Ripped off. Now what?

[Guest evepaludan]

I paid for an original story to be written and paid for the rights to it. My friend bought a story from the same person. We just shared our stories with each other and they are the same, except for the title. I want to do 2 things. Change my feedback for the gigs and get a refund. I can’t figure out how to do it and I can’t find an FAQ. Please advise so I don’t have to eat that $60. Thanks.

[Guest matt_garry]

if it has been a long time you might not have the option to change your feedback try to hover over your thumbs up on your order page and see if it gives you the option to change it if not contact CS

[sammokid]

I would suggest you to go here:

http://support.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/requests/ticket_forms/new



Choose ‘Issue with a purchase’ and tell them what happened



Sam.

[superfunart]

wow, ouch! hey contact the seller and tell her or him what happened and tell them that you want a real story.

the discription of their gig is wrong.

[cheezees]

Did the both of you have the same storyline?

Did you purchase an original story of the seller’s or an original story made exclusively for you? (a subtle distinction)



I say this as there are some loopholes that exist here. For example, I offer MY original recipes and buyers can purchase the rights to use different combinations of them. My gig does not “create” recipes for the buyer. Multiple buyers can have the rights to the same recipe. All it means is that I will not sue them if they post it elsewhere.



$60 is quite a bit for the seller to just pull a story of of their own collection and just hand it over to you and your friend.



Let us know 🙂

[Guest evepaludan]

Matt, CS is making it possible for me to leave new feedback, as I was not able to revise the original feedback.



Sam, thank you! They are helping me.



Superfun, I don’t trust the seller, so I asked him for a refund instead of another story. He might send a story that he sold to someone else. I will give him a couple of days to comply.



Cheezees, it was the same exact 5,000-word story except for the title. To the word!



I am waiting for my refund and if I don’t receive it, he will get negative feedbacks. He already refunded my friend’s money ($25).



I will keep you posted on what happens.



Thanks for the help everyone!

[cheezees]

Hmm…I’m still not sure what the stipulations were in the order, but it is good that you’re getting somewhere. Good luck! 🙂

[Guest evepaludan]

He was selling rights to an original story.

[Guest evepaludan]

My friend got a refund from him.

He has not refunded me or communicated to my request for refund.

[cheezees]

Reply to @evepaludan: Good to know she got her refund. Got you get yours too!



I still don’t get it though 😛 Did you and your friend order 2 separate stories with a similar premise and then the seller “pretended” to write a new original story for your friend, but really just sent the one he gave you? Or is he selling the rights for you to use HIS story? (with no implication of transference of ownership, just transference of rights to reproduce) Either case would not be nice, since unlike recipes where similar ingredients are expected, I don’t expect to see the same word for word story from 2 different people. I bet he was hoping you would not catch on.



Let us know what transpires.

[Guest evepaludan]

He refunded my friend’s money. Not mine. I asked for a Christmas story and paid for all rights to it, not just to use it but to own it. He sent the exact same story to my friend except for the title. I have no way to prove if he resold it to someone else so I can’t publish it. He is unapologetic and thinks that since he refunded my friend’s money that I got what I paid for…



Anyway, I left negative feedback since fiverr gave me the chance to leave new feedback since I showed them both files. At least that will give his many other customers a heads-up that they shouldn’t assume that their original story from him isn’t being sold and resold.



He was surely hoping he would not get caught.



All rights is pretty clear in publishing.



Ah well, I have tried other fiverr contractors and they delivered wonderful stories. Off to edit them.



Thanks for the support.



I lost my money as no way would I use the story now, knowing that he is this dishonest and since he said he didn’t see a problem, I assume he is continuing his scam.