Client dispute - admited that bough the gig from many sellers, accepted the best and demands refund from all other

[designboom]

I notice there are still buyers who order the same thing from multiple sellers and than pick the best work, and cancel all the other orders. No intention to work it out with the seller and nothing, just: “nop, I had someone do it better, refund me”.

I got in a serious fight with the client, refused to refund him (basic gig price) out of principle, because I think that is really dishonest. You pay people for their time! And demanded him to write his honest feedback if we wants but as per Fiverr TOS, order are not eligible to be canceled based on the quality received.

Guess what? He contacted support (which is ok, I am happy about that) but they refunded him the order. No questions asked, they took his side 😦

I was ok to get a negative feedback just so I can write my side of the story for.

I want to know if:

1. Is what he did (bought from multiple sellers and cancel all other orders) legal? or can I report this behavior?
2. Why CS refunded the order, if I was against it, and was ok with a neg. feedback? Their rules are clear: No refunds based on the quality received if the order was done as per gig. Why is there the option when you put a dispute: “the quality of work I received was poor” if this is against TOS?
3. I treat all my clients the same, no matter is its a $20 or $200 order, all this disputes clearly stress me out a lot. How do you handle this type of clients? What is your message to them to persuade them to work things out instead of the refund?

sorry for the long post, was a bad day 😦

[designboom]

How do you handle this type of clients?

I’d question if there was a pricepoint which attracted this type of buyer, then I’d reprice to shift the goalposts in the hope they bypass me.

What is your message to them to persuade them to work things out instead of the refund?

Look at their intent, they have no intention to be reasonable, therefore any reason you try to apply with them will be a wasted effort.

I’d simply revise my prices to put myself out of their league, then I’d block anyone who played those kind of games.

Thanks for your feedback. I have been thinking of raising the prices already, to avoid these type of client. At the same time, I have 99% of clients who are a delight to work with.

[lenasemenkova]

Purchasing multiple options is “legal”. Refunding them all after you picked one result over the rest is not.

CS siding with a buyer who screams “I don’t like it!” is nothing new even though doing so is in odds with the ToS. I’m sorry that it happened.

My only advice would be to avoid such projects at all costs (if at any point before the order is placed or before the delivery it becomes obvious that there are multiple sellers involved). That’s what I do. It’s not a contest where the winner gets paid for the work.

[mariashtelle1]

To add to everything what was already said: I would’ve also opened a ticket with support asking for a reason for a cancellation and stating that they refunded a client with no ground and supported “scamming” behaviour as your client openly stated that they ordered from multiple people. So I still would’ve try to resolve it with CS. (Even though chances are slim)