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maccsharma
Community Member

Partial refund meaning

Hi
I had an dispute on hourly job with my client. Total hours billed are 45. Client ended the project and after 2 weeks .he filled dispute. I received message from upwork that upon review of the work diary, it shows 10.5 hours of low activity. We recommend for you to make a partial refund to your client. My question is what is the meaning of partial refund? Is upwork want me to refund 6 hours out of 10.5 hours of low activity? Please also help me what will happen if I refused to refund any amount because I had already worked 2 week upto 60 hours for client without any billing.
Thanks
ACCEPTED SOLUTION

I don't speak for Upwork, but here are my thoughts:

 

re: "Will upwork force me to refund 10.5 hours?"

 

I do not think they will force you to refund those hours.

 

Upwork CAN and DOES remove hours from freelancers' work diaries when clients dispute time, if those hours fall below certan criteria. If Upwork wanted to they could cause this refund themselves.

 

I believe the fact that they did not already do this themselves means that they think the client's request lacks merit. They are passing on the request as a courtesy to the client. Not because you did anything wrnog. And not because they are requiring you to do something.

 

re: "I do not want any suspension of my Upwork account."

 

You have not violated Upwork ToS. I do not think there is any possibility of a suspension of your account.

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4
prestonhunter
Community Member

Manu:

I can't read the client's mind, but i am guessing that he wants to feel like he was treated fairly.

 

It doesn't sound like he is requesting a full refund.

 

It sounds like Upwork would like to see you refund the 10.5 hours that show low activity.

 

Then you present us with another wrinkle in your story:

You say that you worked for 60 hours for the client without logging time.

 

Um... Why did you do that?

You are supposed to get paid for the time that you work.

 

The problem is that as far as Upwork is concerned, there is no evidence that you actually worked those 60 hours. So there is no way for them to take that into consideration.

 

The fact that the client filed a dispute indicates that he wants money back.

If you want to make the client satisfied, then maybe you need to refund 10.5 hours.

 

Is making the client satisifed your only goal? Not necessarily. You have a competing goal: Keeping the money you earned.

 

So one alternative before you is to refund money for hours of low activity. Another alternative is to NOT refund any money. You COULD send a message to the client explaining that you want to help him out, but that at this time you can't refund any money because you spent 2 weeks working for 60 hours without billing time. You could include in this message some details about all the work that you did during this time.

 

Maybe the client will see this and feel foolish for asking for any money back, and maybe that will be the end of it.

Hello Preston

Thanks for your reply. I worked 60 hours without tracker because client decreased the limit to 1 hour/week. He said he had issue with his payment method. I totally agreed it was my mistake to continue work on project. Client ended the project without any intimation. If I refused to refund 10.5 hours. And me and client do not come to mutual agreement . Will upwork force me to refund 10.5 hours. I do not want any suspension of my upwork account. I worked hard and earned top rated badge.

I don't speak for Upwork, but here are my thoughts:

 

re: "Will upwork force me to refund 10.5 hours?"

 

I do not think they will force you to refund those hours.

 

Upwork CAN and DOES remove hours from freelancers' work diaries when clients dispute time, if those hours fall below certan criteria. If Upwork wanted to they could cause this refund themselves.

 

I believe the fact that they did not already do this themselves means that they think the client's request lacks merit. They are passing on the request as a courtesy to the client. Not because you did anything wrnog. And not because they are requiring you to do something.

 

re: "I do not want any suspension of my Upwork account."

 

You have not violated Upwork ToS. I do not think there is any possibility of a suspension of your account.

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate your guidance.
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