Absolutely unbelievable CS reaction to a buyers request to change his review

[somerandomguy83]

Just WOW,

So the buyer made an order from me and after completing it I get a bad review from him
He is a first time Fiverr buyer and he speaks poor english, but we talk things over and this is the gist of it

So I start reading online and find that we can change the review by going through an automated process
But I cannot find this button anywhere and I write to CS asking about changing the review and this is the response I get

So ok, I think they are just telling me off because they think I’m just trying to get them to change the review, fair enough, lots of sellers out there who think they can remove the review by writing to TS.

So I write to my buyer and ask him to write to CS and tell them to change his review for him. And after waiting a few hours, here is what I get:

So I ask my buyer what the heck is going on and what he asked them ?
This is what he sent me

Does this look like a reaction of an adequate human being ? The buyer simply asked a question and they make the assumption like this and hit me with a warning ? What the hell ?

So we talk things out with the buyer again and I think this is pretty self-explanatory

So we will see what they have to say, but this is absolute insanity. There was a button to actually ask the buyer to modify the review just a few weeks ago and now my buyer writes to CS to change the review personally and they do this. Seriously Fiverr ? Get a grip…

[somerandomguy83]

Edited the images to hide buyers identity

[iamsachmusic]

Edited the images to hide buyers identity

You should probably delete this post because we can still see the edit history and the buyer name and it is also not a good thing to showcase the cs person name, So I advise you to delete this post and create a new one properly, then we can continue without any issues.

[pacquo]

I think that you should have stopped after the first answer (Matt). This is how they see this matter. If the review is not against the TOS (for example, made by a seller with the intention to harm another seller) it stays as it is.
If you push on the buyer and/or the CS you get a warning, and actually this is what’s happened.

[Guest merciavideo]

Edited the images to hide buyers identity

to hide buyers identity

Wouldn’t worry about it - anybody going to your seller profile can see who the buyer was, but well done for trying! 🙂

Horrible situation BTW - hope you can get it sorted. You don’t deserve a 3.7 review because a buyer doesn’t know that it’s 5 stars or nothing basically.

[psychicbunny]

Fiverr is much different than it used to be. Feedback and editing feedback is a VERY sensitive subject now - if you don’t want your account suspended, just let it go.

[somerandomguy83]

I’m not defaming the buyer in any way and he has nothing against this being published and I edited the images so his identity can’t directly be seen.

In response to them actually minding the review changes so much, I don’t get this at all ? For years there was literally a button where you as a seller could push a button and a forced request to change the review was sent to the buyer and he could change the review. But suddenly since 2019 this button is gone and they now punish sellers because the buyer made a mistake and pressed the wrong button and is now asking CS about it??

Are they high ?

[pacquo]

I’m not defaming the buyer in any way and he has nothing against this being published and I edited the images so his identity can’t directly be seen.

In response to them actually minding the review changes so much, I don’t get this at all ? For years there was literally a button where you as a seller could push a button and a forced request to change the review was sent to the buyer and he could change the review. But suddenly since 2019 this button is gone and they now punish sellers because the buyer made a mistake and pressed the wrong button and is now asking CS about it??

Are they high ?

Are they high ?

No, it is likely that someone upstairs changed his mind. The crackdown could also have an economical explanation. Every ticket created to modify a review, considering the wages in force in NY (or Tel Aviv), blows the profit they made on the order.

[somerandomguy83]

No-one is trying to cheat the system, we are just trying to remedy a mistake a buyer made and he freely admits to it and they are now punishing people who are asking for what was essentially a feature in their own system for years until a few weeks ago!!

This is absolute insanity

[miiila]

Please be careful when using forum posts from 2017 as a how-to in 2019. Things do change.

(edited to add, just in case of any misunderstandings - even current info/replies from other forum users aren’t official policy, for that, you need to ask support (but current forum threads or replies often do give you an idea of what the current policy regarding things is and what to better do or not do, or can tell you about current bugs, developments, etc., that you might better take into account before doing anything you aren’t feeling too sure about))

[somerandomguy83]

Are they high ?

No, it is likely that someone upstairs changed his mind. The crackdown could also have an economical explanation. Every ticket created to modify a review, considering the wages in force in NY (or Tel Aviv), blows the profit they made on the order.

What you say does not make any sense. There was a button to change the reviews which automated this process, now the button is gone,People are only going to ask for this to be done manually and involve CS where this involvement was not needed before.

And every bad review takes away from my potential sales, so they are actually losing themselves money by not allowing a simple mistake like this to be fixed. And to make it worse, they are actually punishing their seller (who makes them money) for a genuine mistake that the buyer admits he made.

[somerandomguy83]

Please be careful when using forum posts from 2017 as a how-to in 2019. Things do change.

