Re: Feedback from clients

Hadley L · ‎05-18-2021

Good Morning

I seem to have a mismatch between the feedback I can see on my "Contracts" tab, and the feedback I can see on my "Public Profile" settings. I have received feedback seven times on various contracts but only one displays on my profile.

Any and all feedback would be appreciated.

Thank You

Hadley

Joanne P · ‎05-18-2021

Hi Hadley,

I checked, and it looks like the clients have not written public feedback on some of your contracts. They have only shared their star rating, while the other contracts that have recently ended when I checked, you have not provided your feedback to the client yet. The feedback period is 14 days from the end of a contract. The system is double-blind, which means that feedback won’t be visible until both parties provide it for each other. If only one party leaves feedback, it will be posted after the 14-day period has expired. Here's the help article for more information.

~ Joanne

Hadley L · ‎06-15-2021

Thank You.

Hadley L · ‎11-28-2021

Good Morning

I was busy with a request from a client and while I was busy with his project, was infected with Covid. I was hospitalised for a period of time and contacted the client to explain to him what happened, and hence why I was not writing on Upwork for that period.

I wrote two articles and then became sick again and said to him to please ask another freelancer to complete the task. He said it would be fine and I should take all the time I required to recover.

I set another deadline but was still not well and explained this to him. He then requested his money back because "I missed the deadlines", gave me a horrible review, and I did not cause any problems so sent his money back to him.

As a consequence of his bad review, my job success score is now displaying as 41% because of this client being so unreasonable. My reviews have always been good before this.

I am now fully recovered and want to start writing again but will be prejudiced by this one client.

Is there any course of action I can take?

Thanks

Martina P · ‎11-28-2021

Hadley L wrote:
Good Morning

I was busy with a request from a client and while I was busy with his project, was infected with Covid. I was hospitalised for a period of time and contacted the client to explain to him what happened, and hence why I was not writing on Upwork for that period.

I wrote two articles and then became sick again and said to him to please ask another freelancer to complete the task. He said it would be fine and I should take all the time I required to recover.

I set another deadline but was still not well and explained this to him. He then requested his money back because "I missed the deadlines", gave me a horrible review, and I did not cause any problems so sent his money back to him.

As a consequence of his bad review, my job success score is now displaying as 41% because of this client being so unreasonable. My reviews have always been good before this.

I am now fully recovered and want to start writing again but will be prejudiced by this one client.

Is there any course of action I can take?

Thanks

Refund the complete amount, it will make the job disappear from your profile. The bad private feedback will still remain, but at least the optics will look much better (except the JSS).

Never post a long reply to a bad feedback, the only thing you achieve is making it stand out more and drawing more attention to it.

Petra R · ‎11-28-2021

Hadley L wrote:
As a consequence of his bad review, my job success score is now displaying as 41% because of this client being so unreasonable.
Is there any course of action I can take?

That one contract can't be solely responsible for your very low JSS, you must have had poor private feedback from other clients.

You may also want to adjust your attitude. Sad as it is that you were ill, that hardly makes the client "so unreasonable". They didn't get what they ordered for months. The reason for that is largely irrelevant, especially as you were clearly well enough to reset new deadlines several times.

That said, the only "course of action" you can take is to complete future contracts perfectly and in time. You have 2 open contracts. Were those clients happy? Get them to end the contracts.

The feedback and much worse still, your response to it, won't help though.

Hadley L · ‎11-28-2021

You may also want to adjust your attitude. Sad as it is that you were ill, that hardly makes the client "so unreasonable". They didn't get what they ordered for months. The reason for that is largely irrelevant, especially as you were clearly well enough to reset new deadlines several times.

Wow, I hope that you never have to suffer from Covid and be at death's door for more than a month on a respirator in a hospital and still be able to churn out your articles.

Enjoy your life.

Petra R · ‎11-28-2021

Hadley L wrote:
You may also want to adjust your attitude. Sad as it is that you were ill, that hardly makes the client "so unreasonable".

Wow, I hope that you never have to suffer from Covid and be at death's door

You're misunderstanding what I said. The contract was open for many months and the client only recently closed it 7 days after the last deadline you agreed to, presumably whilst not in hospital. Blaming the client for what happened is unreasonable. The JSS is a "Job Success" score. The job wasn't successful. That's all there is to it.

Rather than blaming the client you need to concentrate on doing better going forward. As I said, that client wasn't the only unhappy one.

Jennifer R · ‎11-29-2021

Hadley L wrote:
You may also want to adjust your attitude. Sad as it is that you were ill, that hardly makes the client "so unreasonable". They didn't get what they ordered for months. The reason for that is largely irrelevant, especially as you were clearly well enough to reset new deadlines several times.

Wow, I hope that you never have to suffer from Covid and be at death's door for more than a month on a respirator in a hospital and still be able to churn out your articles.

Enjoy your life.

That is the risk of being a freelancer. We can never predict whether we are able to deliver work on time, but we can try to be prepared. This includes to have a solution in place to inform our clients in case of an emergency. One message to CS would have been suffice to inform your clients and could have done by anyone.

As a client and freelancer I still meet people using Covid as excuse for missed deadlines. Unfortunately it is also used when not sick and after all the time people should have adjusted to it.
Honestly, I couldn't care less about why a freelancer misses a deadline. A missed deadline is a missed deadline and it results in delays on the client's end. That is something that is on you.

When you look at the feedback in detail it is 1* for availability and deadline but 5* for skills and quality. When you do feel the need to reply to a clients feedback, make sure to check it first and do not copy your initial feedback as a reply. That is something where you marked down your skills.

Regarding your question about what course of action to take:

Be prepared for the next time you cannot work because it will happen.

Reduce the wall of text in your profile and place the info in the places it belongs (education, employment history).

Find another explanation how a contract that contributed less than 3% to your overall income can have such a negative influence on your profile.