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dishan_n
Community Member

Client canceled the contract and did not pay

Hello. I'm a new member for Upwork. A client asked me to design an android app promotional video. Firstly, he sent me a message (Thursday, October 3, 2019), and he requested me a semi work sample for his project without sending me an offer.. But I agreed with the client and started to work on his project. After that I sent him a work sample. Then he said, he needed some changes. So I agreed with him and made those changes again. Then I send again my work sample. After that he asked again for some changes. Then I agreed with him again and sent him my work. 

Finally, he sent me an offer.(Friday, October 4, 2019). After that he sent me a docx file with sooo many requirements. But I agreed with him again and I have to started my work from the beginning. I really really worked hard for this project. Because this is my first contract on Upwork.. After that I submitted the complete work. But he said, he didn't get any attachments. So I sent again my completed work  through Upwork messanger. But he asked me again for many changes. Then I did those changes correctly and send my work again. After that he sent me another docx file with sooo many new requrements (Those are not in his job description). But I agreed with the client again and, sent my final work. After that he satisfied with my work. But he asked me some changes again and again. I agreed with the client and I resubmitted the complete project.

After that he canceled the contract and asked me for a refund.. I think he is a scammer.
This is my first contract on Upwork. That's why I worried soo much. What should I do? Is this incident will affect to my future upwork career? What are the solutions? Please help me.

Thank You.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7 REPLIES 7
prestonhunter
Community Member

Clients can not simply cancel contracts and not pay.

 

You said that the client asked for a refund.

 

Did you:

a) agree to the refund

b) reject the refund request

c) not decide yet what to do

 

?

hoyle_editing
Community Member

Firstly, 

  NEVER start working on a project that you do not have a contract for. The client is here to buy your service and if they dont want to agree to pay for it, then why would you want to do that work?

 

Secondly, 

  If the work or changes they are requesting is beyond the scope of the original agreement then you need to tell the client you will be happy to do the EXTRA work if they would like to pay for the first milestone and then setup another milestone for the additional work - THEN do the additional work

 

 

It is very hard to say with your case, but ultimatley if you are on a fixed price and you have completed the work as agreed then the client needs to pay for it. With video editing there is a huge scope for difference of creative vision and that is why its important for the client to make sure the freelancer is a good fit, and for the freelancer to communicate terms with the client - such as number of revisions.

 

At the end of the day, if you have done the work as agreed you should be paid, if you submitted work via the green submit work for payment button then the money in escrow will be released after 14 days (dont hit the button again as it will reset the clock (unless he officially requests changes through the system))

 

Having said that, im not sure what happens if the client has requested a refund. I know you can dispute the refund and then upwork may get involved and try to help solve the situation (they wont decide whos in the right) if it continues past that, then it moves to arbitration, you and the client have to pay $291 to go through this process and you wont get the money back (unless one of you doesnt pay, then the other one gets money refunded AND the money in escrow) and then case closed.

Are you sure you have a contract setup? i ask as there is no contracts showing on your profile?  (it is possible there is a bug or something as thats the second profile i have looked at today that shows no 'jobs in progress' when i would have expected to see a job there)


Jonathan H wrote:

Are you sure you have a contract setup? i ask as there is no contracts showing on your profile? 


Contracts a freelancer hasn't been paid anything yet isn't shown/displayed in his profile (it used to).

I asked for EXTRA work. But he didn't accepted it. He asked for a refund. But I rejected it. I don't know what's going on.

i am experiencing the same issue, I did the work and when it was done, he canceled the contract and ask for a refund. 

I am pretty sure that i will get the dispute but i am afraid of the customers to give me a bad review if i get my payment.

 

So can he leave a review when you open a dispute? 

 

Hi Mhd Anas,

 

Yes, the client will be able to leave a review on the contract for 14 days after it closes, regardless of the dispute. Still, something to consider is that you do have the opportunity to respond to any feedback comment to offer clarification or rebuttal. This way both the client's feedback and your response will be visible to all future clients looking at your history. You can learn more about this here.

 

Thanks!

~Andrea
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