Disagreements with a client

[sonickast]

Hello everyone!

I Have the following complicated situation: My client and I was discussing the job a lot of time. Before the setting job on Upwork, we were in a hurry. My client silently attached a doc file to the offer and didn't tell me anything. That was a contract to the new job, not this very one. I have done the Upwork job and submitted it for payment. My client told me that it is necessary to sign the contract in his Word document. But that was a contract to another job, much bigger than the current Upwork job! My client refuses to pay for an Upwork job without signification. What can I do in this situation? Is it possible to make a refund after submitting the job and not get a review for this job?

[AveryO]

Hi Sofiia, 

It looks like you submitted work to be reviewed by the client. Your client will have 14-days to review the work submitted, and if they don't request for changes within those 14-days, the money in escrow will be released to your account. If the client refuses to release the milestone payment, you have the option of disputing the money in escrow. You may read more about it here.

Hopefully, this doesn't result in a dispute, and this gets resolved amicably with your client. 

[kshatriyadesigns]

This could be a either of the two cases:

1-Simple, the client should have tricked you in accepting a larger project for a lesser budget.

2- Or more likely, you might have missed checking the contract/requirement fully before accepting the offer.

Mostly the buyers share some requirements at the initial interview/discussing stages to assess the service provider's skill and capacity. But will share the complete requirement only with their final offer. This could be to maintain the confidentially of their project or to filter the best from the other competitive proposals.

So even if you are right and wanted dispute there are chances that it might turn out to be your mistake to not have paid attention while signing the contract. Either you win or lose in your claim, the route of a dispute will always affect your chances to win potential high-paying great clients in the future, besides earning a bad review.

On the other hand, consider this as an investment. Please take your time, bite the bullet and try to reason with the buyer politely. Explain the situation that you have faced and the sincere efforts that you have invested. Negotiate a very small amount of extra pay to complete the new requirement. That is the only option. It is the only way every business work.  A good buyer will easily understand. A bad buyer can also understand after days of reasoning and loads of explanations.

Source: Based on half a dozen similar situations in my freelancing both offline and online. But if one is lucky things might work differently too. 

Note: Sorry for being too long. I only wanted to offer the most practical, real and working solution. 

[sonickast]

Hello! Thank you so much for the detailed response!

Is it possible to make a full refund to the client, not start a dispute and not get a review?

Thank you so much!!!

[yitwail]

Sofia, you can give a full refund by closing the contract but the client can still leave negative private feedback and you will probably lose your Rising Talent badge.

[robin_hyman · Accepted solution]

My client silently attached a doc file to the offer and didn't tell me anything.

Attaching a doc file is not silent.  The client may not have mentioned it but you weren't detailed enough to catch it.  

That was a contract to the new job, not this very one. I have done the Upwork job and submitted it for payment. My client told me that it is necessary to sign the contract in his Word document. But that was a contract to another job, much bigger than the current Upwork job!

What is important here is the contract created through Upwork and the money in escrow relating to that contract.  Kindly ask the client to focus on the current task and then you will be happy to address the second project once the first is completed.

My client refuses to pay for an Upwork job without signification. What can I do in this situation? Is it possible to make a refund after submitting the job and not get a review for this job?

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You should wait.  After 14 days of doing nothing the money will automatically be delivered to you.  Yes you can refund but if you did the work, why would you?  A refund would mean no payment on the project and it will negatively affect your JSS.  I don't see how you did anything wrong unless there are details you left out.