(edited to add, just in case of any misunderstandings - even current info/replies from other forum users aren’t official policy, for that, you need to ask support (but current forum threads or replies often do give you an idea of what the current policy regarding things is and what to better do or not do, or can tell you about current bugs, developments, etc., that you might better take into account before doing anything you aren’t feeling too sure about))

This is a how to from 2017, but its still live on Fiverrs website and you can see that there is no mention that this process is now obsolete, also there are quite a few videos on youtube that describe this process. Fiverr should initiate takedowns and maybe even punish anyone who has any record of this process, so that people like me don’t fall into the hole of wishful thinking that Fiverr is actually interested in helping people conduct business on their website.

[miiila]

This is a how to from 2017, but its still live on Fiverrs website and you can see that there is no mention that this process is now obsolete, also there are quite a few videos on youtube that describe this process. Fiverr should initiate takedowns and maybe even punish anyone who has any record of this process, so that people like me don’t fall into the hole of wishful thinking that Fiverr is actually interested in helping people conduct business on their website.

Yes, I know, but what I meant is that you assumed that it’s possible to ask your customer to change his review, based on a 2017 forum how-to about it. That you didn’t find that button should have made you wonder.

And it did, obviously, so you asked support and after Matt’s reply, you should have looked on the forum for newer information first or asked. “Absolutely unbelievable CS reaction to a buyers request to change his review”? No, not at all. There are loads of posts by forum regulars warning people to not risk to ask buyers or CS for change of feedback (some even go as far as to tell you to better not utter the word “review” at all, never mind in which context, which I personally find a bit extreme 😉 ).

I absolutely get what you’re saying. It was just a warning for anyone reading this topic (as it has a title that will make many people read it, it’s a good opportunity) to not rely on any forum info that is old-ish and better to look for newer info or ask in a new thread here, to be safe from such unpleasant surprises. If you had asked, I’m sure at least 10 people would have told you “Don’t!”

[somerandomguy83]

I have also requested a response from Fiverr CS to let me know exactly where their ToS was violated.
I have re-read their new ToS and there is nothing there which suggests that I violated any of it.

So I will see this through.

Edit:
This is the response that my buyer has got to his last question

Fiverr shooting themselves in the foot with this really stupid policy change.
In any case, take this as a warning people.

I will update this topic once CS points me to the exact extract of our discussion with the buyer where they feel their CS was violated.

[miiila]

ToS:

Feedback reviews will not be removed unless there are clear violations to our Terms of Service.

But good luck!

[misscrystal]

Hello, I know it’s a bitter pill to swallow, to not be able to have bad feedback changed but that’s how it is now.

I also wanted to say that you talking about changing the review with your buyer is not allowed at all. He might have felt pressured simply by you mentioning it to him. So from now on just try to ignore any less than good reviews. There is nothing we can do about them now.

I agree this should be in writing on the TOS so no one is without this information.

[fonthaunt]

I have also requested a response from Fiverr CS to let me know exactly where their ToS was violated.

I have re-read their new ToS and there is nothing there which suggests that I violated any of it.

So I will see this through.

Edit:

This is the response that my buyer has got to his last question

Fiverr shooting themselves in the foot with this really stupid policy change.

In any case, take this as a warning people.

I will update this topic once CS points me to the exact extract of our discussion with the buyer where they feel their CS was violated.

The buyer did not violate anything with the review which is considered “positive” from the Fiverr viewpoint. (It’s not my view.) ToS now states:

“Users are to refrain from spamming or soliciting previous Buyers or Sellers to pursue removing/modifying reviews.”

I’m not defending this point but Support typically will. Pursue it if you like. It’s unlikely it will go well. Also, forum posts written by sellers are not “policy” whether written in 2017 or 2019. Fiverr isn’t going to care what is on the forum.

Sorry, but what happened to you is not just believable but common.

[misscrystal]

Also don’t even say the word “review” when talking to anyone. I thanked a buyer for a nice review and it was apparently flagged or something. :woman_shrugging: It might be one of the words that triggers an alarm.

[somerandomguy83]

Yeah well, the bad review because the buyer made a mistake was a bit annoying, but getting a violation because we discussed changing this review of his is even more annoying.

But I guess I get it, they are trying to push their stupid policy change through, so now they have to be extra hard on people who contact them.

Well, I learned my lesson, but I am sure they will get many more people like me who will contact CS due to issues like this and take their precious time away, so good luck to them.

[manucornel]

I am sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately, this is not the first time they do this and probably not the last. We got to that point where we can’t even talk with a client about how we can improve our reviews, or what we did wrong. Hey, we can’t even say the word “review”, from what I’ve seen on the forums. Anything can be seen as a “manipulation” by them. Picture that for a moment: you can’t say a word because you get punished.

Truth to be told, we are sellers working on eggshells.

