If you are a freelancer or have been a freelancer in the past, you would know that disputes are unavoidable. In this post, we will learn how to close disputes on Upwork.
They happen over a number of reasons — your client is unhappy with the quality of your work, too many change requests, delay in payment, and many more.
As a freelancer, how do you manage these types of situations?. Here everything is important because it is reputation, financial stability, and peace of mind. So you can’t take it lightly and be prepared.
We are trying to help you understand the major cause of disputes between clients and freelancers and how you can manage it effectively.
Main Causes of Disputes
1. Unclear Communication –
Suppose you are a freelance developer, and the client you are working with wants to develop a website for a blog and send it by next week. Then there is the problem is that ‘next week’ is not very specific.
This creates misunderstanding, confusion, and delay. You might be thinking you’ve got the time till next Friday, while the client might want it on Thursday.
2. Lack of Trust between each side –
For every business relationship between two parties, trust is the main important key to process a business’s success. If there is a lack of trust, then there are problems, generate insecurity, honestly go out of the window, communication becomes rare, and you will feel scared.
So this is also a cause of dispute, Lack of trust can do this to any relationship.
3. Delay in Payment –
Every person wants payment on time. If the freelancer has finished his work for a client then he expected that his payment should be done by the client. But in some cases, Clients does not satisfy with the work so they don’t make payment, but this is no an issue if the freelancer accepted work issues and resolves them.
In some cases, the client doesn’t want to pay and so he just says he will make payment soon, and sometimes he extended tasks. So this thing can be the cause of the dispute.
4. Personality Collision –
Sometimes we have stuck in a situation where our own nature or behavior, creates issues if we have the same attitude or ego. Because some people have short-tempered and so they can get angry at small mistakes or a little bit delayed and angry at you. So in this case one or two times developer can tolerate it, but again and again, if you can’t do this, then you will also get angry or like that. But if you are also of the same nature as a client then there will personality collision that will stick in a dispute situation.
5. ProjectTasks Mismatch –
Some time client is unable to explain what he exactly wants or sometimes freelancers or developers misunderstand. So at the end of the project delivery, a collision will occur and a dispute can be generated.
How to manage disputes with clients?
A dispute can come at any time, so every freelancer should be prepared Every time, and this is the best way to manage disputes. It will provide help you avoid conflicts as well as manage them effectively. So First, you learn about the possible causes of disputes. And then if you got a dispute, then you have to follow these steps:-
1. Talk to the client — First, you should try to talk with the client and try to understand exactly what he wants and if you can fix his issue or task while this task not paid for you. When you request him and explain your problem he can be understood, and he also can give you suggestions on what you can do. Or if you are unable to do a client’s task or some part of the job, then you can polity explain why you are unable to do that.
2. Use your Tone professionally — Never be angry with your client. Some time client’s attitude, is not good so, you can get angry, that is human nature, but as a professional freelance, you have to respond with a soft tone.
3. Work through Trusted Medium Websites: — If you’re using work with any mediator or freelancing website like Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr then there are some options to submit tickets to support. The support team will take care of it. But you should be worked honestly try to finish it successfully. So there will be fewer chances for disputes, because if the client is genuine then he will never make a dispute if his work has been completed successfully.
4. Work Honestly:- There are only 5%-10% chances for wrong disputes if you are an honest freelancer and completed the job 100% and still, the client did not agree to pay. In some cases, the client extends some tasks and doesn’t want to pay for these tasks (most of the cases), and in some cases, worse or fraud clients those are just want to work for free or without payment.
5. Check Client’s Reviews and Ratings: — If you’re using a third-party website like Upwork, Freelancer, or Fiverr then there you can check clients’ ratings and review which clients got after the project’s completed. So only work with clients who have good ratings and positive reviews.
6. Follow Up With Support: — After a dispute, you have to respond to every message that comes from Upwork or the freelancer team. There does a process to submit your work proof and files, so the Upwork team will be checked and reply. First, they suggested talking to your client, and if the client still did not agree then you have to just reply to the support team.
If you have worked according to initially assigned project requirements then you will get win the dispute. You can check my dispute case on Upwork go below link –
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