How do I reply back to my freelancer if he is not maintaining deadlines and delaying the project?

Question

I am working freelance for a client, and I have around 30 articles to write for him. I decided to outsource 10 of those articles to another freelancer (from Freelancer.com). I have informed my client about this and he agreed to me. He just wants me to provide them within the decided timeframe.

The problem is, the freelancer whom I have appointed is continuously delaying in his work. I have asked him the reason and he will always come up with different new excuses for his delay.

Each article is approx 600-800 words long. I assume one article will take max 2 days to deliver. But he is taking a lot of time- around 4-5 days to deliver every single article, that too after me continuously asking for him.

He replies to my messages very late, takes over 5-10 hours to reply. Even days sometimes. Before awarding the project, he told me he is online in Freelancer.com all the time and will promptly reply to my chats. But he never does so.

How do I professionally reply to him and make him understand the importance of maintaining the deadline for this project? At this time, I am very frustrated with his turn-around time and excuses.

Kindly advise.

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

"Thank you for your work so far. However as I stated multiple times, I need a minimum of 1 article every 2 business days. Since you are unable to deliver this I am cancelling the project effective immediately."

See https://www.freelancer.com/support/Project/how-to-cancel-a-project

Hire some others to do the work you need. Your reputation is at stake so it's in your interest to complete the work for your client even if it ends up costing you more than you expected. It's going to be less headache for you to build a team of go-to suppliers who you know are dependable and keep using them over and over again.