🐈
» Forums » New to Upwork » Re: Did work without contract - can there be ...
Page options
racquelr
Community Member

Did work without contract - can there be a resolution?

**Edited for community guidelines** asked me to develop a presentation using their template. I spoke with **Edited for community guidelines** (who represents the organization) at length and did over 5 hours of work. We also discussed additional changes to the presentation as well. Throughout the entire time I was asked to make changes to the presentation and **Edited for community guidelines** praised my work. She even mentioned that due to the quality of my work they wouldn't have to get a graphic artist to do anything to polish the presentation. I repeatedly ask **Edited for community guidelines** to create a contract - they mentioned they would work it out by creating an open contract that I could put in the hours that I previously worked. After all the changes were completed they said "they were going in another direction". It appears that they wanted me to work for free to get the result they wanted, but now refuse to pay for the actual job completed. Is there any recourse for this or it's the nature of UpWork? I'm new to this platform. I feel strongly I was duped.

 

This is the response I received after they asked to make changes:

**Edited for community guidelines**

 

We were texting via UpWork the entire time I was working on the presentation and they even asked for several changes to be made to the presentation. In addition, I used the file they sent me via google docs. This was very clear on the zoom call when **Edited for community guidelines** shared her screen with me. Why is this company allowed to work on UpWork if they are scamming people? Below is part of my conversation with them.

 

**Edited for community guidelines**

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
petra_r
Community Member


@Recha R wrote:

stuff that will be all removed as being against all sorts of stuff, including Upwork Terms of Service

 You work without being hired:  You're not getting paid.

The End.

View solution in original post

6 REPLIES 6
michael_skaggs
Community Member

Long story short, no. You won't get any kind of resolution. UW only steps in with protections when there is a contract in place and hours are logged via the desktop app.

 

Painful lesson, sure, but never, ever do any work unless you have an active contract. To do otherwise is to work for free.

Thanks so much for letting me know. It seems CoPilot was very aware of the process because they kept on saying that I will get paid knowing they wouldn't have to. 

petra_r
Community Member


@Recha R wrote:

stuff that will be all removed as being against all sorts of stuff, including Upwork Terms of Service

 You work without being hired:  You're not getting paid.

The End.

mystudiomke
Community Member

Hi Recha,

 

I am sorry to hear about your first experience. I can completely see where you felt cheated out. In a straightforward manner, unfortunately it’s your lost here. You moved forward to do work here before any contract started. Never do work unless you have a contract started. I am always very clear about this by noting " I will get started on this as soon as the contract is set". From what I understand, upwork can’t force a client to pay for something it wasn’t agreed between you to. 

But what you can do is report the client for free work and possibly get their account suspended. They probably know what they were doing and took advantage of the situation. Create a ticket under upwork support and have a print/screenshot of the whole conversation. 

 

The only thing is to move forward with the lesson to not provide free work unless a contract is stated. I would let your client respectfully and professionally know that you provided them work and will be creating a ticket to report it. 

 

Hope that helps,

Lila
kat303
Community Member

Recha - It looks like you don't know anythig about how to use this site. Before submitting any other proposals or even looking for jobs, I strongly advise that you go through ALL of the links and information in this link https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/Getting-Started-on-Upwork/m-p/264214#M2460

 

To make a long story short, you never received an offer and escrow was never fully funded. You worked at your own discression because you didn't even have a contract. There's nothing you can do or Upwork can do to get the funds owed to you. 

josem256
Community Member

Bummer, same thing happened to me. My own fault I guess...
Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths