I have a bad review that I disagree with- what can I do?

[stilli75]

I had been on Fiverr for about two weeks or so and have been doing pretty well. I have had 24 orders and had 5 star reviews and really good comments until today. I had a buyer ask me to proofread his college application but leave me no detailed instructions other that get it to under 500 words from 750. I did this with a few hours of the order being placed and did so sending him a message saying that I hope I was still able to keep the original meaning he had intended but that if he wanted me to take another look I would be more happy to take another look (he had unlimited revisions).

I got no response, so I assumed all was well. Then I received a 3 star review which just said “Grammar errors in revised copy, loss of a lot of personal meaning.”

I’m frustrated because he asked me to cut his statement down by one third and then gave me a bad review when he felt I had removed a lot of stuff that had personal meaning (which would be hard for me to work out). I dispute what he said about the grammar too.

I sent him a polite message afterwards saying that I was sorry that he disappointed with my work but that I take a lot of personal pride in my word would be happy to look at it again for no additional charge. No response still.

To be honest, I would happily give him a refund and still fix it for him for free so long as he can remove his negative review.

What can I do? Is there anywhere to get the review removed? Does cancelling the order to do this and returning his money? Is there anyway how I can explain how I responded to his review so that potential buyers understand how seriously I care about this sort of thing?

Any advice appreciate.

[saad_nagi]

Hi stilli75.
First of all, welcome to Fiverr and I feel so happy that you’re having a great start up. And equally, I’m sorry or what happened to you. I have also experienced this during my first days. There are several ways to undo this:

1. You can contact CS. But this is the least efficient way as you’ll have to show them proofs that you stand on the right platform. And you have to prove that your buyer is totally false.
2. Ask your buyer to cancel the order my mutual agreement. His money will be refunded to him and his review will be automatically removed as soon as the order is cancelled.
3. You can ask him to do his work free of cost and in return, he should leave best review for you. But I can see you’ve already tried that so I guess #2 is the best option possible.
   I hope this helps. :Best of luck.

[taverr]

“Grammer errors” Ugh!
I would support the buyer.

[jonbaas]

Why did you copy the @saad_nagi post word for word? What were you hoping to accomplish? All I see is a spam request begging people to look at your gigs.

If you are going to contribute meaningful content on these forums, please write your own comments.

[Anna]

@saad your point 2 is is no longer happing. If you cancel an order the review won’t be removed!

[deesajn]

#2 is not valid anymore.

[silberma1976]

Nothing you can do but move one. Your other reviews will outweigh this poor one. Do nothing and say nothing in your review of the buyer.

[carmencarmenli]

I have a question: If a buyer keep request for reversion, will it harm the sellers account, and cause less buyer would like to purchase the sellers gigs? (the gig is ultimate reversions, and the buyer asks for more than 5 reversion requests)

Thank you for anyone who can answer me the question.

[emmaki]

Sorry, Charles. It looks like you dropped this. http://blog.fiverr.com/professional-responses-every-buyer-situation/?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=community

Why the sudden change of heart?

To quote your carefully crafted words which your shared–or spammed via a lazy link and an unloved forum post in Tips for Sellers in a weekend that has seen much vitriol against Fiverr’s lastest improvement:

If you do get a bad review, you have a couple of options. The first option is to accept it and move forward. While a five-star review is great, sometimes a 4.5-star or 4.7-star review is not as damaging as you think, especially if you have other five-star reviews. Buyers can easily look over 4.5 reviews if it is the exception.

If your review is lower than that, you must be careful. The buyer in this situation was not happy with your work, and you do not want to push them to contact customer service because you are badgering them or begging for a five-star review. Never offer free work for a better review. If a buyer asks for free work for a better review, report them to customer service. Make sure to take a picture of the screenshot of the messages and send it in with the report. If you really want that review changed because you did the work the way it was asked, be assertive. For example, you might say the following.

