Free work fraud

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

A contract has been made between me and a client. Work Description in it's job offer stated that "Once initial work is complete we can look additions and other developments".

On Wednesday, May 15 12:45 PM he sent me instructions of the "first part of work", and said "start with this and we can add more functionality when you're done".

Five hours later at 5:46 PM, I finished the job and sent him the deliverable of the job. He checked it and replied that he found it good and promised to send more tasks later. After that he disappeared!!!

I messaged him many times and he didn't reply at all.

Most probably he wanted only the module that I've made for him, but he has to fool someone to do it for free.

Now, I've worked 5 hours under this contract and I should get $15 for this work.

I see that doesn't have any more work for me, and will not reply , or may close the contract.

Does he have the right to close the contract without giving reasons or any obligations to pay me for the work done?

Kindly review messages between us and advise what should I do.

Khaled

petra_r · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:
A contract has been made between me and a client.

Hourly or fixed rate contract? What you'll be paid and how depends on the type of contract you have. Look at your My Jobs Page

Go to your Reports Overview Page - Do you see the $ 15 anywhere?

I suspect that you have an hourly contract and failed to track your hours to ensure that you are paid automatically... Correct? It is not "free work fraud" if you failed to use the site correctly.

"Where is my money?"

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

Contract is hourly, details is :

Weekly Limit : 25 hrs/week

Manual Time : Manual Time disallowed

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:
Contract is hourly, details is :
Weekly Limit : 25 hrs/week
Manual Time : Manual Time disallowed

So did you turn on the time tracker while you were working the five hours?

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

No

prestonhunter · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled,

based on what you wrote, there is ZERO FRAUD here.

This appears to be a case of a freelancer who does not know how to use Upwork properly.

If you do not get paid, it is your fault.

If you had an hourly contract and did not log time, this is your fault.

If you did log time, then you need to learn how to find the money in your Reports.

Please don't pester the client or complain about fraud. Focus on what you did wrong.

TALK to us. We can help you figure this out.

colettelewis · ‎05-22-2019

Preston H wrote:
Khaled,
based on what you wrote, there is ZERO FRAUD here.

This appears to be a case of a freelancer who does not know how to use Upwork properly.

If you do not get paid, it is your fault.

If you had an hourly contract and did not log time, this is your fault.

If you did log time, then you need to learn how to find the money in your Reports.

Please don't pester the client or complain about fraud. Focus on what you did wrong.

TALK to us. We can help you figure this out.

_____________________________

Preston, we do not know if this was fraudulent or not, as the OP does not actually state that the contract was official.

Official or not, even if it was the "fault" of the OP, in that he was not conversant with Upwork's payment and protection systems, the client did scam him (if fraud is too strong a word).

petra_r · ‎05-22-2019

Nichola L wrote:
Official or not, even if it was the "fault" of the OP, in that he was not conversant with Upwork's payment and protection systems, the client did scam him (if fraud is too strong a word).

Why and how? At this point we have no idea if the OP has logged his time or not...

We also don't know if simply adding 5 hours manual time will not fix the issue?

We also don't know how long ago all this went down.

We also don't know if the client has ended the contract.

We essentially do not know if the client scammed him or not.

colettelewis · ‎05-22-2019

Petra R wrote:
Nichola L wrote:
Official or not, even if it was the "fault" of the OP, in that he was not conversant with Upwork's payment and protection systems, the client did scam him (if fraud is too strong a word).
Why and how? At this point we have no idea if the OP has logged his time or not...
We also don't know if simply adding 5 hours manual time will not fix the issue?
We also don't know how long ago all this went down.
We also don't know if the client has ended the contract.

We essentially do not know if the client scammed him or not.

__________________________________________________

If he delivered the work and was not paid (whether or not he adhered to Upwork's rules) he was scammed. Leaving Upwork aside, if you work for someone and the someone disappears - IMO that constitutes a scam at best. (ETA) But as you say, we do not have all the details.

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

I agree that it's my fault, because a worked with good fath, a client with (4.90 of 126 reviews), and I supposed that he's a good honest client.

In addition to that, I found that Manual Time is disallowed in the contract.

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:
I agree that it's my fault, because a worked with good fath, a client with (4.90 of 126 reviews), and I supposed that he's a good honest client.
In addition to that, I found that Manual Time is disallowed in the contract.

It doesn't matter that manual time was disallowed - you were still allowed to track up to 30 hours a week, yes? So why didn't you?

