I've Had Several Horrible Experiences as a Buyer

[thane37]

Alright, other than several canceled art projects and an editor who has been on vacation since July and hasn’t communicated with me since, there is another seller who does editing work who hasn’t replied to a single message for a week now. From the first seller, I ordered an edit for over $200 and she never really went over the editing process with me. The more recent editor is highly rated and I said she could take as much time as she needs. The service was for over $350-$400. I really don’t feel like canceling or leaving negative feedback. What should I do in this situation? I really feel like I’m stuck.

[Guest uxreview]

If the seller doesn’t deliver on time and doesn’t communicate then I’m afraid cancellation is the only option. You may contact Customer Support

[misscrystal]

Not replying to any messages for over a week requires a cancellation.

[eoinfinnegan]

Three things:

• If you are unable to communicate with them then request a cancellation. If the seller has any plans to complete the order then they will definitely respond then.
• Leaving a negative feedback when it is deserved is the RIGHT thing to do. It will ensure others do not have the same experience as you and/or the seller will get their act together.
• I suggest doing smaller initial orders with sellers first. Check them out, give them 10% of the project to do initially and if you are happy then proceed with more. Consider doing it in stages of 20-33% if it is particularly big.

Bonus thing 1: Why do you feel stuck? The power is in your hands to fix this immediately. Do it.
Bonus thing 2: Telling a seller they can take as much time as they need is a bad idea. Set a delivery time with the seller. If they need more time they can ask for it. If you have seen progress then allow them a SET amount of extra time. You can continue doing this as you see fit but an indefinite finishing time for someone you have never met, on the internet is asking for trouble.

[thane37]

I’m not cancelling just yet because weeks ago, she fulfilled 2 out of my four orders (though she only completed 31 chapters out of the 78 chapter manuscript). I opened up a dispute to see if she responds, but so far, nothing. Since I’m relatively new to this website, what happens if she accepts or declines? What happens if there’s no response and time runs out? Thanks.

[thane37]

Anyway, thanks for the advice. Just to add, this project is a developmental and line edit for my 200k word novel. On the last two edits, she’s late. In mid October, after not replying over several weeks, she apologized with several excuses. After that, I no longer heard from her. I know she’s still around because she recently fulfilled someone’s order. Weeks before, another excuse was that she was swamped with editing political works. Also, it’s National Novel Writing Month, so who knows? The main reason I didn’t cancel yet was because she’s a good editor and her editing rates were affordable. Perhaps those rates should have been a red flag, as I would probably have to pay at least $2,000 for such an edit else where. If money was an issue, she should have notified me.

[gina_riley2]

@thane37: I have an editor/beta reader/proofreader who produces quality work, better than anyone I have worked with on other platforms.

I wish I could recommend her to you as I know for a fact, she would not disappoint. No, you did not use her as I checked and there is no review from you. Unfortunately, I believe it is against ToS to call her out - even in a positive light.

I originally intended to use her for one chapter of my book. She blew me away with her skills. I hired her five times - the last time was a custom offer for the entire book. My point is, I started off small with a $10 order - then moved on to bigger and bigger projects.

Edit: I wouldn’t cancel just yet. She may have done a smaller project because of deadline issues and deliver it, where she has more time with yours. It is easier for her to deliver two to five thousand words at a time that 10K and more.

Will good luck.

/Gina (@gina_riley)

[eoinfinnegan]

Ok, it makes more sense when you explain the project involved. It can easily happen that a project like this takes more time than expected. especially considering the size. It happened to me, I was late in delivering on a project like this as there were major inconsistencies (as well as grammar and sentence structure issues) to deal with throughout the book. I communicated this to the buyer and they were ok with it being late. I also told them I had other orders that I could not postpone just because their order was taking more time than expected.
I agree that her rates appear extremely low (approx $400 for an edit that includes developmental editing is extremely low, to put it in context, I would charge more for proofreading alone) and perhaps she is regretting it but as you said, she could communicate this to you as you seem like a very reasonable buyer albeit with a low budget.

[eoinfinnegan]

Was curious about this editor being spoken of in such glowing terms.
She has 10 reviews, 5 of which are from this user - this user is now gone from Fiverr. Smells fishy…

[gina_riley2]

Nope. Still here.

[gina_riley2]

Darnest thing, I cancelled this account - it was compromised and opened a new one with new user name @gina_riley with same avatar, etc. For some reason, the forum keeps taking me to @ga_riley2, which technically doesn’t exist anymore - because I cancelled it.

I dunno. I have placed three orders already under my new user name but can only post in forum under my old one. ** Yup, I would think it was fishy too. **

Edit: http://www.fiverr.com/gina_riley

[eoinfinnegan]

Fair enough.
I suggest you go to customer support as it’s better if they don’t think it’s fishy!

[thane37]

Seller recently replied, finally.

[vannoy]

Cancel the gig and leave negative feedback as this is the only way to keep others on fiverr going thru the same experience. All sellers are not honest. Most are but there are a few bad apples.

[silberma1976]

If you hired someone in the brick and mortar world to do this, i can not imagine you would hang on so long. No response could mean so many things. It is a sign the seller can not, for whatever reason, do the job. Could be a personal matter. Cancel. If the seller does not respond in three days, I think, you get your money back. If you need great editors, as a writer here, I know a few…contact me if you wish.

Charles

[kanishkaseo]

Agreed