Freelancer Spamming Bad Reviews on TrustPilot

douglashyde · ‎04-12-2021

After an awful 9 months working with a Freelancer, we in turn left a fairly bad review 2.2/5 - it was honest, factually and fair. We paid up in full and eventually had the product delviered (7 months late and half broken). I get it, it's part of the game.

The Freelancer took serious problem with this and has since directly messaged me on Skype saying that his team will now leave '100s of reviews on TrustPilot & Google' of our website. He is not asking for anything, this is simply revenge. I have full records and screenshots of this.

Now, I'm aware of review systems and I will of course reach out to them with the edvidence (if/when) this happens.

However, my question to the community is, are these types of threats and actions against UpWork policy and should they lead to account's being suspended?

NOTE: I've already reached out to UpWork Support directly regarding this matter with the edvidence, I just wanted to get the communities thoughts as to how best handle?

a_lipsey · ‎04-12-2021

Dean M wrote:
After an awful 9 months working with a Freelancer, we in turn left a fairly bad review 2.2/5 - it was honest, factually and fair. We paid up in full and eventually had the product delviered (7 months late and half broken). I get it, it's part of the game.

The Freelancer took serious problem with this and has since directly messaged me on Skype saying that his team will now leave '100s of reviews on TrustPilot & Google' of our website. He is not asking for anything, this is simply revenge. I have full records and screenshots of this.

Now, I'm aware of review systems and I will of course reach out to them with the edvidence (if/when) this happens.

However, my question to the community is, are these types of threats and actions against UpWork policy and should they lead to account's being suspended?

NOTE: I've already reached out to UpWork Support directly regarding this matter with the edvidence, I just wanted to get the communities thoughts as to how best handle?

I recall that this kind of thing is highly frowned upon by Upwork, and if you have screenshots of the threats, then they may actually be suspended/banned from the platform. It's a pretty big no-no.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. In terms of thoughts, I'd let Upwork do their thing. And you can reach out to TrustPilot and Google to have them remove the reviews. I suppose you could also issue a cease and desist. I think TrustPilot and Google can likely recognize the spam.

prestonhunter · ‎04-12-2021

re: "I just wanted to get the communities thoughts as to how best handle?"

Well... this is not something that we regularly discuss. In seven years of active regular participation in the Forum I think yours is only the second or third post I have seen about something along these lines.

Obviously this is unprofessional and inappropriate behavior.

I think you already know that you should block this person and never respond to him. Any response you provide only feeds his demented pleasure.

re: "After an awful 9 months working with a Freelancer..."

Why did you continue working with a freelancer for nine months if it was an awful experience? One of the main points of hiring freelancers is that you can end a contract at any time. For any reason. I once fired a freelancer five minutes after I hired them.

AndreaG · ‎04-12-2021

Hi Dean,

I'm sorry to hear you've had a negative experience with a freelancer you hired. I've checked and can confirm that the team has received your updates via your support request. Rest assured, they'll continue assisting you directly.

Thanks!

~Andrea