HELP! In Need of Project Cancellation!

[satsplace]

I am in need of clear, honest, & NON-BIASED advice. Eight days ago I contacted a Level II seller with project scope and requirements including Color Scheme, and asked if they could and would be able to deliver. The Seller quickly responded by telling me that they had experience with my type of project and would be interested in taking on the project. I asked for an expected turnaround time the seller said less than 24 hours. Next the seller asked me what my budget was for my project. I told them that I wasn’t sure but asked them to provide me with their pricing since they were more familiar with the level of effort that was necessary to fulfill the requirements. To make a long story shorter the Seller proposed $50 for a 4x6 two sided flyer, with unlimited revisions. She created a custom job and submitted it to me. She asked that I ‘HURRY’ and accept. I noticed that the job actually stated that the job would have a two day turnaround. That didn’t bother me much because I figured that the job would take a longer than ‘less than 24 hours’. Plus the delivery time would still be within range for my overall needs.



NOTE: The color scheme is important. Our color scheme is Black, Red, Gold, and Accent White.



I accepted the job and asked the seller to let me know what items or additional information she needed from me. I gave the seller a comprehensive list of the files and file types that I had. I got no response. On day two I reached out to her again stating that I never heard back from her regarding anything that she may have needed from me to complete the project and reminded her that the delivery date was actually that day. Within 30 minutes she responded by saying that she was working on it and to just give her time. An hour later she changed the project status to Delivery. There was no attachment only a message that said ‘please wait’. I asked for an ETA and she told me less than 24 hours. There were a series of similar exchanges until I finally asked her (48 hours past the delivery date) to stop changing the project status to delivered without delivering a design. I stated that I would cancel the project if we did not receive our design within a few hours. I received a message stating that she was in the hospital but would send me the design soon. I did not receive a design until the NEXT day which was 17 hours later!



The design in NO way met the requirements that were agreed upon. The design that was delivered was only a single side, there were misspellings everywhere, our color scheme was not incorporated, neither was there an attempt to incorporate the layout of a sample flyer that was provided. I rejected the design and provided feedback on why it was rejected. I even RE-sent the design requirements. I requested a new ETA, this time it was less than 12 hours. The next design was not delivered until 23 hours later and it was virtually the SAME as the previous only this time there were TWO SIDES. The seller even asked for a 5 star rating!! We provided feedback again.



At this point we are 96 hours past expected delivery and the content presented thus far isn’t remotely what we agreed upon. Not only are we no where near a finished product we are now also past our internal deadline. My partner and I decided to cancel this project. We explained to the seller that we wanted to cancel this project for two main reasons: 1) Failure to meet basic project requirements 2) Disregard for project deadlines. The seller has refused to mutually cancel this project. I’m at my wits end and don’t know what to do. I’m tired of going back and forth sending cancellation requests to this seller for her to only decline them and tell me that she won’t accept. What should I do? Attached is the last delivery right before the cancellation. BTW, I’ve attempted to reach out to Customer Support.

[rahulkajla1]

If whatever you told is truth then you should definitely cancel the order. A seller should never behave like this. I am seller as well as buyer. I can understand what you faced, this is not acceptable at all. CS will look into the matter and take right decision.

[Anna]

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have no doubt customer service will cancel the order for you. You just have to be patient and wait for their reply. Sometimes it can take a few days for them to reply. Did you leave feedback on the sellers profile?
Was the order already marked as complete? If not you can still request modifications, and I recommend doing so until the seller will eventually give in and agree to a cancellation. Wishing you best of luck.

[willpower_hk]

As mentioned in the above, assuming you’re unbiased, you shall not let the order be completed by continuously requesting modifications and sending mutual cancellation request, until customer support responds.

As for the quality…definitely not worth $50. Awkward glowing, a messy mixture of 2D and 3D, crazy shadows, improper combination of fonts, distorted icons… Are you requesting those?

