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O68 Upwork Notification:Dispute with Aleksandr Uspenskyi, Contract ID# 15942162 |
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L78 Upwork
Responsible Nick Dimitrov
My articles About meMy site
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Wordpress.orgStackOverflowGitHub
Page no: L78
Karista
Dear George Dorgan,
My name is Karista, your Upwork Dispute Specialist, and I’ll be working with you to help resolve the issue. I understand there is a problem with your freelancer, Aleksandr Uspenskyi, on Contract ID 15942162.
In order to assist you further, please respond within 3 business days and provide an explanation as to why you feel funds in escrow should not be released to the freelancer, screenshots of any communication that may have occurred outside the Upwork Platform, and if there is any partial payment you are willing to provide in an attempt to settle this dispute. Any additional information that will help us further investigate this issue is appreciated.
With this information, we will work together with you and your freelancer towards a mutual reproblem. Please note that a reproblem could take up to 30 days.
When you hire for a fixed-price contract, payment is at your discretion, and funds should only be released to the freelancer when you have received the work and are satisfied with it. Once payment is made, the work is considered approved and payment is not refundable unless the freelancer authorizes a refund. In those cases, we will still offer our assistance in requesting your freelancer to respond and agree to an amicable reproblem.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Warmest regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team
George Dorgan
Dear Karista,
or deliveries are:
1) Load all book attributes from Amazon API and save in WP_POSTS and
post meta
–> 250$ PAID
This has been delivered with minor bugs, e.g. editor without authors is
not treated
2) Filter superfluous author
–> 130$ to reach the total of 380$ agreed, This was not delivered
3a) Do independent testing for 1) and 2)
3b) treat case of authors with multiple first or last names.
–> additional bonus of 120$ for 3a and 3b
3a was delivered only partially because 2 does not work
3b was not deliveredI hired for a fixed-price contract.
I am not satisfied with the job and do not want to release payment.
Details:
Job Description:
Step1: We give you list of author names or Amazon Author ID.
Step2: Amazon API: You find the books on Amazon that these authors have
written
Step3: You store the main book attributes (Title, ISBN, Publication
Date, Edition, Pages, Author, Link to Amazon, Book Image…)
in one or two WordPress SQL tables that we give you.
See in Upwork under job and messages.
The problem is that the freelancer loads of books of many different
authors, not only for the ones this author has written.
I told the freelancer, to implement a filter to remove additional
authors. But he wants more money for this.
Yours George
or deliveries are:
1) Load all book attributes from Amazon API and save in WP_POSTS and
post meta
–> 250$ PAID
This has been delivered with minor bugs, e.g. editor without authors is
not treated
2) Filter superfluous author
–> 130$ to reach the total of 380$ agreed, This was not delivered
3a) Do independent testing for 1) and 2)
3b) treat case of authors with multiple first or last names.
–> additional bonus of 120$ for 3a and 3b
3a was delivered only partially because 2 does not work
3b was not delivered
Karista
Hello George,
Thank you for your response and further explanation, your time and efforts are greatly appreciated.
The freelancer has claimed that the work being required for payment is outside the scope of the project. Please see their response to me below:
“So the problem is in misunderstanding with client about the product we have to deliver. First of all client wanted some minor changes during the working on his plugin which we didn’t include to initial estimation. So we did it for no extra charge. But the main problem occurred when client tested the results of Amazon API response and noticed books of wrong authors. So we did a filtering script to avoid it and already spent much more time then expected for no extra charge.
Client is still not satisfied with results. So he want us to create some complex filtering of response which is quite huge task and was not in initial specs and estimations.
So what I want is to be paid for the job done. I included all the information about what exactly need to be done for agreed amount in our dialog just after contract accepting.
Here is one of my last messages to client which explains my position fully:
George, what I think is that you see the project as some general thing with some end target but not in details. I always create a tasklist (specs) for every project I get (so this is what I did in the beginning of our cooperation). I’m making it to estimate the project, give you final price and time. I also do it to show you what exactly we are going to do so you see what to expect and what do we get money for.
We tried you to be satisfied with the job done. We even created GUI and item filter for no charge and spent much more time then we estimated. What are you asking is quite huge task and we can not do it for free. Please understand that we want to be paid for our time.
