How to recover from one star review for single cancellation?

[simonelavigne]

I joined fiverr back when I was pregnant. I got one customer and had to cancel because I went into labor and could not deliver the product.  I had a stroke a few days after the delivery and was unable to return to the platform until recently.  Now, I have three gigs that are active, but no sales.  I am certain that my one star review is the reason I am not being hired.  I even wrote an explanation on my profile, but there is no change.  It is only one bad review, but it is also the ONLY review.  Does anyone have any advice on how to dig myself out of this mess?  TIA!

[lloydsolutions]

Here is an option: https://www.fiverr.com/support/articles/360050222673-How-do-I-change-my-username

[vickieito]

I agree with @lloydsolutions that closing your account and creating a new one might be the best option in your situation.

Since you don't have any other reviews or orders, this option won't hurt you at all. I see more problems keeping the account because the review is permanent and it'll be hard to convince customers to try out your services since it did not go well for the first customer. Even if you did manage to get in some orders, the 1-star review will affect potential buyers reviewing your gigs and you'll constantly have to tell your back story to customers the customers who do reach out to you.

Starting fresh will allow you to put past things behind you so you can focus on delivering quality services to your customers.

Please make sure that you properly close your account before creating a new one, because you are only allowed one account at a time.

[williambryan392]

Echoing the other posts above: Start again, it will be a miracle to grow your account from it's current state.

[newsmike]

6 hours ago, vickieito said:

Starting fresh will allow you to put past things behind you so you can focus on delivering quality services to your customers.

I know I will likely be the lone voice here, but hear me out. I do feel bad for what happened to OP. But none the less, the buyer was disappointed and the bad review legitimate. Am I the only one who feels that leaving the platform and coming back pretending to be a different person just to shed a legitimate albeit, unfortunate bad review is not the pinnacle of honesty?    

[williambryan392]

I see your point @newsmike and don't disagree with your view (I definitely want more honesty, honourability and credibility on fiverr!), but now the inevitable 'however'...

However, the question was how to recover, which was answered. No more, no less.

Also, I think OPs reasons for the 1* perhaps make this a special case. If it was a 1* because the work had been low quality I would think closing and starting a new account would certainly be wrong, immoral and gaming the system.  But (perhaps!) these are extenuating circumstances...

 

 

[newsmike]

25 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

But (perhaps!) these are extenuating circumstances...

I don't disagree entirely. It is a pickle, morally. I feel bad for the OP. I also feel bad for the person plunking down their money thinking they are getting one thing, but in fact are getting something different, while relevant facts are being withheld from them. Not fair to OP, fate can be cruel. But especially not fair to buyer, since what is being done to them is not due to uncontrollable fate, but instead intentional masking of facts that are true, but not good for business. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by newsmike

[williambryan392]

5 minutes ago, newsmike said:

It is a pickle, morally.

I get you!

A tangential point / question / talking point....

With Fiverr Business, buyers are not converting current accounts, they are setting up new accounts. This means that it's a clean slate and previous seller reviews are no longer on their profile. So, by the same token, do you think this approach by Fiverr is morally wrong (for want of a better phrase) because Fiverr are pushing buyers to adopt this service and prior reviews will not be connected to this new account?

[newsmike]

1 hour ago, williambryan392 said:

So, by the same token, do you think this approach by Fiverr is morally wrong

Probably not since it is being applied universally, meaning that some buyers may lose negative feedback, while others may lose lots of positive feedback, while the situation we are discussing is different in that the intent of the new profile would be designed to conceal specific information from potential buyers.  On another note, I also think buyers automatically get more leeway here since they are the ones with the credit card in hand.  Sellers should be held to a higher standard. 

[williambryan392]

3 minutes ago, newsmike said:

intent

Yep I think you're right, this is the crux of the issue.

4 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Sellers should be held to a higher standard. 

Hmmm, I'm not sure, I think standards should be universal, honesty and honourability go both ways, just because you're the one buying doesn't mean you should be held to a lower standard. It's like being polite to those in the service industry, yes they have to be polite, it goes with the job description but that doesn't mean as a customer you shouldn't also be.

[newsmike]

17 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

It's like being polite to those in the service industry, yes they have to be polite, it goes with the job description but that doesn't mean as a customer you shouldn't also be.

I agree that it should be that way.  But unfortunately the buyer and seller are in different places here on Fiverr and just about anywhere else. Just like we see posts here every day from sellers fretting over getting a bad review from a buyer.  I have never seen a buyer worried in the least what a seller said.  Just not the same leverage and importance. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by newsmike

[imagination7413]

I'm pretty sure that review, with that specific wording "Cancelled order. Seller failed to deliver on time!" is default. What automatically happens when an order is canceled due to "VERY LATE" orders. I also agree with a policy of honesty and truth, and yes, the OP could recover pretty easily if the brought orders in from off-platform, (my turn for 'however') however the OP was...

Actually, the OP's phrasing is rather odd. 

22 hours ago, simonelavigne said:

could not deliver [...] after the delivery

and

22 hours ago, simonelavigne said:

had to cancel

when, as mentioned, that review is what automatically happens when a Buyer cancels a "Very Late". The review was from 5 years ago, and the OP joined in Feb of '16.

