Fiverr keeps scamming freelancers again and again, now with their courses

[donsalluste]

Hi,

I'm a freelancer on Fiverr for a few years. I've been scammed 2 or 3 times by buyers who just canceled after delivery for ridiculous reasons. And of course, Fiverr never had my back. By the way, people should be aware that as a buyer, everything is free on Fiverr. Order anything, get the work done and then... just cancel and get your money back.

There's also the scam with the so called "promoted gigs", which in fact is a simple gig randomizer on search page. Just try to set it up to like $5 per click and see where you rank on the search pages, then laugh, or cry, because you just feel like an idiot, giving your money to a greedy company.

AND.... now they also do it when you purchase one of their courses on learn.fiverr.com. I'm a pro voice over for a decade now and I bought a course which appeared to deliver really high level training, so I could actually "learn" something. I paid for it and watched the videos. At the end, I realized that this course didn't taught me anything and was intended for total beginners (which is not stated on the course page).

Hopefully, it's clearly mentioned on the course page that it's a "30 days money back guarantee", for any reason. I'm a customer in this case, and i'm disappointed so I asked for a refund. I'm an (maybe too) honest guy and if I actually learned something, I wouldn't ask for a refund.

A very nice guy from customer support replied to me, Pete (or whatever his name is), and as you can see on attached files, told me with a smile that since I completed the course and earned a (shitty and useless) badge, I couldn't get a refund.

I then asked him to show me where is it written in terms of use or any legal document, and just look what he replied...

Fiverr needs to be sued once and for all, because what they do everyday with freelancers being scammed is just ILLEGAL.

I have already spread the word, and some videos are being prepared. I'm also talking with some lawyers to get advice and I'm willing to pay for a court action. 

If you feel that you've been scammed by the platform, I encourage you to reply to this topic and join the movement.

[donnovan86]

8 minutes ago, donsalluste said:

Fiverr needs to be sued once and for all, because what they do everyday with freelancers being scammed is just ILLEGAL.

 

You have to read the terms of service man. 

It clearly says:

Please Note: If you have completed the Course you will not be eligible for a refund. Also, users who purchase and refund multiple Courses may be subject to suspension for abuse of the refund policy.

So if you completed the course, you can't ask for a refund. You can check their terms here https://learn.fiverr.com/pages/terms-of-service although I guess it's too late now. You can't complete the course, have the badge on your profile and also receive a refund. You should have refunded when you were close to completion.. 

Edited June 20, 2023 by donnovan86

[donsalluste]

Yup, but this stays a shady business habit. Thanks to the magic of TOS. And since there's countless complaints about Fiverr never helping the freelancers, I should have been aware that they would find any excuse not to give back a dime, even if course wasn't fully completed.  

[katakatica]

1 hour ago, donsalluste said:

Yup, but this stays a shady business habit. Thanks to the magic of TOS. And since there's countless complaints about Fiverr never helping the freelancers, I should have been aware that they would find any excuse not to give back a dime, even if course wasn't fully completed.  

I get your point, but when it's a course like this, I'm not sure I agree with you. There is, of course, a chance that you learned nothing from what you purchased, but you still watched (completed/etc.) it, right? The product, in this case (I think), is the course itself AND the badge you get from it. If you don't need the badge, you still saw/watched the course. 

It's a bit like... going to the cinema and then saying, 'I saw the movie, but I hated it, so I want my money back'.On the other hand, courses SHOULD hold content that most people will benefit/grow from, but with such a wide audience, I think it's tricky. 

I'm not saying that this business practice is 100% correct, but I can absolutely see why it is the way it is. Just like how a buyer can lie to you and say they don't like what you made (and then still use it), YOU could be saying the same thing. Now, of course, you're not - but how will Fiverr know that for sure? 

I'm NOT claiming Fiverr is perfect. It's not; there are a lot of odd details that should/could be changed, but... I can understand why you can't get a refund on a product you already 'used' (though I do agree it should be advertised for newcomers if it IS that simple/touches only basic topics.)

PS.: I generally get 10x profit off promoted gigs minimum every month. If it doesn't work out for you (you gain nothing/etc.), maybe it's not needed for you, but I wouldn't. call it a scam.) 

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, donsalluste said:

Yup, but this stays a shady business habit. Thanks to the magic of TOS. And since there's countless complaints about Fiverr never helping the freelancers, I should have been aware that they would find any excuse not to give back a dime, even if course wasn't fully completed.  

Well the course was completed and you got a badge. The thing is, when you go through a course you can see from the beginning and the overall sections if this is going to help. Once you finish it and receive the badge, as @katakaticasaid, you can't expect them to offer a refund, the movie analogy is a great one. 

You can leave a review for the course though, so others know it might not be as comprehensive as you expect. You have the right to do that since you bought this. 

[coerdelion]

Agreed the courses Fiverr offers are pretty rubbish - for those with any experience at all.  If you pair them with the relevant Fiverr tests, you can experience just how bad they are ...

However.  Fiverr Learn is aimed at those with no skills to begin to earn a bit of cash.  They arrive from youtube, only to find that the promise of "make money on Fiverr with no skills" is a lie.  Unfortunately, since Fiverr charges a similar fee to udemy and skillshare, if those refugees from youtube are broke, they're not going to be able to afford the courses on Fiverr either ...

Fiverr Learn is supposed to be helpful, but isn't, agreed.  Also agreed is that they should make it clear on the courses page that refunds are not available after completing the course. 

[yourbrandingpal]

If I were you, I would share my experience by leaving reviews on platforms like TrustPilot and G2. Additionally, I would consider filing a complaint with the FTC. Although the FTC doesn't act on individual complaints, they do usually investigate when the volume of complaints against a specific company is high.

[catwriter]

16 hours ago, donsalluste said:

I have already spread the word, and some videos are being prepared. I'm also talking with some lawyers to get advice and I'm willing to pay for a court action. 

I don't remember how many times I've seen someone threatening to sue Fiverr.

I also don't remember anything ever coming out of it (that is, of course, assuming that at least someone who said they would sue Fiverr actually did it).

[coerdelion]

@catwriter Didn't Amazon sue Fiverr at one point, due to all the fake reviews ... ?  Those gigs were taken down PDQ ...

Of course, Amazon didn't make public threats to sue first ...

[catwriter]

15 hours ago, coerdelion said:

Didn't Amazon sue Fiverr at one point, due to all the fake reviews ... ? 

They sued fake reviewers, not Fiverr itself (and were very clear about not targeting Fiverr).

[rosiee007]

Using the word 'Scam' here is not right in my opinion. Some great points raised by katakatica above.

Also, Fiverr is not the right platform to be polishing your skills from advanced level to expert level. There are so many other professional websites like Coursera and Udemy where you can polish your existing skills and take them to the next level and they don't charge exorbitant fees for the courses either. Fiverr is a platform for freelancers and they offer these courses for beginners which you can enroll yourself in.

I hope and pray the points raised in this thread justify your concern.