[satsplace]

This experience has been difficult. It’s making me rethink my approach to how to best utilize Fiverr. I thought that I was following the correct steps as I’ve read in some of these forums. I took my time and searched for reputable sellers (level 2 seller). I reached out to the seller prior to paying for a gig. I provided a project scope, as well as requirements (I’m a project manager by profession). I kept in constant contact with the seller. Does anyone else have any additional pointers that would be helpful?

[satsplace]

Reply to @willpower_hk: I did not request ANY of those. I asked that the artist incorporate our company’s color scheme (Black, Red, Gold, and accent white). I provided our current flyer (see below) and communicated to the artist that we simply wanted a more sophisticated and modern design. I also provided a sample flyer that we liked the layout of to give the artist an idea of what we were envisioning.

My reason for submitting the mutual cancellation request and not allowing the order to progress to complete is because the order is not up to standard nor is it complete. I don’t want to send the message that we accept what has been provided because it is completely incompatible to our requirements and company branding. Therefore, it is unusable for us.

[satsplace]

Reply to @annai80: Thank You. The order was never marked as complete because the job did not meet the basic requirements. Before we cancelled the order the seller had literally changed the status of the project to Delivered 8 times, but had only submitted to attachments to us. Each time the seller changed the status to delivered I would select request modification and respond back to them. Even after we submitted the request for Mutual Cancellation the seller declined and continued to change the project status to delivered. One of those times the seller actually told me that if I agreed to pay $30 they would accept the cancellation…

I have taken a Scrolling screen print of our entire project history and forwarded it to Customer Support. Honestly, I’m even willing to pay the seller normal gig pricing ($5) for their time. At this point I just feel that this project needs to end because we are not compatible with this seller and their practices.

[satsplace]

Reply to @rahulkajla1: @rahulkajla1 I am fairly new to Fiverr. I’ve had great experiences but this is by far the worst! The first and biggest issue for us was the seller’s disregard for deadlines and timelines. We tried to work with her but she continuously abused that. We understand that sometimes unexpected things happen that temporarily prevent us from doing what we intend, but that should not be a continuous practice.

Then there was the actual quality of the delivery. I was literally shocked that not only was the first delivery 4 days late it did not meet even the minimum requirements. I not only provided the requirements which included my company’s color scheme (Black, Red, Gold, and accent White). I also provided my current flyer and communicated the elements that we wanted to change, as well as a sample flyer that we liked the layout of. In our requirements we stated that we wanted to stick with our current color scheme, but wanted a more sophisticated and modern design that would attract all audiences. This was all provided PRIOR to her accepting and creating a custom job. The first version literally contained many misspellings, The layout did not come remotely close to what we provided samples of, and the color scheme was completely off. The example is the SECOND rendition of the delivery…It was still all wrong and obvious that the seller either did not listen or understand what we were asking for.

[Anna]

I would be so frustrated as well. Just so you know, the system is marking the order as “DELIVERED” when the seller attaches and delivers his work. You then need to click the modification button to prevent the order from getting marked as complete (which happens autom. after 3 days). It’s is simply ridiculous for the seller to be asking you to pay an additional $30 for them to agree to a cancellation, disgusting! This is so not right, and I hope customer service will take actions against this bad user behavior. You did your homework, and I don’t think you could have done anything different in your approach. Unfortunately you just found a bad egg. Maybe try a TRS next time. I really wish you the best of luck in finding a great match, don’t let one bad experience bring you down, there are a LOT of great sellers here on Fiverr 😉

[satsplace]

Reply to @annai80: Thanks Again! I do have an update! Customer Service reviewed and cancelled the project today! I am so glad that this nightmare is behind us! I’m learning more about the Fiverr community everyday (positive)! I believe that you are correct this experience was more of an anomaly. I truly appreciate having a community such as Fiverr to work with to accomplish the goals that our brand new small business are trying to reach. I respect the hard work and time of the people that I work with and don’t mind fairly compensating them. All that I ask for in return is professionalism and the delivery of what was promised.

[Anna]

Great! Glad to hear :). Best of luck with your projects!!