How to file a dispute?

[eb0bd7f0]

I'm new to upwork and I want to file a complain to the the freelancer I was working with. He did not replied me for almost one and half month already and the project is long overdue. I released a payment for the first part of the project despite not receiving a full completion of the 50% of the project because he told me that he will complete everything for the second half. I released the payment knowing that he will complete the second part of the project. He keep asking me to release it and that he will complete the remaining parts. I feel very cheated becuase it has been very long since I receive an update from him. Where do I get help from? Can somebody help me?

[AveryO]

Hi Blue, 

I'm sorry to hear you have had a bad experience with your freelancer on Upwork. You may read up on this help article to know more about how you can file a dispute and get an escrow refund on a fixed-price contract. 

[f662b343]

Hi Avery

I have filed a dispute.

But i refuse to pay the outstanding invoice that includes her time.

I expect her amount to removed form the outstanding invoice and dealt with seperatly

[JoanneP]

Hi Guy,

I checked your account, and I can see that you already have an open ticket with our mediation team. One of our agents will update your ticket to assist you further. 

[2af9023c]

Hello,

can someone please help me with a link to file a dispute or request mediation?

Here is the second request for refund copy / paste for background

requested a refund.
The request for a refund is based on the following -

1) as per the contract the content must be able to pass a plagiarism check (copywrite). The submitted document did not pass with content found to be already published on the internet.

2) No references were provided as per deliverables

3) the project scope was a 50,000-word count research project organised around Reiki 1,2,3 and ancillary-related topics..

Milestones were established as a goodwill gesture and communication within upwork continually established that content may move between the milestones and that it was the overall project that was important. The milestones do not stand alone, ie the work submitted for the first milestone does not stand as a useable resource without completion of the other milestones.

4) We contracted a ghostwriter/ not someone to copy/paste content

The above points detail a breach of contract as defined in Law. Further to this, to pass a document off as something it is not is fraud. Submitting work that is publically published as original work is fraud.

Additional files which demonstrate the previously published work that was copy/ paste and passed off as original can be provided if required.

I would hope that the information here motivates the freelancer to provide a refund of milestone 1

End copy /paste

Freelancer continues to be non-responsive..

John

[AleksandarD]

Hi John,

I checked the contract and some funds were already paid and some are in Escrow.

For the funds that are currently in Escrow, you can end the contract and choose 'Pay nothing and request a refund'. The freelancer will have seven days to respond to the refund request. If they approve the refund or do not respond within seven days, the money in escrow will be refunded. If they dispute the refund request, we will notify you by email and you can either accept or reject the dispute. If you accept it, the funds will be released to the freelancer. If you reject it, an Upwork dispute specialist will provide mediation assistance to both parties. I suggest that you check this help article for more information about that.

Regarding the funds that were released, you can ask the freelancer for a refund. To do so, go on the contract page, click the three dots (...) and select 'Request a refund' as shown in this screenshot. On the popup, you can select the invoice you wish to request a refund for.

Thank you.

[2af9023c]

Thank you for your reply,

Thank have already taken the steps you outlined above a few days ago. I assume the escrow funds will be released in time.

Regards the payment already made, the freelancer denies passing off work already published as new content for this project. I’m fact this is irrefutable as we have screenshots from the internet that match the content submitted word for word. This was discovered after the payment for the milestone was released. Clearly on that basis combined with additional elements which evidence the contract conditions were not met a refund is due.

We need to escalate the dispute and request action be taken by upwork to assist

Thank you

[prestonhunter]

John:

How much money in total have you already released to this freelancer?

How much money is currently in escrow?

[2af9023c]

$495 released

$1155 in escrow

Thank you

[prestonhunter]

re: "can someone please help me with a link to file a dispute or request mediation?"

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062058-Get-an-Escrow-Refund

[AndreaG]

Hi John,

I checked and it doesn't look like a dispute has been filed yet and the contract is still open. In order to file a dispute, please: 

Go to My Jobs to locate the contract
Click the (...) options menu and select End contract
Choose Pay nothing and request a refund

An escrow refund request will be sent to your freelancer and they will have seven days to accept or dispute the refund request. If your freelancer disputes the escrow refund and you reject the dispute, an Upwork dispute specialist will provide mediation assistance to both parties to try and resolve the matter. You can find more details about the process here.

[2af9023c]

Hello,

Ok I found the problem.. we have a different company account with the email

**Edited for community guidelines**

The account is for

**Edited for community guidelines**

The freelancer is

**Edited for community guidelines**

Could you please take another look

[JoanneP]

Thanks for clarifying, John. 