While I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is your fault (you're the victim here; the client is the bad guy), you cannot work "on good faith" for a total stranger. The time clock is there for your protection and for the client's protection as well - why not use it?

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-22-2019

The next time a client promises you lots of work in return for doing an initial job (which is one of the oldest tricks in the book), just turn it around on them. Say, "Pay me my going rate for this job, and if you give me lots more work, then we can talk about a discount."

petra_r · ‎05-22-2019

Christine A wrote:
The next time a client promises you lots of work in return for doing an initial job (which is one of the oldest tricks in the book), just turn it around on them. Say, "Pay me my going rate for this job, and if you give me lots more work, then we can talk about a discount."

The client is paying him his "full" profile rate, or would be paying him his profile rate if he has used the tracker.

Not using the tracker was the problem.

prestonhunter · ‎05-22-2019

re: "I agree that it's my fault, because a worked with good fath, a client with (4.90 of 126 reviews), and I supposed that he's a good honest client. In addition to that, I found that Manual Time is disallowed in the contract."

Khaled:

I'm sorry if you are disappointed by what happened.

Don't worry too much about this.

You learned how to do things the right way, and this won't happen again.

It is NORMAL for clients to disallow manual time.

This client expected you to log time using the time tracker.

MANY CLIENTS would have noticed that you didn't, and they would have politely asked you to do so. If this client didn't do that, I'm sorry.

Next time, just log your time using the time tracker and get paid.

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-22-2019

Petra R wrote:
The client is paying him his "full" profile rate, or would be paying him his profile rate if he has used the tracker.
Not using the tracker was the problem.

According to the OP, the client got the work that he asked for and said that he was happy with it, so if he was a decent human being, he'd hand over the measly $15 instead of ignoring the OP's messages. But he ISN'T a decent human being, so that's the real problem, IMO. (Edited to add: It sounds to me like the client encouraged him not to turn on the tracker, i.e. "complete this small initial job for me and then I'll give you some 'real' work." But I might be assuming too much.)

I'm not sure if you're allowed to give the client a bad review if no money was paid on a project, but if you can, then I would do so.

Just one caveat: exactly how long has the client been ignoring your messages? If it's only been a few days, then I'd give him some more time. When I was just starting out, I did some work for a client and they ignored my messages for about two weeks, so I was all bent out of shape and wrote them a "strongly worded" email. It turned out that the client's husband had suffered a stroke and she'd been at the hospital with him. She did pay me, but she never hired me again (and rightfully so). So.... yeah. After that, my default has been to give everyone the benefit of a doubt.

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

Last message I got from him was in Thursday, May 16, 3:44 PM. It was after 6 hours delay.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I'll wait for about one week more to see what he will do.

In the meantime, I think about raising a dispute against him by the end of next week. Revision of Messaging between us proves clearly that the work has been done and delivered within 5 hours and he was satisfied. Moreover, he intentionally made the contract with a (Manual Time Not Allowed) option.

Not following the correct procedures from my side does not mean relieving his responsibility to pay for what he got. I hope so.

Do you see this a good or bad action from my side ??

kat303 · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:
Last message I got from him was in Thursday, May 16, 3:44 PM. It was after 6 hours delay.
He replied saying "hi Khaled, sorry for the delay, I had 2 days of problems, it has been very hard. I took a look at your 1st version yesterday it was good. I will try get you some more tasks later tonight, ready for tomorrow. Sorry for the delays"

I'll wait for about one week more to see what he will do.
In the meantime, I think about raising a dispute against him by the end of next week. Revision of Messaging between us proves clearly that the work has been done and delivered within 5 hours and he was satisfied. Moreover, he intentionally made the contract with a (Manual Time Not Allowed) option.
Not following the correct procedures from my side does not mean relieving his responsibility to pay for what he got. I hope so.
Do you see this a good or bad action from my side ??

-------------------

For hourly contract you are paid for the TIME you TRACK, not for the work you do. To be paid for the work you do, would be a fixed rate job with escrow Fully funded. For hourly jobs, a client doesn't have to pay for any hours worked that were not tracked. They can pay for manual hours, but that was disallowed. So even if you entered manual hours, (which you can't) But assuming you could, that does not guarantee your payment.

Things that the client doesn't have to pay for

Manual hours (even if allowed)

Screen shots showing you were doing something else other then working on the clients job. (playing games, reading/answering email, surfing the internet, looking at youtube etc.

Low or high keystroke activity.

No annotations on the screen shots Tracker takes.

