Bullying me into submitting my source files for free

[lightnform]

Hi,

 

I have been working on Fiverr for almost one year, and now I am dealing with a customer that is very rude. Basically, I have had sent him a custom offer consisting of two milestones. I have delivered the first milestone months ago, and after a series of revisions, he confirmed it on 10th of January, and we moved on to the second and final milestone. Now that I have delivered the 2nd milestone, buyer denies accepting the delivery (in plain language) because he thinks source files (in this case 3D files used for creating renderings) must be delivered too in 2nd milestone, because he "thinks" they were part of the 1st milestone!!! Indeed, he could easily not accept the 1st milestone if he thought something was missing from the delivery, but he obviously just wants the source files for free, and now has held the confirmation of 2nd milestone hostage to that.

I understand the reality that language is subject to interpretation, and no matter how good and precise a milestone description is written, people can understand that differently. And I understand that there are people in the world and on Fiverr, who will insist on their opinion no matter how evidence against it is clear, whether out of sheer idiocy or for personal benefit. But I thought the point of having a milestone/delivery/revision system is that the buyer either accepts the delivery when he/she is sure everything is included to his/her satisfaction, or inform the seller of what is missing through the revision. Not coming back two months later claiming "I think, as a fact, source files were part of that 1st milestone"!!! 

I have informed CS over a long back and forth discussion, that the buyer is holding my delivery hostage to get his hands on my source files for free. While they have been very nice to offer long answers, but it seems they can't or aren't willing to even read the last two three comments on my order page that so clearly (in the buyer's own words!!!) show that he is going to reject the delivery of the 2nd milestone untill I upload all source 3D files as well, or maybe they do not simply have any policy against the abuse of revision feature by the buyers. However, they have two solutions:

1) Talk with him, but I am already on 9th or 10th cycle of describing the work that has been delivered, try to find common ground, etc .. I have been reading in this forum for the last few days, and the first reaction from experienced sellers is the same. But I think the relationship has already gone beyond "write nice and logically and be hopeful that he is decent and rational"

2) They have also offered to cancel the milestone on my behalf, which I am contemplating about, but I want to hear from more experienced sellers. What CS has told me is I can retain the funds for the 1st milestone, as it has been delivered and confirmed two months ago.

There are also a third and fourth options:

3) That I keep deliver the final delivery. And I am pretty sure he will keep rejecting it.

4) Leave it in revision limbo and see if he decides to cancel it himself.

 

Sorry for the long rant! I am grateful for tips and guidance from more experienced sellers. Please kindly keep in mind that I do not care anymore about ratings and so, because this buyer has shown me that Fiverr is not simply a good place for doing business in my field (Architecture and Interior Design), where you spend months on each project, because there is no actual dispute resolution mechanism beyond cancel/work more/bad review.

Have a nice and sunny day!

[ezeomanwaneri]

Hello, 

I've been selling on Fiverr for six years and I've run into my fair share of troublesome clients. Here's my advise: Let it go!!! The longer you hold on this client, the longer your headache lasts. Send him the source file. It's a blow to your ego but thats fine. Take it as a $ [...insert value of your source file] lesson. Next time, communicate the deliverables and available gig extras clearly. State it in the chat so that you can always reference later.

[lightnform]

9 minutes ago, ezeomanwaneri said:

Hello, 

I've been selling on Fiverr for six years and I've run into my fair share of troublesome clients. Here's my advise: Let it go!!! The longer you hold on this client, the longer your headache lasts. Send him the source file. It's a blow to your ego but thats fine. Take it as a $ [...insert value of your source file] lesson. Next time, communicate the deliverables and available gig extras clearly. State it in the chat so that you can always reference later.

Hi,

 

Thank you for your advice. If it was just about my ego, and the tendency to resist bullying, it is that these source files include tens of objects and materials and lights that I have created from scratch in the last 15 years!

[lightnform]

12 minutes ago, ezeomanwaneri said:

Hello, 

I've been selling on Fiverr for six years and I've run into my fair share of troublesome clients. Here's my advise: Let it go!!! The longer you hold on this client, the longer your headache lasts. Send him the source file. It's a blow to your ego but thats fine. Take it as a $ [...insert value of your source file] lesson. Next time, communicate the deliverables and available gig extras clearly. State it in the chat so that you can always reference later.

And the other point is, even If I have clearly described everything in the offer and chat and gig description, there is obviously no guarantee that I can enforce them. If the buyer decides to willfully ignore them or repeat his position no matter what, what is the advice then?

[ezeomanwaneri]

8 minutes ago, lightnform said:

Hi,

 

Thank you for your advice. If it was just about my ego, and the tendency to resist bullying, it is that these source files include tens of objects and materials and lights that I have created from scratch in the last 15 years!

