Client ended the contract without any prior notice

[dk4k_like]

Hi all,
I am fairly new to the upwork and this will be my first and hopefully last dispute.

The client hired me before and I did the work got paid.
Then the same client hired me again and we used to chat on Slack and Monday .com
Without any prior notice the client removed me from both platforms and requested refund on Upwork.
Now I do not have access to any of the Slack and Monday messages.

I have signed a NDA and a contract and the contract says client can cancel the contract anytime upon notice being given but there was not any.

It was a fixed-price funded contract and I have spend so much time with them on meetings and communication and completed around 75% of the work for this job.

What do you suggest? I have not disputed yet and also I have wrote and email to touch the base on why this happened? but have not got answered yet.

Because I clearly did not miss any deadline or anything to my knowledge that might cause this action.

[prestonhunter]

re: Client ended the contract without any prior notice"

Clients may end a contract at any time, for any reason.

Clients are not required to provide prior notice.

Freelancers also may end a contract at any time, without prior notice.

If a client hires a freelancer using a fixed-price contract, then the proper way for the client to end the contract is to release any remaining money in escrow and close the contract.

re: "Without any prior notice the client removed me from both platforms and requested refund on Upwork... It was a fixed-price funded contract and I have spend so much time with them on meetings and communication and completed around 30% of the work for this job. What do you suggest?"

The cliend handled this incorrectly.

The client should have released all money in escrow to you and NOT requested a refund.

If the client wanted a refund, the client should have discussed this with you BEFORE closing the contract.

What should you do now?

Reject the refund request.

Keep in mind that if the client has CLOSED the contract, he has ALREADY left feedback. So there is no risk to you in getting worse feedback or anything. The client has lost that leverage. You may as well try to keep the money that the client rightfully owes you.

The client can NOT the escrow money back automatically unless YOU agree to the refund.

Tell the client:

"Reggie: I saw that you closed the contract. If you had discussed this with me I would have been able to arrange for a refund. I have done 30% of the work on this $100 contract. So I could have immediately agreed to a $70 refund. I don't think the way you requested a refund will allow me to do that. I believe the user interface requires me to reject the current refund request in order to make this work out properly. I will work with you and Upwork Customer Support to help make sure you receive the proper refund amount."

[dk4k_like]

Thanks for responding promptly @Preston

Since the client removed me from Slack and Monday, Now I don't have access to the communication I had with client. Will it affect my dispute?

Also I already emailed the client to touch the base but have not received any reply,
Do I still need to message the client and tell that
"......I will work with you and Upwork Customer Support to help make sure you receive the proper refund amount."

and thank you so much for informing me about the feedback as I was so worried about it.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "Since the client removed me from Slack and Monday, Now I don't have access to the communication I had with client. Will it affect my dispute?"

No. Disputes are handled on Upwork. Upwork does not interface with Slack or Monday in order to handle disputes.

re: "Also I already emailed the client to touch the base but have received any reply, Do I still need to message the client and tell..."

No.

You do not need to tell the client anything.

The important thing is that you responded to Upwork's question whether to accept or decline the refund request.

If you rejected the refund request... then a dispute will be created. But if the client does nothing, then you will receive all of the money in escrow.

If an Upwork mediator contacts you, then be sure to tell the mediator that you did NOT agree to a refund. Tell him you already worked on the task and must get paid for your work.

re: "thank you so much for informing me about the feedback as I was so worried about it."

If you leave feedback for the client now, then you can IMMEDIATELY see what the client's feedback was. Even if the feedback doesn't show up yet on your profile page, you can view the feedback by navigating to the contract listing on your "All Contracts" page.

re: "...but have not received any reply..."

The client may have simply clicked some buttons to end the contract and no longer wants to think about this. Let's hope the client doesn't want to deal with this any more and is too embarassed to try to explain why he is trying to get all the money back, even though you worked on this. Like I said, if the client doesn't do anything, then you get all the money back. If the client DOES communicate with an Upwork mediator about this, and then you get asked about this, you can offer a compromise. You could offer to accept only 30% of the payment (for example). If the client is given the opportunity to get SOME refund, or nothing, the client may decide that getting SOMETHING is a good option.