The only thing that guarantees you payment is if you used Tracker. If the client doesn't pay you then Upwork will pay you.

And promises no matter how enticing does NOT pay your bills, or put food on your table.

Since you didn't use Tracker, there's nothing you can start a dispute for. You have to remember, that you're working with strangers worldwide. Although a client should have ethics and pay for work they received, that is not always the case. There a a lot of outright scammers on this site. And there are just as many clients who know just enough on how to work the system to their advantage and still stay "legal."

colettelewis · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:

Last message I got from him was in Thursday, May 16, 3:44 PM. It was after 6 hours delay.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I'll wait for about one week more to see what he will do.

In the meantime, I think about raising a dispute against him by the end of next week. Revision of Messaging between us proves clearly that the work has been done and delivered within 5 hours and he was satisfied. Moreover, he intentionally made the contract with a (Manual Time Not Allowed) option.

Not following the correct procedures from my side does not mean relieving his responsibility to pay for what he got. I hope so.

Do you see this a good or bad action from my side ??

____________________

As Kathy says. You can't raise a dispute on this. The client has written a conciliatory letter. Accept it in good faith and ask him if he would be good enough to use the bonus system to pay you for the hours you should have tracked. If he sends you more work, then make sure you use the tracker and check how it works before doing so.

feed_my_eyes · ‎05-22-2019

I'll wait for about one week more to see what he will do.
In the meantime, I think about raising a dispute against him by the end of next week. Revision of Messaging between us proves clearly that the work has been done and delivered within 5 hours and he was satisfied. Moreover, he intentionally made the contract with a (Manual Time Not Allowed) option.
Not following the correct procedures from my side does not mean relieving his responsibility to pay for what he got. I hope so.
Do you see this a good or bad action from my side ??

It sounds like you're still confused about the "manual time not allowed" option. It's perfectly legitimate for a client to disallow manual time - it means that they want proof that you have worked the hours that you say you worked, i.e. by turning on the time tracker. It is NOT proof that they intended to scam you. Even if manual time IS allowed, the client does NOT have to pay for any hours that aren't on the time tracker. You need to read the rules more thoroughly so that you understand how everything works before you do any more jobs.

You say that the message board proves that the work "was delivered within 5 hours". That's not the same thing as spending five hours working on the job, it just means that it took you five hours to respond. So I'm afraid you have no proof that you worked five hours, and no grounds to file a dispute.

You still haven't explained why you didn't use the time tracker. Did the client tell you not to, or did you just not understand how it works?

nowaihy-khaled · ‎05-22-2019

Christine A wrote:

You still haven't explained why you didn't use the time tracker. Did the client tell you not to, or did you just not understand how it works?

No, he didn't tell me to do so, I supposed that it was not necessary to use time tracker as he didn't talk about time frame to do this start-up job because it was just a (proof of concept) and there will be subsequent additions and upgrading the required module.

prestonhunter · ‎05-22-2019

re: "The next time a client promises you lots of work in return for doing an initial job (which is one of the oldest tricks in the book), just turn it around on them. Say, 'Pay me my going rate for this job, and if you give me lots more work, then we can talk about a discount.'"

I think Christine's suggestion is a good one.

Or you can do what I do, and just ignore such comments completely.

martina_plaschka · ‎05-22-2019

Khaled A wrote:
I agree that it's my fault, because a worked with good fath, a client with (4.90 of 126 reviews), and I supposed that he's a good honest client.
In addition to that, I found that Manual Time is disallowed in the contract.

You would have been paid automatically, if you had used the time tracker (as you know by now). Now you can't add manual time, so the client could pay you the amount as a bonus. He seems to be unwilling to do so, so that's that.

There is no need to act "in good faith" on upwork, there is only the need to know about and follow the rules, then everybody stays safe and paid, and does not need to worry about the client's honesty.

prestonhunter · ‎05-22-2019

A client with a record like this:

4.90 of 126 reviews

...simply can't be dismissed as a scammer.

It is possible that he hasn't even noticed messages from the freelancer.

It is possible that we don't know the full story, that we don't know the client's side.

It is ALSO possible that the client was being a jerk by not sending a bonus payment to cover the fee.

Maybe the client was flabbergasted at the freelancer's failure to log his time, and the client decided to block him or ignore him.

What should a client do in a situation like this? Pay the fee using the Pay Bonus tool.

What should a freelancer do in a situation like this? Learn from the mistake and stop contacting the client.