Is this a Scam from a Client

Pat P · Feb 23, 2014 09:23:19 PM

I received a low feedback score from a client that I genuinely do not believe, and think I am being scammed Here's what happened. I took a job from a client to do some banner ads. Nothing major, I knocked them out pretty quick, sent them off to the client. She had some small tweaks, no drastic overhauls to my design, and she seemed pretty happy. Then I got my feedback score from her and she gave me a 1 star for quality and 1 star for skills. Which indicates she did not like what she received, but then why didn't she have me overhaul the entire ad and why did she pay for the work? It doesn't make sense. EVERYONE else has given me 5 stars (except one person gave me a 4.85—4 stars for availability which I do not dispute). I have been doing research trying to figure out how I can get this removed or disputed and it turns that if I refund her the $150 it will be removed, while she still keeps the work. Has anyone every heard of this happening. It really upsets me, since I am fairly new to oDesk and it really hurts my job prospects.

Dianne M · Feb 23, 2014 09:45:48 PM

Its an old trick so they can get fully refunded. Happens all the time here. Live and learn. Anyway you can respond to her feedback, and state your side of things. Didn't the same thing happen to you recently? Maybe this place is becoming a scammer's paradise? Clients know they can exploit the feedback system, just give a low feedback score and the contractor will be forced to refund and they get free work. EDIT: I checked out your client and she seems to have a solid track record of being generous with ratings, so either she is just learning this 'new trick' or is simply not happy with your work. But, as you said, its strange she didn't even ask you for a revision or told you what she did like and did not like.

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Pat P · Feb 23, 2014 11:49:05 PM

Hi Dianne, No this is the same issue I had posted on another thread which you responded to

and decided to find out if this does in fact happen. I just don't get it. If she did not like the work why not just tell me and have me make the changes. And everything else i have done on here has been great. How do you check a client's profile?

Dianne M · Feb 24, 2014 12:00:47 AM

What you have to do: go to your past contracts (under the My Jobs tab) click on contracts click on contract with that client then click on 'view original job post' (on the right side of the screen) then scroll down and view client's past history and feedbacks What I did to check your client out: clicked on your forum profile link scrolled down your profile and looked for the low rating clicked on the job title saw the job ad scrolled down the page and read up on your client's hire history Totally weird too that she didn't even type anything. Just gave you the low rating.

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Pat P · Feb 24, 2014 12:05:52 AM

To be honest, I wanted to use the work in my portfolio, but now I would feel like an idiot.

Dianne M · Feb 24, 2014 12:56:29 AM

The work I did which the client did not pay for is the most popular blog post on his site (went viral on Fb too), so I feel bad about it. I'm thinking of posting it at my website since its mine by copyright but what if the client does something, like take legal action (he posted it first)? The oDesk ticket is taking too long to resolve. Can't even use it for my portfolio too.

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Robin C · Feb 24, 2014 09:23:23 AM

[quote=Dianne M.]she seems to have a solid track record of being generous with ratings, so either she is just learning this 'new trick' or is simply not happy with your work.[/quote] Actually, that leaves out the most obvious reason for the way her feedback looks so generous. It is probable that the client has gotten other freelancers to refund in full, thus, protecting their feedback and hers? That is why it is really not a good idea to refund in order to protect your rating; you protect the client as well and leave them free to commit further fraud. You both need to be protecting yourself and your work better. There are many threads here that discuss how to do that.

Dianne M · Feb 24, 2014 11:07:58 PM

Hmm, this is something to consider. I'm sure what you pointed out does happen. The client who published my unpaid work have stellar ratings too. In fact, I'm the only one who gave him less than 5 stars on another contract prior to the one he messed up.

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Mandy D · Feb 24, 2014 02:26:12 AM

Have you spoken to the client about this Pat? Is it possible she was doing your feedback, got distracted and pushed the wrong button?

Bojana D · Feb 24, 2014 04:08:34 AM

Hardly. The ratings are obviously deliberate, as the client used almost the entire spectrum (except 2 stars). The chances of that happening by accident is close to 0. Out of 50 jobs she has given ratings below 5 only twice, to Pat and a WP dev, everything else is 5 stars. I'd say she was really unhappy with the work - which, I agree, she should've tried to express and discuss with the OP while they were working on the job. Still, you can try to speak with her and ask her if you can find a workaround - refund will leave you with several hours of free work, and a black mark for your profile on oDesk's record.