money in Escrow

[sadasivan]

Once the company put the money in Escrow  can the company  take it back with out  freelancers or upwork team approval ?

[prestonhunter]

re: "Once the company put the money in Escrow can the company take it back with out freelancers or Upwork team approval?"

Yes and no.

A client may definitely take the money out WITH the freelancer's approval.

Because it is a true escrow account, Upwork itself is not allowed to approve an escrow refund.

BUT: If a client requests a refund, and the freelancer does not reply, then the refund is approved AUTOMATICALLY (after 7 days).

[petra_r]

---

Preston H wrote:

You may definitely take the money out WITH the freelancer's approval.

---

The OP *is* the freelancer

[sadasivan]

So if the freelancer has a disagreement , the client can't take the money ,right ?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "So if the freelancer has a disagreement, the client can't take the money, right?"

That is correct.

Once a client funds an escrow payment, there is no way for the client to simply click a button or make a request and get their money back.

Here are ways for the cient to get her money back:

- Request a refund, and the freelancer says YES to the refund.

- Request a refund, and the freelancer DOES NOTHING. The freelancer IGNORES the request. The money automatically is released to the client after 7 days.

- Request a refund, and the client says no, but the client says she still wants the money back, so the client starts a dispute, and if the freelancer still says no, then the client pays a $291 arbitration fee, and the freelancer refuses to pay that fee; then the escrow money goes to the client.

- Client requests a refund, and the freelancer says no, and the client and freelancer BOTH pay a $291 arbitration fee, and the matter goes to arbitration, and the abitrator awards the money to the client. (Note that arbitration RARELY results in money going to the client.)

[denzilotieno99]

"So if the freelancer has a disagreement , the client can't take the money ,right ?" 

That's right, Sadasivan. 

[denzilotieno99]

No, Upwork cannot take back the moeny without letting you know. In case of a dispute between you and the client, in which case the client claims you did shoddy work and is unwilling to pay you, Upwork will review if you did the work and will pay you for the work done.

I the case where you have not started the work and the client cancels the project, Upwork may return back the money to the client's account, but you will have to be notified. I hope I'm right. If not, someone else can add something on top of my view. 

[lysis10]

---

Denzil O wrote:

No, Upwork cannot take back the moeny without letting you know. In case of a dispute between you and the client, in which case the client claims you did shoddy work and is unwilling to pay you, Upwork will review if you did the work and will pay you for the work done.

I the case where you have not started the work and the client cancels the project, Upwork may return back the money to the client's account, but you will have to be notified. I hope I'm right. If not, someone else can add something on top of my view. 

---

This is 100% incorrect and why freelancers try to convince Upwork to give them money in a dispute and find out the hard way that Upwork doesn't determine who gets money but instead tells you to compromise or pay for arbitration.

[denzilotieno99]

Hello Jennifer, 

I once had a dispute with a client who refused to pay, yet I done the work. The good thing is that the client deposited money on Escrow. I was later paid for my services as I did everything according to the contract terms. 

[lysis10]

---

Denzil O wrote:

Hello Jennifer, 

I once had a dispute with a client who refused to pay, yet I done the work. The good thing is that the client deposited money on Escrow. I was later paid for my services as I did everything according to the contract terms. 

---

This is the perfect example of freelancers misrepresenting what happened either through ignorance or just wanting to feel like they "won." One of two things happened then in yoru case: A) client just decided to pay up because he/she didn't want the hassle, or B) client disappeared and stopped responding to the mediator. Doesn't sound like C) happened to you which is paying up the arbitration fee because neither side could agree.

[prestonhunter]

Denzil: I appreciate your hopeful spirit and your innate sense of fairness.

If you received your payment when a client refused to pay, then that is a GOOD THING. I'm glad it worked out for you. But this may have happened without you realizing some of the steps involved, or it could have happened because Upwork just decided to pay you the fee AND return escrow money back to the client in order to not have to deal with the situation further.

But it is important to understand that Upwork never actually evaluates a freelancer's work and decides that a freelancer gets money. As Jennifer pointed out, a freelancer's work is only evaluated if the matter goes to binding arbitration.

So a freelancer can't rely on the fact that they "did the work" or that they "did a good job" on a project. If a client wants to go to dispute and then arbitration, a client will be able to plow through the process and get to that point regardless of the work that the freelancer did.

Conversely, a client can't rely on the fact that a freelancer did nothing, and count on getting escrow money back. That was another misimpression that you appear to have had. It sounds fair, right? But that isn't how escrow works. If a freelancer does nothing, and asks for payment, then Upwork can't simply return the money to the client.

Of course such a thing happens only very rarely. ALL Upwork freelancers who are honorable people will IMMEDIATELY agree to a complete escrow refund if a client asks for a refund and the freelancer has not done any work.