Blackmailing and Disrespectful Buyer | April 2020

[mariashtelle1]

I see @cyaxrex point and it might the best course of action for you for this order.

However it would’ve been me I would’ve just stand with my point that the work is done and they have to pay for extra revisions. I don’t care about bad reviews though, I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let anyone blackmail me in a fear of bad review.

In situations like yours I usually:

1. Write a polite message saying that this is not scope of the revision, that revision include changes only on delivered work. (Which you did, but you didn’t pursue that)
2. At the bottom of their requirements there is a text in small grey letters that states that your buyer confirmed that all information provided is correct and they acknowledge that extra changes might incur extra cost. I take a screenshot of it and on a screenshot I circle that part in red and send it along with the first message.
3. Right after that I send them a custom offer for extra revisions for x$.

Your client is very abusive so in that case I would send them a screenshot of fiverr TOS with the part that they can use abusive language and let them know that they broke a couple of fiverr rules e.g abusing revision button and impolite language. And depending on their wording of messages also blackmail.

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

If your client still continue that then I would just cancel an order because my sanity is more valuable. First telling them that if they would continue with unprofessional behaviour then I wouldn’t have a choice but to cancel an order and they wouldn’t be able to use any work that’s done in this order and you will be able to pursue them legally if they will use your work. (Even if you don’t know the name of their app, it might just scare them anyway)

[ahsanmustafa]

I see @cyaxrex point and it might the best course of action for you for this order.

However it would’ve been me I would’ve just stand with my point that the work is done and they have to pay for extra revisions. I don’t care about bad reviews though, I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let anyone blackmail me in a fear of bad review.

In situations like yours I usually:

1. Write a polite message saying that this is not scope of the revision, that revision include changes only on delivered work. (Which you did, but you didn’t pursue that)
2. At the bottom of their requirements there is a text in small grey letters that states that your buyer confirmed that all information provided is correct and they acknowledge that extra changes might incur extra cost. I take a screenshot of it and on a screenshot I circle that part in red and send it along with the first message.
3. Right after that I send them a custom offer for extra revisions for x$.

Your client is very abusive so in that case I would send them a screenshot of fiverr TOS with the part that they can use abusive language and let them know that they broke a couple of fiverr rules e.g abusing revision button and impolite language. And depending on their wording of messages also blackmail.

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

If your client still continue that then I would just cancel an order because my sanity is more valuable. First telling them that if they would continue with unprofessional behaviour then I wouldn’t have a choice but to cancel an order and they wouldn’t be able to use any work that’s done in this order and you will be able to pursue them legally if they will use your work. (Even if you don’t know the name of their app, it might just scare them anyway)

At the bottom of their requirements there is a text in small grey letters that states that your buyer confirmed that all information provided is correct and they acknowledge that extra changes might incur extra cost. I take a screenshot of it and on a screenshot I circle that part in red and send it along with the first message.

I have tried this and instead of being understanding, the buyer started blaming me for not telling her in advance that Fiverr works this way. It is ironic since she is a top level buyer. I have also sent the buyer screenshots of Fiverr’s TOS that she has violated, but she kept denying everything, and started arguing again.

[misscrystal]

At the bottom of their requirements there is a text in small grey letters that states that your buyer confirmed that all information provided is correct and they acknowledge that extra changes might incur extra cost. I take a screenshot of it and on a screenshot I circle that part in red and send it along with the first message.

I have tried this and instead of being understanding, the buyer started blaming me for not telling her in advance that Fiverr works this way. It is ironic since she is a top level buyer. I have also sent the buyer screenshots of Fiverr’s TOS that she has violated, but she kept denying everything, and started arguing again.

she kept denying everything, and started arguing again.

You really need to stop engaging in any more messages with her or this will never end. She enjoys this agitation she is causing.

Stop the messages and answers to her. Stop the revisions. Bring it to an end.

[eoinfinnegan]

As said above, stop debating things with her. This isn’t a negotiation anymore, it’s a termination of the situation. The job is done, she has got way more than she paid for - you both know this but she won’t acknowledge it. That’s ok though, you don’t have to get her to agree to your point of view, you just need to show that you are serious and not going to be blackmailed any more. Even if she threatens a bad review or anything else, don’t engage in it.

1. Have a detailed final delivery message without going into how you feel or anything like that.
2. If she requests a revision copy/paste the exact same thing with any attachments and deliver again. The more you engage, the more time you waste.

Even if this goes on for a month every day, you are only spending 10 seconds to copy and paste it. Don’t discuss anything further, she doesn’t deserve more of your time.

[ahsanmustafa]

I see @cyaxrex point and it might the best course of action for you for this order.

However it would’ve been me I would’ve just stand with my point that the work is done and they have to pay for extra revisions. I don’t care about bad reviews though, I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let anyone blackmail me in a fear of bad review.

In situations like yours I usually:

1. Write a polite message saying that this is not scope of the revision, that revision include changes only on delivered work. (Which you did, but you didn’t pursue that)
2. At the bottom of their requirements there is a text in small grey letters that states that your buyer confirmed that all information provided is correct and they acknowledge that extra changes might incur extra cost. I take a screenshot of it and on a screenshot I circle that part in red and send it along with the first message.
3. Right after that I send them a custom offer for extra revisions for x$.

