Work scope changed many times

[#1]

Hi community!

I'm a bit disappointed at the time, and I would love some advice.

I got my first client recently. They posted a task for proofreading their website, they wanted to proofread the Spanish translations for their website The job was fixed- price for $50.

When they chose me they said that they had decided to divide the work to be done by 2 people, so they said they would now pay $25 each person, me and someone else. I was disappointed but I agreed as I wanted to start earning in Upwork as I had 7 months and nobody had chosen me yet and my profile had gone private.

They asked for one page proofread and set the first Milestone for $5. After I delivered they were pleased with my work so they said that he decided that I would be the only person to do this job, so they raised the price again to $50.

I asked them a few times to give me a list of all the pages to be proofread. After some days they sent a file with the pages to be proofread marked in yellow, the list had also the pages that had not been translated into Spanish, but they always talked about the ones in Spanish. They asked me how long it would take me to do this and I told them I could do this in 2 weeks. Then they set the second milestone for $25. There were around 50 something pages, not too much information but it was a lot to be done and organize.

After I finished this second milestone, they took some days to check the pages and approve the milestone. Now comes the third milestone, they asked to proofread the Spanish pages left and also translate the pages not translated. They also said that the majority of the pages are in the list he first gave me but there would be morepages!!

So I started getting upset and asked them to give me the exact number of pages left to be done. They said that they were busy and I could start with those. But because I insisted they said that I could just work the pages in the first list provided ( including the translations) and then finalize this job. I agreed to do this but I would work on the pages listed in the list they gave me originally, I wanted to clarify that in case they would start addimg new pages to the original  list.

So since I agreed I'm going to do them as I want to have a review in Upwork to get more clients, but I would like to ask what should I have done differently? As now I'm not happy with this work nor this client.

Thanks.

[#2]

re: "Work scope changed many times"

Um... No.

Work scope can't "change many times."
Work scope can't change even once.

When you get hired for a fixed-price contract, a specific amount of money is funded to do a specific task.

And that's it.

There are no "changes."

If client hires you to draw a picture of a cat, for $200, and you draw a cat with five whiskers...

And then the client asks you to draw a sixth whisker...

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT.

The original task desription DID NOT SPECIFY six whiskers.

This client is asking you to work for free.

It is the FREELANCER'S RESPONSIBILITY to not work for free.

When a client asks a freelancer to do any out-of-scope work, the client is violating Upwork ToS.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

Sabrina:
You are the freelancer.

YOU decide when the task is done.

Not the client.

When you have finished the task, you click the "Submit work for payment" button.

The client then needs to release payment to you.

If the client does NOT release payment, you need to do this:

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068528-Dispute-Non-Release-of-a-Milestone-Payment

if the client asks for out-of-scope work, I recommend that you tell the client:

"Yes, that is a good idea. I can work on that next. It is not part of the original task agreement. So if you will release the current escrow payment and close the contract, you can open up a new hourly contract and I will get started on that immediately."

[#4]

Thank you so much for your advice Preston.

I have told the client how what he was asking now is new work, so he could open a new milestone and I would do it.

But now he has claimed that I did not  complete the previous milestone correctly. Although he said he was happy with it at the time and released the funds.

After that he was pushing me send him the files of the ongoing work to the shared folder. But I didn't agree as I think he just wants to keep my work for free. 

but now he wants  me to end the milestone and close the contract. So I would like to know what are the consequences to me for doing that?

why cant he close it if he doesn't want to keep working with me?

Please let me know if it's ok to answer here or open a new post.

Thanks.

[#5]

It is okay to ask new questions here is in this thread.

It is okay for you to close the contract.

If he wants new work, he needs to pay you.

If he is not going to pay you, then you are done.

[#6]

Hello Preston.

thank you once more for your support.

I ended the contract last night, and blocked that client as I didn't want them to contact me or talk to me anymore  as they say a lot of words but at the end don't say much and just plain confuses me.

Today I checked my Upwork messages and I noticed that that chat with them is gone.

What do you think happened?