Different Answers from Different Reps

aaronfernandes · ‎07-09-2018

Hello I am getting a bit frustrated because I had a client on whom action was taken by the Marketplace Quality team because of a Terms of Service violation.

Ticket **Edited for Community Guidelines** the agent says that per the outcome of the investgiation the contract is now excluded from my score calculation and if I choose I can hide the publci feedback comment.

When I contact support today/yesterday they say it can only be removed using the Perk but that should not be the case. I should per the outcome of the Marketplace Qualitu investigation be able to request the removal of the public feedback if I choose and I should be able to confirm that I can remove the client's public feedback per the outcome of the investigation in ticket **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Is there any way to contact **Edited for Community Guidelines**? He had given ma a quick response which I'm unabel to get now - specifically saying yes I can remove the public feedback if I chose to and that it's already excluded

prestonhunter · ‎07-09-2018

LOL.

Upwork Customer Service representatives are just people. They're doing the best that they can.

They want to earn money, so they agree to work for Upwork. They read some information from Upwork's help documents. They have access to some online software that lets them see a few things that you might not be able to see.

If you think about it, there is no reason to assume that they are perfect or that they are always going to give the same answers.

If I had a health concern, and if I went to 3 different medical specialists, each of whom have PhDs and dozens of years of experience in their fields... I would expect to get 3 different answers.

petra_r · ‎07-09-2018

@Aaron F wrote:
Hello I am getting a bit frustrated because I had a client on whom action was taken by the Marketplace Quality team because of a Terms of Service violation.

You need to STOP asking the same question over and over and over and over. Not only is it exactly THIS kind of behaviour which led to support options having to be restricted for everyone, it also wastes time and money (and all our fee pays for that.)

Reps make mistakes. If only one rep gave you an answer you liked, and everyone else told you something different, the "something different" may well be the real answer...

g_vasilevski · ‎07-09-2018

Hi Aaron,

I`m sorry about the confusion from our customer support agents. I can see that you`re communicating with our team about this and our team will follow up on your ticket with more details about this and assist you further. Thank you.

~ Goran

aaronfernandes · ‎07-09-2018

Than you please tell me how this should be allowed however under any circumstance:

- The client requests I work for free/on a paused contract.

- The client threatens to leave negative feedback which I report to Upwork that the client is threatneing to leave me negative feedback unless I work for FREE.

- The client ends the contract and sends me an inappropriate message with the word 'KARMA'

- Upwork Marketplace Quality perform an investigation and it is determined that action should be taken on the client and the contract excluded from my score.

- I am informed that I should be able to hide the feedback per the outcome of the investigation.

- Now support is saying that I have to keep this bad feedback which came because I REFUSED to work for free? Which is against TOS? How is this allowed?

Is there any way to check the outcome of the investigation? I believe **Edited for Community Guidelines**was able to see the oucome from the investigation which is why he advised that I should be able to hide the public feedback if I wished to do so.

- Why should I suffer from the outcome of the public feedback specifically because I REFUSED to work for free?

g_vasilevski · ‎07-09-2018

Hi Aaron,

I understand your frustration with this, but in line with our TOS our team can remove the public feedback only if violations of our TOS are found in the feedback itself. In your case with the actions our team has taken the feedback will be excluded from your JSS, but if you would like to remove the public feedback you will need to use the Top Rated Perk: Feedback Removal. Thank you.

~ Goran

aaronfernandes · ‎07-09-2018

Hi **Edited for Community Guidelines**I understand that Support is only able to remove public feedback under specific circumstances and I apologize if I am now being a nuisance but I feel like this is for the good of the entire Upwork Community:

- Is it possible to contact Marketplace Quality to determine their response for the contract?

- Even though the feedback comment itself sounds "reasonable" is it not against TOS to provide a 1-star rating just because I refused to work for FREE?

- Is it not against TOS to request free work? The client requested this as in the Marketplace Quality investigation.

- Is it not against TOS to threaten negative feedback if I did not work for free? The client did this and I reported it to Upwork twice!

- After ending the contract the client says "KARMA' to me thereby meaning the feedback he provided is directly related to me refusing to working for free.

The feedback itself is now 1- star which sticks out on my profile and will obviously have an impact on new clients.

How is this allowed? Is it possible to contact Marketplace Quality to find the outcome of the investigation?

petra_r · ‎07-09-2018

Aaron, No, Upwork will not give you the outcome of the "investigation" or what action was taken. Chances are the client got a warning.

It also makes no difference.

You may still have the chance to comment on the feedback, if so, keep it short, professional and concise.

You may also not want to draw too much of Upwork's attention to your profile. **Edited for Community Guidelines** .

iaabraham · ‎07-09-2018

@Goran V wrote:
Hi Aaron,

I understand your frustration with this, but in line with our TOS our team can remove the public feedback only if violations of our TOS are found in the feedback itself. In your case with the actions our team has taken the feedback will be excluded from your JSS, but if you would like to remove the public feedback you will need to use the Top Rated Perk: Feedback Removal. Thank you.

So this is interesting. Can someone please clarify: if, for example, a client explicitly threatens to leave you with bad feedback if you don't work for free -- and you don't do it, so they leave a bad review -- that's not a good enough reason for Upwork to remove the feedback? So people who are not top rated are stuck with the bad feedback because they did the right thing?

vladag · ‎07-09-2018

Hi Isabelle,

We have procedures in place to identify and address negative client behavior, and review each case individually. As stated before and on this thread, we do address bad clients and the effect their feedback has but will remove client feedback only if it violates Upwork ToS.

~ Vladimir

aaronfernandes · ‎07-09-2018

I really wish I could rewind time and just remove the public feedback when Mandino said I could per the investigation because even when he said I could - I was not eligible forthe top rated perk as I had recently used it as support now say he was referring to: thus he was referring to the investigation allwing me to remove the public feedback...anyway

Isn't mine one of those cases where he violates TOS in the feedback? I know public feedback can't be investigated for accuracy but this unreasonable public feedback came directly as the result of me following support's instructions and obeying the rules - even a support rep said I should not work on the contract if it is not active as the contract cannot be charged:

In ticket 21493015 I have uploaded screenshots again where I keep telling the client that I can complete the job but he must first unpause the contract so I can bill him.

- In his one-star rating he says that I was unwilling to complete work which is not true because as I told him repeatedly in our Message History that I am willing to complete the project but he must first unpause the contract. I and even pasted a message from a Upwork rep: I could only work on an active contract.

- He specifically says "should I place a negative review on your account?" while the contract is paused and this is when I tell him that his message is against TOS.

- He unpauses the contract and says "do not charge me" with the threat

- Contract ends, he sends me an inappropriate message with the world KARMA.

Thus I think the public feedback which he threatneed as per the screenshot I attached to that message shows that what he wrote is far from accurate.

This feedback thus, in my opinion , violates TOS does it not? Because he left it because I repeatedly refused to work uncharged to him.

kochubei_valeria · ‎07-09-2018

All,

A few posts have been removed from this thread as they were inappropriate for this public Community and this thread has been closed from further replies.

Aaron, please refer to support tickets you have with our team for more information as we won't be able to share any further details here.

~ Valeria