Have you had this problem too?

[Guest ciellchan]

Here it’s the thing, I create a valentines gig 2 weeks ago (more or less) got a buyer, I was really happy about it, he asked for a different card from usual, not hearts but an african symbols (Which I google, read about them and select specially for the card, I used all the symbols that were related only to romantic love) I created the design, sent him 2 roughs sketches to choose from, there was no photo I could use as reference, only a pencil drawing of both, a cartoon, she had the head throwed back so I was not able to really see her features and he had only his left profile. Hardm but he approved me the design, and we went to coloring, everything was perfect he told me it was gorgeous, he only asked me to make her skin darker, which I did. Order got closed and didn’t heard from him. He wrote 4 days after telling to make her back because she was a black woman, and it had to be done before 2PM which it was imposible for me, he rated me with 2 stars because I didn’t draw her correctly or made her a black woman. After all that work and even asked me for a refund. I’m really sad, I work lots on that order and even took the time to read about those symbols. I got the feeling he was trying to get it for free. Not sure what to do, completely ruined my gig, only one buy and 2 stars. Has this happened to you? How can I manage this? I wrote the support to ask for a feedback removal explaining all the situation but I was told to speak with him.

[tsweezey]

If you just want to get rid of the negative review, I’d file for the mutual cancellation as he requested. Then that two star review will go away. If you keep the money though, you might have to keep the review 😦

[mikebates]

I really wouldn´t worry about it that much. I realise that for “you” sellers it is important to have a good rating average but as “buyers”, we know that there will always be someone who likes to have a moan and give bad ratings but as long as the ratings above and below are good it puts the bad rating into perspective. More important, for me at least, is to see in the completed projects image slideshow good professional work.

[felicitysmoke]

Not yet happened with me but I can feel its very bad. Its been more than 6 months for me on fiverr but I’m not able to get orders. I don’t know whats wrong.

[adsensewizard]

Some buyers are complicated. It’s best to offer a refund, as your rating is more important than $ or time. Just make sure the buyer accepts the refund within 2 days or the rating won’t go away. Or if the order is too old and you ask customer support for a cancellation, first make sure the buyer is willing to remove the review or the order will get cancelled but the review will stay.



Good luck! 🙂

[janelleski]

I kind of experienced the same thing. But in my case, the buyer is asking for a modification 2 weeks after the order was finalized. I contacted customer support for refund and I think the rating was cancelled as well. (I got 5 stars tho).

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @mikebates: Thanks a lot for your review on my comment as a buyer, it helps me lots! I actually posted an screenshot on my buyer rating showing the change was done and that he actually told me it was great. It’s really helpful know that buyers read alll the comments and see the general rating. Thanks a lot!

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @tsweezey: Thanks a lot for your reply! Only a refund can help me on this, I see. It’s really sad that buyers can play with our work this way, in order to retrieve a good rating I have to give my work for free 😦

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @felicitysmoke: Cheer up! I’m back to fiverr from a health recovery, it’s been hard for me to get new orders, but if you keep a good rating and treat all your clients as unique you will get lots of orders 🙂 believe me!

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @adsensewizard: Thanks a lot! Yes, I guess I will have to do a refund, I drop him an email aking why he got so aggressive towards me and my work, but hasn’t received any answer yet. I guess I will have to give him the card for free 😦

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @janelleski: Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, I’m sad since the only way to fix it it’s giving the work for free, I’m still not sure sinc it was not a little order, it was a middle one. Makes me scare about future orders.

[tsweezey]

@ciellchan: When it comes to managing the integrity of your reviews, I think it’s best to keep things cordial. Asking a customer why they are aggressive towards you isn’t likely to help you service your customer. If it’s a small size order, they might simply deny your request for a mutual cancellation just to give you poor feedback (although I don’t think that most buyers know that a mutual cancellation terminates the review).



You might consider simply noting that you recognize that setting expectations is critical, and that in this case, the expectation wasn’t met. As such, you don’t want them to pay for a product they can’t use, and as a professional gesture, you’d be honored if they’d agree to the mutual cancellation. Then, you can ask if they they feel comfortable in doing so, to comment regard how you might have served them better.



And for what it’s worth, sometimes maintaining a high percentage of positive reviews can get expensive. So always try to manage expectations from the beginning. In my site review gig, I paste some standard text in response to each order that re-iterates what the gig is for, what I do, and what I don’t do.



For example, in fiverr, the gig duration is noted as “Average delivery days” or similar, but that’s not accurate. It’s the number of days the seller sets as the expected delivery. As such, I use to get many people asking “how long will this take?” Now, when the order is placed, I let them know that I work by the fiverr clock, and that they can count on me delivering their product before the clock expires. And if for any reason that isn’t possible, I’ll let them know what to expect before the clock expires.

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @tsweezey: I asked that after he review me with the 2 stars and sent me a harrash message, not before. It just it hasn’t happend as you stated. I have had mutual cancellations without a problem before, this time was different. He told me it was great and he love it, he asked if it was possible to make her a bit darker after the image was done which I did, the order got closed and he contact me after saying it was poorly done since the beggining which wasn’t since I check Sketchs/Pencil and later color with all of my clients, he approved all the stages with stelar review on each.

I have a working method were I check everything since the beggining, I deliver first 2 concepts, review, Sketches, review, Clean Pencil, review, Ink, review and once everything it’s approved then I color the design and it gets finalized, I do this with all of my orders and with all of my freelance works, but I also value my work, specially when I did a research and took extra time for delivering a good product, I didn’t knew anything about African Symbols, If I were a bad contractor I will just simply copy and paste the first symbols that google images dropped but I didn’t, I read and looked for symbols that represent words of love, relationship, marriage, a beautiful life, took me 3 hours of research several pages and symbols, I even asked him to review me the symbols for me to see if I did a good selection. Everything was approved. That it’s the problem, it was aggressive since I did all in time, extra work, extra corrections and after the order was closed 4 days after I received that harrash message. I was and I’m shocked.

I always deliver extra work, free color, extra pages, extras in general if the clock expires, even if it was just 1 min, happene to me after several orders, but this time was a new experience.

Thanks a lot for your message 🙂

[tsweezey]

I don’t dispute that you did an excellent job, but that’s beside the point. I’ve been in the same position as you, so I understand. Please don’t confuse how great a job you did with trying to remove a bad review. No matter how right you are, once you ask a customer why they are aggressive, you have to be prepared that they might feel challenged. As such, you probably wont’ get the response you want. And I’m not saying that you should refund… only if you are trying to protect your ratings. That’s my only point.



As for my general comments about expectations; I was just sharing my personal experience.

[sara1984]

You’re a really talented artist. Seeing as that’s your first order on that gig, why not just delete it and start again? That way the review disappears and you keep your money.

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @tsweezey: Thanks! I’m always very honest with my buyers, hasn’t thought about it could sound weird to ask about why he was being aggresive, maybe it’s a cultural difference? Is it bad for english antive speakers? Here on my country will be just a simple question and the buyer/clients usually realize the tone of voice and the conversation flows nicely. I will take note for native englush speakers 🙂 Thanks a lot for your experience and info!!!

[Guest ciellchan]

Reply to @sara1984: Hasn’t thought about it, the review dissapear if you delete a gig? I always thought it keeps being on your profile. I will defintly try it. Thanks 🙂

[adsensewizard]

Im fairly sure ratings from deleted gigs stay in the overall rating. But don’t quote me on that. Still, it’s not the end of the world, as you seem like a honest and friendly seller, so you will be getting so many great ratings in the coming months that a few bad ones won’t have any effect. 🙂