Client is unhappy with my work,

[aousaf90]

Hi everyone, I'm new to Upwork and was excited to start my career as a freelancer. After three months and dealing with eight or nine clients, I got my first client two weeks ago. We started communicating, and our interaction lasted for two weeks. At the end, I received an offer for an hourly-based contract with 20 hours per week, and it was for a one-week duration. During the contract, I was in constant communication with the client, keeping them in the loop, and they seemed satisfied with my work.

One day before the contract ended, I messaged him with the project screenshot, and he replied, "Great, thank you. Looks good." However, when I delivered the final work, he messaged me saying he was not happy with it. I'm unsure what to do now. I don't even know if he will pay me or not. Additionally, can he leave a bad review on my profile? I'd really appreciate some guidance on this matter.

[beingasim]

I understand your problem, it happens to many new freelancers.

The first thing you should do when you get a new client is to communicate with them, preferably through a Zoom meeting or video call. If you were not attached to your particular client, he would not have been satisfied with your work, because you did not have a video call meeting with him during work, because of which he would not be satisfied. 

In fact, this is a platform where you have to be friendly with the clients, clients have to send a full report of every job, take permission from them before starting the work if there is any change in the work. Permission must also be obtained first so that the client feels that the freelancer is serious about my work and is giving his 100% to my work.

I hope you have found a solution to your problem.

[bbdebb52]

If it's an hourly contract and you've used the tracking app with a reasonable level of activity, then you should be covered and protected by Upwork.

Most importantly, if the contract is still active I suggest following up with the client and asking him why he/she wasn't satisfied or happy with the work and how you can make it right. This will show that you are serious and genuine about the work and might lead the client to give you good feedback.  

If, however, the contract has ended and you still don't have any public feedback then the client hasn't written anything yet. So, you might want to send them a message thanking them for the opportunity just to cool things down in case there is any tension.