Your client is very abusive so in that case I would send them a screenshot of fiverr TOS with the part that they can use abusive language and let them know that they broke a couple of fiverr rules e.g abusing revision button and impolite language. And depending on their wording of messages also blackmail.

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

If your client still continue that then I would just cancel an order because my sanity is more valuable. First telling them that if they would continue with unprofessional behaviour then I wouldn’t have a choice but to cancel an order and they wouldn’t be able to use any work that’s done in this order and you will be able to pursue them legally if they will use your work. (Even if you don’t know the name of their app, it might just scare them anyway)

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

I did this two days ago. I provided proof of buyer’s abusive behavior, and the TOS that she has violated to the Customer Support. Also, the buyer casually committed that she has already started using my delivery as she said and I quote “I had to ask my developer to fix some alignment issues in the revision”. I attached screenshots of it as well and sent it to the Customer Support.

Fiverr Customer Support didn’t reply for 2 days. They just replied an hour ago and told me that they will investigate the buyer, and asked me to keep communicating with her to sort it out on my own. They also marked the ticket status as Solved when the dispute is clearly not resolved. I don’t feel comfortable texting her again, just like @eoinfinnegan said, this isn’t a negotiation anymore. The buyer isn’t accepting my delivery, and the CS isn’t helping at all. I really don’t know how to go on with this. Should I just ask the CS to cancel the order? Since keeping an order in revision for too long can affect your response rate.

[mariashtelle1]

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

I did this two days ago. I provided proof of buyer’s abusive behavior, and the TOS that she has violated to the Customer Support. Also, the buyer casually committed that she has already started using my delivery as she said and I quote “I had to ask my developer to fix some alignment issues in the revision”. I attached screenshots of it as well and sent it to the Customer Support.

Fiverr Customer Support didn’t reply for 2 days. They just replied an hour ago and told me that they will investigate the buyer, and asked me to keep communicating with her to sort it out on my own. They also marked the ticket status as Solved when the dispute is clearly not resolved. I don’t feel comfortable texting her again, just like @eoinfinnegan said, this isn’t a negotiation anymore. The buyer isn’t accepting my delivery, and the CS isn’t helping at all. I really don’t know how to go on with this. Should I just ask the CS to cancel the order? Since keeping an order in revision for too long can affect your response rate.

Since keeping an order in revision for too long can affect your response rate.

No, it wouldn’t affect your response rate, it wouldn’t affect any stats having order in a revision.

To be honest I would’ve tried to redeliver everything saying that you made her initial revision and attached them in the delivery. But be cautious that fiver might give a warning even if you right in this case. (and that’s why you need to mention that you did all initial revisions requested and everything out of the scope will be ab extra offer. and send her a custom offer. But do not communicate with her any further than that and of course she can again request a revision but at least you tried.

and at the end you have only two choices. Well actually 3:

1. cancel the order
2. complete all revisions she is asking for no matter what
3. reopen the same ticket with a CS and ask them politely on the timeline and just wait whatever time it takes for fiver to look into that which can take even a month to be honest.

[eoinfinnegan]

If they continue with the abuse I will just report them to CS (not asking to resolve the issue with buyer as you did, because they will never intervine in that and will just tell you to resolve it with your buyer) but to tell them that your buyer is being rude, abusing and breaking TOS and you want an action taking against that person or at least a warning or an email from fiverr support to stop that kind of behaviour.

I did this two days ago. I provided proof of buyer’s abusive behavior, and the TOS that she has violated to the Customer Support. Also, the buyer casually committed that she has already started using my delivery as she said and I quote “I had to ask my developer to fix some alignment issues in the revision”. I attached screenshots of it as well and sent it to the Customer Support.

Fiverr Customer Support didn’t reply for 2 days. They just replied an hour ago and told me that they will investigate the buyer, and asked me to keep communicating with her to sort it out on my own. They also marked the ticket status as Solved when the dispute is clearly not resolved. I don’t feel comfortable texting her again, just like @eoinfinnegan said, this isn’t a negotiation anymore. The buyer isn’t accepting my delivery, and the CS isn’t helping at all. I really don’t know how to go on with this. Should I just ask the CS to cancel the order? Since keeping an order in revision for too long can affect your response rate.

told me that they will investigate the buyer

That is all you can expect support to do here. They won’t get involved in discussions and things with the buyer, that is your job. Support are there to check for problems in ToS violations and act on those. However, they won’t mark a delivery complete or anything else like that. You have to persist with things and I would advise you to respond to support explaining that you are redelivering the order as it has been completely done.

Support always mark tickets as solved as otherwise they would be left with thousands of open tickets when people don’t respond. You can still reply to it which reopens the ticket. By letting them know what you are doing, you are protecting yourself in case the buyer goes to them. Anyway, stop expecting support to do things they can’t do - they cannot mark orders as complete, that would be a PR nightmare for Fiverr.

