upwork account blocked due to negative feedback

Quigalo · 2025-08-04T12:24:38+00:00

I woke up this morning to find my upwork account has been blocked for new applications and I can appeal after 6 months. I have been on upwork for over 10 ye...

Quigalo

Thanks @Vladimir ...for your info and advice. It seems like it is feedback related based on the message..here is my profile link if you'll be able to view it
https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/danq

Quigalo

I responded to the ticket that advised me of block requesting to discuss it, the ticket is marked as open and I'm waiting for support to respond

Vladimir

Okay thanks, so it's def. feedback related. Just to double-confirm, you can still access your account and work on your existing contracts, if you have any?

Quigalo

Yes that's correct

Vladimir

One more note, you mentioned one of your clients recently changed their feedback. While they can edit their public feedback, private feedback can't be changed.

Bottom line:

State your case in a structured and clear way, noting the contracts in question and especially highlighting the client with whom you had a misunderstanding, and any subsequent communication.
If your access remains limited, try excelling in your existing contracts, completing them successfully and getting great feedback. That will improve your chances once you try submitting an appeal after six months. That doesn't carry any guarantees but I'd advise on that approach.
If the client/clients from your active contracts are your long-term clients, with whom you have a good relationship and with a good hiring history on Upwork, you can consider asking them to contact support after completing your existing contract, requesting your access be fully reinstated so they could hire you on another contract. There are a lot of "ifs" here but this can help, even before the 6-month period is up. But thread carefully and make sure everything lines up.
Think hard about trying a different platform or setting up your own online presence, as plan B in case the suspension stays in place.

mainframebird

Scary, were you able to get back on?

mainframebird

Also just fyi a full refund will be like the contract never existed and review will vanish, so maybe thats worth trying

Vladimir

mainframebird Nope, if a full refund is issued the client's public feedback will be removed but not the private one.

Plus, the problem here as shared by Upwork isn't one contract outcome but supposedly more than one in a certain time frame. That's why the feedback change from one client the OP mentioned didn't affect how that contract is perceived internally by the system, based primarily on the private feedback that client left, which can't be changed.

mainframebird

If you refund the entire contract I think it is as if the contract never existed though?

Lisa B.

No, it's absurd but the private feedback still remains.

mainframebird

Lisa B. 😢