Customer submitted an order outside the scope of my gig, will I now be punished for cancelling?

[danjsmith]

A customer contacted me asking if I could complete an order that would fall outside of my gig offering.

 

I asked them to wait until next week, as I needed to check my schedule and we'd need to a agree something separate. 

I've now woken up to an order from them that must be delivered in 24 hours, that doesn't fully align with my offering.

This is the only order I've had in a while, does this mean my cancellation rate will skyrocket and that I'll be punished - despite not being at fault? What are the alternatives I can take?

[miiila]

Generally, my experience with asking support to cancel orders that someone ordered out of scope of my Gig, are good. It won't hurt to try. If they agree, at least it won't affect your stats visibly.

Personally, I don't think that there's zero effect at all (but I may be a little paranoid), but if you can't or don't want to do an order, you don't really have another option than cancel yourself (and even then, the customer would have to accept the cancellation request, they can also decline), or ask support to cancel for you.

I'd say that probably everyone who is here long enough, eventually, or from time to time, gets an order they can't or don't want to do, and not for any fault of theirs or any reason they should be held accountable for. Of course, it will affect people who don't get many orders more, but I fear that's just how things are. Anyway, if you're sure it's not your fault, and can prove it (send a screenshot of the pertinent conversation), I think you have a good chance with support.

[donnovan86]

18 minutes ago, danjsmith said:

I asked them to wait until next week, as I needed to check my schedule and we'd need to a agree something separate. 

 

That doesn't seem it falls out of your scope, if you agreed to work on it. 

You could go to customer support, but most likely they will not remove any cancellation penalty, since you agreed to scheduling next week, so it's not like the order arrived without agreement.

[catwriter]

45 minutes ago, danjsmith said:

despite not being at fault?

Fiverr was designed so that customers could place orders even without contacting sellers first. Sellers have tools to prevent that (for example, setting themselves as unavailable if they'd be unable to work on new orders until the next week). If you have a gig with 24 hours delivery time, and haven't made yourself unavailable, the buyer was within their right to click on that "order now" button.

As @donnovan86said, you can try asking customer support for help, and see what happens.

Or, you can request (on the order page) to extend the delivery date. The buyer would have to agree to it before the deadline expires, though, or your order would get marked as late.

[danjsmith]

30 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

That doesn't seem it falls out of your scope, if you agreed to work on it. 

You could go to customer support, but most likely they will not remove any cancellation penalty, since you agreed to scheduling next week, so it's not like the order arrived without agreement.

I did not agree to work on it. I said I'd get back to him next week and that'd we'd need to agree something separate from the gig in question.

He was asking for something not even remotely in the bounds of the gig. ( I do screenplay feedback, they want me to watch a documentary)

 

Just now, catwriter said:

Fiverr was designed so that customers could place orders even without contacting sellers first. Sellers have tools to prevent that (for example, setting themselves as unavailable if they'd be unable to work on new orders until the next week). If you have a gig with 24 hours delivery time, and haven't made yourself unavailable, the buyer was within their right to click on that "order now" button.

As @donnovan86said, you can try asking customer support for help, and see what happens.

Or, you can request (on the order page) to extend the delivery date. The buyer would have to agree to it before the deadline expires, though, or your order would get marked as late.

Yep, I understand - although I assume that the customers 'ask' still has to align with what it is your gig offers? If you offered to play a song on guitar within 24 hours, but they ordered and asked for it on piano... surely you're not beholden to that as that isn't what your gig is about?

In this instance, I said it would be possible I could do what he's asking, but that I'd have to get back to him about it as that's not currently what I offer.

[catwriter]

51 minutes ago, danjsmith said:

If you offered to play a song on guitar within 24 hours, but they ordered and asked for it on piano... surely you're not beholden to that as that isn't what your gig is about?

That's when I cancel the order. And block that person so they can't order from me again.

52 minutes ago, danjsmith said:

I said it would be possible I could do what he's asking, but that I'd have to get back to him about it as that's not currently what I offer.

This is where it becomes tricky, because you said neither a clear "yes" nor a definite "no". You said "maybe, come back next week", and customers typically want a clear answer now, not next week. So the customer decided to cut it short, since you were available for orders, and let you handle it.

[donnovan86]

6 hours ago, danjsmith said:

I said I'd get back to him next week and that'd we'd need to agree something separate from the gig in question.

So you said you will agree in the future....