Fiverr Community Forum

Want to give bad review to buyer. Could he retaliate after seeing it?

Your Fiverr Experience The Ranting Pot
#1

Hi everyone, today I have a quick one.

I am not sure if it has ever been asked on the forum but my doubt is quite specific and when I look for “buyer+review+generic negative words” it obviously finds a lot of threads but not the one I am interested in.

In short: a buyer of mine did a very sly move.

I am a translator so he sent me the link of his amazon listing asking for a quotation, I’ve sent him the custom offer, translated, SEO’d, delivered and he asks for a revision stating “I didn’t translate the whole listing”.
Of course the scumbag updated the listing after quotation and added text hoping I could fell for it and translate the additional text for free. And that is indeed what I have done, but I have not said a word in order to make him aware…that I am aware (no pun intended).

Of course I have bee quite naive not to prevent this by simply writing a document and asking explicitly on chat “Is this the text you want me to translate?” but whatever…

My very question comes now…

I want to give him the review he deserve also to warn other sellers (bad review of course, explaining all of his evil masterplan), but in the case he gave me a 5 star review (and that is quite likely since I have been very amenable and polite besides his behaviour), I am afraid he could retaliate after seeing my bad rating and ask to update his review of mine for a bad review as well.

Do you think I can proceed or is it an unwise idea?

EDIT:

When he asked for the revision, I wrote him something like “Hi, I don’t think this should be part of the order since that portion of text was not published at the time of quoting” but of course he immediately answered: “No, the text has always been like that”, also in a quite rude fashion despite my politeness in all of our communications.

EDIT2:

I edited 1 star to “bad rating” because I understand that maybe 1 star is too much, but my biggest doubt is. Could he retaliate after seeing my review asking to update his? (Of course I will block him once the review is done so he won’t be able to order from me anymore).

11 Likes
#2

I like the idea of people being fair and honest. If the buyer has pulled a swiftie then they deserve a serve and others deserve to be warned.

However, the person can try to mess with you so be prepared. Probably the first thing to do is be sure you have them Blocked fully, not just in Chat but across the whole of Fiverr.

Be sure that you are fair in your review and then fire away.

Also look at your process to see how this happened and close off the avenue. You said you worked from a Link. I would not do this, and work from either the text pasted in the Requirements Form or a Doc File (if you trust them). This means that the work that you quote should be the same and you don’t accept the job as started until you have seen if the 30 words has morphed into The Bible overnight.

:slight_smile:

p.s. If his review is already in, he cannot change it. I don’t believe either of you can see the other’s review until you have posted yours. That makes retaliatory sniping harder. If he tries through CS, he could get a warning. If his review is mean, you can respond (with care) to show that he was a pencil-necked ninny.

6 Likes
#3

It’s okay to give a negative review to the buyer (if he really deserved it and you choose not to work with them anymore, especially for a 1-star review).

I had a very negative experience with one buyer in the past and rated them 1-star because they did horrible things and were disrespectful throughout the order progress.

After rating experience with the buyer, they did contact me after a couple of minutes blaming and harassing me, but I blocked that buyer immediately.

I don’t care. I got the money, they got the work. I am free to rate experience with the buyer and that’s it, I didn’t want to work with them again anymore.

It’s always okay to write a honest experience, not just “Good buyer…thank you for your order…”, even though you had the worst one.

6 Likes
#4

Hi there! I am experiencing the opposite. The seller has asked me to review his work before it was finished, because in his words he needed it that same day for … some rating thing. He still didn’t finish his task (improve the website speed according to PageSpeed Insights), replies very slowly and everytime he says okay, or yes I am working. But nothing happens. And it’s been like this since 2 months.

How can you send a complaint about a seller afterwards?

3 Likes
#5

Hi Motzunacky. This sounds suspicious. I wouldn’t review it before I saw the seller’s work. It’s also kinda strange that it’s taking that long.

3 Likes
#6

@motzunacky Some sellers like an update to know they are going in the right direction. This is fine. However, it may also indicate a lack of a clear Brief at that start.

If the job is still open then you may be best waiting for Deliver time and see what arrives. If it is fixable, you can request Revision, it is clear that there is no hope, you can look at cancellation. Please take care either way.

If you finished and reviewed it already, it is over. Move along. Just don’t hire that person again.

:slight_smile:

3 Likes
#7

While based on what you’ve said your buyer did a sneaky move, there is an argument to say you should have challenged him at the time. Had you done so he could have said “I’m sorry, of course I’ll pay the difference” or “I’m sorry, but I didn’t realise the word count had increased, a colleague had edited the text since we spoke” (whether you believe that is another matter!).

My point is that despite their sneaky actions, I would feel a bit uncomfortable slapping them down after the event - when you had an opportunity, while the order was active, to fix the issue. Even though I like to see justice prevail, on this occasion I think the ship has sailed and you should let it go.

EDIT: It’s a bit like going to a restaurant and the waiter asking you if the food is okay, and you reply “Mmm, yes, delicious, thank you” (even though it’s not great). You then walk out and immediately leave a review online saying something like “It was the worst food we’ve had out in 10 years. We won’t go back again”. Well, that’s not really fair - had you told the waiter the food wasn’t very good - they would have had an opportunity to make you a happy customer.

7 Likes
#8

The man has a point^
I wondered on this as I wrote my answer.

:slight_smile:

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#9

Hi Benedict, thank you for your reply! I gave the review before the deadline, because he said he needed that for a gig ranking. Learned my lesson and accepted my loss :sweat_smile: Still I’d like to file a complaint, so that others don’t have to suffer. And he should be “de-ranked” once again because trust is important (and he did say I could trust him).

