I think I got scammed.

[#1]

Help please! I am so lost. This is so sad, I am passionate of my job and completed the task in under 2 weeks with sleepless nights, and also changed all the things he wants to have and now he doesn't want to pay me because he says he doesn't like it. My client is constantly trying to avoid paying me and I really think he is also trying to manipulate feedback with me. I tried to solve it on my own on so many levels but he is persistent on making me work even outside the scope of our contract without me getting paid, he only paid me the initial payment. Is anyone available because I would like to file a dispute because I feel so undervalued and it feels so unfair. The contract is still on and I don't know what to do, should I end it myself?

[#2]

This is a fixed-price contract, correct?

How much money is in escrow?

Have you already been paid anything from this contract?

[#3]

Yes this is fixed-price contract. It's just 201$ in escrow and he only paid the 67$ of it that was supposed to be just a rough draft of the animation or what we call initial payment for me to start working, I actually wrote that in our milestones. I completed it without even being paid in half. He stopped paying me as soon as he got the video and continues to make me work to compensate the first payment he made because he says that he doesn't like the video and only very few of the scenes are he can use.

[#4]

You are the freelancer.

You decide what to charge for you services.

You decide when you have finished a task.

The client can not force you to work for free.

You need to set clear guidelines and boundaries for the client. You are NOT helping the client by working for free.

The way to help the client is to make sure that you get paid fairly, accept YOUR terms.

You need to STOP WORKING FOR FREE.

If there is a task that has now been completed, then tell the client that the task has been completed and it is now time for him to release payment.

Tell the client that you will be happy to do additional work on the project after he has released payment.

After the money in escrow has been released to you, you can close the contract. If the client wants you to do more, then he may create a new hourly contract.

[#5]

re: "He stopped paying me as soon as he got the video and continues to make me work to compensate the first payment he made because he says that he doesn't like the video and only very few of the scenes are he can use."

Note that a client claiming that he does not "like" something does not give him the right to compel you to work endlessly for him for free.

That is a very silly notion.

Imagine this client going to a restaurant:

Client orders the salmon dish. Eats it all. Then says "I don't like that. I am not going to pay for that. Bring me the prime rib steak."

The waiter brings the streak dish. The client says "I didn't like that. I am not going to pay for that. Bring me the lobster dish."

And so on,,.

If the client truly does not like the food at this restaurant, then why does he keep eating it? Why did he finish each dish, and then order more? I don't believe him when he says he did not like it,

I feel like you are the waiter who just keeps bringing more food to the client for free.

If the client does not like the work, he still needs to pay for it. He can not choose between "not paying for the work" or "forcing you to do more work for free."

If the client pretends that he does not like the work OR if he truly does not like the work, then his choices include:

a) accepting the work anyway; he is not the expert

b) releasing escrow, closing out the contract and never hiring the freelancer again

c) creating an hourly contract that he can use to ask for an unlimited number or revisions

d) leaving appropriate honest feedback that explains why he did not like the work

[#6]

Thank you sir, this is really helpful. I've actually posted here and learnt what to not do and you guys taught me alot. And I'm learning more. Good thing is that I've actually stopped working for him as soon as he stopped paying me because that's what you guys taught me. But I think he is not going to pay for full payment and I want to know what I can do in this situation. I want to click that dispute button because I think he will neglect any of my suggestions and he is violating the ToS because I can feel like he is bribing me that if everything fails, we end the contract with positive feedbacks. I don't want to do him any favor anymore, but I don't know how to file a dispute with an open contract. Can I end the contract my self and file a dispute at the same time? Thank you very much because you've been helping me so much and teaching me a lot from day one of my dilemma.

[#7]

I don't want him rating me so I'm pushing that we should be in a dispute because other than him violating rules, he does not deserve to leave a feedback that will affect my career.

[#8]

If there is money funded in escrow, and you submitted work using the Submit button, but he is clicking "Request Changes", then you can file a dispute.

If there is no money in escrow, then you can NOT file a dispute.

Right now the open contract is not hurting you.

If you want to just leave the contract open, then go ahead and do so.

If you want to continue working on the project, and simply want to get paid for your work, then you can tell the client how much he needs to pay you to get him caught up with what he owes you. You can tell him to pay you using the client-side bonus tool.

You said that he has only paid you $67 this far. If you file a dispute, he can leave feedback for you.

The BEST thing would be for you to work things out with him so that you are both satisfied.

But if you don't think there is possible, it IS possible for you to simply close the contract yourself. If you do so, then it is possible that he will not leave any feedback at all.

If the client DOES leave feedback, maybe it won't be bad. If the client does leave feedback that you don't think you can tolerate, you can refund the $67 he paid you, and his feedback will not appear on your public profile page. (But any private feedback he leaves will still affect your JSS.)

[#9]

Thank you.


There is money in escrow, yes. Does that mean that I can dispute it? Because I cannot see the dispute button. Would you only see it if the contract is ended?
Because I cannot find it even I've searched everything online about a tutorial of how to file a dispute while being in an open contract.

If I end it, does the contract cannot be disputed anymore? I really don't know.




And I think that the idea of doing things for the sake of not having a bad feedback is not a good idea. I really think that with his personality he will never pay for it AND also leave a bad feedback no matter what I do because he's even tried to ask me to refund his initial payment, I really really tried to solve the problem on my own but I think that it is someone's job with upper hand (upwork customer support) to solve this problem because mine didn't work. I've researched countless of information to make it work for me and I found out that you can actually prevent someone to leave a feedback if the client/freelancer is violating the ToS.

Thanks again

-howard

[#10]

Help please! I am so lost. This is so sad, I am passionate of my job and completed the task in under 2 weeks with sleepless nights, and also changed all the things he wants to have and now he doesn't want to pay me because he says he doesn't like it. My client is constantly trying to avoid paying me and I really think he is also trying to manipulate feedback with me. I tried to solve it on my own on so many levels but he is persistent on making me work even outside the scope of our contract without me getting paid, he only paid me the initial payment. Is anyone available because I would like to file a dispute because I feel so undervalued and it feels so unfair. The contract is still on and I don't know what to do, should I end it myself?

[#11 · Accepted solution]

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Howard D wrote:

 My client is constantly trying to avoid paying me 

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Is there any money in escrow? (A funded milestone)

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Howard D wrote:

Is anyone available because I would like to file a dispute b

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You can only dispute if there is money in escrow.

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Howard D wrote:

 The contract is still on and I don't know what to do, should I end it myself?

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If you end the contract while there is still money in escrow, that money is returned to the client.

If there is no money in ecrow, you can't dispute but you can end the contract. The client could dispute and try to get back the money already paid. The client is also able to leave feedback.

[#12]

Hi sir i did the project in upwork for $550 and submitted within the time period but client is refused to pay and again asking for linking process money can you please help me in this

[#13]

Hi, was it fixed price, hourly or bonus?

Did you have to buy things or pay fees for the client?

[#14]

Hi Susmitha,

It doesn't look like you have any contracts on Upwork, nor do I see any conversations with clients. It's important to not begin work until the client has sent an on Upwork and you have accepted the offer. When you have a contract on the Upwork platform, we offer payment protection. 

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