complaint about a freelancer

[001e673d]

Hello,

I started a contract with a freelancer for ghostwriting my ebook. He was nice at the beggining and I was very naive. He did not respect any of the deadlines and I was very understanding. I even worried about him. I finally received a document, it looked good. reading it, he did not understand the question and i had to erase a lot of it and send it back for revision. I stayed positive. again, another deadline. not respected. i write, he disappeared on me. i finally received the document, again, very late. he did not touch the revisions and the instructions. he practically sent me back the document. told me he did not understand what i want. he apologies, recognizes that he "did not meet my end", suggests a refund and told me all the copyrights are mine. i don't trust him anymore, i cancel the contract without paying because I can't use the document he sent me. he then erased the message when he apologized and suggested the refund and the cpyrights (that I also have as a copy via email). I sent him a very detailed outline of my work with the title of the book and all that he just had to ghostwrite. Now he tells me that he will refund and that all is his. AND THAT HE WILL BE FREE TO USE IT FOR PUBLICATION. Now I am worried. I please beg you to make something about this. He can't take my ideas, my work and use it when he was not at all professional (and admitted it!). please help

[django_expert]

oh so sad to hear about it. if you have your idea then no one can use your idea for their own purposes. you should deny your freelancer to use your idea and he/she doesn't have any right to use your book even though he/she is willing to refund the whole money. Moreover, you can wait for the official Upwork community members to help you related to your next move. so best wishes to you.

[001e673d]

thank you for your reply. now he does not want to refund the money and still is willing to use my work. I can't wait for the answers of the community members. This is outrageous. Thank you for your support

[django_expert]

you should have signed an NDA with him. I hope everything goes well.

[001e673d]

is it not part of the agreement on upwork? 

[petra_r]

If nothing was paid, the freelancer owns the work, but they can't "aquire" the rights by refunding what you paid in good faith.

To clarify: If you have canceled the contract without having paid anything to the freelancer, the freelancer owns the rights to their work.

If you had paid them (released the funds in escrow to them,) and they unilaterally refunded what you paid (NOT just funded in escrow), that would be a different matter.

Unfortunately "ideas" aren't covered by copyright as such.

[001e673d]

so i have to pay for a bad work which is absolutely not what i wanted to be in peace? there is a title and a whole outline very precised. what if it's legally protected, which it is since today? 

[petra_r]

---

Melissa F wrote:

so i have to pay for a bad work which is absolutely not what i wanted to be in peace? there is a title and a whole outline very precised. what if it's legally protected, which it is since today? 

---

How much money are we actually talking about?

What do you mean by "legally protected"?

How about you negotiate a payment in between and then spend the rest on getting an editor which you would have had to do anyway?

[001e673d]

we are speaking of 100 dollars for one chapter. I registered the name of the book in our intellectual property in France. I aasked the help of a freelancer to write in English. He is not up to negotiate despite the fact that his first message was "Hi Melissa. I understand your concerns, I've been on it all day but couldn't put the best of myself. I tried searching dozens of articles but couldn't find the 4 phases you mentioned. The whole cycle works in one month, and there's no scientific evidence that the quality of an egg can be affected for instance 200 days ago. One egg is produced in one month, and most of the effects are during these phases. This is something not fitting in my head. Apologies from my end for not making it true for you. I am actually stuck here. And would be gladly happy to refund you the amount you paid for not being up to your expectation. I understand profession demands no excuses and your concerns are understandable. All the content is copyrighted to you. Best Regards for future endeavors."

[001e673d]

is it not enought if he sent a message saying "all copyrights are yours and i will refund everything"? 

[petra_r]

Is the freelancer in the same jurisdiction as you are?

Because otherwise it really doesn't matter who owns what because you'd have a hell of a job enforcing any rights.

Also, whatever you may have protected today was not protected yesterday.

[001e673d]

what happens if I pay now? will I be ok? 

[BojanS]

Hi Melissa,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I have escalated your concern to our executive escalations team. They will reach out to you directly as soon as possible to look into this case and advise you accordingly.

Thanks so much for your patience!

[001e673d]

thank you! 

[tagrendy]

While in case of refund freelancer keeps his work, and also him verbally saying the copyright belongs to you unfortunately doesn't hold water - he can take it back, but if you're worrying about him taking the ideas you gave him and writing the book himself, don't. The guy didn't have the discipline to work on that book for guaranteed payment, you really believe he is going to have the discipline or the motivation to go through the process of publishing a book with nothing promised? I highly doubt it. Ideas are nothing without effort & action. My advise - if you haven't yet done so, don't close the project. That will allow you to leave him a bad feedback just in case he decides to be unethical. Find someone disciplined and trustworthy, sign an NDA ( no, Upwork contract doesn't include that by default ), and do not be understanding of repeated deadline issues, especially when the product you receive is bad. 

[001e673d]

thank you very much for this answer. So I pay, then the contract is ended (for now it's pending and wait for Upwork to decide). Frankly, I am tired, I don't care about the money, the dishonesty or the threats. I just want to be sure he can use it actually. Better I pay, be in peace and leave a fedback right? 

[tagrendy]

That's your call. If you fully pay him, at least make him sign an NDA that he won't use the work or publish it in any way. Do not take his word for anything or reward his threats, that's my 2 cents. 

[tagrendy]

Also, I'm sorry you're experiencing this. With all kinds of bad clients we have to deal with, it angers me when a good client is wasted on someone like that. Wish you to get assurances and relief soon.