Do I leave a bad review?

[callyofficial]

I’m (hopefully) coming towards the end of a job that has been quite unpleasant. Just to summarise a few details, the buyer first approached me for a sample and said he was ‘very happy’ with the quality of my work, so he placed his order. The work was complete and he said everything was fine except one small revision he forgot to ask me to do. I completed this, then to my surprise a couple of days later he requested to cancel with the reason ‘the quality of my work was poor’. I refused to accept as he’d already acknowledged the quality of my work and said everything was fine other than the extra revision which was a simple edit.

Since then it’s been one drama after another. When he realised he couldn’t force a cancellation, he apologised and asked me to continue revising his work, which I was very happy about. He then delivered all new instructions and 30 new files which weren’t part of the original order. I told him this wasn’t part of the order and I hadn’t quoted him for this, and I’d need to do this work from scratch and spend at least a couple of hours on it. He insisted I do it stating some personal issues and said he was struggling with Covid/lockdown, so I should do the new work out of sympathy.

To cut a long story short I offered him a small extra ($15) and told him if he accepted I would work with his new files and instructions as I wanted to compromise and not have a cancellation against me. Thankfully he agreed. I’ve now finished the work and about to submit. I was wondering if he’d try cancelling again, but he’s asked for something additional again. I’ve told him I’ll be happy to do it, but as it’s not part of this order, he’d have to accept the order, then I’ll deliver the extra to him via a message which I’m very happy to do. He gets what he wants, and it means he’ll hopefully accept the delivery.

My question is do I leave a bad review? Personally I would rather not. I’ve left 367 reviews up until now and every single one has been a 5-star review. Even if there’s been a slight issue with an order, it’s always been resolved. But after so many problems with this order, dishonesty from the buyer, spending hours trying to reason and negotiate, talk to customer support, etc, I don’t want to leave a review saying everything was good. I could just not leave a review, which I would probably prefer to do, but I feel if sellers aren’t honest about these types of experiences, then we have no way of knowing whether a buyer is dishonest or could be unpleasant to work with.

I’d be grateful for all thoughts and opinions.

[vibronx]

What a horrible buyer (scammer). I am sorry that you had to deal with him.

I would leave him a negative review and then block him immediately. It would help warn other sellers, and, hopefully, it would be more difficult for him to exploit sellers again.

You don’t have to be afraid of leaving a negative review for him. If you block him, you don’t have to deal with him again, and it is important that you show that you are no push-over and that he suffers the consequences of his actions.

[jeffry_designs]

I leave bad reviews if the buyer is extremely rude or not cooperative enough. Even when his communication is lacking I do the same. Leave your honest opinion cause we sellers have to stick together. The next time the buyer use someone else he will do the same again and that would be on you cause the sellers is not aware about the buyer.

[lenasemenkova]

I am always nervous to leave downright negative reviews. Because on a few occasions the buyer would come into my inbox later to threaten me and while more often than not those were empty threats, I’d prefer not to have that kind of stress in my life.

I see nothing wrong with leaving 3* and writing that it was a challenging project to work on or something along those lines, though. Heck, give them 4* if you really have to, other sellers will read between the lines.

[vickiespencer]

I am always nervous to leave downright negative reviews. Because on a few occasions the buyer would come into my inbox later to threaten me and while more often than not those were empty threats, I’d prefer not to have that kind of stress in my life.

I see nothing wrong with leaving 3* and writing that it was a challenging project to work on or something along those lines, though. Heck, give them 4* if you really have to, other sellers will read between the lines.

I see nothing wrong with leaving 3* and writing that it was a challenging project to work on or something along those lines, though. Heck, give them 4* if you really have to, other sellers will read between the lines.

The worst I have left is a 3*. I leave a message that is pretty clear about how the buyer behaved. I do not want others who bother to check the buyer’s reviews to suffer what I did. Luckily, I have not had to leave many 3 * reviews.

[english_voice]

You leave an honest review - one that reflects your experience.

This will help future sellers when deciding whether or not they should work with your buyer.

Please don’t sugarcoat your review. It benefits no one.

[sphinxediting]

Be honest. Other sellers deserve to know what they’re getting into when they take on a buyer before they commit to starting an order. That’s what the reviews are for—you can’t be penalized for being honest about your experience.

[Guest humanissocial]

Yes. Your honesty could prevent another seller from going through this if they read reviews before doing orders.

Just be honest and calm and state facts instead of emotions.

Sorry you went through this. I like that clarified you would do this but it was extra scope therefore requires extra price. I do that, too.

[abid_sust]

Just be honest while reviewing whether a seller or a buyer. It’ll help other to get aware.

[lenasemenkova]

I see nothing wrong with leaving 3* and writing that it was a challenging project to work on or something along those lines, though. Heck, give them 4* if you really have to, other sellers will read between the lines.

The worst I have left is a 3*. I leave a message that is pretty clear about how the buyer behaved. I do not want others who bother to check the buyer’s reviews to suffer what I did. Luckily, I have not had to leave many 3 * reviews.

The worst I have left is a 3*.

I’ve cancelled most of the orders that would warrant 1* or 2*, to be honest. If not all of them. 3* is a balanced, reasonable code for “save yourselves” indeed.