Seller refuses to admit using Google Translate and cancel the order for refund

[sayisayi]

So. Once and a while you ran into a bad experience. Which happened to me this week.
I was always honest when I bought some gigs from sellers. Paid in fulll, and leave tips due to speed, accuracy or quality. (one guy I hired a lot for doing my whole branding) I started to use the platform actively since a week or two, and already did 21 orders and planning to keep hiring people

This time:
I had a text to translate in English to German, Nothing fancy nothing big. He delivered the text, and even i (as a non native German) noticed a lot of spelling mistakes and unknown words. My girlfriend is German (i live here) and she reviewed the whole text together with a friend. They were shocked about the non-existing words and bad spelling. So we did the test and threw my own english version in Google Translate, Surprise ofcourse, it matches.

Not he refused to cancel / refund my order and says to me:
“How can you relate my translation with google translation?
proof me.” -->> Which already says a lot (proof vs prove)
I requested a NEW cancellation.

How can I solve this normally? Overall i have decent experience with many people here and started building long last professional relationships wíth a couple.
It is not so much about money for me, but also the principle and preventing people like me that are in the search to hire others give the good guys a better chance. (believe me, I need a lot of people for many many many many many various things)

I am sure if Fiverr would access this conversation and download the attachement he sent me as a translation, they would agree.

Regards

Pieter

[markp]

If you don’t speak German get your girlfriend to draft a reply to him in German.Tell him (In German) you want a refund or you are going to escalate it to support. Get her to use a lot of slang in it as there is no way google translate will work with it, it does not work that well ( Google translate) with German as it is as your “translator” found out. If he does not understand German he will not be able to respond to what you send him in any coherent manner & will be proof enough that they are unable to complete the service you requested. I would also escalate it to support if he still refuses to refund you after this.

[eoinfinnegan]

What Mark says is right, however, if he isn’t admitting it now then you may just have a lot of over and back before having to then go to CS.
If you are sure that it is a Google translation then screenshot his work and the Google translation and send it to him giving him X amount of time to cancel (I’d say 24 hours) before you send it to CS, then follow through if necessary.

[emmaki]

I am curious–if you have German friends who speak good English (as many do), why didn’t you get one of them to do it?

[fonthaunt]

Maybe he asked them and they said “Hölle no man, I want twenty bucks to translate that mess.” 😉

[emmaki]

I do it sometimes–as you know I live in Greece, and I have quite a few friends from all over Europe, many of whom I know have good writing skills in their own language and speak good English. I’d sooner go to them to request a translation job. If it was “small” (no more than 200-300 words, say), I’d probably invite them out for dinner as payment.

I wouldn’t pick an unknown Fiverr person, and neither would any other expat I know tasked with this kind of job. Since OP is also an expat and clearly has German pals along with a beautiful Fraulein, I’m curious. There must be more to the story than old shitty GT seller. And whoever mentioned above that getting aforementioned friends to write superslangy German has a great point. If they’re translators, they won’t have an issue if you go in with “Uebersetzung, bitte–wie viel?” (my German is lame, so don’t shoot me!)

[magy1808]

I know if I needed translating GIG, I would before placing an order asked something like: hi, whats up? How is the weather? I have a job for you, can you translate my text from English to Italian? and I would ask it on Italian.

[fastcopywriter]

That’s a great idea, even if I hate being contacted before an order is placed.

[fastcopywriter]

Just write him this:

“If you don’t agree to refund my order, I will give you 1 star and let everyone know you used Google translate.”

I don’t get some sellers, if a buyer is unhappy, why risk a bad review? Just refund the damn thing and get it over with. That’s my philosophy.

[sayisayi]

hey all
thanks for the reply.
first of all, he refunded. once I put his nose again to the facts. his version version a real German version. I did not had to contact CS for this matter.
it took him 4 refusals of the refund. But I kept calm and polite as well.
giving one star might be an option as a threat. Which I did not think about it doing so.

And yes emmaki, i do have German friends with a second language as English, including my partner / girlfriend. But they rarely have time, or if they do. it takes longer than expected. Which is for me still essential in keeping the businesses I have disciplined and on a right pace.
Which translates into outsourcing to paid sources. I really do not mind paying for gigs. I use besides Fiverrr other freelance platforms to hire people.

In general I always get in touch with the sellers first. When it is a bit more specific. or after filling the requirements

Besides, asking my friends and family would basically take away opportunities for freelancers here or anywhere else. As for me the key is to establish good relationships with freelancers I hire frequently. (most of my freelancers I hire 8 times a week for various jobs)

Which is for me more important. To have the right persons for the job. In this matter, It ended up not so good, but 1 time out of the last 300 assignments i gave to people here and other platforms is not bad I would say.
Sometimes, the epic struggle for new freelancers is also a subject here. Which I allow myself when there is room for error, I give once and a while a new freelancer a chance. I have been there myself when i started my first company 10 years ago. And it did not came easy.

One bad experience here for me does not really scare me to do again what I stated in my last paragraph.

PS: I am an honest buyer that is always looking for talent i can hire to outsource (content writing, publishing, photoshop, marketing, ORM, CRM, ghostblogging, mockups, ebook covers, link building, app development, woocommerce, Wordpress specialist, translations)

Pieter

[sayisayi]

Well there is absolutely no other BS than the GT story on this one. But yes, you can believe that or assume that if you like. Sometimes a mistake is made. And obviously the mistake is on my part. But yes, my long reply below will make it more understandable I guess?
But I forgot to add one part about the friends , or asking them to do so. I keep my friends as friends. And seperate them from all my business. Since I do multiple in various niches, these people would go nuts if i show up today with an article about loose leaf tea and the next day with one about scrumptious cupcakes or let them translate only 200 words about the meaning of a long read vs short read in marketing.
And friends or family, i cannot set them under pressure in terms of delivery either. Which is key for me to create an easy flow, instead of facing brick walls. I rather build on a marble floor than on a bag of sand.