crooky client

irinamiro · ‎12-29-2020

Good afternoon,

I have written for help twice and didn't get any response, and there are no tickets. Today I applied the third time and there is no ticket, no tracks of it!

The matter is, I received the contract ID 25715920 on the 2nd of December.

At the interview, I was told the requirements of a 2000-words original article in Russian - only interesting unknown information without advertising pressure, - and was asked to fulfill it very urgently.

I had been working hard, collected a lot of information, and wrote this article.

I had sent the final proofread article the same day when it was ready - but the client at the same time had closed the contract (on the 3rd of December) at the pretext that there was "difficult and too many words to read".

I know that my article was good for the purposes of the client (investments in real estate in Northern Cyprus), and I perfectly know what it means.

I applied for the support service at Upwork the same day, on the 3rd of Dec and the next day, the 4th of Dec as I had suspicions there was a crook client, but I didn't receive any help from Upwork.

Please give me the answer, why I hadn't been paid.

Thank you

prestonhunter · ‎12-29-2020

Irina, you don't need to create a Help Desk ticket. You don't need to contact Upwork Customer Support.

You need to learn how to use Upwork properly. You can do that here in the Forum.

You made mistakes. Don't worry about getting paid for that project. Instead, focus on learning what you did wrong.

Was this an hourly or fixed-price contract?

Answer this question so we can help you.

irinamiro · ‎12-30-2020

Hi,

The interview was late by night. The contract started the next day, It was a week-term contract.

Content Writing

Hourly Rate

$14.44 /hr

Offer Date

December 2, 2020

Start Date

December 2, 2020

Weekly Limit

4 hours per week

Manual Time Allowed

Yes

At the interview, I promised to start right away. The time when the contract had been set was 11.13 p.m.

They immediately wanted me to collect photos as well, and there wrote different people who were unable to read Russian. As I promised - I was finishing the article.

The next day, 2:44 PM (14 hours had passed),

**Edited for community guidelines** ended the contract

They explained the reason that there were too difficult and too many words to read. But the order was only interesting unknown information, 2000 words!

I insist that I did the best and the article was good.

I am very disappointed that I had no protection from Upwork. I am not a new person, I have had projects sinse years.

What was my fault?

With my regards.

Irina

martina_plaschka · ‎12-30-2020

Irina M wrote:

Hi,

The interview was late by night. The contract started the next day, It was a week-term contract.

Content Writing

Hourly Rate
$14.44 /hr

Offer Date
December 2, 2020

Start Date
December 2, 2020

Weekly Limit
4 hours per week

Manual Time Allowed
Yes

At the interview, I promised to start right away. The time when the contract had been set was 11.13 p.m.

They immediately wanted me to collect photos as well, and there wrote different people who were unable to read Russian. As I promised - I was finishing the article.

The next day, 2:44 PM (14 hours had passed),

**Edited for community guidelines** ended the contract

They explained the reason that there were too difficult and too many words to read. But the order was only interesting unknown information, 2000 words!

I insist that I did the best and the article was good.

I am very disappointed that I had no protection from Upwork. I am not a new person, I have had projects sinse years.

What was my fault?

With my regards.

Irina

A client can't close a contract so that you don't get paid, that is impossible.

Fixed price: you submit for payment and get paid in 14 days.

Hourly: You wait for payment according to the weekly payment cycle.

So it is hard to understand what happened in your case, as the system is not set up to allow what you describe.

prestonhunter · ‎12-30-2020

Irina:
We need to keep pushing forward until we undestand what happened. We need to figure out what mistakes you made so that you don't make the same mistakes in the future.

You had an hourly contract.

If you recorded your time using the desktop Upwork time-tracker, then there is no option for the client to simply "not pay you."

Did you track all your time?

When you look at your work diary, do you see the time segments and screenshots?

When you look at your page:

Upwork -> Reports -> Overview

...Do you see your money?

prestonhunter · ‎12-30-2020

You talked about some complaints the client had... about criticisms he had of your work.

You should understand that none of that actually matters.

Upwork Payment Protection is very simple. It DOES NOT MATTER if a client says your writing is "difficult to understand." It doesn't really even matter if your writing is genuinely terrible.

Upwork Payment Protection is mechanical. It is based on software. The computer doesn't read your writing and decide if you are a good or bad writer. The computer just calculates your hours and pays you. Automatically.

