'''' Wants You To Work For FREE [Don't Do IT!]

[#1]

Good morning Upwork community,

I would appreciate if a moderator reaches out to me to look into this for me. The following user: **Edited for community guidelines**  wants you to work for FREE. Don't do it! Quite frankly I don't care what his response is.

SHUT HIM DOWN.

**Edited for community guidelines**

[#2]

He didn't ask you to work for free - he said that he would pay you upon completion. You could have simply stated politely that his terms weren't acceptable to you and that you don't accept contracts unless clients fund the escrow account first. 

If it's true that this client has good reviews from freelancers that he's previously worked with, and no history of non-payment, there's no reason for Upwork to shut down his account.

ETA: Re-reading your attachment, it sounds like this could even be a simple misunderstanding. You didn't ask the client to fund the escrow account, you asked him for a "payment"; he might have interpreted that you wanted to be paid upfront instead of having him release the money upon completion. You may have been rude to this client for absolutely no reason.

[#3]

If a client offers to pay you, it is inappropriate to accuse the client of asking you to work for free.

A freelancer who does so could be reported to Upwork.

Freelancers should keep in mind the list of things that can lead to account suspension.

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211067618-Freelancer-Violations-and-Account-Holds

"Spam and Harassment: Treat everyone with respect and professional courtesy in all communications."

[#4]

Please help me understand how I failed to treat Mr. Klein with respect.

[#5]

The way it works is that the client funds the milestone. The client was not asking you to work for free and your rudeness is rather unfortunate, especially documented for all times in the Upwork chat

If you have a contract with that client, I am sure their feedback will accurately reflect their experience with your level of professionalism and behavior and communication skills.

[#6]

Help me understand how I was being rude to the client.

[#7]

The original poster is new to Upwork, and appears to have not completed any Upwork jobs thus far.

There are MANY PLACES where payment is expected up front. (Prior to work being done.)

The original poster appears to have been unaware that with Upwork's escrow system, Upwork intends that ALL fixed-price work be paid for "upon completion."

What is actually meant by this is that the client "funds escrow" (his credit card is actually charged) prior to commencement of the work. And then payment is released to the freelancer after the work has been completed and delivered to the client.

This is NOT how things are done everywhere, but it is how Upwork expects things to be done here.

I think that due to his experiences elsewhere and his unfamiliarity with Upwork, the freelancer made an honest mistake. One that he will not make again now that he is more familiar with Upwork protocols.

[#8]

Please help me understand how I was being rude.

[#9]

re: "Please help me understand how I was being rude."

When a client said that he would pay you upon completion of the work, you told him that he was asking you to work for free.

Had you understood the escrow system better, I don't think you would have said that.

[#10 · Accepted solution]

Hi AJ,

We'll have the client's account and their messages reviewed to determine if there are any violations of Upwork ToS. Please, note that since this is a public forum, we won't be able to share any information about the results of the review. For the same reason, we don't allow identifying information and names of persons and companies posted here in accusation of misconduct.

For some general information about how payments are made on Upwork, please refer to this help article for fixed-price contracts and this one for hourly contracts. 

A few posts on this thread have been edited or removed and I encourage all the participants to review Community Guidelines.

[#11]

Thank you.

[#12]

Thank you for the polite and respectful response back. And I do take responsibility for releasing identiyfing information in accusation of misconduct. I am new to Upwork. Won't happen again. 🙂   

[#13]

AJ, 

You should read through the New to Upwork pinned threads and other posts in the forum. You should become familiar with how Upwork's processes work before you take on any clients or you will make costly errors.