant documentation from the client, the payment remains pending. Could you please provide assistance in resolving this matter?

[rekasesh]

Hi Aslam, 

Is this the same job you referred to in the post?

It shows zero hours logged in which means you worked without a tracker or your bonus payments were not approved. If the job was removed as Luiggi stated, I am not sure how it appears on your profile.

There were two similar cases in Jan where the clients promised freelancers bonus payments worth $500 but Upwork couldn't bill their cards. The freelancers ended up giving away free work.

In the future, stick to tracker-based contracts, as there are a lot of scammers and freebie-seeking clients on Upwork nowadays. I've worked on hourly jobs in the past using manual hours (not protected by Upwork). But those days are long gone. I don't trust any client now, and won't work without funded or protected payments. 

if you don't want to use a tracker, go for milestones that are funded for different parts of the project and released as and when that specific work is done. This way you can stop working when the payments stop coming in.

Edited to add:

After Christine mentioned it, I noticed it shows as $18 and not $180  (that's what happens when you reply after midnight 😑).

You clearly participated in a scam job or got sucked into it.  

Did you do the work before the contract was set up, and the client promised to pay the entire payment as a one-time bonus?

Either way, you didn't follow rules and Upwork can't help you get the money you're owed. 

Tracked hours or funded milestones are the only assured ways to get paid. 

Even manual input of hours per week is fraught with risk, more so with new clients. 

Atleast the freelancers I mentioned were asked to bill $100 per hour for five hours of work. Definitely more their usual work rate, but the project fee was consistent with the kind of work they did -- Facebook Ads. Like many desperate freelancers, they probably finished the work before a contract was in place. The elusive bonus or manual hours billed never materialised

[feed_my_eyes]

You took part in a scam. The screen grab you attached shows that this job was opened and closed on the same day - what did you do to earn over $1400 in a single day, at an hourly rate of $18? Did you send money to the client? 

If you accept an hourly contact and it's obvious fraud, Upwork will not pay you. They only cover hourly payments if you do actual work at your usual hourly rate, using the time tracker correctly.