Stick to the plan I outlined above and be prepared to do it over and over until the buyer understands that you are finally (politely) saying “NO!” to them. They will likely give up at some point and as mentioned, you can keep this going with just 10 seconds per day. At some stage they will either accept and leave an angry review or forget about it and it will autocomplete. That’s all you can do.

[chrismoreno1986]

Hello, just read your story. I have been living this kind of situations in the past and most of times after some actual time passes the involved costumers tended to be the best! yes they were the people who wanted lots of work from me and special quality and fast and cheap, but also payed something or sometimes gave me another job or trusted me enough to suggest me to other people. Keep her happy!

[eoinfinnegan]

Hello, just read your story. I have been living this kind of situations in the past and most of times after some actual time passes the involved costumers tended to be the best! yes they were the people who wanted lots of work from me and special quality and fast and cheap, but also payed something or sometimes gave me another job or trusted me enough to suggest me to other people. Keep her happy!

This buyer has required the seller to do approx 70 hours of work having paid for 8 hours. I’m sure he would be happiest if he never heard from them again. Maybe he can tell them to contact you instead? 😋

[misscrystal]

Hello, just read your story. I have been living this kind of situations in the past and most of times after some actual time passes the involved costumers tended to be the best! yes they were the people who wanted lots of work from me and special quality and fast and cheap, but also payed something or sometimes gave me another job or trusted me enough to suggest me to other people. Keep her happy!

Keep her happy!

She’s not happy and cannot be kept happy no matter what he does.

She is very unhappy and will always remain unhappy. He wants to be

done with her. He wants her to stop all the revisions and messages.

[ahsanmustafa]

I get the impression that the OP is dealing with this class of buyer, hence my "just slog it out" advice.

I think when the seller has mentioned the strain this has put on their mental health in various ways that there is something empowering and refreshing about just redelivering and saying no to further work.

Yes a bad review might follow but the OP’s profile is in good shape and could take that. It’s also empowering to know that you don’t have to be so concerned about reviews. A bad one now and then is ok. The seller can also leave their own review for the buyer. However, I find that when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves.

However, I find that when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves.

Thank you everyone who took some time out to reply to this thread. The buyer finally gave in and accepted the delivery. To add more to it, just like @eoinfinnegan mentioned, the buyer didn’t leave a review at all (not yet). All of your replies have greatly helped me keep my sanity through out this agonizing experience. This experience has also helped me see why this community is so important, effective, and can help sellers grow out of their difficult times by sharing personal experiences. Thanks again everyone. I wish good health to all of you. Godspeed!

[fouzia_zakria]

Ask her to pay for revisions. Don’t take further orders from her. Before things go bad you should report CS Fiverr.

[ahsanmustafa]

I get the impression that the OP is dealing with this class of buyer, hence my "just slog it out" advice.

I think when the seller has mentioned the strain this has put on their mental health in various ways that there is something empowering and refreshing about just redelivering and saying no to further work.

Yes a bad review might follow but the OP’s profile is in good shape and could take that. It’s also empowering to know that you don’t have to be so concerned about reviews. A bad one now and then is ok. The seller can also leave their own review for the buyer. However, I find that when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves.

when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves

@eoinfinnegan @misscrystal The buyer just left a really bad review with a 1 star rating on my profile. I am actually really perplexed right now. Need some help here.

[misscrystal]

when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves

@eoinfinnegan @misscrystal The buyer just left a really bad review with a 1 star rating on my profile. I am actually really perplexed right now. Need some help here.

Hi, I can’t help with that. It’s permanent.

[lenasemenkova]

when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves

@eoinfinnegan @misscrystal The buyer just left a really bad review with a 1 star rating on my profile. I am actually really perplexed right now. Need some help here.

You can respond to the review to tell your side of the story. Politely. That you were forced to overdeliver while being insulted along the way.

Then for the love of all things holly, block the person and never engage with them again. They’re clearly nuts. They’re talking about “friendship” after abusing you for a month.

[eoinfinnegan]

when someone has behaved like this, they don’t leave a review as they know they will get a bad one themselves

@eoinfinnegan @misscrystal The buyer just left a really bad review with a 1 star rating on my profile. I am actually really perplexed right now. Need some help here.

Why are you perplexed? This was always a possibility but at least you got paid. Respond to the review as was suggested above, block the buyer, look after your other clients, when you get the money from that order get yourself something nice.

Some people are nasty and selfish, it’s not nice but it’s a fact. The best thing you can do is move on to look after your other clients. You have had about 50 who weren’t like that, right? So focus on that not the idiot that used you.

[lenasemenkova]

Just for the future reference, if your buyer is a nightmare to work with but you’re afraid to provoke them with an honest review, just write “Thank you”. There is no need to write that the experience was great and then roll it all back 2 reviews later with telling everyone that the communication was difficult the entire time.

We’ve seen quite a few disturbed individuals arguing that the seller lied in their review based on semantics and how things were worded. You don’t need it in your life.

Good luck with your future buyers. I’m sure you’l leave this negative incident behind you in no time.