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Draft policy

Dispute Policy

Status: Draft — requires legal review before public launch.

This document is an operational policy draft for Kaziworks. It is not final legal wording, does not replace formal Terms of Service, and must be reviewed by qualified legal and compliance advisers before public payment launch.

Purpose

This policy describes how Kaziworks intends to handle disputes between clients and freelancers for project, contract, milestone, delivery, payment, refund, and release issues.

Kaziworks's approved payment direction is:

  • TradeSafe is the approved primary escrow and milestone partner.
  • Peach Payments is the approved primary payout and platform-payment partner.
  • PayPal remains supported but secondary.

What a Dispute Is

A dispute is a formal request for Kaziworks support or moderation review when a client and freelancer cannot resolve a project, milestone, delivery, refund, release, or payment issue themselves.

Disputes may relate to:

  • Work not delivered.
  • Work quality.
  • Missed deadlines.
  • Scope disagreement.
  • Client refusal to approve completed work.
  • Freelancer request for release.
  • Client refund request.
  • Suspected fraud or scam behaviour.
  • Off-platform contact or payment attempts.

Who Can Open a Dispute

A dispute may be opened by:

  • A client involved in the contract or milestone.
  • A freelancer involved in the contract or milestone.
  • Kaziworks support, moderator, or admin staff when suspicious behaviour is detected.

Users should not open disputes for unrelated projects, unrelated contracts, or work that happened entirely outside Kaziworks.

Common Dispute Reasons

Common dispute reasons include:

  • Delivered work does not match the milestone brief.
  • Freelancer did not submit work.
  • Client does not respond after delivery.
  • Client requests major changes outside the agreed scope.
  • Deadline was missed.
  • Files are incomplete, unusable, or not delivered.
  • Payment release, refund, or payout status is unclear.
  • Off-platform payment attempts affected protection.
  • Harassment, scam behaviour, fake identity, or stolen work is suspected.

Evidence Users Should Provide

Users should provide clear evidence, such as:

  • Project brief.
  • Milestone description.
  • Proposal and agreed scope.
  • Kaziworks messages.
  • Delivery files or screenshots.
  • Revision requests.
  • Timeline evidence.
  • Approval or rejection notes.
  • Payment or milestone records.
  • Any relevant support communication.

Evidence should be factual and related to the disputed milestone or contract.

Platform-Contained Communication

Kaziworks communication should remain inside the platform because messages, files, approvals, delivery notes, and timestamps can be reviewed during disputes.

Moving key communication to WhatsApp, email, social media, phone calls, bank transfers, PayPal links, crypto wallets, or other external channels may reduce Kaziworks's ability to verify evidence and may reduce dispute protection.

Payment Hold Concept

When a dispute is opened, Kaziworks may pause:

  • Milestone release.
  • Refund processing.
  • Payout processing.
  • Internal ledger availability.
  • Account actions connected to the disputed funds.

Funds and provider state must not be changed casually. Any hold or release should follow provider rules, legal/compliance review where needed, and Kaziworks operations procedures.

Review and Escalation Process

The intended dispute process is:

1. Dispute is opened. 2. Kaziworks collects issue details. 3. Both parties may submit evidence. 4. Payment or release state may be held. 5. Support or moderation reviews the evidence. 6. The case may be escalated to admin, provider support, legal, or compliance review. 7. A resolution is proposed or applied according to policy and provider rules. 8. The outcome is recorded for audit and support history.

Dispute staff should make evidence-based decisions and should not silently alter payment outcomes without proper recordkeeping.

Possible Outcomes

Possible dispute outcomes include:

  • Release payment to freelancer.
  • Refund payment to client.
  • Split resolution between client and freelancer.
  • Request revision.
  • Extend deadline.
  • Cancel contract.
  • Suspend account if fraud is detected.

The final available outcomes depend on provider capabilities, legal review, contract state, milestone state, evidence, and approved Kaziworks policy.

Legal Review Warning

This dispute policy is a draft. It requires legal, compliance, provider, and operational review before public payment launch.