So what we need to dig into here and figure out is NOT if you're a good writer or not. We need to figure out where you want wrong when it came to what buttons you clicked.

irinamiro · ‎12-31-2020

Yes, I see.

During these 14 hours, I had an obligation to mark in the working diary the hours I had spent.

https://www.upwork.com/ab/workdiary/freelancer

I didn't know that.

But it does not excuse the client who was bothering me all the time and perfectly knew that I was finishing the article.

So if during the contract a client manages to click "cancel" before a freelancer marks some hours passed, the client may not pay?

petra_r · ‎12-31-2020

Irina M wrote:
I didn't know that.

You should have known it. Now there is nothing you or Upwork or anyone can do, but the client can't use the article because they did not pay for it.

This was your mistake. When you work hourly contracts, use the tracker.

Before you do anything, learn the basics of how it works.

Irina M wrote:
So if during the contract a client manages to click "cancel" before a freelancer marks some hours passed, the client may not pay?

If you use the tracker, nothing like that can happen and you get paid for all the time you worked, because the tracker proves your work. Manual time does not protect you, but at least it is automatically billed and charged.

If you neither track nor log your time because you did not spend 5 minutes to work out how contracts work, you don't get paid.

irinamiro · ‎12-31-2020

Hi Martina,

It was as I describe. I wrote on the same day for Upwork support, and the next day as well, trying to find help. I was so upset and desperate, especially because I had been working almost all the time and did a great job that I had been proud of.

What else could I add for the more clear picture?

petra_r · ‎12-31-2020

Irina M wrote:
What else could I add for the more clear picture?

Did you use the tracker to track your time or did you add time manually to your work diary?

petra_r · ‎12-30-2020

Irina M wrote:
I was finishing the article.
The next day, 2:44 PM (14 hours had passed),
Xxxx Xxxxxx ended the contract
They explained the reason that there were too difficult and too many words to read.
What was my fault?

Did you use the Upwork tracker to track your time? (That's how hourly contracts are paid) - If yes, you get paid automatically.

If not, that was your mistake.

irinamiro · ‎12-31-2020

Hi Petra,

Thank you for your answer.

I am not an engineer, I am a writer. If I concentrate at work I forget many things.

I have lost my earnings and had a serious moral trauma because I didn't suspect that I was working for a crook.

And now I have a question if the politics of Upwork is balanced and fair, what should be done to aware freelancers against this client?

m_terrazas · ‎12-31-2020

Irina M wrote:
Hi Petra,
Thank you for your answer.
I am not an engineer, I am a writer. If I concentrate at work I forget many things.
I have lost my earnings and had a serious moral trauma because I didn't suspect that I was working for a crook.
And now I have a question if the politics of Upwork is balanced and fair, what should be done to aware freelancers against this client?

You don't have to be an engineer, you just have to learn how both fixed price contracts, with and without milestones, and hourly contracts work.
You've learned it, for hourly contracts, the worst way.
Before continuing, read all the information to be sure in the next contract.

As you have been told, the client cannot use the article you wrote, so you can use it for your portfolio, I think (if itsn't correct, someone will correct me).

petra_r · ‎12-31-2020

Irina M wrote:
I am not an engineer, I am a writer.

That is a very poor excuse. You are first and foremost a business. As a business you must understand how to run your business on a platform.

Irina M wrote:
I have lost my earnings and had a serious moral trauma because I didn't suspect that I was working for a crook.

You didn't really work for a crock. You used Upwork wrong.

Irina M wrote:
And now I have a question if the politics of Upwork is balanced and fair, what should be done to aware freelancers against this client?

The client didn't violate any terms of service. This was entirely on you.

Maybe your example can serve to make other freelancers aware that they must think and inform themselves before jumping head first into something they don't know or understand.

martina_plaschka · ‎12-31-2020

Irina M wrote:
Hi Petra,
Thank you for your answer.
I am not an engineer, I am a writer. If I concentrate at work I forget many things.
I have lost my earnings and had a serious moral trauma because I didn't suspect that I was working for a crook.
And now I have a question if the politics of Upwork is balanced and fair, what should be done to aware freelancers against this client?

Yes, the client took advantage of your inexperience and unwillingness to educate yourself how upwork works, that is definitely not nice. They could have allowed you to input manual hours, and pay those, but chose not to do that.

Now put on your big girl pants, read and learn, and forget about this unpleasant experience, which could have been easily avoided, but you know that now.