Warning!

[nosec]

I am writting this message to warn all my colleagues regarding this client **Edited for Community Guidelines**.

Yesterday she posted me an invitation for a translation job at 10:36PM, and, of course, I only saw her invitation this morning at 7:26 AM, as I was already sleeping at that time.

She said she needed that translation very urgently, and I replyied her that it would take me one day to translate everything. As she was in a real rush I tryied to help her by starting the translation immediatelly, even before her award (on my own risk), and by 10:00 AM I had the translation done. I had only to proofread it as to assure everything was OK. At this moment she replyed to my proposal saying that she had already awarded someone else and she wouldn't need my services anymore. Of course, I  understood that situation, and just told her I tried to help her by starting to translate even before her award, and that I had her translation 90% complete by that time. I was not asking her to award me instead of the other transaltor. I was only telling her that it was a shame I couldn't help her with her rush. 

Instead of thanking me for my efforts, she told me that next time I should respond promptly to her invitation, and not so many hours after, and that I should learn that I should never start a job before I was awarded, and she immediatelly closed the chat with me, telling me never to talk to her again!

So, when you see that customer, be aware. She is too far away from the minimum education level for a customer.  

[vladag]

Hi Cassio,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with this client and that you've completed and delivered the work before you were hired for the job. Please make sure a contract is in place and Escrow funded before you start working on a job, in order to ensure your contract is covered by Payment Protection. 

Please review our Payment Protection Programs, safety tips and freelancer resources, and follow up with any questions or concerns you might have so we can advise.

[petra_r]

An invitation to interview is not a job offer and frankly I don't really think the client did anything wrong.

[versailles]

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@Cassio N wrote:

So, when you see that customer, be aware. She is too far away from the minimum education level for a customer.  

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I don't know about her attitude since I'm not privy to the details of your conversation, but what you did was somehow unprofessional. It sounds a little bit pushy if you ask me, and I can understand how someone could get POed.

[resultsassoc]

Cassio,

I often start some work on a project while still in the discussion phase. I rarely invest much time, and I know that the client has no obligation to award me the work, to pay me, or even to talk to me. I am doing the work at my own risk.

The client did nothing wrong here. Expecting a client to know your sleep schedule is a bit much. I have clients in seven time zones. For those familiar with UTC, we use UTC time. Otherwise, we establish when it is best for both of us to be available, using the client's time zone. If the client is either fairly new to Upwork, or US-based, she probably doesn't realize that UW's freelancers are located in every time zone with land.

Take two anisettes and call me in the morning.

[charles_kozierok]

I'm sorry to say that this thread serves more as a potential warning for clients about hiring you than it would have as a warning for freelancers to avoid the client, even if it were not against TOS to name her.

You said you did it at "your own risk," so why would you then try to guilt-trip the client? And then come here and try to publicly shame her? Very unprofessional.

Fortunately for you, few clients come here.