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ahtasam1997
Community Member

First Bad Review

Hi,
Just needed a piece of advise. So recently, I got my first negative review. The client gave me a 1 star because I refused to take on another project he was suggesting. My JSS was 100% before this. Now it has fallen to 92%. The thing is that the aforementioned job was of only $30 (already refunded) out of my 4K+ earnings. The effect is more than I expected. Now I am contemplating on using the option to remove feedback effect on my JSS as I am a top rated freelancer. Need your suggestions on should I use the option or wait for a right time in the future.
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lysis10
Community Member

I would personally not use it until something dropped me below 90%. That's a big loss though so maybe worth it. I would probably hold off and see where I was at after the next update. It's important to get something good in there because if something good drops off again during the next update, then it's likely you'll see another drop.

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20 REPLIES 20
e825750a
Community Member

I think it's better to remove it if you can. If you don't remove it and another person give you the same feedback your score will decrease again. 

lysis10
Community Member

I would personally not use it until something dropped me below 90%. That's a big loss though so maybe worth it. I would probably hold off and see where I was at after the next update. It's important to get something good in there because if something good drops off again during the next update, then it's likely you'll see another drop.

Yes, thinking the same, I have two active projects, one near completion & second just started. I'll try & get a good review from them to mitigate the effect.

Hi Jennifer, so I got a 5 star review after my first bad review. The contract price was $200. However, my rating is same 92% as before. What might be the problem?


Ahtasam A wrote:
Hi Jennifer, so I got a 5 star review after my first bad review. The contract price was $200. However, my rating is same 92% as before. What might be the problem?

How long has it been? The JSS updates every two weeks.

Yes, 2 weeks passed and today I was expecting a change in rating.

Hi Jennifer, so I didn't use the feedback removal option. However, I have completed two different projects with 5 star rating and earnings of around 15 times of the contract with the bad review. However, my rating after the latest update is still 92% (same as before). What more can I do to improve it? I was hoping it to go up after the latest update. 

 

Your help would be aprreciated.


Ahtasam A wrote:

 However, I have completed two different projects with 5 star rating and earnings of around 15 times of the contract with the bad review. However, my rating after the latest update is still 92% (same as before).


It's probably not updated yet. Don't even look at it until evening UTC. It says "updated today's date" around lunchtime UTC, but usually doesn't even start to really update until late afternoon, evening UTC, often people are not updated until late evening.

Ok. I'll wait till tomorrow.

Hope it will increase, But if not don't worry just work on next contract for a bit long term. 
JSS score usually drops in big but it takes a bit more time to increase.

Prefer to work on long term projects more and more. It helps.

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "The client gave me a 1 star because I refused to take on another project he was suggesting."

 

Well... That isn't even a real review.

That is simply a client throwing a tantrum because he didn't get his way.

Yes I agree. Was totally unexpected.

Preston is absolutely correct. This client does not respect the negotiation environment, which is a discussion between equals. I intend to report this thread so that UW has a chance to give this client a Darwin Award.

PLEASE, MODERATORS, RAISE THIS THREAD TO UPWORK STAFF TO CONSIDER ACTION. THE PLATFORM DEPENDS ON A NEGOTIATION OF EQUALS, IN WHICH A BUYER MAY ASK FOR ANYTHING AT ANY PRICE AND A PROVIDER MAY REFUSE ANY AND ALL OFFERS.

Hi Bill, 

 

We appreciate your feedback. I'd like to note that generally, Upwork doesn't investigate user feedback for accuracy or reliability. Upwork provides its feedback system as a means through which freelancers and clients can share their opinions of freelancers and clients they've worked with and how the contract went publicly, and Upwork does not monitor, influence, contribute to or censor these opinions. 

Top Rated and Top Rated Plus freelancers have an option to remove feedback occasionally. Additionally, feedback from clients with a history of poor collaboration or from clients who have been suspended for Terms of Service violations) will not count against freelancer's Job Success Score.

~ Valeria
Upwork

I don't know whether this is the correct place or should I have opened another ticket but I wanted to ask here since it seems relevant. Sorry for the inconvenience in advance if it is the wrong place. 

I am kinda a newbie here, I was super excited and working so hard to get nice feedback. One day some guy came up from github suggested me a long term project, I said yes we came to upwork and things didn't work well, after 2 hours I had to terminate the contract because he told me they won't pay anything for the discussions that we constantly need to do during the active development. Even he gave me an example like his other (previous, no doubt why) developer was logging 2 hours even though they were working/discussing for 6 hours. 

After these words, I immediately stopped and told him won't be able to work with him and he gave me 1 star and refused to change it. I don't know what I am going to do with it since I am at the beginning of my upwork journey. It ruined my score and destroyed basically everything that I was growing for a week or two. 

So the question is, is this really this much easy to give somebody a bad name? 
What can I do to make this unfair review removed?

tlbp
Community Member


Caner S wrote:

I don't know whether this is the correct place or should I have opened another ticket but I wanted to ask here since it seems relevant. Sorry for the inconvenience in advance if it is the wrong place. 

I am kinda a newbie here, I was super excited and working so hard to get nice feedback. One day some guy came up from github suggested me a long term project, I said yes we came to upwork and things didn't work well, after 2 hours I had to terminate the contract because he told me they won't pay anything for the discussions that we constantly need to do during the active development. Even he gave me an example like his other (previous, no doubt why) developer was logging 2 hours even though they were working/discussing for 6 hours. 

After these words, I immediately stopped and told him won't be able to work with him and he gave me 1 star and refused to change it. I don't know what I am going to do with it since I am at the beginning of my upwork journey. It ruined my score and destroyed basically everything that I was growing for a week or two. 

So the question is, is this really this much easy to give somebody a bad name? 
What can I do to make this unfair review removed?


If you entered into a contract on Upwork, you are then stuck with whatever feedback the client leaves. In your case, the feedback would be removed from your profile if you refunded the client's money. However, when your JSS is calculated, their review will still impact the total score. 

It is absolutely crucial that you do not take jobs simply because you are desperate to have a gig. You will end up with bad clients who leave bad reviews. Interview each client carefully and make sure you fully discuss the terms--what you will be paid for and what you will not--before you accept a contract. 

Looking at the client's comments, I might be tempted to leave the review. It is obvious he is unprofessional. If someone is really interested in hiring you and reads the exchange on your profile, they will realize that as well. I know this is a risky strategy but it may inform other prospective clients that you won't be taken advantage of. 

daguru69
Community Member

I think this is critical. If we're just starting out we take crap jobs just to get ratings so people will hire us.

 

It's a poorly designed system that gives you no credit for your decades of experience. 

 

Upwork needs a way to salt the tip jar. Performers who don't put a couple of bucks in their tip jar will get nothing, until somebody puts money in.

Likewise, we can't get started on real jobs we're qualified for until we grind out third-world jobs that pay next to nothing from bottom feeders who are more likely to give you poor feedback. 

 

If the Upwork system provided a way to kick start this, it would be an IMMENSE help. It took me 3 months to get work and I was "a rising star."

 

Jiminy crickets! This is nutso.

mhdlh
Community Member

I am just amused by this. Very interesting to read. I thought upwork will delete the negative review given by the customer after going through the chat discussion. 

Why would you think this? There aren't enough hours in the day for Upwork to serve as judge and jury every time a freelancer gets a review that they think is unfair. And do you think that Upwork has experts in every possible field on staff, who can determine whether a job has been well done or not? And even if the job was done correctly, shouldn't clients have the right to say whether they received good service or had a good experience? If Upwork removed bad reviews, there wouldn't be any point in having a review system at all.

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