Verify Payment is taking too long / amount already in escrow

[excel_crab]

Good Day,

I am making this post on behalf of a client.  They have made me aware that they used a new payment method and have it verified through Upwork.

However, that was over two weeks ago and their milestone is still showing up as "payment not verified".  I was expecting a payment but was rejected by Upwork due to unverified payment.

What's unusual is the amount owed is already in escrow which means Upwork is able to deduct money from their account.

What could be the problem and what else can the client do, other than contacting support?  Over two weeks to verify an account is very long.  I have already spoken to the client who has already contacted support but support wasn't helpful at all 😞

I trust this client.  Our previous contract went thru perfectly.  I don't think they are avoiding payment, and they still have lots of pending jobs on my plate.

Thanks,

Mark

[martina_plaschka]

---

@Mark T wrote:

Good Day,

I am making this post on behalf of a client.  They have made me aware that they used a new payment method and have it verified through Upwork.

However, that was over two weeks ago and their milestone is still showing up as "payment not verified".  I was expecting a payment but was rejected by Upwork due to unverified payment.

What's unusual is the amount owed is already in escrow which means Upwork is able to deduct money from their account.

What could be the problem and what else can the client do, other than contacting support?  Over two weeks to verify an account is very long.  I have already spoken to the client who has already contacted support but support wasn't helpful at all 😞

I trust this client. I don't think they are avoiding payment, and they still have lots of pending jobs on my plate.

Thanks,

Mark

---

 So you submitted work before the payment method was verified. Unwise. There's a ton of advice here to not do that.

The client has sooo much work for you but their darned new credit card is not accepted. Hm. 

I prepare to be called out for being paranoid, but I don't think this will ever go through, and it's not your position to clear it up for them and post here, anyway. 

[petra_r]

Verification of a payment method takes minutes in the vast majority of cases, hours for some, and in very rare cases up to 5 days.

A simple call to customer services would immediately resolve it.

So if this has taken weeks there is something amiss.

The fact that the milestone is funded is irrelevant. Upwork needs to verify that the client owns the credit card the money came from. Until that is done,  Upwork can not release the funds.

At the time of adding the card on the system Upwork will have made two small charges which add up to $ 10.

All the client has to do is check their statement and enter those two small charges in the interface.

[excel_crab]

---

@Petra R wrote:

Verification of a payment method takes minutes in the vast majority of cases, hours for some, and in very rare cases up to 5 days.

.....
At the time of adding the card on the system Upwork will have made two small charges which add up to $ 10.

All the client has to do is check their statement and enter those two small charges in the interface.

---

 Hi Petra,

Thanks for this helpful info.  Yes, they paid the two small charges.

There is a possibility the client is using her husband's credit card.  Could Upwork fail to verify such arrangement?

Regards,

Mark

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

---

@Mark T wrote:

---

There is a possibility the client is using her husband's credit card.  Could Upwork fail to verify such arrangement?

---

 Yes, but she still needs to verify it, and when there is a discrepancy again it will need a call to Support to fix it, at worst the Finance people would call the owner of the credit card to verify.

It is also not about "paying" the two small charges, it is about verifying them on the system

This explains the process

[excel_crab]

---

@Petra R wrote:

---

---

 Yes, but she still needs to verify it, and when there is a discrepancy again it will need a call to Support to fix it, at worst the Finance people would call the owner of the credit card to verify.

It is also not about "paying" the two small charges, it is about verifying them on the system

This explains the process

---

 Thanks Petra.   That's the answer I'm looking for!  I've asked the client to contact support again.

Regards,

Mark

[excel_crab]

---

@Martina P wrote:

---

---

 So you submitted work before the payment method was verified. Unwise. There's a ton of advice here to not do that.

The client has sooo much work for you but their darned new credit card is not accepted. Hm. 

I prepare to be called out for being paranoid, but I don't think this will ever go through, and it's not your position to clear it up for them and post here, anyway. 

---

Hi Martina,

Thanks for concern!  The client have paid before and has been constantly in communication for many days now but without any job nor consultations involved.

I doubt they'd be wasting that time just to avoid paying a small amount of money owed.

Regards,

Mark