[crispyambulance]

It's incomprehensible to me why "Robin" isn't at the absolute center of the shit-storm here.

What kinds of slick jedi-mind-tricks is Robin using to keep the OP from going after him and instead pleading with Upwork conflict resolution drones?

Getting lawyers involved is always a nightmare scenario and a last resort, but in this case it certainly seems like that's a valid course of action.

[jVinc]

> What kinds of slick jedi-mind-tricks is Robin using to keep the OP from going after him and instead pleading with Upwork conflict resolution drones?

The absolute center of the problem here seems to be that Upwork has engineered a system where Robin is not in any way involved with this case. This is a case of a credit card owner creating a chargeback request against a developer. The fact that the developer can prove that the payments where given for delivered work doesn't matter to Upwork, because when they took that proof to the bank of the credit card owner and said "See there is proof services where provided for the payments" the owner said "I did not request that work".

Back in reality, this is absolutely a problem for Upwork, and a problem that really should be at the very core of their business. If people can successfully chargeback any amount of money at any time scale because they payed with a creditcard they don't own, every single start-up should start making borrowing circles of credit cards for their first 10 years of development so they can claw it all back if they go bust and need to pivot. The very core of upworks business is to establish a truth worthy process for payment for services, and in this case where the process fails they are simply going "Oh, to bad for you, now go do the dishes until you've payed for the bill of the dinner dashers who just sprinted out after legally agreeing to pay your dinner as payment for 2 years work".

[SpicyLemonZest]

The question is whether Upwork actually did what this person is accusing them of. The most likely reason that the author isn’t mad at Robin, in my view, is that the author is not being entirely honest about what happened here.

[BoorishBears]

People are commenting here with 0 idea of how Upwork actually works.

You have no client on Upwork. It doesn't matter how long you've spoken to them, you have no client on Upwork.

Upwork is the client, and Upwork has a million and one contractors, so Upwork does not care if it messes with you.

And I say "messes with you" because the ways Upwork is willing to short a contractor are truly an open ended collection of actions. Revise hours because of a vague complaint, erase deliverable payments, randomly withhold money. Upwork does not care.

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You also have 0 recourse against someone who hired you through Upwork. None. Upwork will almost always side against you, and Upwork will not expose someone to liabilty for hiring with it.

You could have a signed notarized statement from the client saying "Haha I sure scammed you good on Upwork!" and Upwork would close your account for disparaging a client.

(Ok some light hyperbole... but that's the mentality to take when reading OP's article)

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Now you might be thinking "well that sounds so comically terrible there's no way these people would be in business, who exactly is keeping them alive?"... the clients are.

Treating contractors horribly is their raison dêtre: it allows people to hire from a pool of freelancers with absolutely 0 stress about if they'll ever be cheated.

You cannot be cheated by a freelancer on Upwork.

By becoming the way to casually hire freelancers (since you never get cheated) they stay alive, but at a great cost to the freelancers who market there. It's similar to what eBay was (?) like when it came to seller rights.

And remember Upwork is extremely accessible from countries where wages are very low, lower than minimum wage in the US for example: so you have a steady stream of freelancers who will replace anyone who leaves after being mistreated, since even the worst jobs on the site are comparable to solid work in their home countries.

[m12k]

Maybe lawyers are just super expensive where I live, but I honestly wouldn't expect to be able to find one that could see this kind of case through to completion for less than $12560.

[altacc]

Depends on jurisdiction but some countries have a court claims system for small debts, which costs a few percentage of the amount being claimed. The claim is reviewed by the process and a court judgement passed. Really useful when you need it.

[crispyambulance]

Yeah, of course, it depends. Lawyers don't necessarily "see the case through completion", however. Sometimes all that's needed is for the lawyer to write a letter and/or give some seasoned advice particular to the situation. In those scenarios it could end up costing several hundred dollars. Is that enough? Is it worth it? That's not at all clear but it may be worth a shot for someone in an intractable situation.