Buyer didn't accept my work but send me another person' work

[huiyingtan]

The buyer wants his slide deck to make it stunning and memorable, and send me a PowerPoint file (I think the slide deck overall is ok). And I ask him for some examples to show his expectation because it’s hard to tell “stunning” and memorable. He just said need them professionally improved. Then, I took the slide deck to another level… He said, “It really feels like you didn’t put much effort to understand the content, the message, and in the redesign of the slides. Looks like you just changed some colors and added in a few pictures…” then, he request a revision.

I was shocked! My slides are totally different from his old slide deck. And then he sends me another person’s work. It’s the same PowerPoint with a different design. I think another person’s work looks great too, just need to improve some minor mistakes.

and I asked the buyer to be more specific on what I should improve, or focus on. He didn’t reply to me.
So, what I am thinking is the buyer is taking advantage of me, maybe another person too! should I continue to work on the revision for the buyer? should I cancel this order? It took me 4 hours to work.

[english_voice]

As you’ve acknowledged - one person’s idea of ‘stunning and memorable’ might be completely different to another person’s idea. It is for this reason that I avoid these kind of jobs. If the buyer can’t express what they want, then how are you meant to know? And if neither you nor the buyer know - then it’s an impossible job that will only end in tears.

As a proofreader I often get asked to do rewrites of other people’s work to make the original ‘better and different’. I always turn down these jobs. Firstly they are often plagiarising other people’s work, and secondly what is the definition of making it better and different? More words, less words, different words, different order of topics, different references, etc, etc. My point being, unless the client can be specific about what they want as an end result then you are unlikely to win.

While I wouldn’t want you to have stats impacted by cancellation, based on what you’ve said I honestly think that you could invest another four hours, and then another four hours, etc trying to please your buyer - but you still might not get to a point where they are pleased. Yes, they might be a scammer but it’s also likely they just can’t clearly express (or don’t know) what they want. I would therefore cancel.

[genuineguidance]

My gut instinct here is that this buyer hired you and another seller (perhaps even others?) and has all of your work mixed up - especially if they sent you some other person’s work. My guess is perhaps they are a reseller and like to play the game where they hire a couple or more sellers to do the same job, take the best one (after revisions of course!) and then try to cancel all the other orders.

The above is purely conjecture, but, just a feeling I have after reading other’s experiences on the forum over the years.

If they are not replying, just resend them the original work. If they get testy and try to cancel, deny the cancellation. If they won’t tell you exactly what it is you need to hone in on or improve, how the heck are you supposed to “fix” anything?

There is nothing worse than having a Gig where you need very detailed instructions or leads on what someone wants or in my case wants to know, and all you get is a vague, “Just do whatever” or no feedback at all on what it is they need! They expect you to be a mind reader!

GG

[huiyingtan]

Thank you all for replying. I learned a lesson from this experience.
Thank you all so much. ❤️