why was my Hourly contract funds refunded to my client

[84fc8612]

Hello I'm a freelancer and i was working on my hourly contact ID 34230526, i have completed almost all the project with proof and been updating my client frequently and she was giving positive response before she paused the project and my funds is suppose to clear yesterday but the funds was refunded back to my client and she has not been responding to my messages since then, please i need help and i need my funds refunded back to me because have really worked and satisfy my client not for the funds to be refunded back to her but i uploaded my time manually, i really need help

[rekasesh]

Hi Awoyemi, 

If you used entered hours directly in the timesheet instead of using the time tracker then you're out of luck as Upwork protection doesn't cover manually logged hours. Use the manual system only when you have worked with a client for a long time and trust them to be honest enough.

Probably a scammer client whose project was suspended by Upwork halfway, or they wanted free work and avoided paying by rejecting your manual hours. If it was a genuine payment issue, they would have responded to your messages.

Please be careful next time. If you don't want to use the time tracker, opt for fixed-price projects with milestones funded in advance (and released to you) for each part of your work completed. This is protected by Upwork and you'll get the funds kept in escrow even if your client vanishes after the work is done.

If the work is the kind that will be available on the internet (posts, videos, or such), then you can keep track with Google search and ask it to be taken down when it is uploaded. Otherwise, there is nothing much you can do.

[spectralua]

Your client didn't pay. Manual time never covered by protection. Thats why you "refunded" (realy money never received-returned). 

Ask client to "add bonus". But if it was scammer then you did job for free, thats all.