VO Seller refuses gig saying they "do not do fake testimonials". What does that mean?

[markvideodesign]

So this situation happened to me some time ago, and only now I thought about posting it here.

As a buyer, I contacted this Voice Over Seller about recording a certain script.

Note:

The script I had attached was from my former client, a salesperson from Brazil that cannot pronounce English words properly, so they hired me to do some sales video for them, and handed me a script. I translated it to English and contacted the first VO seller I found to ask if they could nail this job for me. They seemed a pretty successful gig provider, they were a Top Rated Seller, if I'm not wrong.

Quote

Hi there, <username>!
I have this script for a sales video, I just translated it to English. Can you voice it for me? My budget for this project is <Budget not so Great but That Is Within Fiverr Standards>. Could you do it?

Thanks for your time, and looking forward to your answer.

- Mark

Quote

So the script read something like:

"Do you want great pictures for your wedding? You've come to the right place! My name is <Salesperson's First Name> and I will help you out with any photography tasks you need for the great day!" (...) "Just message me right now at <Salesperson's email account>".

(I won't paste the full thing here because I do not have the permission to do so).

After quickly analyzing it, the VO Seller stated that

Quote

"Thanks for reaching out."

"I would like to help you out, but I do not do fake testimonials".

The answer was so obtuse, inflexible and assertive, I didn't try to ask their reasoning behind it and moved on to the next Seller, apologizing if I had unknowingly offended him, somehow. Anyway, Sellers do have the right to refuse service to anyone, regardless of content, so I didn't cry over it.

But I kept wondering, what does that mean? The script was not a testimonial per se, or at least clearly not framed as one, or intended to be used as one. Why should one conclude it was a fake one? Am I missing something here?

For the next sellers, I stated the reason the sales person did not use their own voice, and none of them responded like that. They actually wanted to do it, even though I explained it could be misunderstood as some kind of scam or falsehood crime that was too fancy for me to grasp. They pretty much nailed the following jobs. But I inquired myself, "Am I stupid? Am I doing something wrong and somehow abusing these poor Sellers"?

Since nothing happened to me or my account, I just ignored that and kept on my life, but since now and then, when I'm about to take this kind of job I find myself cautious.

Anyway, I would like to know, what are you guys understanding about the whole thing.

1) Is recording any kind of voice over for a character/speaker that is not yourself considered forging a "fake testimonial"?

2) If so, is this a really bad thing? Does it go against Fiverr's ToS?

3) Did the Seller apparently not understand my request? Or maybe they didn't want to tell me my budget was so slim, they didn't want to offend me?

4) If that was to be considered indeed a "fake testimonial", would all these Sellers be conducting unethical work under my command?

5) Or Am I missing something here?

Thanks in advance for your replies and I would love to know about your comprehension on the above. Let me know if you have any questions to further clarify other points I may have missed here.

- Mark