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3be978da
Community Member

Sent finished product in chat and client is now unresponsive. This was my first gig :(

He wanted a 3d file edited which he provided in the proposal. We had a back and forth for 2-3 days to settle on a style. Then I made something about 90-95% close to the finished product and sent it to him for review. Now he has not replied in the last 17-18 days. What are my options here?

2 REPLIES 2
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Sent finished product in chat and client is now unresponsive."

 

Clients are NOT required to be responsive.

 

As freelancer, I get paid for my work whether or not a client is responsive.

 

If I have an hourly contract, then submitting the finished product via chat is perfectly fine. I get paid based on the hours I logged. It doesn't matter if a client responds or not.

 

If I have a fixed-price contract, then it is not against the rules to send a file via the Upwork Messages tool (chat). But the important thing is that I submit using the official green "Submit Work and Request Payment" button.

 

PERSONALLY I don't submit files "via chat." If you have done so, you have not broken any rules. But it is NOT ENOUGH to do that. You need to make sure you use the official "Submit Work" button.

 

re: "He wanted a 3d file edited which he provided in the proposal. We had a back and forth for 2-3 days to settle on a style. Then I made something about 90-95% close to the finished product and sent it to him for review. Now he has not replied in the last 17-18 days."

 

Well, it sounds like you made a mistake. These are YOUR mistakes. Not the client's.

 

It sounds like you did not have a contract in place.

That means that you never clicked the green "Accept" button to officially create an Upwork contract.

If you have an official Upwork contract, you see it listed here:

Upwork -> My Jobs -> My Jobs

 

If nothing is listed there, then you WERE NOT hired. And there IS NO WAY for you to be paid.

 

re: "What are my options here?"


Your main option is to learn from your mistakes and not make those same mistakes again in the future.

 

You are ALLOWED to contact the client and ask him to hire you officially so that he can pay you.

It is POSSIBLE that the client is new or ignorant about how to use Upwork properly, and did not know that he was supposed to hire you officially.

 

If you decide to do that, then send only ONE message.

 

But to be honest... rather than looking backwards and thinking about this project, I recommend that you focus on the future.

I didn't know about this, thanks!
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