Hi everyone! I’d like to ask for your help regarding the Upwork/Odesk account of my friend and fellow freelancer.
It all started when he received this email from the customer support from Upwork.. a policy violation that is not CLEARLY specified which resulted in the suspension of my friend’s account.
Screenshot #1
Then though how many times my friend asked about the specific violation he violated, Upwork’s support won’t answer him correctly and clearly. —
See the following screenshots for their entire conversation (until now ongoing)..
Note: no alterations had been made, no statements had been deleted.
002 Screenshot
Then here’s the reply of my fellow freelancer:
003 Screenshot
Reply of Upwork support after several emails from my friend:
004 Screenshot
Last conversation they had so far =;(
005 Screenshot
Long story short, in the end my friend’s account was PERMANENTLY TERMINATED. Sad thing is there had been NO CLEAR indication what the policy violated is =;(
I’d like to seek for your help if anyone knows someone from Upwork who could shed a light on this case. I know my friend had been honest and I believed in him. We had been working together in Upwork for quite some time now and I know how hardworking he is and how he delivers quality results.
I just find it too unfair for him to go through this.. That’s why I’m trying to help.
PS. I had been in Upwork for almost 4 years now and have never encountered something like this.
—
Update:
It turns out several other Upwork freelancers also had a similar experience, of having their accounts getting suspended for no CLEAR reason at all.
As to the possibility of my friend’s client filing a complaint against him, that might have caused his account suspension. I could attest that this COULD NOT be the case. As you know, my friend’s main client is my client also. I’m managing him as the team leader (with other Upwork freelancers also). I’m the one in direct contact with the client and the client didn’t file any complaint.
As a matter of fact here’s what my client said about my friend:
I had no issues whatsoever with his work. I even gave him 2 good reviews for both jobs.
My friend eventually asked our client to temporarily close his contract since that’s what Upwork’s support told him to. Client agreed with a guarantee that he’ll just offer a new contract once the issue’s fixed.
But from what you see, that didn’t happen. Upwork instead suspended my friend’s account for good. He can’t event withdraw all his funds!
My client had already started asking Upwork/Odesk about my friend’s contract. But Upwork’s support’s taking too long to respond. The client already wants to offer a job to my friend again because we need him in our team.
But how could he do so without an account at Upwork? You might say why not open a new account instead? Believe me. He tried doing that but how could he? Eventually Upwork will still find out about it, and your duplicate account will just be terminated.
Is this fair? In my 4 years of working at Upwork I’ve never encountered an issue like this. For a freelancer whose mainly relying at Upwork for his hard earned funds (not to mention the 10% they are providing to Upwork for a job they earned the hard way), this is just NOT FAIR.
What do you think?
The Adventures of AdventuRoj! 
Your friend’s previous client filed a complaint to upwork’s support team. The client, I think, was not happy with your friends work, they may have had an misunderstanding with the job and your friend’s client ended the job and filed a complaint.
I’m with odesk/upwork for 3 years plus now.
Hi krisyams! Thanks for the insight! I’d like to ask though how come support will not let the freelancer know about this? And why won’t they tell the true reason then of your account being suspended, if that’s the case?
May I also know your basis for this? Did you, yourself, experience this? Or you happen to know someone from Upwork/Odesk?
I really appreciate your input in this. Thank you.
My friend had a similar incident, but her’s was just a warning (not yet suspended or already suspended, I cannot remember it happened 2014). She told me her client was mad at her because she cannot meet deadlines and the client ended the job, and I think upwork issued her a warning or that she cannot apply for a job. She got tired and leave the site.
I also had an experienced, that my client got angry with me and she told me she filed a complaint to the support team, but the support team did not issued any warnings to me because I give in to the demand of my client and settled it.
idk with the protocols of upwork with those kind of things but your friend should not make his/her client/s angry and make an amicable settlement, or if he/she is not in good terms with the client, he/she should have had filed a complaint to the support team so that when the support team reviews the case, they heard his/her side.
Hi krisyams21r! Apparently my friend’s main client is my client also. As you see, I’m managing him as the team leader (with other Upwork freelancers also). I’m the one in direct contact with the client and the client didn’t file any complaint. The client was even wondering and asking Upwork why the issue with my friend’s contract, and that THEY HAVEN’T FILED ANY COMPLAINT.
you can ask your client to vouch for him. Tell your client to complain to support why one of his best employee got suspended without any reason. I’m sure upwork will give an immediate response if the client, himself, will complain
Does your friend have another account that he is using? This is one violation that causes Suspension of account
I have a friend who encountered the same issue, we even ask for sir Ron’s help to appeal to have my friend’s account reinstated, however nothing happened.
I never break the rules of Upwork, but they close my account without details. At the same time, they forced ending my two important jobs and don’t let my withdraw my money more than $1800. They are too arbitrary. There are full of fear on my qq group. We never be treated like this when we use Elance.
We are on the same boat. Upwork suspended my account without any reasons . When I ask them the amount in the account. They said there is no amount in the account. I swear there are still some amount in my account. Upwork took them without any explain
wow you guys, this shit is disheartening! but isn’t there a new policy with Upwork that your account balance should be withdrawn when it reaches $1000? Anyways, I don’t know how to help you.
Eventually not fair.
Avoid working on upwork with Onuora Amobi, it’s a sneaky dude, he speak very nice first then he ask for more work than agreed and make negative comments regarding your work to force you cancel the project after you spent a lot of time working for him, watermark everything you send to him he is totally unreliable and a total jerk with not a little common sense.