Controversy with buyer, what's the right thing to do?

[babbuc49]

Hello everyone,

I'm a relatively new fiverr seller (old account but only recently really created a gig) and at my second gig I'm already facing an issue I'm not sure how to confront, so I'm seeking advice here. I apologise from some technicalities i'll write but if there's any users who deal in the same field it'll help them have a better view of the situation, but hopefully it will be still clear for everyone else as well.

I'll tell the story in cronological order for clarity.

I receive a message regarding my music production gig, asking nothing more than generic "help" with a certain song, at which point I merely told the buyer what things I would do and how, the buyer seemed happy so I created an offer and they accepted.

I start working on the song, which wasn't easy since there weren't distinct separate tracks to work on (there was a track with most of the intrumental parts and many different vocals tracks which also included a couple instruments at random) especially transcribing the harmonic instruments part, as they also were pretty weird (I found a lot of indicators that the song might have been AI generated but I have no proof and it's not relevant).

I send them a first update where I basically remade all the instrumental and created an ad hoc drum beat, specifying it wasn't mixed yet and also voicing my concerns about the harmony of the song (which was indeed very weird) and offering to modify it to something more usual (it was a very pop oriented song).

Now things start getting weird, i receive a first feedback saying that there are tuning issues with the vocals and that the drum beat was not "hitting bars" (whatever that means) but all written in a very unclear way with some phrases barely making sense (note that the buyer's english had been flawless up to that point). I reply asking for some clarifications on the things I didn't understand and in the meantime I use a tuning tool on the vocals not as much as to tune them (they were pretty well tuned) but to change the actual notes to fit the bizarre harmony underneath, which created a somewhat weird vocal line at times but at least didn't clash with the chords, I then sent that version to the buyer asking if it sounded better that way, and also offered once again to modify the chords (this will get repeatedly ignored, as many other questions of mine, during our conversation).

And now the weirdest thing happens: I get thanked for the second version i sent but don't get any feedback on it, no "it's better", "it's worse" or "it's not what I meant", those thanks are instead followed by a long list of generic mixing principles not related to the song I was working on at all but rather completely generic, it looked to me like a chat gpt output for "how should a song be professionally mixed?" (the pargraph about vocals said:"if vocals are present" what do you mean if? It's your song, you know they are there). Leaving aside the fact that I already stated the song wasn't mixed yet and was seeking feedback on the various instrumental parts i had recorded, on which i have never received a single comment.

To that message i replied that i needed validation on other points before proceeding to mixing and asked again to clarify some of the previous feedback I didn't understand, some feedback on the tuned vocals and offered once again to change the chords to something less weird.

That message again gets completely ignored, I get sent instead a file with a vocal track I had requested (3 times) because the one they sent me originally was flawed, and nothing else...

The delivery date approaches so, since the only request I got was about mixing the track (not really a request as much as a summary explanation on how to do it but oh well...) I go ahead and mix the track in its second version and deliver it, I had given 2 revisions in my offer so plenty of time to still retouch and modify the song to their liking if they were to give me some actual instructions.

Some time later i get asked a refund, with no further comments. I ask them to proceed with the cancellation and also expressed my frustration (which I'm afraid might have coe out a bit rude although i had not intended to), I get the cancellation request a day later with their written motivations which are: the project not going in their intended creative direction, which is perfectly legitimate although i never got feedback on any of the creative parts and never was I requested to change something or try something different; and then that I failed to deliver a product "anyone would expect" icluding not having the track in tune etc. (not going on with a least of things just literally "etc") which hit really badly as I spent an hour checking and retuning avery single note of the vocals to fit a bizarre harmony and never had a feedback on that work, as well as proposed multiple times to rework the harmony and got ignored each time (I'm thinking I should have just done this without asking but it seemed correct to have the approval of the song owner).

So I'm thinking i should just let it go and accept the cancellation, the negative feedback and the rating decrease after all it was only a 30$ gig (for an excessive amount of work hours but i had accepted to do that at the start to get my seller account going), i'm afraid it might might severly compromise my position as a seller right at the start but I'm not sure I really have the elements to dispute, i also guess that a cancellation request is legitimate, but it doesn't feel fair especially receiving those coments after how things went.

Sorry for the long post, I hope some kind sould will take the time to read it and hopefully give me advice, whether I just was wrong all the way through and misbehaved or I should actually be disputing the cancellation, an external opinion (especially from people working in the same field) would be very valuable to me.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[priyank_mod]

Such situations are usually like being stuck between a well and a ditch but on a relative scale, a completed order with a bad private review is probably going to hurt your account more than a cancelled order. 

Since buyer has been acting unpredictable and not communicating properly, it will be better to go ahead with the cancellation. Even if you reject the cancellation request, buyer can always drop a mail to support and seek refund. 

Also in certain cases, Fiverr allows the buyers to leave reviews on cancelled orders. Check the eligibility here: https://help.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/17120664805521-Reviews-for-canceled-orders 

[babbuc49]

Quote

51 minutes ago, priyank_mod said:

Such situations are usually like being stuck between a well and a ditch but on a relative scale, a completed order with a bad private review is probably going to hurt your account more than a cancelled order. 

Since buyer has been acting unpredictable and not communicating properly, it will be better to go ahead with the cancellation. Even if you reject the cancellation request, buyer can always drop a mail to support and seek refund. 

Also in certain cases, Fiverr allows the buyers to leave reviews on cancelled orders. Check the eligibility here: https://help.fiverr.com/hc/en-us/articles/17120664805521-Reviews-for-canceled-orders 

 

Thank you for the reply, I'm afraid I'm eligible to have a revew done on the cancelled order as the mistake was delivering which checks as one of the requirements.

In hindsight it would have been smarter to cancel on my end as soon as i got the weird messages.

One think I'm left wondering is wheter I have a way of providing a feedback of that buyer for future sellers and if I should.

I get fiverr is very buyer oriented in its support and I get a score system needed to navigate through so much competition but situations like this feel very random and somewhat unjust.

[priyank_mod]

13 minutes ago, babbuc49 said:

One think I'm left wondering is wheter I have a way of providing a feedback of that buyer for future sellers and if I should.

If buyer leaves a review, you will get the chance to provide "seller's response" to the review.

Other sellers are not going to read it for sure but you can provide a honest and professional reply about the experience, which your future buyers are going to read while browsing through your reviews.