Order cancelled by a customer one day before delivery! - A rather unpleasant experience on Fiverr...

[liviucostache]

Hi everyone!

I received an email that an order of $413 was cancelled by the buyer. Although in the email is a link that is supposed to show the reason for this cancellation, it does not work, it does not lead anywhere.

However, I have been working hard for more than a month for a very difficult customer, I have all proofs that the site is 99% complete! I had an extremely difficult customer who offended and insulted me, that also wanted to cancel the order 2 days before the deadline, two weeks ago, changing the password with the intention of keeping my work without paying! I barely got him to let me finish the job. Even now I don't know if I'm dealing with a scammer or an extremely difficult customer.

Beyond the money lost and time lost, the most frustrating thing is that this cancelled order will have a negative impact here on Fiverr completion rate! So far I only have positive ratings, all my clients have been extremely happy with my work!

Few hours ago I got a message from this customer, that saying he doesn't need my work anymore, just like that! Even though he saved all my one month work, everything, the WordPress theme used, all the changes in the code in child theme, content added and all the other settings and configurations. Also, the customer service response didn't help me either, they said something generic like sometimes cancellation can't be avoided, suggesting me to talk to the customer before delivering the order and make sure everything meets the customer's requirements. Of course I talked to the customer a lot, before I released the order and afterwards. But the customer cancel the order exactly one day before delivery, without even asking for any revision!!

I find it hard to believe that any new customer, especially a new one without history and reviews on Fiverr, can ask for cancellation of the order under any pretext, exactly one day before delivery and Fiverr allows this! I really can't believe this!

Edited July 26, 2022 by liviucostache
reword

[leonid_]

I'm regret you. I have a similar situation right now. Only I did the job and the buyer left a 5-star review, and a couple of days later requested to cancel the order. 
It seems to me that sellers are not protected from such cases at all.

[liviucostache]

7 minutes ago, leonid_ said:

It seems to me that sellers are not protected from such cases at all.

This already seems like a lottery, we will only be paid if the client is in good faith and want to. Even if we did our job properly, the customer can say that he doesn't like it or can invoke any other reason to cancel the order. Not to mention that in my case, he took all the work, changed the password and canceled the order. And what does Fiverr do in this situation? Absolutely nothing, sorry to say it.

[smashradio]

This shows how important it is to vet your buyers before working with them. Look out for red flags, interview them, and ensure they are serious. Even though this method isn't foolproof, it can help protect you. 

I'm not 100% sure I understand but am I correct in assuming that customer support canceled this order? 

If so, you should know that Fiverr Support always prefers not to cancel. That's because a cancelation means lost revenue for Fiverr, not just you. 

If support decides to cancel on behalf of the buyer, they probably have evidence against you that the buyer has presented to them.

The support team won't tell you about it because they must protect the buyer's privacy. Besides, they have no time or interest in explaining everything in detail to you.

The support team has decided that the buyer had reason to cancel. If they didn't, they would usually recommend talking to the seller directly or to use the resolution center. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by smashradio

[liviucostache]

2 hours ago, smashradio said:

I'm not 100% sure I understand but am I correct in assuming that customer support canceled this order? 

Yes, customer support canceled this order. However, the customer can say anything to be able to cancel the order. The fact is that I worked for a month for nothing, the client changed the password and kept my work, without paying just few hours before delivery. Not to mention that he offended and insulted me. I am extremely disappointed!

[smashradio]

4 hours ago, liviucostache said:

Yes, customer support canceled this order. However, the customer can say anything to be able to cancel the order. The fact is that I worked for a month for nothing, the client changed the password and kept my work, without paying just few hours before delivery. Not to mention that he offended and insulted me. I am extremely disappointed!

The fact is that you don't know what the buyer told customer support. Perhaps they noticed something wasn't right, and talked to support about it. The last time I wanted to cancel an order as a buyer via support, they required me to prove that the work delivered was not representative of the gig description. So no, the buyer can't say anything to cancel an order. 

But with all that said, I absolutely understand that this is frustrating to you. Unfortunately, support will never tell you what the evidence is. But they rarely cancel an order without a good reason. 

Of course, the buyer could have made something up and planned this all along. You never know. So I get why this is infuriating. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by smashradio

[liviucostache]

1 hour ago, smashradio said:

The last time I wanted to cancel an order as a buyer via support, they required me to prove that the work delivered was not representative of the gig description. So no, the buyer can't say anything to cancel an order. 

Yes, it seems that if someone says that he just don't like how the order was made, no one from CS checks if the seller made exactly what the customer ordered, and the best evidence for this was that the site did not could be verified and compared to the order because it displays a maintenance page, even if in the backend the site is completed and fully functional for logged in users. Those who use WordPress, know what I'm talking about here.

Having a daily step by step communication with the buyer, related to his requests along with my striving acomplish all of them and more than initial order, then canceling the order, few hours before delivery,  changing the website password and keeping everything I have worked on without paying, seems right to you ? I am just curious about your behavior as a customer. 

[smashradio]

26 minutes ago, liviucostache said:

Yes, it seems that if someone says that he just don't like how the order was made, no one from CS checks if the seller made exactly what the customer ordered, and the best evidence for this was that the site did not could be verified and compared to the order because it displays a maintenance page, even if in the backend the site is completed and fully functional for logged in users. Those who use WordPress, know what I'm talking about here.

Having a daily step by step communication with the buyer, related to his requests along with my striving acomplish all of them and more than initial order, then canceling the order, few hours before delivery,  changing the website password and keeping everything I have worked on without paying, seems right to you ? I am just curious about your behavior as a customer. 

First of all, I don't pretend to know the truth here. I'm giving you options as to what may have happened and sharing my experience with customer support regarding cancelations as a buyer. 

I can only hear your side of the story. As I'm sure you're aware, many sellers come to the forum with their complaints when things go wrong. As fellow members, we can never know the whole story. For this reason, I don't know if your buyer had a legitimate reason to cancel the order, if customer support made a mistake, or if the buyer scammed you. All three are options on the table. 

I'm not trying to blame you for what happened, precisely because I can't know what happened with certainty. 

But based on my experience, customer support will not cancel an order without just cause, under normal circumstances. It makes no sense for a company to say, "Ah, so you want us to give you back our money for no reason? Sure! Here you are!". 

Fiverr doesn't want its support representatives to cancel an order. The staff is clearly trained to avoid it. But sometimes, the buyer will have a legitimate reason – or at least make customer support think that they do – and the result is a cancelation. Even when that happens, support will never tell you exactly why but instead give you some generic reason. 

From my point of view, this is all hypothetical. That said, if the buyer indeed had no legitimate reason to cancel the order, then no, I don't think that's the right thing to do. 

And just so you know: I'm also a fellow seller and have been here since 2014. I've had my share of bad buyers over the years. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by smashradio