Dear (Buyer’s Name)

I am so sorry you are not pleased with my work. Based on the order, we agreed I would do (list what you agreed to) for the project. As you can see, I delivered this by providing (list what you provided that matched what you agreed upon) as visible in the x part of the work delivered. I would greatly appreciate either an opportunity to tweak the work, based on what you purchased, in the hopes you will consider adjusting your review to represent what I redeliver. If you are not amenable to this, please let me know what I can do better in the future so I can learn from this experience.

(Your Name)

Notice how the message uses facts, and not emotions. The message also shows you want to learn, which is more likely to get you, at the minimum, feedback that could be helpful. Lastly, it cannot be taken as being inappropriate. Acting belligerently is a surefire way to get thrown off the platform for good—and this includes leaving a counter review for the client that is emotional in a negative way. Simply thank them for their honest feedback and business. Class goes a long way in a digital world.

Since OP seems to have been quite reasonable, I don’t really understand. OP, Copy this and see if it works. If it doesn’t, you can leave a review on the blogpost, or here: http://forum.fiverr.com/?topic=go-to-professional-responses-for-every-fiverr-situation-from-the-blog

Do be sure to note that Charles is sick and tired of complaints, which is why he has presumably stopped sharing such informative content and told you to merely deal with it. As he has stated elsewhere, “policy is policy”, a statement that many people the world over will agree is the first thing a nice oppressive government says before locking down the screws. In more democratic areas, we call them “jobsworths” or “yesmen” or even “brownnosers”.

I haven’t yet decided which particular description you best fit, Charles, but you definitely have enjoyed spamming the forum with this twaddle, and now its not accepted, you’re telling people to give up. Basically.

You may be a poet, Charles, but your soul has departed if this is what you’re reduced to. Real poets are mad, bad and dangerous to know and die after ill-advised jaunts like swimming the Hellespont. Not spamming broken forums with contradictory advice to their blog posts.

But what would I know. OP might not be able to do much, but… lol.

Really, Charles. For a poet, this is real doggerel.

[lastay]

It’s sad, but getting a bad review will happen at times, even when you think that your completed assignment was as close to perfect as you can get. I have had clients sending messages to my inbox about how great the work is and they still ended up giving me a less than satisfactory review and star rating.

There was once the option of getting the review removed if a refund was made, but that has now gone extinct. I also wouldn’t recommend contacting customer service about getting the review removed because that can also bring down your page ranking among other things, causing you to get less orders. The best thing to do in my opinion is to move on and try to work to the best of your ability on future orders.

[ilovenish]

Also, you can’t cancel the completed order anymore without contacting fiverr support even though both buyer and seller wish to cancel. Ridiculous rules!

[saad_nagi]

Thank you for the correction 🙂

[saad_nagi]

Yes I got it. Thank you for the correction. By the way it’s bad, isn’t it?

[renata_franco]

Why everything you comment is so Pro-Fiverr and their rules? Do you work for Fiverr or something like that? All your comments are just “move on”, “The buyer is right”, etc.

[saddu_writer]

Hi stilli75.
welcome to the community. I just want to say that as you have recently joined, it happens a lot and you have to deal with it.There are some times really nasty buyers and they give you bad review despite of delivering really good stuff and unlimited revisions but you have to cope with it. Its amost impossible to have a 5 star rating on fiverr. Just do good work and remember one thing. Next time first try to send the order in the inbox and when he says that he’s satisfied then deliver it. Also with delivering write a really polite message.
Good luck.

[djgodknows]

He writes blogs for Fiverr.
So it can’t be helped that his opinions are as such.

[stilli75]

Thanks very much for all your advice- I think I will just leave it and move on. Hopefully I will not have this type of experience again for a while!

[sayed_matubber]

Hello stilli75.
I am sad to know that happened to you. I suggest you contract Fiverr support with some prove that you have done properly.

[fasty93]

There is nothing you can do about that bad feedback

Now you should focus on current orders and do your best to get great review.Please note that one bad feedback is not the end of world. Just keep up the good work