Work Completed but I'm not fully Paid

mharkrollen · ‎03-14-2019

Hi,

I completed a fixed price job but the client only funded(escrow) the first milestone. I did not notice this until he ended the contract. This is very surprising to me because I have accepted and completed fixed price jobs before and I always receive the money after closing the job.

I was about to file a dispute but I cannot find the "View Request" from this guide https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068528-Dispute-Non-Release-of-a-Milestone-Payment .Is it because there was no fund involved since he did not fund(escrow) the remaining milestones? If yes, how is this possible, how is he able to end the contract without even funding the agreed milestones?

This is the worst experience I have ever had in my 8 years in odesk/upwork.

petra_r · ‎03-14-2019

Mark L wrote:

I completed a fixed price job but the client only funded(escrow) the first milestone. I did not notice this until he ended the contract. This is very surprising to me because I have accepted and completed fixed price jobs before and I always receive the money after closing the job.

I was about to file a dispute

You can't dispute anything. You can only ever dispute funds in Escrow, no funds in Escrow = nothing to dispute.

Milestones are worth always exacty what was funded. If nothing was funded, you should not have submitted the work for those milestones.

The client MAY have made an honest mistake and can pay you via a bonus, but if the client does not feel like doing so, your failure to pay attention to the funding means you won't get paid.

Mark L wrote:
Is it because there was no fund involved since he did not fund(escrow) the remaining milestones? If yes, how is this possible, how is he able to end the contract without even funding the agreed milestones?

Didn't you notice that there was no "submit for payment" button on the other milestones? How did you even submit the work for any other milestones beyond the first, without the proper way being available?

The correct way to work a milestone based contract is to do the work for milestone one (only) - submit for payment, get paid, the next milestone is funded, you submit for payment, get paid and so on.

mharkrollen · ‎03-15-2019

My submitted proposal was to pay me in FULL but when he returned the contract it now has 2 milestones. The Milestones UI is a bit confusing because there was a value for each Milestone which i thought the money that I will receive after the contract ends and another value for the funded(escrow) ones - which I did not notice obviously.

"Didn't you notice that there was no "submit for payment" button on the other milestones? How did you even submit the work for any other milestones beyond the first, without the proper way being available?"

-- I noticed this when I submitted the first milestone, I thought the button would appear right after he pays the first milestone. But right after he paid the first milestone he closed the contract!.

This might be my fault for not knowing the "milestones" flow but the client should NOT be able to close the contract or atleast I can still file a dispute if there is an outstanding milestone regardless if its funded or not.

Unfortunately, he is not responding anymore 😞

petra_r · ‎03-15-2019

Mark L wrote:

This might be my fault for not knowing the "milestones" flow but the client should NOT be able to close the contract or atleast I can still file a dispute if there is an outstanding milestone regardless if its funded or not.

That is not how Escrow works.

Mark L wrote:

Unfortunately, he is not responding anymore 😞

That means "game over." Sorry.

Learn for next time.

mharkrollen · ‎03-15-2019

Welp. Yup I will. Thanks Petra.

jr-translation · ‎03-15-2019

Mark L wrote:
My submitted proposal was to pay me in FULL but when he returned the contract it now has 2 milestones. The Milestones UI is a bit confusing because there was a value for each Milestone which i thought the money that I will receive after the contract ends and another value for the funded(escrow) ones - which I did not notice obviously.

"Didn't you notice that there was no "submit for payment" button on the other milestones? How did you even submit the work for any other milestones beyond the first, without the proper way being available?"
-- I noticed this when I submitted the first milestone, I thought the button would appear right after he pays the first milestone. But right after he paid the first milestone he closed the contract!.

This might be my fault for not knowing the "milestones" flow but the client should NOT be able to close the contract or atleast I can still file a dispute if there is an outstanding milestone regardless if its funded or not.

Unfortunately, he is not responding anymore 😞

If there is something in your work, of which you can proof that the client did not pay for, you own the rights and can try to have it taken down.

If you have not left a feedback yet, you can use your feedback to warn other freelancers. The client might decide to pay the rest and enable you to change your feedback due to a misunderstanding.

mharkrollen · ‎03-15-2019

Hi Jennifer,

What do you mean by "to have it taken down' , you mean reactivate the contract? I don't think I have that option in my contract's UI.

Yes, the client is still awaiting my feedback and I am still giving him time to settle the unpaid milestones.