What if Client demand more or different than the mentioned job description.

[muqaddastariq]

Hi, I wanted to know, how to deal with such client, who has a very different demand than he has descibed in the job posted (it was about suggesting 10 IT company names and check avalbility of their domains and social emdia handles). I have submitted the work him twice  but still he was not giving feedback except search more, do more, etc. Then I asked him to please come on call so that I can be clear what he actually want. and then I came to know either he himself dont know what he actually wants, or he want a totally different thing than written in job posted, which is also not in the jurisdiction of a web researcher. 
He is saying, that I need why some XYZ company have this name, why they used this keyword, why people search their site more and all this is not mentioned in job description anywhere. 
Please suggest what should I do now... 😞 

[lysis10]

You can either keep doing what he asks or tell him he's going beyond the scope of the contract and dispute (assuming this is escrow). If it's hourly, well, he's just keeping you fed with 1000 requests.

[prestonhunter]

Jennifer is 100% correct.

If this is a fixed-price contract, you need to learn how to NOT do any free work. It is something all fixed-price freelancers need to learn. Ask us as many questions here as you want. We will help you.

But the basic concept is carefully defining fixed-price tasks before you agree to a contract, and sticking by them. If your task is to draw a picture of a car, and the client asks you to draw a cat standing next to the car, you say:

"That sounds like a good idea. The original agreed upon task is now finished. I can add the cat if you close the contract and create a new hourly contract, or if you add a new funded milestone for $50, or if you close the current contract and create a new fixed-piece contract for $50. Whichever works best for you will be fine."

[But the important thing is thing is that you do not draw the picture of the cat for free. It is a violation of Upwork TOS for a client to ask a freelancer to work for free.]

But if this is an hourly contract, the client can pretty much ask for anything he wants, and you have the right to agree to do it or not. I don't know how to play the piano, but if a client wants to pay me my hourly rate to randomly press keys on a keyboard, I'll do it.

[youssefbahaa]

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Re: [But the important thing is thing is that you do not draw the picture of the cat for free. It is a violation of Upwork TOS for a client to ask a freelancer to work for free.]

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Hi Preston, I respect your answers and thoughts that you share in this forum generally.

I believe that Theoretically, this is totally true and the right thing to do. However, you assumed the ideal case; that the client would be professional and respect this.

But practically, some clients would try to ask for a refund or give negative feedback ["Without threatening the freelancer by words"]. I don't think there is protection for the freelancer in that case; In case the freelancer refused/ couldn't pay the unreturnable arbitration fees, he will lose the money in the escrow. Also, Nothing will fix the client's horrible private feedback and the damage that will be caused to the freelancer's profile/JSS.

To be honest, I still think FOREVER before I accept any job offer, also, I may even refuse an awesome offer just because I felt that the client "might" be aggressive/bossy with his tone because I believe that I would be unprotected if we had a dispute.

I know that it is hard to invent that Ideal Fair Balance that will guarantee that neither the Client nor the freelancer will take advantage of the contract protection rules. But I hope that we share our thoughts/ advice on how to act in such situations.

Thanks in advance to anyone who will share his/her thoughts.

[sjbercot]

Youssef, you're absolutely right that nothing guarantees a client will be professional. I think it's smart to think very carefully about the jobs you take. I do!

But I think it's also important to remember that doing free work or trying to placate an unreasonable client usually doesn't turn an unprofessional client into a professional one. Countless freelancers will tell you that they did the free work, and the client still left them a poor review or was never happy.  At least if you don't spend time doing free work and trying to make unreasonable clients happy, you can spend your time focusing on good clients that pay (and there are a lot of them!). 

A client that is asking for you to work for free is not professional or reasonable. Don't waste any time giving them free work. If they insist, end the contract as professionally as possible and focus on better outcomes in the future.

[muqaddastariq]

Thanks Sarah, for your time to put your opinion on my issue. 

Yes, I agree I should politely tell him that he is going beyond what we agreed upon or may end the contract f he still be behaving unprofessionally. 

I was shocked what he was saying on call was not on what we discussed actually before contract started. Anyway, I am now getting idea by all the opinons respected members shared on my question and obliged. 

Hope it may solve in a better possible way. 

[youssefbahaa]

I totally agree with you, Sarah. I would NEVER recommend anyone to do free work under any circumstances. I apologize if anyone misinterprets my previous reply. All I wanted to do is to put some light on how important the freelancer has to study the client's requirements and personality before accepting the offer. Also, to benefit from any advice given by experienced freelancers like you all and many other Community members.

[muqaddastariq]

Youssef, I have not misinterpretted your reply rather I learned from all of you. 

And I am grateful for that. 

Regards

[muqaddastariq]

Thanks Youssef, 

I am highly obliged for your time, Thanks for sharing your experinece and opinion. 

Yes I agree, we can't just save ourself if client is agressive or is keeping grudge and due to this unrofessionalism he try to ruin the private rating. 

Actually I also thought about it before accepting the contract, and accepted after repeating the job description and after 2-3 other questions. But I never knew that what is written is not actually asked or it has some hidden demands as well, while I agreed on written description. And we also talked about described job, if he was expecting some other things too, he must tell me initially so I can rethink before accepting the terms. 