My message:
“Here is the list of work to be done on our agreement for $380:
Create plugin core WP 2
API Authorization Amazon 3
Get site Amazon 1
Request products Amazon 2
Request images Amazon 2
Store post + meta data WP 2
Store media WP 3 Creating all needed media sizes and set image as featured ”
So these steps were completed and delivered.”
The freelancer claims that all points were completed and therefor are seeking payment of the funds held in escrow. Considering the freelancer concerns, is there any partial payment amount you are offering at this time in an attempt to settle this dispute? If so, please let me know the amount and I will inform the freelancer.
Thank you in advance for your continued time and consideration.
Warmest regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team
Karista
FINAL NOTICE
Dear George,
We have yet to receive a response from you on our request for more information. Your freelancer is seeking payment of the $179 held in Escrow for services rendered. If we do not receive a response back from you within 2 business days, we will release the funds in Escrow to your freelancer and the dispute will be closed.
Thank you for your time and understanding.
Warmest regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team
George Dorgan
Dear Karista,
Again, the fixed-price agreement was to deliver all books of a specified
author. Not more and not less.
The freelancer loaded far more books from Amazon, not only from this author.
This so-called “complex filtering” is filtering out these superfluous
authors.
I had to assign the job to a different freelancer, who delivered the
so-called “complex filtering” in 12 hours work.
I insist on my fixed-price contract and the associated guarantee.
Yours George
Karista
Hello George,
Thank you for your response and participation in the dispute thus far.
Your freelancer is not willing to drop the dispute at this time and unfortunately it appears that neither party has been able to come to an agreement on how the funds held in escrow should be disbursed. Normally when neither party is willing to negotiate we move the dispute to an independent arbitrator for a legally binding ruling. However, there is an arbitration fee of $875 which is split equally between clients, freelancers and Upwork when a case filed. Given that the cost to file exceeds the amount in dispute, it may not be reasonable to move the case forward to arbitration.
Upwork cannot make legal determinations or mandate funds disbursement in disputes. As an Escrow agent, Upwork can facilitate a negotiation to help find a mutual reproblem. If one or both parties do not participate in the mediation process or a reproblem cannot be reached, the case may proceed to arbitration for a legal ruling.
We would like to recommend that you offer an alternative payment amount in order to resolve this dispute. If you agree with this suggestion please provide the payment amount you would like to offer and I will inform the freelancer.
Thank you for your consideration.
Warmest regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team
George Dorgan
How did the freelancer manage to claim more than the fixed-price contract?
380$ was the fixed price
and he claims 450$ ????
George Dorgan
Please explain what happens if I go into arbitration (pay 375$) and the freelancer does not pay the arbitration fees.
Karista
Hello George,
If you could kindly clarify your last message in which you stated questions about the freelancer claiming $450. In my conversations with the freelancer, there has been no claim to any amount more than what is in escrow, which is $179. $179 is the amount in dispute and that amount is what the freelancer is seeking.
As for your question regarding arbitration, if it was agreed that the case would move to arbitration and you paid your portion of the fees and the freelancer did not, those fees would be returned to you and the dispute would be closed with the funds in escrow returning to your account. If it was agreed the case would go to arbitration and the freelancer paid their portion but you did not, their fees would be returned and the dispute would be closed with the funds releasing to the freelancer’s account. If both parties agree to arbitration and pay their portion of the fees, the case will proceed to arbitration and he arbitrator will review the job and all details involved and make a binding legal ruling regarding.
I hope this further information has been helpful. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Warm regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team
George Dorgan
Sorry, not to be clear enough.
I have already spent 271$
The Amount in Escrow
$179.00 (In dispute)
The total is more than the fixed-price contract, namely 450$ instead of 380$
Karista
Hello George,
Please note that any funds in escrow which in this case is $179, is the amount that is in dispute even if that amount is above the contract amount as those funds were placed into escrow by yourself for this contract. Please note that at no time are you required to place funds in escrow above the agreed amount, however if you do, the freelancer does have the right to seek those funds at the close of the contract as they were specifically placed in escrow for the contract.
The freelancer has responded to my message indicating that he was reaching out to you to try and discuss some further details. If you have any questions or concerns at any point, please let me know. I have given the freelancer 2 business to reach out to you with his further details. I will follow up with you as soon as I hear back from the freelancer.
Warm regards,
Karista
Upwork Dispute Team