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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
Zahra's avatar
Zahra M Community Member

If you've completed work for a client on Upwork, and they are not responding to your messages or paying you for the completed work, here are steps you can take to address the issue:

  1. Send Polite Reminders: Continue sending polite reminders to the client through Upwork's messaging system, reminding them of the outstanding payment and requesting prompt payment for the completed work. Sometimes clients may overlook messages, so it's essential to follow up regularly.

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Greg,

 

I understand you want some clarity on whether to continue working with your unresponsive client. However, I can see that the payment for the milestone you submitted was released by the client. 

 

Please keep in mind that clients have the sole discretion whether they want to keep working with freelancers or not. We also cannot impose on clients to respond to freelancers.

 

I would suggest that you reach out to them one more time to ask if they want to continue working with you before you close the contract yourself. Should you not get any response or they choose to end the contract, it is best to move on and look for other projects that suit your experience and expertise.


You can find more information in this help article

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Indra Devi's avatar
Indra Devi C Community Member

My clinet is offline from week ago. I have submitted my work also. What are the ways to contact the client ??

Elena's avatar
Elena P Community Member

Hello everyone,

 

Being new to Upwork, I'm determined to find a small part-time job, and my goal is to start with online customer service, as it aligns with my primary job. I accepted a small contract at a fair price due to my limited experience here. The manager who was supposed to introduce me to the job welcomed me, and I responded enthusiastically, making myself available right away. I made an effort to follow up the next day but received no response. Then, the manager contacted me saying I had to wait for his message. Yesterday, he reached out to set a time, but I told him I'm always available in the afternoon. He disappeared again. I reached out politely, reaffirming my availability, but so far, I'm unsure what to do next.

Mushk's avatar
Mushk S Community Member

The client deposited $25 but the actual contract was $150 he told me he would fund the rest of the amount soon but even after completing the website he didn't fund the whole amount. I messaged him a lot but he is not responding to my messages.


What should I do please advise.

 

I also can't find the option for submitting the support request on the help and support page. It only chat option on which a bot is responding unlike in past when actual experts were available to answer inquiries

Mykola's avatar
Mykola A Community Member

Thats all, you accepted $25. Take lesson and next time do not work for free.

Mushk's avatar
Mushk S Community Member

I still want to report that client for such scam but I can't find any options for contacting support. I use to contact them usually on chat option but now a bot is replying Instead of human agent. 

 

Please any option to contact support would be very helpful.

Mykola's avatar
Mykola A Community Member

Some moderator will foward your report when read this topic. 

Arjay's avatar
Arjay M Retired Team Member

Hi Mushk,

 

I'm sorry if we weren't able to get back to you sooner. I see that you've contacted our support team and raised a ticket about your situation. Please continue coordinating with the team through this ticket or email if you need further assistance; they'll gladly look into that for you.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
Stephane's avatar
Stephane D Community Member

Hi community,

I was hired by a client for a fixed price job.
I completed the first milestone and was paid, then started the 2nd milestone and realised that the client did not add the money for it. As the communication was good i continued working for 2 weeks on the milestone. Once it was finished I messaged the client and asked him to put the money to which he reponded that he would do it and then completely disapeared. It's now been more than a month without any answer or contact. It's ok my mistake but the contract is still ongoing and my question is how do i termintate this contract and be sure it does not affect my ratings?

Thank you

Ivygail's avatar
Ivygail J Retired Team Member

Hello Stephane,

 

I am sorry to learn about your experience with your client. To clarify, keeping contracts with no recent activity open will not affect your score negatively. If you have contracts that are still open, but no further work needs to be done, you can still consider asking your clients to close them or go ahead and close them yourself. Please, note that when you close a contract, the client is notified and will have 14 days to provide their feedback on the contract. If no feedback is provided on the contract by them, it will not impact your score. You may read more about how the Job Success Score is calculated here.
 
~Ivy
Stephane's avatar
Stephane D Community Member

Thank you Ivy,

There were some other milestones planned so i guess i can just leave it open.

Daniel's avatar
Daniel J Community Member

Hello UP

 

I have a client who has not been responsive since December 2020. I have been trying to do a clean-up on my account so i have sent messages to this client so many times but there has not been any response. I know this will definitely affect my JSS.Please can you reach out to the client so as to know what went wrong from his end. The job still reads "Job in progress" however, there has not been any activity at all. His name is **Edited for Community Guidelines** from USA. 

Ronna's avatar
Ronna P Retired Team Member

Hi Daniel,

 

Thank you for sharing your concern. I would like to clarify that open contracts with no recent activity will not affect your score negatively. If you have contracts that are still open, but no further work needs to be done, you can still consider asking your clients to close them or go ahead and close them yourself. Please, note that when you close a contract, the client is notified and will have 14 days to provide their feedback on the contract. If no feedback is provided on the contract by them, it will not impact your score. You may read more about how the Job Success Score is calculated here.

~Ronna
Nayrita's avatar
Nayrita M Community Member

According to upwork policy, if the client is unresponsive after 14 days of submitting work, the funds held in escrow should automatically be submitted to freelancer. However it has already been 14 days and I have submitted the work long back, yet my funds were not released and the client has completely ghosted me.

Chris's avatar
Chris J Community Member

Sounds like the money never made it into escrow for Upwork to auto-release to you.

 

Ivygail's avatar
Ivygail J Retired Team Member

Hi Nayrita,

 

I checked your account and did not see an active milestone for all your contracts. Please know that if funds are kept in escrow and the client ends the contract, a refund request will automatically be initiated, and you can dispute it. The disputed funds will remain in escrow until a resolution is reached. You can learn more about the escrow dispute process here

 

~Ivy