🐈
» Forums » New to Upwork » Re: Ratings destroyed because of unserious cl...
Page options
eliasson
Community Member

Ratings destroyed because of unserious client.

I got a question to do a test job without pay, audition for a job you could say. He offered me a great job if I would "pass". I spent a lot of time fulfilling his requests on making the product (audio for a video), when I was done he stopped responding and gave me bad rating. This was my first job so now my ratings are 80% and nobody will hire me. How do I work this out? Surely I can't be rated bad for a job I didn't get? It just feels really unfair, any help would be appriciated.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
holymell
Community Member

I agree with Randy.

 

There aren't any jobs listed on your profile. Are you sure you had a contract? Sounds to me like some guy got free work out of you and then ghosted you. While that's still a horrible situation, that won't have any effect on your score. You don't have a score because you haven't completed enough jobs in order to obtain one.

 

Perhaps you're looking at your profile completion percentage instead, and that's where you're getting that 80%? I'm not sure, but you definitely don't have a rating, and I see no reviews for you, or jobs in progress. Looks to me like you had someone message you through Upwork messenger, ask for a "sample" that he didn't pay for (at least not through Upwork, which is a ToS violation if he did pay you outside the platform) and then take off with your work,

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about, other than making sure you have a contract through Upwork in place (you can find this by going to your 'my jobs' tab and seeing if you have active contracts) and that the money for that work is funded and that the client has a verified payment method. For hourly jobs, make sure you use the Upwork Time tracker and that you keep notes (write memos that change every so often) and you are promised payment protection. But you have to use the tracker. Manual hours don't count towards the payment protection.

 

Good luck. The good news is that there is nothing on your profile, so the client can't leave negative feedback for you, so when you do get a JSS, hopefully it will be good.

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15
r2streu
Community Member

If you didn't have a contract, he CAN'T rate you. Can't be done. 

 

If you DID have a contract, you should not have agreed to completing ANY work, including as a test, for free, as this is a violation of Upwork TOS. 

 

ETA:
After looking over your profile, I'm not seeing ANY jobs completed through Upwork, including the one you're talking about. So I'm not sure where you're getting 80% or that he gave you a bad rating. As a new Upwork Freelancer, you don't seem to HAVE a JSS yet -- which tracks, because you haven't done any work here yet. 

versailles
Community Member


@Harald E wrote:

 and gave me bad rating. 


 Your profile shows no ratings at this point. If no money was exchanged, there will be no public feedback on your profile (but the client's rating will count towards your JSS).

 

Working for free was your decision. I have no idea why you would want work for free, it somehow defeats the purpose of being on a freelancing platform, but it's your choice after all.

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

I really donät like the idea of working for frww, I only did it because he promised me a job if I could prove my abilities.

petra_r
Community Member


@Harald E wrote:

I really donät like the idea of working for frww, I only did it because he promised me a job if I could prove my abilities.


 Harald, oldest trick to get free work.

 

Chances are the big job never existed, all they wanted was a bunch of people to give them free work....

Is there a way to go about reporting a client that is requesting "sample work" or "audition work"?

 

I have had a few clients in the past request I do this and that to "get the hire."  I have a client requesting such work right now and I'm sure I'll have more scammers try to get me in the future.

 

Thanks for the help.

Hi Branden,

Please follow the steps in my previous post in this thread for how to flag posts for our review. You can also send me a PM with the client information and any relevant details or screenshots. It is a violation of our ToS for clients to ask for free work samples, however clients are able to request paid samples/tests to determine a freelancers ability to perform a project.

~Nina
holymell
Community Member

I agree with Randy.

 

There aren't any jobs listed on your profile. Are you sure you had a contract? Sounds to me like some guy got free work out of you and then ghosted you. While that's still a horrible situation, that won't have any effect on your score. You don't have a score because you haven't completed enough jobs in order to obtain one.

