Got scammed and "bad feedback" from the scammer. oDesk won't remove it. Seriously?

[julian7888]

I don't know who I should turn to. It seems that I only get copy + pasted answers from oDesk support, so maybe someone here can help me or give me tipps? I got scammed, my own fault, nothing much to say there. However the scammer got deleted from oDesk as far as I can tell, but his feedback is still in my profile. I had a high rating before and thanks to his feedback it fell about 0.1 points. That might not sound much, but when there are a few freelancers applying for a job it does indeed make a difference. The answers I get from support is that they can't delete feedback or anything, because the client has the right to it and if I am not satisfied, I should as said client. Well. He is deleted and I also have no means of contacting him. So why can his feedback persist? This does not make sense, especially because the job wasn't even real that he offered. I am at a loss for words and it's really bugging me. I am even thinking of just registering a new account because of this.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Julian, I am sorry you have had a negative experience with a dishonest client. I don't see any bad feedback on your public profile though. In any case, please, don't create another account, because it is against oDesk Policies to have more than one account per user. Your profile looks great and I am sure it will attract a lot of good clients with interesting projects. Best of luck!

[shahzadaliprince]

[quote=Julian L.]I am even thinking of just registering a new account because of this.[/quote] Valeria, Will this be also treated as a violation if Julian completely removes his current account and creates a new one? Just curious to know if he can avail this option!

[kochubei_valeria]

Thank you for your question, Shahzad. Yes, it would be considered a violation if a user closes his or her account and opens a new one.

[julian7888]

Hey Valeria, thanks for the answer. I was not being serious, I just meant that I felt like creating a new one. I will obviously not do it. Regards Julian

[shahzadaliprince]

Hey bud! you do not need to give up just for a dishonest person. I'll suggest you to reach out to the folks on this issue by using the option Respond to this feedback from the contract page.

[g_nembhard]

Hi Julian, It seems to have been taken off now. I don't see it.

[julian7888]

Haha, indeed it does. Interesting. Thanks to oDesk I guess for finally removing it. Whew, I am really glad now. 🙂

[g_nembhard]

That's good. All the best with finding other contracts, Julian.

[maverickuk]

I'm glad you got your issue resolved. Back when i was relatively new to oDesk, i was scammed (not paid for work) and left bad feedback - yet in my conversations with the client he praised by and never, ever said there was anything wrong with the work or anything else related to the contract. But for whatever reason, this guy decides to a) not pay the outstanding amount and b) leave me feedback that doesn't reflect his experience with me - everything i had an issue with was clearly shown in the messages to and from the client - but, as usual, oDesk didn't have a care in the world to give and the feedback, albeit not reflective of the work that was carried out, remains on my profile to this very day. It's ridiculous that oDesk just say "it reflects their views", but how is that the case, when his "views" contradict every part of the communication we ever had?! Me being the person i am, i tracked him down on Facebook and messaged him - he was happy enough to laugh about the fact he had scammed me. I mean, come on, you don't decide to NOT PAY your contractor when all previous communications were great between you. oDesk really need to look at their policies, some of them are just archaic.

[g_nembhard]

That's bad, Nick. Odesk really should look at things on a case by case basis and look closely at the conversations you had with the client throughout the duration of the project. Obviously back then we didn't have a way to directly respond to the client's feedback. This would have been a good way for you to share your side of the story. Luckily, you have a lot of positive feedback and clients love you, so that outweighs everything. But I understand the feeling when someone basically lies about you and basically openly scammed you.

[a_mosarrof]

Absolutely not. One of my client hired me twice. At the first the feedback he gave me *5 but at the 2nd time he gave me *1. The jobs were last 2+4=6 months. The company was Indian and the took job from USA, Australia (via oDesk)and complete the job with a lower rate from freelancers (via oDesk)like us who do not know about the 'Middle man'. Now I am experienced about it and careful to chose at the right clients. The job was hourly and sometimes they used me as their employee(not freelancer) to their clients. A lot of time I have to take part in their meeting with the clients through their skype conversation. I discussed the technical issues with their clients(My client's client). That was ok, but that was not Ok when I did not get paid for that spending time. I want to increase my hourly rate(very slitely $0.3, after 6 months, ) but they do not agree with me. At last, One day I could not reply their message for 1 week and they pauses my contract. But they show another reason that my work diaries mouse click and keywords struck were not sufficient. I explained to them but they did not believe me and left me with a very negative feedback with the comment "He does not know seo. Do not wast your money" and *1. I got frustrated at this first time in oDesk because the 4000 hours odesk working experience with all *5 feedback. And oDesk also mailed me that I am 1% odesker. Some clients use this feedback as arms and ammunition. And the very funny thing is that in the case between freelancer and clients, the Client is the 'Attorney' of that freelancer.