Oh I see. In that case, I'll go with CS second option and cancel the second milestone. But first, politely tell the clients you'll be cancelling because he/she has chosen to ignore the stated deliverables. Also express that It not your fault that they didn't read properly. Give them a few days to reply (hopefully they choose to pay) then cancel.

[animie_video]

I fee

14 hours ago, lightnform said:

Hi,

 

I have been working on Fiverr for almost one year, and now I am dealing with a customer that is very rude. Basically, I have had sent him a custom offer consisting of two milestones. I have delivered the first milestone months ago, and after a series of revisions, he confirmed it on 10th of January, and we moved on to the second and final milestone. Now that I have delivered the 2nd milestone, buyer denies accepting the delivery (in plain language) because he thinks source files (in this case 3D files used for creating renderings) must be delivered too in 2nd milestone, because he "thinks" they were part of the 1st milestone!!! Indeed, he could easily not accept the 1st milestone if he thought something was missing from the delivery, but he obviously just wants the source files for free, and now has held the confirmation of 2nd milestone hostage to that.

I understand the reality that language is subject to interpretation, and no matter how good and precise a milestone description is written, people can understand that differently. And I understand that there are people in the world and on Fiverr, who will insist on their opinion no matter how evidence against it is clear, whether out of sheer idiocy or for personal benefit. But I thought the point of having a milestone/delivery/revision system is that the buyer either accepts the delivery when he/she is sure everything is included to his/her satisfaction, or inform the seller of what is missing through the revision. Not coming back two months later claiming "I think, as a fact, source files were part of that 1st milestone"!!! 

I have informed CS over a long back and forth discussion, that the buyer is holding my delivery hostage to get his hands on my source files for free. While they have been very nice to offer long answers, but it seems they can't or aren't willing to even read the last two three comments on my order page that so clearly (in the buyer's own words!!!) show that he is going to reject the delivery of the 2nd milestone untill I upload all source 3D files as well, or maybe they do not simply have any policy against the abuse of revision feature by the buyers. However, they have two solutions:

1) Talk with him, but I am already on 9th or 10th cycle of describing the work that has been delivered, try to find common ground, etc .. I have been reading in this forum for the last few days, and the first reaction from experienced sellers is the same. But I think the relationship has already gone beyond "write nice and logically and be hopeful that he is decent and rational"

2) They have also offered to cancel the milestone on my behalf, which I am contemplating about, but I want to hear from more experienced sellers. What CS has told me is I can retain the funds for the 1st milestone, as it has been delivered and confirmed two months ago.

There are also a third and fourth options:

3) That I keep deliver the final delivery. And I am pretty sure he will keep rejecting it.

4) Leave it in revision limbo and see if he decides to cancel it himself.

 

Sorry for the long rant! I am grateful for tips and guidance from more experienced sellers. Please kindly keep in mind that I do not care anymore about ratings and so, because this buyer has shown me that Fiverr is not simply a good place for doing business in my field (Architecture and Interior Design), where you spend months on each project, because there is no actual dispute resolution mechanism beyond cancel/work more/bad review.

Have a nice and sunny day!

I feel so sorry about all the mental trauma that you had to face. Honestly, I really wish that we could do something about such people who are here on Fiverr to increase the headache of hard working person like you. 

I too have worked with few dishonest clients and honestly, I can't emphasize more on the longer you keep yourself involved, the more it'll disturb you. 
I'll suggest you going with 2nd option, keep your hard worked source files save with you, cancel the 2nd milestone and make your life easy. 

 

[lightnform]

2 hours ago, animie_video said:

I fee

I feel so sorry about all the mental trauma that you had to face. Honestly, I really wish that we could do something about such people who are here on Fiverr to increase the headache of hard working person like you. 

I too have worked with few dishonest clients and honestly, I can't emphasize more on the longer you keep yourself involved, the more it'll disturb you. 
I'll suggest you going with 2nd option, keep your hard worked source files save with you, cancel the 2nd milestone and make your life easy. 

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. I am considering cancelling the milestone through CS, but what If I just tell him that I am not going to react to his revision request as i find it immoral and irrational, and leave the like this, not doing anything? What is the worst that can happen, beside buyer's annoying messages?  

[animie_video]

1 hour ago, lightnform said:

Hi, thanks for your reply. I am considering cancelling the milestone through CS, but what If I just tell him that I am not going to react to his revision request as i find it immoral and irrational, and leave the like this, not doing anything? What is the worst that can happen, beside buyer's annoying messages?  

You're giving him a chance to report you and in this cases, CS respects Buyers mostly. So just to make sure that you're safe, you might have to cancel this. I haven't tried holding any project ever so I can't tell you exactly.