Hate to say it, but OP: the review on your account is legit. If you left Fiverr and didn't pause your Gigs, then it's just like a store claiming to be open on their webpage and leaving the online-order active, but when a customer makes the trip to pick up their pizza or sandwich there's no one in the shop.

[vickieito]

6 hours ago, imagination7413 said:

...that review is what automatically happens when a Buyer cancels a "Very Late".

@imagination7413 you bring up a good point! I had no idea that's what happens on very late orders. 

17 hours ago, newsmike said:

But none the less, the buyer was disappointed and the bad review legitimate.

In my mind, the review wasn't legitimate because it was a canceled order and canceled orders shouldn't have public reviews because the transactions are canceled. No money is exchanged. That's why I initially believed simply canceling the account and creating a new one would right the wrong (remove a review that shouldn't have been public in the first place).

Unfortunately, as @imagination7413 mentioned, "Very Late" orders seem to be the exception and do have public reviews. 

18 hours ago, newsmike said:

Am I the only one who feels that leaving the platform and coming back pretending to be a different person just to shed a legitimate albeit, unfortunate bad review is not the pinnacle of honesty?    

17 hours ago, williambryan392 said:

I would think closing and starting a new account would certainly be wrong, immoral and gaming the system. 

I agree with both of you here. It is wrong to close and start a new account simply to "game the system" or to pretend to be someone different by shedding a legitimate bad review. However, there are many legitimate reasons for closing and starting a new account and I believe this is one of them. 

I don't think the OP is "pretending to be a different person" and I don't think this one review accurately reflects how the OP does business. It was a crisis situation, a medical emergency that incapacitated her. I do think that this is a "special exception" and the review should just be treated as a "canceled order" instead of a "very late" order. It should not exist. The OP did not make money off of this transaction and the funds were returned to the buyer.

[newsmike]

12 minutes ago, vickieito said:

However, there are many legitimate reasons for closing and starting a new account

I can't think of a single one that passes the honesty test.  Again, I hate what OP went through, back luck for sure, but it reminds me of the discussions when COVID was ramping up, and the discussion at that time from many was that Fiverr should excuse late and cancelled orders if the person says they had COVID. Of course they did not do this for probably 2 reasons.  First, every single person who wanted to cancel, or who was running late would "claim" to have COVID, which leads to the second issue.  Fiverr would need a huge staff dedicated to verifying medical statuses of everyone who claimed that COVID cost them a sale, or a late delivery.  So, while not great for people like the OP, how would you suggest Fiverr handle the thousands of such requests they would get every day for people who broke an arm, fell down the stairs, got the flu, etc...  It sucks that it happened, but it did happen, and I can't imagine how Fiverr could handle litigating the sea of such requests.        

[vickieito]

11 minutes ago, newsmike said:

I can't think of a single one that passes the honesty test.  

Hi @newsmike, I said legitimate reasons, because as @lloydsolutions mentioned, Fiverr does allow you to close an account and open a new one. Not all of the reasons are related to orders. Some want to change their username or to rebrand.

Of course there will always be those who will use the system to their advantage in dishonest ways, such as removing a bad review.

15 minutes ago, newsmike said:

So, while not great for people like the OP, how would you suggest Fiverr handle the thousands of such requests they would get every day for people who broke an arm, fell down the stairs, got the flu, etc...  It sucks that it happened, but it did happen, and I can't imagine how Fiverr could handle litigating the sea of such requests.        

I'm not suggesting Fiverr do anything outside of what they're doing already. Fiverr already has limits in place so that each person can have one account at a time. It is the user's choice to delete their account or not.

In most cases deleting the account is a negative because you would have to start from scratch again. But in the case of this seller, starting from scratch is better than starting from a negative standpoint.

The reason why I would suggest this route for the OP is that the OP was never really was in business. There was no transaction on the account ever. Money was not exchanged. And I doubt the OP is the same person she was 5 years ago.

If this were to happen to me, I would agree with you. Take the bad review and move on. But if a person never really started business, I don't see why they should have to go with an account that doesn't represent who they are.

[newsmike]

45 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Hi @newsmike, I said legitimate reasons, because as @lloydsolutions mentioned, Fiverr does allow you to close an account and open a new one. Not all of the reasons are related to orders. Some want to change their username or to rebrand.

Of course there will always be those who will use the system to their advantage in dishonest ways, such as removing a bad review.

I'm not suggesting Fiverr do anything outside of what they're doing already. Fiverr already has limits in place so that each person can have one account at a time. It is the user's choice to delete their account or not.

In most cases deleting the account is a negative because you would have to start from scratch again. But in the case of this seller, starting from scratch is better than starting from a negative standpoint.

The reason why I would suggest this route for the OP is that the OP was never really was in business. There was no transaction on the account ever. Money was not exchanged. And I doubt the OP is the same person she was 5 years ago.

If this were to happen to me, I would agree with you. Take the bad review and move on. But if a person never really started business, I don't see why they should have to go with an account that doesn't represent who they are.

Not a bad point. Hopefully the OP gets some success after having such bad luck.