Even if we are the ones that bring the bread and the butter, we are also the ones that are treated unjustly. Anything that we say can and will be used against us. I remember about a seller that had to provide revisions to an abusive buyer simply because they said: “Tell me if something is wrong with the order.” This is how it is now. And it doesn’t look like they are planning on changing anything soon. They keep trying to invest in marketing and “look how awesome we are” campaigns, while sellers receive the worst customer support in history.

I see this rule on TOS is new now, but they acted this way since a long time ago.

If we try to talk with CS we usually get automated responses. You can try pursuing this but I am afraid you will be hit with the feeling that you are not talking with a person, like I felt it a lot of times.

Whenever I hear stories like this, I remember how my folks talked about the times when they had Ceausescu. Saying anything that was not aligned with his principles got people in prison and worse. Even simple things like “this line to get bread is so huge (it was something limited to access because why should people eat, so the lines to buy it were huge).”

I don’t say this platform resembles communism, but I can’t feel the freedom in here either. This platform doesn’t feel safe at all.

You might think I am exaggerating, but I get a sense that here I am not free, on my own hard-worked money. Watching what word you say or you get punished… have a problem and be treated like the problem… canceling orders made by mistake and you get the fall for it… you talk about what bothers you and no one is listening… and the list goes on and on.

It’s safe to say that this platform is not going in a good direction. I’m packing my backs already. 🙂

Maybe others feel different here and they are happy with how things are, and kudos for them. But it’s not my case.

[somerandomguy83]

I am sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately, this is not the first time they do this and probably not the last. We got to that point where we can’t even talk with a client about how we can improve our reviews, or what we did wrong. Hey, we can’t even say the word “review”, from what I’ve seen on the forums. Anything can be seen as a “manipulation” by them. Picture that for a moment: you can’t say a word because you get punished.

Truth to be told, we are sellers working on eggshells.

Even if we are the ones that bring the bread and the butter, we are also the ones that are treated unjustly. Anything that we say can and will be used against us. I remember about a seller that had to provide revisions to an abusive buyer simply because they said: “Tell me if something is wrong with the order.” This is how it is now. And it doesn’t look like they are planning on changing anything soon. They keep trying to invest in marketing and “look how awesome we are” campaigns, while sellers receive the worst customer support in history.

I see this rule on TOS is new now, but they acted this way since a long time ago.

If we try to talk with CS we usually get automated responses. You can try pursuing this but I am afraid you will be hit with the feeling that you are not talking with a person, like I felt it a lot of times.

Whenever I hear stories like this, I remember how my folks talked about the times when they had Ceausescu. Saying anything that was not aligned with his principles got people in prison and worse. Even simple things like “this line to get bread is so huge (it was something limited to access because why should people eat, so the lines to buy it were huge).”

I don’t say this platform resembles communism, but I can’t feel the freedom in here either. This platform doesn’t feel safe at all.

You might think I am exaggerating, but I get a sense that here I am not free, on my own hard-worked money. Watching what word you say or you get punished… have a problem and be treated like the problem… canceling orders made by mistake and you get the fall for it… you talk about what bothers you and no one is listening… and the list goes on and on.

It’s safe to say that this platform is not going in a good direction. I’m packing my backs already. 🙂

Maybe others feel different here and they are happy with how things are, and kudos for them. But it’s not my case.

Good post, I agree with everything you said Manucornel

[misscrystal]

If there were no sellers who try to trick the system we wouldn’t need to have these rules so we all have to suffer. Fiverr is trying to make sure that people see reviews as honest and not able to be falsely inflated. Before this many sellers gave refunds quickly to avoid bad reviews and made other offers to get buyers to change bad reviews to good ones.

[somerandomguy83]

If there were no sellers who try to trick the system we wouldn’t need to have these rules so we all have to suffer. Fiverr is trying to make sure that people see reviews as honest and not able to be falsely inflated. Before this many sellers gave refunds quickly to avoid bad reviews and made other offers to get buyers to change bad reviews to good ones.

It swings both ways though, doesn’t it. I’ve been here over a year and from my own experience and the things i’ve been reading on the forums is that it’s actually the buyers who take advantage of the sellers.

But regardless of anything, this is not our say, we can agree to it or disagree, we can write angry posts and letters to CS it doesn’t matter, this is the policy that was adopted and all we can do is abide by it.

We will see how this plays out.

[fonthaunt]

It swings both ways though, doesn’t it. I’ve been here over a year and from my own experience and the things i’ve been reading on the forums is that it’s actually the buyers who take advantage of the sellers.

But regardless of anything, this is not our say, we can agree to it or disagree, we can write angry posts and letters to CS it doesn’t matter, this is the policy that was adopted and all we can do is abide by it.

We will see how this plays out.

it’s actually the buyers who take advantage of the sellers.

Humans take advantage of humans. (Sellers, Buyers, Clients, Merchants…) Another unfortunate truth that leads me to spend a lot of time with 4 legged critters.