What should I do?

[t325325]

Please help me, there is a fiverr business client. I created an offer through this gig for 55$. https://www.fiverr.com/share/vxx3YZ

The number of emails was not mentioned in the offer but in the gig, I used to create offer, the price was obvioulsy clearly mentioned. 

He thinks he can get 12000 emails as he himself suggested after directly placing order instead of messaging me first. I told him that it is out of scope, he can see my gig, I have worked with another client on my price. But he is not listening. I asked for time extension and he is declining that too. I used resolution center to say that SERVICE HE IS ASKING FOR IS OUT OF SCOPE OF THE OFFER, HE REJECTED THAT TOO. NOW, I HAVE COMPLETED THE EXCEL SHEET OF EMAILS FROM MY SIDE AND SUBMITTED IT TOO, BUT HE SENT IT BACK FOR REVISION TO ADD MORE EMAILS IN THE SAME LOW PRICE.

CANCELLING THE ORDER WOULD MAKE MY EFFORTS ZERO. NO PAYMENT EVEN WHEN I COMPLETED THE SHEET AND SUBMITTED IT TO HIM.

 

HE HAS THE SHEET, NOW HE CAN EVEN CANCEL THE ORDER AND GET HIS MONEY BACK. WHAT ABOUT ME? All work done and no payment received!!! Fiverr should have some feature for such disputes too to support the hardworking sellers.  The client did not bother to check my gig to know about the prices. 

I tried to use RESOLUTION CENTER to tell him that the service he is asking for is OUT OF SCOPE (as no other option was available) but he rejected that.

I requested for time extension, he rejected that too😭

 

I am IN A HUGE MESS.😭😭😭

Can anybody help me?
 

[mariashtelle1]

First of all, why did you even decide to complete and deliver the order that was out of scope? You should’ve just cancelled the order and that’s it. 
Now you are stuck and now your client knows that you are happy to go a free work. 

[sabinespoems]

I think this is a hard (but necessary) lesson you learned about setting boundaries for yourself and not letting buyers walk over them. I'll list a few mistakes so you can prevent them in the future!

Mistake #1
Not writing in your offer how many emails it contains. Even with buyers I clearly came to an agreement with, I still write it in the description so I always have that to fall back on. When, in your case, they ask for more emails you can simply refer them to the offer and say "no that's out of scope, see?" and refer them to the description.

Mistake #2
Your gig is a bit vague. You write in the title it's for 100 emails, but in the packages, you differentiate between 100, 300, and 1000. This is quite confusing. I suggest you take this number out of the gig title to avoid future confusion. 

Mistake #3
This is basically what @mariashtelle1mentioned. Never think to yourself 'okay I'll deliver out of scope to keep the client happy' when it's clearly waaaaaay beyond what you agreed upon. 

Mistake #4
Assuming clients check your gig in detail. I agree, that when they don't do that it's annoying. Unfortunately, that's just reality. I write poetry and I often get asked 'can you write a poem for me'. This is why it's important to set your boundaries and clearly state both in the chat (if a buyer contacts you before ordering) and in the description of a custom offer what exactly the work is that you'll do for them.

If I were in your shoes I'd stand my ground and say well you ordered this package which contains X amount of emails. If they don't agree, your only option is to cancel the order. Is it a waste of all the work you've done yourself? Yes. But it's not a waste to stand up for yourself and not let people take advantage of you! 

[t325325]

10 hours ago, mariashtelle1 said:

First of all, why did you even decide to complete and deliver the order that was out of scope? You should’ve just cancelled the order and that’s it. 
Now you are stuck and now your client knows that you are happy to go a free work. 

Client was offline when I was trying to communicate with him. Time of delivery was just one day for the emails even in scope. So, I completed the task according to the offer and sent him. Now he is cancelling the order after getting complete file of 400 emails and getting his payment back. The attached file is of the order page where I communicated with him. 

Fiverr _ Shopping _ Status of your order No. FO6203219F1C6.pdf

[t325325]

5 hours ago, sabinespoems said:

I think this is a hard (but necessary) lesson you learned about setting boundaries for yourself and not letting buyers walk over them. I'll list a few mistakes so you can prevent them in the future!

Mistake #1
Not writing in your offer how many emails it contains. Even with buyers I clearly came to an agreement with, I still write it in the description so I always have that to fall back on. When, in your case, they ask for more emails you can simply refer them to the offer and say "no that's out of scope, see?" and refer them to the description.

Mistake #2
Your gig is a bit vague. You write in the title it's for 100 emails, but in the packages, you differentiate between 100, 300, and 1000. This is quite confusing. I suggest you take this number out of the gig title to avoid future confusion. 

Mistake #3
This is basically what @mariashtelle1mentioned. Never think to yourself 'okay I'll deliver out of scope to keep the client happy' when it's clearly waaaaaay beyond what you agreed upon. 

Mistake #4
Assuming clients check your gig in detail. I agree, that when they don't do that it's annoying. Unfortunately, that's just reality. I write poetry and I often get asked 'can you write a poem for me'. This is why it's important to set your boundaries and clearly state both in the chat (if a buyer contacts you before ordering) and in the description of a custom offer what exactly the work is that you'll do for them.

If I were in your shoes I'd stand my ground and say well you ordered this package which contains X amount of emails. If they don't agree, your only option is to cancel the order. Is it a waste of all the work you've done yourself? Yes. But it's not a waste to stand up for yourself and not let people take advantage of you! 

