New Client Offered Job Then Disappeared

[dan-edelman]

I submitted a proposal and, without preamble, received an offer for for the job a little while after. I accepted within an hour of receiving the offer and requested the needed materials from the client. The client has gone dark and has not responded to two follow-up messages from me. It has been six days. My experience has been that clients are eager to get rolling on the project and are quite responsive at the outset, so this is highly unusual for me.

Obviously, I don't know the client's circumstances, but how long do I allow this hourly contract to remain open with no time logged before I end it? And what does it mean for my JSS? I've seen that similar but longer-term scenarios hit your JSS (which seems unfair in this case). 

Thanks,
Dan E

[martina_plaschka]

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Daniel E wrote:

I submitted a proposal and, without preamble, received an offer for for the job a little while after. I accepted within an hour of receiving the offer and requested the needed materials from the client. The client has gone dark and has not responded to two follow-up messages from me. It has been six days. My experience has been that clients are eager to get rolling on the project and are quite responsive at the outset, so this is highly unusual for me.

Obviously, I don't know the client's circumstances, but how long do I allow this hourly contract to remain open with no time logged before I end it? And what does it mean for my JSS? I've seen that similar but longer-term scenarios hit your JSS (which seems unfair in this case). 

Thanks,
Dan E

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It does not affect your JSS in any way, so there's nothing unfair about it. 

[timefighter11]

Martina's Comment + don't accept any offer before you have gotten everything that is required to accompolish the task, from client. Afterall the contracts with no earning definately hurt your portfolio in certain ways. 

[martina_plaschka]

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Muhammad Zeeshan H wrote:

Martina's Comment + don't accept any offer before you have gotten everything that is required to accompolish the task, from client. Afterall the contracts with no earning definately hurt your portfolio in certain ways. 

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Only if the client leaves bad private feedback, which is not likely since he disappeared. 

[prestonhunter]

re: "don't accept any offer before you have gotten everything that is required to accompolish the task"

I agree.

The original poster said he accepted the contract, but couldn't do any work on it because he had not received the files he needed to do the work.

If it was me, I would have received the files BEFORE accepting the contract.

My policy:
I don't accept a fixed-price contract until I have everything needed to finish the contract.

I don't accept an hourly contract until I have what I need to at least get started.

[dan-edelman]

I understand the position, but I work with writers, and in my experience, they are reluctant enough to send an entire novel-length manuscript to a veritable stranger without some sort of commitment (granted, that commitment is mediated, etc.). I've had no problems in the past; prior clients are excited to get going, and I'm hesitant to demand someone's manuscript as a condition to my accepting an offer of employment.

Also, this scenario seems to carry a material consequence only because of an Upwork policy. Why should a freelancer be penalized if a client, for one reason or another, vanishes before any work is done? 

Anyway, lesson learned. I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks,
Dan

[feed_my_eyes]

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Daniel E wrote:

Also, this scenario seems to carry a material consequence only because of an Upwork policy. Why should a freelancer be penalized if a client, for one reason or another, vanishes before any work is done? 

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As Martina has already explained, you're not penalized if a client vanishes; only if they leave you bad private feedback (which they have no reason to do, since you never did any work). The other person who responded to you was mistaken.

I should think that it would be a good idea to ask for a manuscript first, in any case; how do you scope the project properly or even decide whether you're a good fit, if you haven't seen any of the client's writing? You can always offer to sign an NDA first.

[dan-edelman]

Thanks for clarification--I've seen this negative consequence reported elsewhere on the forum. 

You ask a fair question. Generally, the initial job posting provides enough information for me to gauge. Further, I often offer to edit a small sample free of charge to get a gander at the work and to allow the prospective client to assess my work. And typically the client contacts me first and we have an exchange prior to any offer. So I erred in ignoring the red flag of an offer made without any sort of feeling out process. Again, lesson learned.

And yeah, NDAs are often used, I have no problem signing them, and perhaps that's a suggestion I can make moving forward. 

Thanks,

Dan

[prestonhunter]

re: "I've seen this negative consequence reported elsewhere on the forum."

You did indeed see it.

But the JSS rules have changed since then.

There was a legitimate concern for negative impact on JSS for contracts closed with zero pay. Upwork stated that this was factored in to JSS calculations. But this has changed and now Upwork tells us that zero-pay contracts DO NOT HURT JSS unless the client leaves negative feedback.

[dan-edelman]

Thanks for the clarification.

And, again, thanks for all the responses.

Dan