Dispute

[67e0ba1f]

Hi community,

I have freelancers who complete my project that is past deadlines, and the final work doesn't meet the criteria at all. He lacks communication and always gives reasons he doesn't get notifications from Upwork when I message him. He even said he gave me the file on the deadline day but somehow the messages don't reach me on that day and I got it 2 days after. So when the deadline passed I canceled the contract and hired someone else for the project. But freelancers demand payment for their work and I absolutely can't accept it because the work has passed the deadline and the results are not at all like in the brief.

And then he requested the dispute, should I "Reject dispute" or "Leave a comment below (dispute will remain open)"? What should I do to getting my money back from escrow? 

[NikolaS]

Hi Dinda,

Your freelancer or agency can dispute the refund request if they feel a refund is not warranted. If this happens, we will notify you by email and you can either accept or reject the dispute:

• If you accept the dispute, the funds will be released to the freelancer or agency
• If you reject the dispute, an Upwork dispute specialist will provide mediation assistance to both parties to try and resolve the matter

Once a dispute is submitted you may review or update the request by logging into your Upwork account and going to the Dispute Center. The mediation period will not exceed 30 days, and if you and your freelancer or agency are unable to reach an agreement, the dispute specialist will make a non-binding recommendation. If that recommendation is rejected, the final option is to proceed to arbitration, where a decision will be made by the American Arbitration Association, a neutral third-party organization.

You can find more information about how to get an Escrow Refund here. 

[cba61fbc]

I'm panicking right now because I believe I accepted the dispute thinking that's what you were supposed to do how do I get in touch with upwork to make sure that they understand that I'm just disputing this dispute I don't understand how to get in touch with them it seems as though they are unreachable does anyone know

[6a9346f2]

Hey Nikola,

Who is supposed to make the decision whether to accept or reject the non-binding recommendation?

What if I accept the non-binding recommendation and the client neither accepts nor rejects it? That is he never says that he has accepted nor does he say he has rejected it.

[rana-faizan]

Can you please help I am unable to dcline the dispute ? when ever I click on the decline button nothing happens. It remian on the same page. 

[LuiggiR]

Hi Rana,

I see that you've recently raised a support ticket regarding your concern. As soon as the next available agent gets your ticket in their queue, they'll contact you to assist you further.

[prestonhunter]

Dinda, if you are hiring freelancers to work on projects with important deadlines, you should consider hiring freelancers using hourly contracts.

That way you don't have any money tied up in escrow. You can hire a freelancer, and if he does nothing by the deadline, you can close the contract easily, while paying him nothing. There is no way that he can dispute.

You can even hire multiple people to work on the same task, as a team project.

Once one freelancer provides the work you need, you can close all the contracts. For example, you could hire four freelancers. One of them turns in the work within two hours. None of the others did any work yet. You close all the contracts. You hired four people, but you only had to pay one person. Everyone was paid for all the time that they worked on this team project, so there is nothing unfair about this.

[67e0ba1f]

Hi Preston thanks for the info,

So this is my first experience for hiring someone in Upwork. Indeed I don't set a deadline in the beginning of contract because he said he can complete the work in a week. After a week past with no update, I repeatly ask him for the update and he always said the job is almost done when it's not. So I set the deadline for him on that time.

Do you think I have a chance to get my money back from escrow?

[petra_r]

---

Dinda A wrote:
Do you think I have a chance to get my money back from escrow?

---

How much money are we talking about? 

With the work delivered (even though it was late), the chances are smaller. Maybe dispute mediation will be able to negotiate at least a partial refund for the delay.

[prestonhunter]

re: "After a week past with no update, I repeatly ask him for the update and he always said the job is almost done when it's not."

99% of freelancers.... if they are won your project, they are going to give you an update during a week.

No update means they are not working on the project.

If you have an hourly contract, you can track the work in real-time. You can view screenshots of the work. You can read memos describing what is being done.

These are additional reasons a client should consider hourly contracts for work involving deadlines.

In addition to the fact that a client doesn't need to pay any escrow money for an hourly contract.

[cba61fbc]

I' ended a contract because I had not spoken with the freelancer in 4 days we're before that I'd spoken with him every day immediately he filed a dispute because I requested a refund. I'm not sure if I did the right button because I wanted to dispute it but the way it's worded I'm not sure if I actually did and then I left comments but I think that I made a mistake by accepting the dispute. So I the several comments which he responded to that the whole time I'm thinking that up work is watching the thing but I may have done it the wrong way so I'm panicking because he told me today that once he did the deliverables he was going to take the money the problem is that I did not approve the work that he did it's not what I asked for and I don't understand why he should be allowed to take my money and beat me with something that I can't use is there anyway I can get up work involved because up to now they have not said anything we've done anything

[prestonhunter]

re: "Is there any way that I can get Upwork involved, because up to now they have not said anything."

It is possble that Upwork may answer you questions, or even assist you.

But I think that is important for you to undestand that it is not really Upwork's intention that they get involved with managing your projects, or managing the freelancers you hire.

As a client, I have hired over 150 freelancers.

I have never had Upwork involved in any of those hires.

I have everything I need right at my fingertips. Upwork provides me with all of the tools that I need. I don't need to contact them. I don't need to wait for them. I don't need to rely on whether or not Upwork will do something for me.

You can have all fo that power for yourself.

I recommend that you ask questions here in the Forum, but take back the power. You don't need to rely on other people. You can manage freelancers and projects yourself.

OR you can hire an independent project manager.

But don't rely on Upwork.

Upwork is NOT a project manager.

Upwork does NOT provide project management services.

If you don't know how to manage a project like this on your own, then you will benefit by hiring a project manager.

You can hire great project managers right on Upwork. They can help you save time and money and keep your project on track. One of a project manager's main responsibilities is choosing which freelancers to fire from your project, and which freelances to continue giving assignments to.