What happens to paid milestones if job was not competed?

[9d6dfbcc]

Hi, some freelancers have proposed 3 milestones, i.e. approx 1/3 to start job which one coder said was basically a down payment, then 1/3 when some working code done, and balance upon completion.

If I pay 3 milestones and job is not completed (for whatever reason) like freelancer goes out of business or simply lacks skill to do full job, how do I get refund? I don't care about final milestone, only the first 2. I prefer to pay entire job to escrow up-front with 1 milestone payment upon completion and satisfsaction.

[felixmena]

Hi David,

Thank you for contacting us.

The information available in the links below may provide useful information about how both, clients and freelancers, may benefit from our Upwork payment protection system when working on fixed-price contracts.

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068208
https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063748

[9d6dfbcc]

Hi, some freelancers have proposed 3 milestones, i.e. approx 1/3 to start job which one coder said was basically a down payment, then 1/3 when some working code done, and balance upon completion.

If I pay 3 milestones and job is not completed (for whatever reason) like freelancer goes out of business or simply lacks skill to do full job, how do I get refund? I don't care about final milestone, only the first 2. I prefer to pay entire job to escrow up-front with 1 milestone payment upon completion and satisfsaction.

[9d6dfbcc]

sorry, that was a typo "If I pay 3 milestones and job is not completed"

should read "If I pay 2 milestones and job is not completed"

[yitwail]

David, I’m a “coder” myself but I strongly advise you against creating a “down payment” milestone for a freelancer you haven’t worked with before. There are plenty of freelancers who don’t demand payment before they submit some work, either partial or complete.

[9d6dfbcc]

After reading the links given above I do not see any explanations on milesone payment refunds regarding past milestones (already paid out to freelancer by Upwork escrow) if the full job is never completed (for whatever reason), to client satisfaction and client of course did not know job will never be completed to satisfaction until arriving at last milestone point.

I was referring to payments already paid to coder before job completion such as start of coding milestone 1 of 3, or roughly half working code done milestone 2 of 3, or other paid milestone proposals from freelancer, not considering the end of job final milestone.

[petra_r]

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@David G wrote:

After reading the links given above I do not see any explanations on milesone payment refunds regarding past milestones (already paid out to freelancer by Upwork escrow) if the full job is never completed (for whatever reason), to client satisfaction and client of course did not know job will never be completed to satisfaction until arriving at last milestone point.

I was referring to payments already paid to coder before job completion such as start of coding milestone 1 of 3, or roughly half working code done milestone 2 of 3, or other paid milestone proposals from freelancer, not considering the end of job final milestone.

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 Essentially what you have already released from Escrow is gone. If you approve a milestone you essentially state that you have received the deliverables against that milestone.

[9d6dfbcc]

This is exactly what I assumed would be the case. Once a milestone is paid out of escrow it's gone forever with no refund possible unless voluntarily agreed to, which I am sure is highly unlikely. Any partial working code is basically worthless to me since only a finished product would have real value, with any patial or unfinished code not being usable or functional and of zero value.

So let us assume it is a big 15-20k project. Does that means if freelancer gets milestone payouts from escrow as job progresses, wouldn't client lose all that money already paid out (as much as 10k or so) if  project never goes to its last milestone, for whatever reason? How can the employer take a chance like that? Can anything be done about it?

[petra_r]

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@David G wrote:

This is exactly what I assumed would be the case. Once a milestone is paid out of escrow it's

So let us assume it is a big 15-20k project. Does that means if freelancer gets milestone payouts from escrow as job progresses, wouldn't client lose all that money already paid out (as much as 10k or so) if  project never goes to its last milestone, for whatever reason? How can the employer take a chance like that? Can anything be done about it?

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 For a big contract like that pick a freelancer with an extensive and very successful history.

Pay a fair rate, and manage the project from start to finish.

A freelancer like that won't risk their Upwork account for 10k - they'd move heaven and earth to get your project completed.

That said, you should be able to spot a fake or flake before spending 10k - either you or your project manager should be able to keep things on track or let go of the freelancer long before spending that much.

There really is no practical alternative because clearly Upwork can not get back money that's been withdrawn. I guess you could "try" to find a freelancer who'll agree to not be paid until the whole project is finished, but few will want to take that risk and / or can afford to wait that long before seeing a single Dollar...

[9d6dfbcc]

Thanks for the response but I don't see why they would risk losing their upwork account over potential non-completion of my job. I see lots of good appearing freelancers with completion rates below 100% with many around 80% or so. It would seem all that would happen if they kept the first 1 or 2 milestones but not the fiinal one is their completion ratio would decline but I can't see a risk to their account unless I am missing something.