Anyways thanks for your contibution to my issue. 

[muqaddastariq]

Hi Preston, 

Thanks for taking your precious time, and thanks to every one on the thread for being here for me and for sharing their opinions. I am highly obliged to you all. 

Actually it is not really about free-work, it is more about doing a very different things which are out of the context of job description and agreed terms. 
Is it so clear in the job posted what is written there (job post attached), and now when I asked him on call that what actually you have in mind please share and open up to tell what kind of names you are expecting, just share some examples ... so I can have a fair idea. As I have send you a lot of options of names around 30 once and 30 more when he said serach by using different domain suggesting sites and all were suitable for an IT software company, but still you are not happy. So please share some more detail about your choice.
AND he said no it's not about what name we like, name is not our main requirement (and then he sned some companies URL, I asked do you like the names like these? he again said no we want to know why a specific company have this specific name. Why they used this key work why they are top ecommerce companies whats special in their names etc. 
However, I listen to him calmly and I told him, is it all mentioned in the description what you are saying now? He said, description..... No, and then he suddenly disconnect the call by saying " Can we talk about it later or tomorrow and before even I reply, he disconnected the call (so unprofessional).

While he actually divide the jon in 2 milestone and half payment is in escrow but it is not released yet. 

PS: I perceived, either he really dont know what he wants from freelancer or he is just wanting me to do more than what I have delivered, because by provided list he has got alot of options and now instead of posting another project with required skills in that, he is demanding me to do the next step, may be. (but this is wiered, I bid and accepted this project as it was simple and I confirmed from him as well what was already written in the job posted) 

I think I will tell him that according to description and our discussion earlier I have already submitted the required list (1stmilestone is completed). So kindly release first milestone payment (Is it possible??). And then would ask him politely if he really want what he is saying, then it is not as described, so kindly end this contract after 1st mile stone, and hire another person with the skills you now wanted for what you are describing to me, and pay other $50 to him? as it is not what I accepted via this job contract.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[muqaddastariq]

Please I need another piece of advice from you all.

I thought to talke to client 1st before ending the project one sidedly, and I asked him to amicably close the project at first milestone as I am feeling a contradiction in described and demanded job, also you actually need another person who have the required skill to do whatever is on your mind. (actually payment was due on 13 Dec, I demnaded too but he was keep saying different other things, even he said pick any one name which I can use for my company (in a wiered tone), I told him you can use any I have sent you 70+. But after my this discussion, he said "No I was not intended to stop your payment". I will release and then he released too. 

Now the question is, should I give him the feedback? I don't know if he was having any grudge on me and ruined my feedback with bad comments or behaved professionally in this context. 

Also please tell, how it will affect my profile in both cases, if I 'll give a nuetral feedback I I dont give any. 
I need to learn this, please guide. 

[prestonhunter]

re: "Now the question is, should I give him the feedback?"

You are not required to give him feedback. I think you SHOULD leave accurate, appropriate feedback. Don't write a lot. Write nothing, or limit what you write to two sentences.

re: "Also please tell, how it will affect my profile in both cases, if I 'll give a nuetral feedback I I dont give any."

Nothing about your feedback to him will have an impact on your own profile or JSS.

[muqaddastariq]

Thanks  Preston, for your response and guidance, please also guide, if he has left any inappropriate feedback etc. (internal or public) would that affect me in any way. 

Thanks in advance. 

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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Muqaddas T wrote:

 if he has left any inappropriate feedback etc. (internal or public) would that affect me in any way. 

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Obviously any feedback has an effect, for better or for worse, on your metrics.

Whether you leave feedback or not does not affect that impact.

[steve57]

If the client requests me a drug delivery and I will refuse - will his bad feedback also impact my rates? Where is the limit of violating the rules but still make damage to honest freelancers?

[muqaddastariq]

 Thanks Jennifer, for giving this insight, yes I am going to tell him. 
I have written more detail to Preston's reply. Thanks again. 

[sunnykingisup]

Hi,
According to my experience, the best option here will be to cancel this job. If I would you, in this situation, I would cancel this job because the work client is asking for now is not what you expected and this is not what you are an expert in. Even his new requirements seem to be unrealistic because how we can search and know why a website used a specific keyword to rank their website, might be possible that for the keyword you found their website, they themselves even don't know that their website is ranking on that keyword as well. And how we can search and find that why people search a specific website more? Does it seem realistic to you? It seems that, for this purpose, one will have to hire a big survey company for the survey about websites that why people search them more.

If I would you, I would give priority to the peace of my mind and the ratings of my account. Because I would do the work in which I am not expert nor interested, so there are chances it can go wrong and also that client might leave negative feedback. So when there is so much risk so it is better to cancel this contract instead of wasting too much time on both sides and then cancel or get bad feedback at the last.

I told you what I would do if I would be in your situation, please think and do whatever you think is good for you.
Thank you and good luck!

[muqaddastariq]

Thanks Mohammad for sharing your experinece. 

It help me a lot after having the opinion of you all. Hope so I can talk to him professionally on his undue demands and then according to his reply can solve the matter as professionally as possible for me. IA 

Thanks again!

[sunnykingisup]

You are welcome Muqaddas. I wish you good luck 🙂