Let’s hope fiverr gets better at this. Thank you all for your reactions!

4 Likes
#10

Hi english_voice, my bad I haven’t told the whole story.

I wrote him indeed something like “Hi, I don’t think this should be part of the order since that portion of text was not published at the time of quoting” but of course he immediately answered: “No, the text has always been like that”, also in a quite rude fashion despite my politeness in all of our communications.

So yes, I tried and verify he was doing that on purpose and well, he did.

1 Like
#11

You could always send your messages with him where they did ask for a review to customer service. You could also indicate that you felt pressured to review before the work was completed to help this guy out.

When someone you have never met or dealt with before says, “Trust me”, I would say that is a red flag. Trust is EARNED, not freely given. At least, with me!

GG

3 Likes
#12

Fair play to you then. In that case slam dunk the bad buyer!

I just like to see fair dealing carried out and to treat others how I would like to be treated - but it sounds like you gave him an opportunity to admit his crime.

All I would say now is… is leaving a one star review truly fair and representative of what happened? I know what he did wasn’t fair or good business practice - but maybe a three star review might be a more realistic appraisal? Also, remember how an ultra-negative one star review will look to your future potential buyers. Protect your account first and foremost.

3 Likes
#13

This is very well said! I got a one star review because of this, got no feedback from the buyer, everything was correct, probably a problem from his side and thought that it was my fault. Always see the whole picture before writing a nasty review!

1 Like
#14

Around the 15th in the month Fiverr is promoting people that are selling on Fiverr depending on the things they accumulated (income and number of total sales).
What happened in your case as he was close to Level 1 or 2 and the most unbelievable thing he did (I can’t believe he even had the nerve to do it) was to ask you to accept the delivery so he can level up.

Or he had cancelations and each finished order is helping in boosting his status back.

What you did is kind but wrong. Even though it has been two months you should report him, especially send screenshots to the customer support of him asking you to accept empty delivery to increase ranking.

I know 5-50-100$ is not something to stress about to some people, but if you look at it differently 50$ can provide food for a week somewhere in the world. if you going to “waste” your money, you prefer to donate it to people in need not some scammer.

NO! Fight for your every $.

It doesn’t grow on trees.

@samus_x I agree with you, but not the 1* review. Why one? There are 3 numbers in between 1-5 to select and I do not think this is 1* event.

There should be some grading when it comes to 1-5 stars. Is what he did really 1? What if something even worse happens tomorrow, and you already set the bar for 1*.

This is to me solid 3* or maybe 2*.

You are right, but so is he in a way.

He asked you to translate website listing and changed the text later on only because you gave him freedom to attempt this.

I was asked once to translate all websites, all pages. What I did is converted the entire site to word and asked the client to confirm this is the text he wanted to be translated.

He can do whatever to his site, later on, I am being paid for the text in a Word document.

4 Likes
#15

I can see your and @english_voice’s point about the 1-star rating, I don’t want to be too harsh or evil because of all the reasons you’ve listed… And you know, karma’s always lurking.

But my doubt is still: could he retaliate after seeing my bad review and ask to update his review of my service?

1 Like
#16

I don’t think one can go back and change a review.

Give your honest opinion about your experience with this buyer. Other sellers (who tend to check this stuff, I do not) may want to know before proceeding into a potential mine field!

GG

1 Like
#17

I’m interpreting that as a two part question! Part 2 first: No, it is well documented in the forums that Fiverr do not amend feedback unless it is offensive or a malicious provable lie (and even then we’ve seen cases reported in the forum where Fiverr hasn’t acted). So I think you’re safe on this front.

Now part 1: Could he retaliate? Well, yes, but he’d be a fool to - but again, we’ve seen many cases reported in the forum where buyers have done a chargeback via PayPal to get their money back. However, this is against Fiverr’s TOS and anyone doing so will get banned - but you still won’t get your money back if this happens.

Maybe take a day or two to think about things? Protect yourself and your account. A one star review is harsh - you’ve got paid, and I think you said the buyer left you a five star review. There’s nothing wrong with a three or four star review stating ‘Buyer added extra words over and above original agreement but otherwise okay’. Even then the buyer is likely to respond by saying you are a liar and then make another accusation. These things get out of hand quickly, and just remember how this will look to your future potential buyers reviewing your account.

If you haven’t done so already, you should see the number of posts from sore-headed sellers complaining they only received a four star review. People get mad over that! My advice for what it’s worth - be pragmatic and look after your own account.

3 Likes
#18

You convinced me already with you previous message about not being too harsh. My review will probably be a 3* one but exactly because a 3* rating is already quite awful for Fiverr’s metrics I wanted to be sure that I can tell the truth AND avoid retaliation. But from your last answer I believe that I can proceed without fear. Thank you everybody!

1 Like
#19

Yes, he can.

I am a graphic designer here online on the internet but in the real world, I am a merchant navy officer and lead instructor at university. So two completely different spheres.

One unhappy butterfly from Fiverr went on my business Face book and gave a negative review that I mistreated him on due to his lack of skills and knowledge (I blocked his attempt to scam the system with fake portfolio)

I managed to get his review erased by FB because it has nothing to do with me as a marine instructor (I train people how to survive helicopter ditching in water, my unhappy client is dead client).

So yes, he can target you on social media and maybe even signed up in a different name and order again just to leave a negative review.

People are evil, you know?

They have to work extra hard to be nice. Evil is easy.

2 Likes
#20

I think a buyer can’t update a review after given.

What they can do is asking for a refund in the first 14 days while the funds are pending though.

P.S: leave a honest review and warn other sellers. You need to block them after. It works either way, if the left a negative or positive review. Don’t show mercy :imp:

1 Like