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Sara's avatar
Sara S Community Member

Unresponsive client

Hi,
I have been working with this client on a milestone basis. I have submitted the first part of the job and she said she loved it and asked for some more changes. But after that became unresponsive. I haven’t completed the project and the final files are not released. I’d like to know what I need to do at this stage?
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Nikola's avatar
Nikola S Retiring Moderator

Hi Sara,

 

If you are working with a client and they become unresponsive for a long period of time, it may be best to stop working on the project and wait for contact from the client. In some cases, you may also reach out to Upwork to contact the client on your behalf.

 

On a fixed-price contract, ending the contract forfeits any funds remaining in escrow. Instead, it is often best to complete your last milestone before you end the contract. If your client fails to respond to your submission, funds will be automatically released after 14 days. If they respond but refuse the work and you believe you have completed the work according to the agreed terms, you have the option to file a dispute.

 

You can find more information in this help article

 

~ Nikola

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241 REPLIES 241
Natalia's avatar
Natalia L Community Member

2 Clients disappeared and stopped responding. The work is done, there is an agreement on payment, but the clients simply stopped communicating. As a result, the money is "In review". What to do?

Will's avatar
Will L Community Member

Fixed price projects or hourly?

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Natalia,

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with these clients. I have checked and it looks like you've already communicated with our team with the same concern. A support ticket was recently been created with your concern and I highly suggest you continue communicating with our team through that ticket for updates and further assistance.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Darren's avatar
Darren F Community Member

My contract was renewed a few times and I was told that I would start other task for client.

Now a month has gone by and I have not heard from client.

Am I owed for these hours? In the outside world, with a contract,  I'm assuming yes. A deal is a deal and the contract was never ended by client.

What is the policy on Uptick?

Thanks

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Darren,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. We know that getting paid for your work in a timely fashion is important to you. Hourly contracts may be covered by Upwork Hourly Protection.  All applicable time that you log in to your Work Diary, whether tracked or added as manual time, is invoiced to your client accordingly.

 

However, I have checked your account and there's no time has been logged in. In this case, you should not be expecting further payments If you're planning on ending the contract. Please note that If you are working with a client and they become unresponsive for a long period of time, it may be best to stop working on the project and wait for contact from the client.

 

Feel free to check this help article for more details.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Kiran's avatar
Kiran P Community Member

Hi

 

I have a contract with a client for a fixed price, Actually when client start project he has created 5 milestones and completed work for above milestone and client had approved that but after that he created another 3 milestone and active only one milestone but this time i got trust on him so submit work to him and now he is not responsing my message  and the job wasn't finished because it needed their final approval. It's been a month since the approval and I've sent messages but they don't answer. I don't know what to do since I'm afraid that if they give me a bad feedback 

 

 

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Kiranben,

 

Thank you for your message. I can see that you submitted your work and requested payment last May 24. If your client fails to respond to your submission, funds will be automatically released after 14 days. If they respond but refuse the work and you believe you have completed the work according to the agreed terms, you have the option to file a dispute. You may read more about Fixed-Price Protection here. I hope this helps.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Kiran's avatar
Kiran P Community Member

Thank you arjay,

Kiran's avatar
Kiran P Community Member

Hi Delwar,

As you have very great profile i am facing some issue so i need help for client unresponsive on first project can you help me to solve this ? 

Mary's avatar
Mary M Community Member

I need some help, so there was a client I did a job for and submitted on 31st May, the money was already in the escrow account, but after submitting the client went silent, today it's 15 days ever since I submitted the job, being 14/06/2022, but the money has not been released to me, as per Upwork rules if the client is unresponsive the money is automatically released after 14 days, I didn't resubmit and the client received the work and didn't say anything, my billing cycle allows me to transact every Wednesday which is tomorrow, what should I do?

Annie Jane's avatar
Annie Jane B Retired Team Member

Hi Mary,

 

Can you please provide the contract ID number so we can check?


~ AJ
Upwork
Anika's avatar
Anika T Community Member

Hello y'all. So one of my clients wants to purchase a project of mine in bundles (or several times) from project catalog.

 

My question is if she purchases projects worth $500+, for further purchases, what will be the service charge? Will it be 10% of the amount once it crosses $500? 

 

My second question, another one of my clients became unresponsive after I submitted the work for a project catalog project. I've submitted the work through the system. Will this be released after 14 days like fixed price contracts? 

 

Thanks for your time. 

Annie Jane's avatar
Annie Jane B Retired Team Member

Hi Anika,

 

In this article, it is stated that we count all your contracts with a client –– whether hourly, fixed-price, or a Project Catalog project. This means that on a $600 project with a new client, your service fee would be 20% on the first $500 and 10% on the remaining $100.

