How do you communicate with an elusive seller?

[bingewebcoder]

On 3-October 2015 , I paid a seller (************) to create nine illustrations for me. The job went wrong from just a couple of days later. She apologised that it will be impossible to do in 3 days or so as advertised and would deliver in a couple of weeks. Of course, I understood ; I dint expect her to be a superwoman for so little. From then on it all went downhill. Her next excuse was illness, which I also forgave her for; after all we are all human.Okay shortly after, her uncle also died so it would take a bit longer again (ok people died, no sweat). Consequently she completely ignored all my instructions including the pictures I had asked her to exactly copy. She seemed completely unable to understand simple English. Three times I sent her again these instructions and sample illustration and four times she did the wrong thing. Finally she refused to do any more correction and ignored my messages and this is where the biggest problem started.
I filed a complaint with Fiverr , early in December and got the most amazing response . I was rudely advised to continue to correspond with her, nothing they can/will do about it , That was what the Fiverr staff. said to me in his reply . I swallowed my anger and did as advised , but my correspondences have been completely ignored till today. I have no idea what to do next as Fiverr has kicked out my complaint and I am consequently out of pocket for so much money.
It is now more than 4MONTHS since I ordered and all I have gotten are childish illustrations which are of no use at all .Anyone knows what I can do, before I finally close my account on Fiverr because I don’t feel safe here anymore?
Thank you.

[emmaki]

Well, that buyer does sound like she really should have just canceled the order, and maybe this seller took advantage of your generous nature. You can try opening another ticket with Customer Support (the initial response sounds like a cookie-cutter, which the staff use often–they are understaffed), as I imagine the old one has been marked as resolved.

It’s also also worth noting that you’re not permitted by the Forum Rules to expose “bad sellers/buyers” by name, and that’s mainly because this is a kangeroo court kinda thing. We only have one side of the story, and nothing to judge except your frustration and buyer’s supposed incompetence (deaths and illness aside).

Looking at the seller’s profile (5 stars and one 4.5 star as far as I can see), their illustration styles in the portfolio and samples, their whole style seems to be what you describe as “childish illustrations”. In this case, not being able to see what your illustrations look like but imagining that they broadly look like what’s offered and delivered to successful gigs, I have to point out that Customer Support can’t really offer you a refund on the grounds of “I don’t like it”. It’s explicitly spelt out in Fiverr’s cancellation policy.

As a final note–if great English communication was important for you, why order from a Pakistani? There’s a significantly higher chance that you’ll come across someone with a poor grasp of the language there.

Remember, this seller has delivered illustrations 4 times to please you… you’re outta money, she’s outta time. I’m beginning to think that maybe she was sick and her uncle died, and you’re just using that in the complaint to paint yourself as a generous buyer who has been to hell and back and goshdarnit.

[Anna]

I suggest you contact CS again. Add some screenshots to proof that you did try to communicate with the seller and did not hear back from her. Support is usually really good about it. Best of luck!

[cyaxrex]

Well this sound terrible, but I too looked at the seller in questions profile and they do seem to deliver pretty consistently well regarded work. In this case, are you really sure that you weren’t simply expecting more? I mean if she has delivered multiple time’s she has actually done the work you requested.

[emmaki]

“Three times I sent her again these instructions and sample illustration and four times she did the wrong thing”–OP

That’s not “not hearing back” from the seller. Anyway, imagine if you had a buyer who ordered an English VO from you then got angry because you sounded too German.

This is all presumption, but but seriously, check out the seller’s gigs before her name gets blitzed. She does illustrations that would look great in children’s books, while the OP is criticizing her “childish illustrations”. Since I doubt that means a scrawl that any toddler would be proud of, there’s something missing from the story.

I don’t think the seller didn’t try to communicate at all. She gave valid–if suspicious–reasons for late delivery (illness, family death) and offered revisions. What exactly is going to Fiverr CS to say “THIS SELLER DIDN’T COMMUNICATE, LOOK AT MY SCREENSHOTS!” going to achieve other than “please try to resolve this conflict with the other party kthnxbai”?

[Anna]

I hear what you are saying. I think there is communication problem between the buyer and the seller. From what I have read (and I might be wrong) is that the buyer submitted certain pictures to the seller and asked her to copy the illustration which the seller did not do, therefor (if that is the case) I understand why the buyer is frustrated. (“Consequently she completely ignored all my instructions including the pictures I had asked her to exactly copy”)
If someone orders a voice over from me asking me to exactly match the style of an attached file and I fail to do so than there is a problem. The buyer clearly wants a refund since the work is not to her/his satisfaction but the seller is probably ignoring the messages because she is tired of dealing with the buyer. Not the right approach in my opinion! Again, all presumption! What are you suggesting the buyer does?

[Guest essyjoseph]

The only thing i would advice buyers to do is to request cancellation or revision earlier. Waiting for four months is such a long time.