I checked, and it looks like this contract has ended already. You can still request a refund by following these steps:

1. Go to Jobs  › My Jobs and click the title of the contract
2. Click the (…) options menu and select Request a refund
3. Complete the request form and click Send Request

Here's the help article for more information. 

[71a22bc0]

Thank you Joanne,

I submitted a request for a refund some days ago now.

The freelancer has seen the request and replied to the feedback I left after closing the contract but denies that previously published work was submitted as new content created for this project (we have irrefutable evidence)  One of only a few contract conditions not met.

We wish for support from Upwork.  I would assume this behaviour would be against Upwork guidelines?  Does Upwork suspend freelancers for fraud or like type activities? How do we escalate this?  How do we lodge a formal dispute/ complaint?

[0c9ec7f3]

Hi, Avery 

I also kinda need help with filing a dispute for a freelancer as he requested payment and we didn't notice it right away so it was approved but he didn't do anything and there was no accomplishments made while the contract is active. 

[759e32fa]

Hi Aria,

Thank you for reaching out to us. If the payment was released from escrow within the last 30 days you can request a refund from talent through Upwork and file a dispute if they refuse. You can still request a refund of released funds for up to 180 days after payment is released, but you will only be able to file a dispute for the first 30 days. After that, it is up to the freelancer or agency whether to give you a refund. Go here to learn more about this process.

You may also check this article for more information.

[ef18bc7b]

I requested changes but the worker doesn't want to do them nor to finish the job. I have the whole payment in one escrow. If he isn't willing to finish the job, do I really need to do this process and end up letting the escrow out to him? Why can't I just get the escrow back?

[LuiggiR]

Hi Andrew,

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. If that's the case, you may request an escrow refund. In the event the freelancer rejects the refund request, a dispute will be submitted and an Upwork mediation specialist will provide mediation assistance to try and resolve the dispute. You can check this help article to learn how you can make the request.

[colettelewis]

---

@Blue P wrote:

I'm new to upwork and I want to file a complain to the the freelancer I was working with. He did not replied me for almost one and half month already and the project is long overdue. I released a payment for the first part of the project despite not receiving a full completion of the 50% of the project because he told me that he will complete everything for the second half. I released the payment knowing that he will complete the second part of the project. He keep asking me to release it and that he will complete the remaining parts. I feel very cheated becuase it has been very long since I receive an update from him. Where do I get help from? Can somebody help me?

________________________

Blue P,

Can you give us a few more details. Was this a fixed-rate job? If it was, you can dispute it within 14 days of the freelancer asking for release of funds. On a fixed-rate job, if you don't dispute it within 14 days the funds automatically go to the freelancer.

If you cannot get a refund, you can close the contract and leave the sort of  feedback the freelancer deserves.

---

[eb0bd7f0]

Yes its a fixed rate job. I paid him 2 months ago first the first part of the project, theres no other way to get a refund from it right? for the second part of the project I already cancelled and asked for refund. 

[VladimirG]

Hi Blue,

You can ask the freelancer to issue a refund directly. If you need further advice please contact Customer Support and our team will follow up to review the details and advise.

[prestonhunter]

Filing a dispute about a freelancer who doesn't respond to you for 6 weeks isn't going to help you get your work done.

You hired the wrong freelancer, that's all.

Hire somebody who can do the work in the time frame that you require.

That's an important part of the job. Sometimes I have hired freelancers for projects I don't need done for a month. Sometimes I hire freelancers for work I need done RIGHT NOW. If I hired a freelancer for work that needs to be done RIGHT NOW, and the freelancer took ten minutes to start working on the project, I would close the contract and work with somebody else.

[colettelewis]

---

@Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Blue,

You can ask the freelancer to issue a refund directly. If you need further advice please contact Customer Support and our team will follow up to review the details and advise.

---

 ___________________________________

Vladimir,

Your reply is not vey clear. Can a client officially dispute two (or more) months after paying a freelancer?  The client may be able to ask the freelancer for a refund, but is this up to the freelancer or can the client make it official?

Even if a client has reason for asking for a refund, isn't two months a rather long time to come to this conclusion?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Nichola,

As Vladimir advised, if the payment has been released from Escrow, the client can ask the freelancer to issue a refund. This refund will have to be issued by the freelancer from their account and it's up to the freelancer whether they do it or not.

[rajendrapatel51]

I accepted clients dispute and there was no option to submit evidence.

How do I submit evidence after filling the dispute?

[JoanneP]

Hi Rajendra,

Could you please confirm the contract ID you're referring to so I can check? 

