Worked for client but not getting paid.

[mulixproduction]

I completed the work that I was asked for and now the client doesn't need it anymore and cancelled the contract.

[filip_knezevic · Accepted solution]

It's very unfortunate. Did you accept the offer but the client closed it without paying you?

It happened to me once that I was supposed to insert manual hour but the client was not happy from some reason and closed the job over night. 

I didn't like that at all 🙂 so I contacted Upwork support, who contacted the client and suggested that he pays a small bonus of 5 dollars, so the job is not without any cash flow. He did and he didn't leave any feedback, so it was good for me at the end. 🙂

So if you did some work and he cancelled the job, I would contact the support and ask them to approach the client.

[mulixproduction]

How can I contact the support?

It was a fixed price project.

[prestonhunter]

re: "How can I contact the support?"

No, you don't need to contact support.

You need to learn what you did wrong. That way you can learn from your mistakes and not make the same mistakes again.

If you "worked for a client and did not get paid," then it means that the freelancer (you) made a mistake.

We need to be very clear about how fixed-price contracts work:

- A client hires a freelancer to do a job

- They agree on what task will be done

- The client funds an escrow payment

- The freelancer does the work

- The freelancer submits the work

- The client releases payment to the freelancer

- If the client does nothing, then the money is automatically released to the freelancer

What does this mean? It means that if you (the freelancer) set things up properly, then the client can not simply "cancel" the contract and not pay you. That is not an option. For the client to "not pay you," she would need to request a refund and you (the freelancer) would need to approve the refund.

[jr-translation]

Did you use the submit button?
If the client does not pay the agreed price, you own the work.

[prestonhunter]

re: "I completed the work that I was asked for and now the client doesn't need it anymore and cancelled the contract."

If a client hires a freelancer to do a job, and the freelancer does the job, the client needs to pay the freelancer for his work.

It does not matter if the client claims he "doesn't need it any more."

If I go to a restaurant and order a steak dinner with a side of potatoes and garlic butter mushrooms... I can not wait until the waiter brings out the meal and then walk away without paying, claiming I don't "need it any more."

What kind of person says such a thing? Wouldn't any decent person be embarrassed to say that?

[petra_r]

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Shahbaz H wrote:

How can I contact the support?

It was a fixed price project.

---

Support can't do anything.

If it was a fixed rate contract, the money was in escrow. The client can only get the money back if you agree or fail to respond to the request for the return of the escrow funds.

Preston H wrote:

You need to learn what you did wrong. That way you can learn from your mistakes and not make the same mistakes again.

---

He may not have done anything wrong at all. A freelancer does not have to have done anything wrong for a client to cancel a contract, the freelancer may not have made any mistake at all and it is very unfortunate that people automatically assume it's the freelancer's fault, that he did something wrong and made a mistake with not the faintest shred of evidence for that in any way, shape or form.

At this stage all we know is that the client canceled the contract.

There is no need to accuse him of having made mistakes, all he needs is to find out what the next step is: Dispute the return of the escrow funds if the work was done.

Dispute the return of the escrow funds.

[prestonhunter]

Original poster did not simply say "client cancelled contract."

OP said "Worked for client but not getting paid."

This means the freelancer made a mistake.

When a freelancer works for a client and does not get paid, it means the freelancer made a mistake. The purpose of working for a client is to get paid.

The Upwork system is intended to help ensure that freelancers get paid for their work, but some familiarity with the system is required to avoid problems that can be caused by unethical/unprofessional clients.

If the client attempted to cancel the contract whole requesting a refund, then it would be a mistake for the freelancer to agree to that refund. It would also be a mistake for the freelancer to be unaware that he can decline a refund request.

I hope for the original poster's sake that he did indeed have a fixed price contract in place, and I hope that the work he did was fully funded in escrow. I hope he used the correct button to submit his work. I hope if the client requested a refund, that the freelancer did not already agree to the redund. If he already agreed, there is nothing Upwork will do to reverse such a decision.

If the freelancer reviews the information that has been provided here and cares to share additional details, then I am sure the participants in the thread can identify where things went wrong.