My first 4.85

[susanwinlowmedia]

Hello,

So, I had a client, who was supposed to be longterm, give me a 4.0 in communication this past week. The rest were 5.0s. Obviously, my 100% will not be that stellar percentage come Sunday. 

Some quick background: This guy hired me to write on a certain topic, more or less weekly, for his website. I wrote one post on this topic (Milestone 1), and then for 2 and 3, he had me writing on a topic that pimped his product instead of the contracted topic. It's a narrow topic with very little unique information. I told him the information was scarce, but I was brushed off. 

He then closed the contract, opened a new one that stated my new topic would be this narrowed field to garner interest in his product. In leaving feedback for him, I found out he left me the 4.0 in communication. Totally bogus. Not even in the realm of reality. I declined the new contract and he wanted to know why. I told him two things: the unwarranted 4.0 was a concern for me, and the scarcity of viable information on the new topic. 

He emailed me back, said he just "clicked buttons and didn't pay much attention" and that I was great, wonderful, blah, blah, blah. He thought he'd given me a stellar score. He admitted he had the communication issue, as well. He then said he would change the score. To me, that is just weird, and I told him that wasn't the point of my return email to him, and that I wasn't going to ask him to change the score. He had to do that on his own, if it's even possible. I then told him again, thanks, but no thanks.

My question is, should I dispute this with Upwork/ask them to remove it, or is the 4.85 going to be negligible on my JPS? Incidentally, I got another 5.0 a couple days later, so something has been put in there to counteract. I know there is something about freelancers with 100% can dispute or have something removed. Admittedly, I haven't looked into it thoroughly, yet. 

Advice would greatly appreciated. 

[robin_hyman]

It happens to all of us. Luckily you have an engaged client who gave you a decent reply. And, he still wants to work with you! 

Your options:

* Do nothing - the 4.85 won't make much of a dent with the 10 proposals you have already completed. Will you still have a JSS of 100%? No, but it will be in the 90s which is more than A-ok. 

* You have the option of letting him change the score. I've also had a client who didn't give me a 5-star rating yet wanted me to work on a second project immediately after closing the first one. He gave a similar answer. And I let him change it. So I got my 5-star rating and a new gig with the client. He never ended the second contract... 

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068458-Enable-Clients-to-Change-Feedback

[richardrader]

JSS is heavily dependent on private feedback (whether or not they reccomend you). I dont think a 4 star rating for one category on one project will have any effect on your JSS score. I had a client accidentally give a 4 for one of the categories and it did not effect my JSS at all. 

[prestonhunter]

4.85 is an excellent score.

4.85 is a better score than most 5.0 scores.

Most 5.0 scores were given without serious thought.

If I see a 4.85, I assume that the client put some thought into what he was doing when he scored the freelancer.

If a freelancer receives a 4.85 score, it is inappropriate to ask the client about it.

[colettelewis]

You got a tiny ding for communication. It is highly unlikely (unless your client came down on you privately) that this will affect your rating, so move on.