A buyer locked me into a deal I can't do, and the website won't let me report him. What do I do?

[jayslater285]

A few days ago, the a buyer came to me with a task. My gig says I can complete the task in ten days, but he said that since it was a small task, we can cut it down to five days, and I agreed to that. 

But after that, he's been acting weird, telling me to complete it before he even places the order. I told him that I will not start until he orders it, so he did today. But when he did place the order, the duration was listed as two days instead of ten. With some of the comments he made afterwards, it appears that he somehow changed the duration, and justifies this length by saying that he asked three days ago, despite not placing an offer.

I've tried to report him, but his channel is missing a report button. Since then, he's been sending me threatening messages in my personal chat, about how my page would be affected by not completing this task. I've reported some of his messages, but I'm not sure if that will cancel the gig.

I've contacted customer support about this, and am waiting for a response but I'm still very worried about this. I'm afraid that if I cancel or get an extension, he will leave a review that hurts my page. Is there anything I can do now? Should I just cancel his order?

[theratypist]

16 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

But when he did place the order, the duration was listed as two days instead of ten. With some of the comments he made afterwards, it appears that he somehow changed the duration, and justifies this length by saying that he asked three days ago, despite not placing an offer.

A buyer cannot change the duration, it is simply set ahead. Did he order through a custom offer (and you set it to 10 days) or did he order directly from your page and place expedited delivery? Or did he simply order the wrong gig? Because if you look at your gigs you do have ones that are set at 10 days and another one that have a 2 day delivery. But the main point is the buyer cannot change the duration on his own.

Now with the issue on asking three days ago and whatnot, ideally you only work an order the moment is placed. You will have to stand firm and communicate that properly.

19 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

I've tried to report him, but his channel is missing a report button.

Do you mean his profile on Fiverr? There is a report button beside the name (it pops up when you hover the mouse over their name within the chatbox).

22 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

I've contacted customer support about this, and am waiting for a response but I'm still very worried about this. I'm afraid that if I cancel or get an extension, he will leave a review that hurts my page. Is there anything I can do now? Should I just cancel his order?

Have you started the order? If you haven't might as well cancel the order, he seems like more trouble than he's worth. 

[theratypist]

21 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

And it looks like he just made the custom offer without consulting me first.

I'm saying is that he cannot make an order for a custom offer without a custom offer having been made to begin with. Custom offers can only be made by sellers. So its either he placed the order a custom offer you've already offered him or he mistakenly placed an order for the wrong gig if as you say the gig is by default a 10 day delivery.

21 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

And just for the record I did tell him multiple times that I would not start until he placed an order.

Yes that's what I said that you just have to stand firm on that. If he continuously insists otherwise then those are already signs it might not be a good working relationship at all because he doesn't respect the policies.

21 minutes ago, jayslater285 said:

and I was just worried that the gig wouldn't be called off if I didn't report the full profile.

A gig doesn't get called off because of a report regardless if its a report on a message or the profile. It only gets called off through the order page resolution center or through Customer Support.

If the order is cancelled, the only thing that it will leave is a slight dent on your order completion stats that you can recover after 60 days. If you do complete the order and he likely will leave feedback then that feedback will always be on your profile. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by theratypist

[jayslater285]

I'm thinking of cancelling, but waiting until tomorrow to see if the website will do anything first.

And it looks like he just made the custom offer without consulting me first.

And just for the record I did tell him multiple times that I would not start until he placed an order. And the method you just described to report is how I reported the inappropriate messages, and I was just worried that the gig wouldn't be called off if I didn't report the full profile.