[prestonhunter]

re: "I accepted clients dispute and there was no option to submit evidence. How do I submit evidence after filling the dispute?"

A dispute is not about "evidence."

A dispute means that an Upwork mediator will facilitate communication between the client and freelancer.

Upwork will not review "evidence." Upwork will not decide who is "right" or "wrong."

The client and freelancer must agree who gets the money, and how much.

If they can't agree to a resolution, then they may each pay $292 (non-refundable) to go to arbitration. During arbitration, they may present evidence to a third-party arbitrator.

[cynco]

I hired someone to create a website for me. Before hand I gave him a very detailed list of what I needed as well as some sample pictures of designs I liked so he would know what I was shooting for. He said no problem. He started the site, got a portion of it done and I made a partial payment. He then told me I needed to buy 3 add-on's, which I did. The he said that he couldnt use them. The time line for the site was 2-4 weeks, it had now been a couple of months. In the end he said he didn't know how to complete the site. He was able to add basic things like keyterms or drop down menus or fix the bugs such as the pictures all being stretched out. So we dicided to end the contract and go our seperate ways.  A coulpe months later he contacted me demanding the balance of the contract even though the site was never finished. When I refused he deleted my website. He had set up the hosting for me and apparently still had access into. I changed all the passwords on my website and pretty sure I changed the hosting password but either way he got into it. Is there a way to file a complaint against this guy or report him? 

[NikolaS]

Hi Cynthia,

Thank you for reaching out to us. One of our team members will reach out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further. You can access your tickets on this page.

[surenderkumar58]

Dear Team,

I haven't that much experience dealing with the frauder on Upwork.

I got an invitiation to work on a project. I completed the job and sent required files as per client requirements. Client approved the milestone and I was happy to withdraw the money. Client didn't ended the contract yet. I started working on another new job and finished that as well. The 2nd client paid for that work and leave a 5 star rating and was happy with the work i have done. Now when I was trying to withdraw the amount earned from 2nd job, upwork didn't let me do the same. There was a problem with that 1st client's account. That client raised the refund for no reason and upwork approved and piad that raised amount of $522 (without letting me know anything) to that specious and suspended account. Now I have lost that hard earned money and can't do anything.

Can anyone here please help me with getting my hard earned money refunded to my account.

Kind Regards
Surender K

[759e32fa]

Hi Surender,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I checked your account and it was explained on this support ticket what happened to your contract. Kindly respond to the corresponding email that was sent to you if you have further questions.

[b690784f]

Hello,

   I finished my work and delivered it to the client since 4 days now, no response.

I've requested payment severally, no response still. 

I'm new here and this is my first work on upwork.Please I'd like to file a dispute and I don't know how to, I've searched the "help center" but couldn't find a solution, it's getting frustrating. Or is there any other way I can get my money? The client deposited the money in escrow before the contract began though.

Please if you have any ideas on how I can file a dispute, I'd really appreciate it. Maybe like a link to the form I'll fill or something. (I haven't ended the contract too).

Thankyou.

[prestonhunter]

re: "I finished my work and delivered it to the client since 4 days now, no response."

Clients are NOT REQUIRED to respond.

If the client does nothing, then I get paid AUTOMATICALLY.

re: "I've requested payment severally, no response still."

Stop sending messages. I don't even send a single message to request payment. If I use the Submit button, then that generates a message automatically. That's all I do.

re: "Please I'd like to file a dispute"

No, you can't file a dispute. There is no reason to do that. Just be patient and wait to get paid.

[759e32fa]

Hi Chidinma,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I checked this for you and can see that you already submitted your work. Once you submit your work, your client has 14 days to review and either approve the milestone or ask for changes. If they approve, the funds in escrow will be released to you. If your client takes no action for 14 days, the funds are automatically released to you.

You can learn more about this here and here.

I would also suggest to please kindly refrain from resubmitting your work multiple times as this resets the  14-day timeframe for you to receive the payment in case the client remains unresponsive.

[85b2b044]

Hello Upwork community,

I am a client and hired a freelancer for a translation work. I asked if she would be able to work on it right away and said she will. But after 3 hours of no response and no communication, even after inquiring about the work in progress, I had to cancel the contract and find someone else to take since it was urgent. However, she came back with a new contract and did the work AFTER I CANCELLED her contract. Now she asks me to pay and is now filing a dispute. 

Looking at this situation, this is a very unprofessional and coercive malpractice to ask for a pay when clearly, there was no open communication or response while the contract was open for 3 HOURS and is now coercing me into paying for a contract I CANCELLED. 

I really want to report this case because it is not just about freelancers that need protection but clients too!

Thank you for guiding where to report.