Abusive client, will support help me?

[avillax]

So this client wanted a translation and has requested about 5 revisions already. First, he changed the source file and wanted me to change the translation, so I did. Now he’s been asking for corrections because he realized his original English source file had mistakes regarding gender, however, on those situations the translation was already accurate because of gender neutrality rules, BUT he insists that I’m not doing the changes he requested, which makes no sense, everything is correct and he doesn’t speak Spanish. It is terrible, I’m afraid he’s acting demential and might leave a bad review, and if I cancel the order my completion rate will be affected, plus my money and time. Will support help me?

[smork]

Firstly, if he’s threatened you or used any abusive language then you can contact support and they’re likely to help you - That will possibly result in a cancellation of the order though and perhaps no money for you.

If you’ve done exactly what he asked for and he’s used up his allocated number of revisions then you’re within your rights to refuse any further work. However, he can leave a bad review and support won’t help you with that. They’ll tell you to work it out with the customer before delivering the order etc etc.

If he’s got revisions left then ultimately you have to do what he’s asking. The lines of “this isn’t what his original brief asked for” are blurred when it comes to support helping you and revisions offered unfortunately.

If you want the money and you’ve done what he ordered then refuse further work (or send him a custom invoice for the extra work he’s asking for) and keep redelivering the order (with a polite note to him each time). If you aren’t bothered about the money, your completion rate can take a hit and want to avoid the bad review, then cancelling the order is easiest solution here sadly. Unfair but that’s how it goes sometimes.

[cyaxrex]

So this client wanted a translation and has requested about 5 revisions already. First, he changed the source file and wanted me to change the translation, so I did. Now he’s been asking for corrections because he realized his original English source file had mistakes regarding gender, however, on those situations the translation was already accurate because of gender neutrality rules, BUT he insists that I’m not doing the changes he requested, which makes no sense, everything is correct and he doesn’t speak Spanish. It is terrible, I’m afraid he’s acting demential and might leave a bad review, and if I cancel the order my completion rate will be affected, plus my money and time. Will support help me?

I’m afraid he’s acting demential and might leave a bad review, and if I cancel the order my completion rate will be affected

Don’t cancel. Take the review on the chin and move on. Advise your buyer that their project has been completed, delivered, and revised, exactly as per their request.

If your buyer does not speak or understand Spanish, they shouldn’t have ordered from you in the first place. In fact, it sounds like your buyer is your average gorilla IQ reseller. Simply lay it on the table that you have completed and delivered this project and do not issue refunds. If CS sides with your buyer and cancels, open a dispute with them concerning the fact that they have decided to give your work away for free.

[avillax]

Thank you. In short, the problem with the buyer is that he doesn’t speak or understand Spanish yet he wants to change phrases in Spanish because he changed the gender in the original English text and doesn’t understand that those lines in the Spanish translation are gender neutral and thus require no changes.

[avillax]

Sadly, I had to give him his money back after wasting hours, he insisted the text still had mistakes and the mistakes he was referring to were actually accurate, there was no way to correct them.

It is sad how fiverr is asking us to take courses to “improve” and deliver a better quality as a seller, but is not doing anything against abusive clients and our word doesn’t count at all, I don’t see how that can improve things. As a professional translator, I’m beginning to find work somewhere else. I went from earning 2.5k a month to less than half of that when they started with their changes.

[avillax]

Actually the guy didn’t accept to cancel the order and ultimately apologized. Want to know where the problem was?

The guy was copy/pasting my translation into Google Translate, and the translation to his language that Google was providing wasn’t making sense. So I had to give him a lecture of how he just couldn’t use Google Translate to know whether my translation was accurate or not.

[lenasemenkova]

Actually the guy didn’t accept to cancel the order and ultimately apologized. Want to know where the problem was?

The guy was copy/pasting my translation into Google Translate, and the translation to his language that Google was providing wasn’t making sense. So I had to give him a lecture of how he just couldn’t use Google Translate to know whether my translation was accurate or not.

The guy was copy/pasting my translation into Google Translate, and the translation to his language that Google was providing wasn’t making sense.

!!! This is beautiful.

It’s great that you got your money AND an apology.

I had one lady requesting a .PSD file (Photoshop layered source file) so she could email invitations and change the name of every guest herself. She came back in a week mad that the invitations were very heavy and no one could open them. Later it turned out she was emailing .PSD files to everyone instead of saving them in .JPG or any other readable image format.

Some people are clueless to the point it becomes frightening.

[misscrystal]

Actually the guy didn’t accept to cancel the order and ultimately apologized. Want to know where the problem was?

The guy was copy/pasting my translation into Google Translate, and the translation to his language that Google was providing wasn’t making sense. So I had to give him a lecture of how he just couldn’t use Google Translate to know whether my translation was accurate or not.

. So I had to give him a lecture of how he just couldn’t use Google Translate to know whether my translation was accurate or not.

Congratulations that you handled this so well!