 

Perhaps you're looking at your profile completion percentage instead, and that's where you're getting that 80%? I'm not sure, but you definitely don't have a rating, and I see no reviews for you, or jobs in progress. Looks to me like you had someone message you through Upwork messenger, ask for a "sample" that he didn't pay for (at least not through Upwork, which is a ToS violation if he did pay you outside the platform) and then take off with your work,

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about, other than making sure you have a contract through Upwork in place (you can find this by going to your 'my jobs' tab and seeing if you have active contracts) and that the money for that work is funded and that the client has a verified payment method. For hourly jobs, make sure you use the Upwork Time tracker and that you keep notes (write memos that change every so often) and you are promised payment protection. But you have to use the tracker. Manual hours don't count towards the payment protection.

 

Good luck. The good news is that there is nothing on your profile, so the client can't leave negative feedback for you, so when you do get a JSS, hopefully it will be good.

Thank you so much, you really helped. I confused rating with profile completion, silly mistake. Also, I dod not take any form of payment outside upwork. How do I delete this thread? It was all just a misunderstanding from a newbie on upwork...



@Harald E wrote:

Thank you so much, you really helped. I confused rating with profile completion, silly mistake. Also, I dod not take any form of payment outside upwork. How do I delete this thread? It was all just a misunderstanding from a newbie on upwork...



 

Oh no! Don't delete the thread. There may be other new people it could help. I know I've seen other posts where I was certain the poster was confusing their profile completion with their JSS, so this could actually help someone.

 

Also, it definitely would help you to complete your profile. That's one of the requirements to get a Rising Talent badge (there are numerous other requirements, however, but profile completion I'm sure is one of them).

eliasson
Community Member

I'm sorry, I read the wrong parameter. It's my profile completion bar, I apologize for my clumsiness. Thank you for being so quick and helpful though I will delete this thread. But before I do, is there anything I can do to get my work justified or paid for? Even though it was a test, I put a lot of work into it hoping for a job he kept promising me if I did well. I met all the demands, then suddenly no reply. Sure must there be a way I can confront the cliant via upwork?


@Harald E wrote:

I'm sorry, I read the wrong parameter. It's my profile completion bar, I apologize for my clumsiness. Thank you for being so quick and helpful though I will delete this thread. But before I do, is there anything I can do to get my work justified or paid for? Even though it was a test, I put a lot of work into it hoping for a job he kept promising me if I did well. I met all the demands, then suddenly no reply. Sure must there be a way I can confront the cliant via upwork?


 

You would have to ask your "client" to create a contract through Upwork for the work you have done. It would be entirely up to that client to do so. If they are new to the site, perhaps they don't know well how it works. But I would take it as a loss and move on. 

 

Upwork won't help you at all, so I wouldn't recommend contacting them. Upwork simply connects clients and freelancers and serve as an escrow service, so they won't get involved with anything else in most cases.

 

A lot of us learn this same lesson. Message your client and ask him to kindly create a contract so you can be paid for the work that you've done. Chances are, he'll not respond because he wanted free work. However, there have been cases where the client simply doesn't know how the site works and they will fix the issue. It's worth a shot. Whatever you do, don't angrily message the "client" because it will do no good.

 

I hope you get your money!

eliasson
Community Member

 

Hi Harald,

You can go ahead and edit your own posts if you'd like, however if you would like your entire topic to be removed please let us know.

Also please note that you should only begin working once a contract is in place and as others have mentioned, it is a violation of our Terms of Service for a user to post an unpaid job of any kind, so should you come across a job like this again please do flag it.

~Nina

Allright, thank  you. I would like to keep the thread for the answers to help others, but please delete all my replies, they are just messy and not very helpful. How do I flag a job?

Harald,

On the upper right hand side of every job there is a link that says 'Flag as inappropriate'. You will then be presented with the option to select the reason for the flag.

Please check out this article for more information about Reporting Suspicious Activity.

~Nina
Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths