Non-communicative client

[adelina-bonca]

Hello all!

I am new to upwork and I've recently obtained my first job on this platform. I have to design 10 marketing template flyers for real estate which would be later used by my client's employees to edit. He provided me some examples, but he said that they shouldn't be exactly the same. The job seemed pretty easy at first so I accepted to do this for 25$, especially since being this my first job, I thought it was a good start. My mistake was that I accepted the job before making sure that I had all the details I needed. I should have figured out that something was not right because he first wrote to me after 13 days since he posted the job and when we had the first discussion on Skype he just left me there with an unanswered question (related to what colors he wanted me to use for the flyers) and then wrote me the next day that he hired me on Upwork. Anyway, I didn't want to lose time so I started working and sent screenshots with my progress. Everytime he told me that he wanted to make something different, I did without complaining. Until he told me that I need to fill the templates with text. I agreed with that but I said that I need him to provide me the text in a document from where I can copy it. His response was that I have to use the examples that he provided. First of all, those examples are from another website that he doesn't own and I don't think this is ethical and second, I would have to write the text myself, be always in the "Alt-Tab" mode and squint my eyes to try to decipher what is written there (even though I zoom in a lot my screen, at some point it all becomes blurry). I wrote to him that I appologize but my understanding of making templates is totally different (I applyed for design, not content writing) and I asked him if, anyway, it would be possible for him to send me the file with the text he wants. And he just didn't answer me...This was yesterday. I know maybe it is early to ask, but I want to prepare myself and take the best coarse of action.

I have spent the last week working on this (the whole weekend and each afternoon after I got home from my daily job)  and I feel like I am losing time here. Honestly, I am not even interested in the 25$ now as I feel like I've already worked too much and this doesn't pay me off. What I am afraid though is that this will affect my upwork profile. I tried to read a lot about this and I know that closing the contract is the worst thing I can do. When I saw how things are developing, I said that I will do my best to honor the job and finish it even though I was not sure what rating I would get (since my client is so unpredictable) but now I am not sure which is best. I don't feel motivated to work on this job anymore and in no case I will write the text myself.

I will appreciate any advice you may have.

Thank you!

[mwiggenhorn]

Did he say he hired you or do you actually have a contract with him through Upwork?

[adelina-bonca]

He hired me and I accepted the contract. I have the contract on Upwork and I also logged hours in the application even though it is a fixed contract. That is actually my problem, that I accepted the job and now I cannot undo this.

[colettelewis]

Adelina,

If you pressed the release funds button when you delivered the work, then your client has 14 days to review the work, and in that time can ask for modifications or corrections. If you don't hear from him at all, the money will automatically be released to your account. I have had a couple of clients who have simply taken the work and disappeared. It does happen.

There is not much one can do about clients who go MIA, and it is a pity for this to happen on a first job. 

However, it is important to ask for funds to be released when you deliver work. 

[adelina-bonca]

Hi Nichola and thanks for your reply. I did not submit the work on upwork yet because I wanted to make sure that it meets client's expectations which looks like it doesn't since I am not willing to complete with text myself...Should I just load the templates (without text) and hope that client is as unresponsive as it was until now and doesn't reject them? What if he gives me a bad rating? That is what I am most afraid of...

[colettelewis · Accepted solution]

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@Adelina B wrote:

Hi Nichola and thanks for your reply. I did not submit the work on upwork yet because I wanted to make sure that it meets client's expectations which looks like it doesn't since I am not willing to complete with text myself...Should I just load the templates (without text) and hope that client is as unresponsive as it was until now and doesn't reject them? What if he gives me a bad rating? That is what I am most afraid of...

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 __________________________

Adelina, the sort of feedback you get  on this remains to be seen. I hope you have an honourable client.  But for now, resubmit the work (for the record) via Upwork, leave a polite message to your client  and press the release funds button. You have already done many modifications and you have completed the work. There is nothing more for you to do except to wait the 14 days. 

Read this: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063748 and if you have any more problems, come back to us here. 

[iacob_irina]

Hey there, Adelina!

Try not to feel too bad about this experience: most of us here have been in a similar position at some point. 

Yes, even the most successful have been there at some point. 

I suggest that from now on, you keep all communication on Upwork - the time tracker app even has an option to show your messages with all the clients. 

Why do i say this? Lately, especially since Upwork became upwork [it used to be called odesk, and elance. odesk and elance became 1 entity that we now call upwork], all the clients that requested an interview outside of the platform were duds. And if you don't know what a dud is... it's something that wastes your time and energy, basically. it's also highly likely that the dud client is not willing to pay, or has unreasonable demands, or something MUST go bad for the freelancer. 

Luckily, these days, all jobs are protected with escrow. When i started, and for many of my fixed price jobs, i didnt have this protection. 

I really wanted to encourage you so that you do not to give up, for i wish there was someone out there to encourage me when i encountered bad clients, or when i started freelancing.. good luck! try and take this experience as a lesson for the future. Money is money - sometimes, $25 can make a big difference in a person's wallet 😉

[prestonhunter]

re: "There is not much one can do about clients who go MIA, and it is a pity for this to happen on a first job."

There is something you can do: submit the work and get paid automatically.

You don't want TOO many jobs closed without feedback, because then JSS will suffer. But occasionally it is fine. And there is a clear upside to missing clients: getting paid while doing zero revisions or additional work.

[adelina-bonca]

Hi Irina!

Thanks for your kind words, they mean a lot to me.

What amazes me the most is that this client has a good rating, 4.94...After I saw how things are going, I went through all the jobs he has ever hired for and I saw someone who has given 1 star and had a similar problem as myself (client didn't provide all the information and he kept changing the request). But mostly, he has 5 stars from all other freelancers which I do not get. Anyway, this was a bad experience, but at least I've learnt my lesson.