How to painlessly close a contact on Upwork without paying?

Question

Freelance

Good afternoon!
Guys, please help with advice. I managed to get my first contract on Upwork for an hourly basis, but due to reasons beyond my control, I will not be able to work on it. There are no hours worked, is it possible for the customer to leave me a review without payment? I’ll explain why I don’t take payment, in fact, nothing was coded, but we decided to work in the future, outlined plans, and the customer offered to leave me positive feedback. I don't mind, but I don't know how to properly close the contract so that it does not negatively affect the rating.
PS And is it possible to get a review without paying at all?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

if you haven’t tracked for a minute, then this will not affect your rating, just in case, check with support, maybe something has already changed. I closed such a project without drawdowns, about a year ago. There will also be no feedback.

Answer 2

just close no feedback

Answer 3

thanks everyone for the help. We agreed with the customer that he would transfer a small payment and leave a review)

Answer 4

Just contacted support yesterday about this issue.
If you close the contract yourself, the Job Success Score (JSS) drops, so if possible, the client should close the contract.
If the client closes, it depends on what he indicates as the reason for closing.
The rest of the commentators are only partially right - contracts without payment are not displayed. But they affect JSS.