At the time of creating offer, the gig title was not showing any numbers. I added the number today after this scam, to avoid further troubles like this. Thanks for sharing these. It is extremely hard to cancel the order when one have completed the task properly by investing his valuable time. But you are right I guess, standing my ground is the only option I am left with. I have created a Ticket sharing the whole trouble with Fiverr Support team in form of PDF file(attached here). I am counting on them for justice😭

Fiverr _ Shopping _ Status of your order No. FO6203219F1C6.pdf

[mariashtelle1]

28 minutes ago, t325325 said:

Client was offline when I was trying to communicate with him. Time of delivery was just one day for the emails even in scope.

That’s not the reason to deliver the order. That’s even more reason to CANCEL the order 🤷‍♀️ 

[sabinespoems]

3 hours ago, t325325 said:

Client was offline when I was trying to communicate with him. Time of delivery was just one day for the emails even in scope. So, I completed the task according to the offer and sent him.

I think you did act correctly with this, but only if it was clear beforehand how many emails you would do according to the custom offer/package they ordered. Because then you'd have a leg to stand on when you contact CS by having proof you delivered according to the scope of the order. However, once the client started to demand more, you should first try to work it out of course (as you sort of tried), and otherwise try to cancel through CS. This way your effort did go unpaid, but at least your stats won't get a hit. Since you already submitted a ticket I'd await their response though! 

4 hours ago, t325325 said:

I added the number today after this scam, to avoid further troubles like this.

No need for that, that's what the packages are for 😊 and now you know in the future you can refer clients who try to get more work to the details of your packages. Just kindly remind them something along the lines of 'I'd be more than happy to add X amount of emails to the order. Currently however, the order contains X emails. For an extra fee of $X I'll be able to fulfill your request!'. 

Below is a link with some more information about cancellations, just so you can educate yourself on knowing which steps you can (but hopefully won't have to) take in the future ;

Cancellations

Remember that freelancing (on Fiverr and in general) is a learning curve so although it's unfortunate you wasted time without getting paid for this order, you now know better on how to handle things! I wish you the best on your journey and if you run into any more problems know that someone before you probably already experienced it, this forum is a gold mine of information 🤓

[t325325]

13 hours ago, sabinespoems said:

I think you did act correctly with this, but only if it was clear beforehand how many emails you would do according to the custom offer/package they ordered. Because then you'd have a leg to stand on when you contact CS by having proof you delivered according to the scope of the order. However, once the client started to demand more, you should first try to work it out of course (as you sort of tried), and otherwise try to cancel through CS. This way your effort did go unpaid, but at least your stats won't get a hit. Since you already submitted a ticket I'd await their response though! 

No need for that, that's what the packages are for 😊 and now you know in the future you can refer clients who try to get more work to the details of your packages. Just kindly remind them something along the lines of 'I'd be more than happy to add X amount of emails to the order. Currently however, the order contains X emails. For an extra fee of $X I'll be able to fulfill your request!'. 

Below is a link with some more information about cancellations, just so you can educate yourself on knowing which steps you can (but hopefully won't have to) take in the future ;

Cancellations

Remember that freelancing (on Fiverr and in general) is a learning curve so although it's unfortunate you wasted time without getting paid for this order, you now know better on how to handle things! I wish you the best on your journey and if you run into any more problems know that someone before you probably already experienced it, this forum is a gold mine of information 🤓

The CS represenative of fiverr told me that "fiverr does not accept the order completed when the buyer does not accept it".  So, out of misery, I inboxed buyer agreeing to his terms of 12000 emails for 55$. what if after getting 12000emails for 55$ he still doesn't accept order? Should I complete the 12000 emails or not? I do not want my time to be wasted😥😖

[mariashtelle1]

7 minutes ago, t325325 said:

Should I complete the 12000 emails or not? I

🤦‍♀️ We already told you many times to cancel. But if you want to be stuck with that buyer and so many red flags and do even more work for free and then still get an order cancelled then it’s your choice. 
 

But if you still doubt it here you go again: CANCEL ORDER NOW AND DONT DELIVER MORE FREE WORK. 

[catwriter]

18 minutes ago, t325325 said:

Should I complete the 12000 emails or not? I do not want my time to be wasted😥😖

It looks like you've already wasted your time, and are likely to waste more.

Nobody can tell you what to do, and nobody on the forum can guarantee that you will get those $55. You did agree to deliver 12000 emails, though.

You will have to make your own decision, and act on it.

[t325325]

16 hours ago, catwriter said:

It looks like you've already wasted your time, and are likely to waste more.

Nobody can tell you what to do, and nobody on the forum can guarantee that you will get those $55. You did agree to deliver 12000 emails, though.

You will have to make your own decision, and act on it.

I had generated a ticket addressing the whole problem. The Fiverr representative told me that they cannot mark order complete by themselves if the client has not done himself. Now what was I supposed to do other than to communicate with the buyer again. He is extremely stbborn and insists that I completed 12000 emails list for 55$ only then, he considers the order complete. So, out of misery, I msged him that I will deliver 12000 emails in 5 days. Just do not cancel the order please, and sorry for previous miscommunication.

 

Yeah, stupid of me, but what else could I do? I am a research student trying to meet my study expenses tthrough freelancing. I kept creating offers for a long time and this one got accepted. How could I know this would led me to so much trouble??

But Thank you everyone for your valuable suggestions. I think the right decision is to "stop working for him" but I guess I am about to make a wrong decision:( bcoz my other problems. Just pray for me 🙂