If you are working with a freelancer or agency and they become unresponsive for a long period of time, it may be best to pause the contract (if hourly) to avoid being billed and wait for contact from them. In some cases, you may also reach out to Upwork to contact the freelancer or agency on your behalf.
On an hourly contract, already-logged hours will be invoiced as usual, but no further work or payment should be expected on the paused contract. To continue working with the freelancer or agency in the future, you and the freelancer or agency will need to restart the paused contract.
On a fixed-price contract, if the freelancer or agency has requested payment, the pending escrow payment will be released to the freelancer or agency upon approval by you or automatically after 14 days. You can also reject the payment request. If no payment requests have been made, the funds in escrow will remain in escrow until they are released by the client or the contract has ended.
For any payments made within the past 365 days, you can request a refund from the freelancer or agency. If you are dissatisfied with an hourly contract, clients have a five-day review period that starts from Monday at noon UTC after the billing period ends, until Friday 23:59 UTC to file a dispute.
You have the option to end the contract and request a refund for any funds remaining in escrow. You can also release less than the full amount of a milestone (including if you set the milestone at the $5 minimum) for partially completed work. Alternatively, you can reject submitted work, the freelancer or agency will then need to make changes and resubmit before funds can be released.