Looks like We Missed the Mark on This One... - Yeah, So What?

#1

This is a bit of a continuation of my other rant about hellish buyers this week/month. Two days in a row, two buyers order from my video ad gig’s $65 package. Both use the same verbiage in messages, both request an immediate cancellation. I have rejected both cancellation requests. Today, however, I wake up to:

"Yeah, sorry, it just looks like we just missed the mark with this one. We don’t offer any of the services you have listed in the video and we really wanted a 3D character going over blueprints and organizing teams of developers renovating an office space."

Ok…

Aside from me still being sure that this is the same buyer from another order, I can’t get my head around this kind of mentality.

  • A buyer orders a service with expectations of a widely different product outcome to that which is advertised
  • Then they expect a full refund because they are not happy

Basically, why are my (or anyone’s) services now being seen as ‘payment is optional?’

I’m also getting really upset about how buyers seem to be getting wise with regard to how to play the system.

Saying: “We don’t offer any of the services you have listed in the video,” is completely false. With this order, I detailed every service as described on the services page of the business I was provided a link to. - And it’s not like anything could be lost in translation. If you say you offer office printer repair and I detail office printer repair, how is this suddenly not something which your business offers?

To compound things, I just had to cancel an order for a 350-word article, due to a buyer sending me a 12-page product brochure which they want condensing to 6-pages and made to look: “Just as good when printed on a home printer as when we get it done via our commercial printers.” - A graphic design job basically and an impossible one at that.

Anyway, I have once again declined the current cancellation request. What on Earth, though, makes people think that work on Fiverr is free if they don’t want to pay? And what on Earth is the best way to say: “Err, No, sorry.”

So far I have replied with:

Hi,

_Sorry, but I do not know how you could get the impression that I offer animated cartoon style animations, (animated characters looking at blueprints etc). _

I have amended a scene in your video to reflect that you do not offer blueprints. I am afraid, however, that I do not cancel or refund orders for ‘not hitting the mark.’ Please feel free, though, to cite any poor order experience in your review of this order.

_Also, please do feel free to request a further revision FOC if you would like any other textual data changing on your video. _

Kind Regards,

Andy

Can I be more reasonable than that?

#2

You did the best you could do with your reply.

#3

I feel for you. It’s frustrating.

#4

They can’t cancel anyways due to “order quality” or anything so long as you did the work you advertised.

#5

It saddens me to hear you´re in hell lately. Not sure if there´s anything you can do to further clarify your gig/s to avoid such things. But drop the acronym. Unless you’re 111% sure they know what it means or don´t really want them to take you up on your FOC revision offer, that is. And take chico for a walk and have him urge you to a drink at a nice place later.

#6

Was it their business site, though? Sometimes they send a link to a competitor’s website, so not all the services are the same (plus it turns out to be a reseller, and their end client doesn’t know what they want).

#7

Fiverr have basically been suggesting as such to buyers for a while now with the whole ‘Money Back Guarantee’ badge that has been showing on people’s gigs (our’s inluded). I’ve not seen it for a while so I’m hoping it was deemed a failed experiment and ditched.

Granted, it only applies if we as sellers fail to deliver or deliver something that is not what was advertised in our gig/agreed in the offer, so I think you’ve done the right thing by refusing a cancellation. But the problem with slapping ‘Money Back Guarantee’ everywhere is that it suggests that if you’re unhappy (for any reason) you can get your money back.