 

As for the unresponsive client, we generally recommend that you complete your last milestone, submit the work for payment and still try to get in touch with your client in order to leave a good impression. If your client fails to respond to your submission, we will automatically release the funds after 14 days.

 

I hope this helps!


~ AJ
Upwork
Anika's avatar
Anika T Community Member

Thank you Annie for the detailed response. Appreciate it! 

 

Regarding the unresponsive client, it's a project from project catalog. Hence I'm concerned how this works

Annie Jane's avatar
Annie Jane B Retired Team Member

Hi Anika,

 

You're welcome! It works the same as a fixed-price contract with just one milestone.


~ AJ
Upwork
Anika's avatar
Anika T Community Member

Hi Annie. Thanks a lot!

 

I have this one client who created two milestones together. She didn’t activate the second milestone and she barely communicates. I've submitted the work for the first milestone which was activated. In this case, will the payment be released after 14 days for the first milestone? Because the last (second) milestone was never activated. So technically this milestone shouldn’t be counted. 

 

Appreciate your time. 

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Anika,

 

Arjay here stepping in for Annie Jane. Yes! that is correct.  If your client fails to respond to your submission of the first milestone, we will automatically release the funds after 14 days.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Anika's avatar
Anika T Community Member

Thanks a lot Arjay for the response!  

Tamuka's avatar
Tamuka M Community Member

Hi Iam still new to upwork. I did some extra work on two fixed contracts for which the client agreed to pay extra through the chats. The client explained to me that he wanted me to do some edits on the project and I pointed out that those were not edits but something that was not part of the scope so I clearly told him that I will charge him for the extra work to which he agreed. There were No new milestones added for the extra work, No extra funds put into the escrow, so I did the work for the second project he approved it and I noticed he didnt add a milestone or anything so I added one which I think he aproved but did not fund it. I went on to work on the other project as per his request and finished it. By 23 May I was already done doing extra work on project 2 and by 31 May I was done with extra work on Project 1. I thought I was going to see some action on his part but he hasnt done anything in regard to paying for the extra work for those 2 projects. The client only funded $70 which was the money he was owing because he had funded $70 less when I did his second project. Eventually I added the second milestone but the client is unresponsive its been two weeks now. The client owes me $144 for new edits on project 2 and $160 on edits for project 1. How should I proceed? In my contract it says $70 Funded Active, Remaining $214 which is probably $70 remaining on the intial work for project 2 +$144 extra work on project 2. It seems I dont have control on when he can release the money for the milestone I finished by 23 May a month ago and he approved and its not funded. The other milestone for the work I did for $160 has not be approved yet but I submited the work and finished all corrections by 31 May. How should I proceed.

 

Regards

 

Tamuka

Peter's avatar
Peter G Community Member

Sorry this happened to you. But you shouldn't have done or delivered any more work until after all milestones were fully funded. Now if the client doesn't to pay, there is no way Upwork can make them. 

Tamuka's avatar
Tamuka M Community Member

The project bonus was funded 3 weeks ago. Its status is Active is there a way to have it paid to my account?

Christine's avatar
Christine A Community Member

If it's been three weeks, then Upwork hasn't been able to successfully charge the client's payment method for the bonus; they can only release funds that are in escrow. (That's why the escrow account needs to be funded before you work on any milestone.) There's no way for Upwork to help you get the rest of your money if the client has disappeared now.

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Tamuka:

Close the contract yourself, immediately.

Dont try to contact this client again.

Don't make the same mistake again the future.

Don't work on unfunded milestones.

Tamuka's avatar
Tamuka M Community Member

Hi Preston

I understand now. The project bonus was funded its already in the Escrow account but I don see a way to have it paid into my account the submit work for payment in not active.

 

Atif's avatar
Atif M Community Member

Hi,

 

I have also facing an un responsive client. I am working with a client from past 8 months on website testing. The work flow is client send me the website links along with a test sets (400-500). I perform the test and send the results to the client. Then I create a milestone and client approved the payment.

 

In the month of May-2022, client did not approved the milestones for several works but sent me work continuously. Despite of previous un approved milestones, I continued the work and submitted my last work on 31-May-2022.

 

After 31-May-2022, I get no response from the client even after many messages. I have created a new milestone 10 days ago for the remaining work but no response from the client. I have also submitted my work in upwork messages and all logs are available.

 

Can someone please guide me that what should I do ?

 

Should I contact the upwork support or file a dispute ?

 

Thanks