A client has been harassing me.

s_shanice · ‎05-01-2021

Hi, so I worked with this client before who was very rude but the job was good and he was an agent. So it didn't bother me that much because his client (the one I was translating a book for) was super nice.

He approached me 3 days ago for a quick proofreading job on 200 pages of company report. He mentioned about proofreading the text because the translator that did it used Machine translation. I accepted the job. But when I started working on it, I increasingly got frustrated. The whole report was a mess. I spent 3 days working on it (And I wasn't just proofreading , I was translating) and I did it for 48 hours without sleep because he was very pushy.

Finally when I handed him the proofread report, I mentioned about the messed up tables and graphs and there were around 30 of them. He demanded that I should fix them and asked me why I didn't. I replied to him that it wasn't within my expertise to do that too.

So he was expecting me to proofread, translate and fix the tables and graphy within 72 hours on a 200 pages report for $200. And he started harrassing me. In the end I told him he could keep his money, and I Worked for free!

I feel really stress with this situation when he kept bombarding me with messages. How should I deal with this? What else can I do? Also, I am a top rated freelancer, I have a strong feeling he is going to rate me down. I really don't want to lose my top rated badge over this.

Thanks community! This is also the first time I encountered a bad client.

petra_r · ‎05-01-2021

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
Hi, so I worked with this client before who was very rude

This was your first mistake. Don't work with clients a second time when they were rude to you the first time.

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
He mentioned about proofreading the text because the translator that did it used Machine translation.

That was your second mistake. NEVER accept a contract that involves trying to fix machine translation disguised as "proofreading".

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
But when I started working on it, I increasingly got frustrated. The whole report was a mess. I spent 3 days working on it (And I wasn't just proofreading , I was translating)

Didn't you check the report before accepting the contract? If you didn't, that was your third mistake. Never, EVER accept a proofrreading job without carefully checking out the material. Or even a translation job.

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
Also, I am a top rated freelancer, I have a strong feeling he is going to rate me down. I really don't want to lose my top rated badge over this.

It will only affect your JSS if the client left poor (private) feedback.

If he does, you can use your top rated perk if you haven't used it during the last 10 contracts and 3 months

Is the contract closed? If not, close it yourself immediately. That way you have a chance that the client won't leave any feedback. If you let the client close the contract, he *WILL* leave feedback. You don't want that.

s_shanice · ‎05-01-2021

Hi Petra. You are right. Lesson learnt! I haven't had any experience with bad clients before. But i am going to be cautious from now on.

So do you think it would be better for me to end the contract without payment? That way he could still rate me privately right? And after that I could use my top rated perks to remove his private rating from my jss ? Would that be a better option?

petra_r · ‎05-02-2021

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
So do you think it would be better for me to end the contract without payment?

You've already told him to keep his money, didn't you? It depends on what is important to you. Personally I'd rather have the money...

However, your JSS may well drop anyway because of the contract that ended on the 27th, so another contract with a poor outcome would not be ideal.

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
That way he could still rate me privately right?

He "could" but there is a decent chance that he won't. You wouldn't know until the next JSS update.

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
And after that I could use my top rated perks to remove his private rating from my jss ?

That would work, but remember that the perk is then gone for 3 months and 10 contracts.

And never work with that client again!

s_shanice · ‎05-02-2021

Thanks again Petra! Actually my JSS went from 100% to 97% because of the job that closed on 27th April. I was tempted to use my perk to regain my 100% but decided not to. So glad I didn't do it.

I would rather have peace of mind than his money. It feels awful to get message notifications from that client every 30 minutes. For now, I just want to close the contract and block him from ever messaging me again.

petra_r · ‎05-02-2021

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
Actually my JSS went from 100% to 97% because of the job that closed on 27th April.

No. It did not. The JSS is updated every second Sunday ONLY. That contract is not yet calculated into your JSS because the JSS last updated on the 18th of April. The JSS will update again this evening (UTC).

Shanice Jun Yi S wrote:
For now, I just want to close the contract and block him from ever messaging me again.

Then do that (both)

s_shanice · ‎05-02-2021

Ugh!!! I thought it was because of the last rating that dropped my JSS. Anyway thank you for walking me through it. I cancelled the contract and blocked him.

tamilvanane · ‎05-02-2021

Hi
Its not your fault why you bother ,relax and enjoy