Missing a milestone's deadline affects JS score?

[Maria C]

Hi!

I was hired to do certain translation and my client set the milestone and deadline for May 30 but he hasn't sent me the material yet and now I am afraid I won't be able to finish the work before the date and click the submit work/request payment button on time.

I consulted with a customer service representative that told me that dates in milestones are only enunciative ("and it doesn't have any bearing") and as long as my client is aware of the delay it shouldn't affect my JS score. But then I read in the help page that it does have an impact:

How is your Job Success Score calculated?

We look at many performance indicators, both positive and negative, including:

• public and private feedback
• successful completion of work
• client complaints
• responsiveness levels
• missed deadlines
• disputes
• long term client relationships
  
  

So whom I believe? help page or customer service rep?

I don't see how this is my fault and why I must be punished for something that is completely out of my control.

Thanks in advance.

[Iftikhar I]

Maria

Valeria has confirmed that it will not effect our JS but it will only effect if the client give us less rating in public feedback regarding to the deadline.

[Maria C]

Ah! thank you very much for the information Iftikhar!

[Stephen B]

The only deadline that matters is the one agreed in communication with the client, regardless of what's writen in the job description. The first thing you should do when accepting a job is to agree on a preferred and an absolute deadline. And do it by the odesk message system so there's a backup if there's ever a dispute about it.

[Setu M]

Maria, you can also see this reply from Valeria here as reference or read the entire thread for more information.

[Maria C]

Thanks guys, it is such a relief to know this not because I have any intention of missing a deadline as I always pay extra attention and do my best to honor my agreements, but some times there are things that are beyond our control.

That's good advice Stephen, in this particular case I trust my client since I have worked with him before and everything went smoothly but I will take it into account with new clients. What I don't trust is the JS algorithms, call me crazy but...

[Stephen B]

I'd call you crazy if you did trust them. 😕😊