Private Feedback on Canceled Contract (0$) ruined my life, career and mental health!

[5194b3b4]

Hello healthy and reasonable people,

Here are the details:
- "Canceled by freelancer."
- Total: $0
- Public Feedback N/A
- PRIVATE FEEDBACK 0

How do I know it's 0?

After many attempts to teach/explain basic things to the client I gave up and blocked him. I returned all the money from the milestone and closed the contract. After 3 months he is still using site that I made for him (without any additional changes).

IMPORTANT: First of all, I consulted with the UpWork support team who clearly told me that he could not set any rating, and that nothing will affect my profile.

After that, I continued (more carefully). Every next job was a perfect job and ended with long beautiful reviews and an eternally friendly relationship.

Next morning... With one open eye, I enter on UpWork profile and I find 82% JSS. 🙂
I didn't even eat, I immediately started the action of discovering the problem. I found it on the support chat - His private feedback counted into my JSS... 🙂

Guess my feeling?

After I calmed down I kept working. It was all perfect. After few months of hard work, my JSS jumped from 82 to 89%. But, my motivation kept spamming question is this fair / is this normal? 
 So becouse of that I came here too to ask reasonable questions.

First I need to copy here the worst thing I’ve read in my life:
UpWork Support say: "If you don't know which contract(s) came with poor private feedback, you'd have to guess. If you guess wrong, you could make your JSS worse instead of better."

YOU HAVE TO GUESSSSSS! 😄 

- Tell me, is this a serious platform/sistem or a quiz "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"?
- People build careers here, are you aware of that? Isn't 6 grading fields in public feedback enough?
-Are you aware that 90% of platforms only have 1 rating field to rate, and you have more than 10? (Google, Trustpilot, etc.) Every third client is bored of this clicking - not to mention thinking and clicking?
- How will a worker improve his quality of work if he does not know where he went wrong?
Let me ask this preliminary question differently. How will a patient be cured if he does not know what he is dying of?
- Do you think that we are all good in psychology and that we know which client is sick at heart and which is not? 

All of this reminds me of a cat and mouse game. This situation is best described in one word - sad.

Now let's go back to what I came here for.
Is there a chance to remove this private feedback that is set on "NOTHING"?

Thank you for coming on this sentence.
I hope you understand my wounded brain and my slightly corrected google translate.

Best Regards!
Aleksandar

[feed_my_eyes]

---

Aleksandar R wrote:

IMPORTANT: First of all, I consulted with the UpWork support team who clearly told me that he could not set any rating, and that nothing will affect my profile.

---

As you already know, you were given incorrect information. Clients can still leave private feedback even if you refund all of their money, and this affects your JSS much more than the star rating.

---

Aleksandar R wrote:

First I need to copy here the worst thing I’ve read in my life:
UpWork Support say: "If you don't know which contract(s) came with poor private feedback, you'd have to guess. If you guess wrong, you could make your JSS worse instead of better."

YOU HAVE TO GUESSSSSS! 😄 

- Tell me, is this a serious platform/sistem or a quiz "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"?

---

If Upwork told you which client left bad feedback and exactly what they said, then it wouldn't be private feedback any more, would it? Private feedback is necessary because some freelancers will harrass and threaten their clients about it. (Many freelancers also go crazy when clients leave less than a perfect 5 stars.) If the ratings are going to mean anything at all, then clients need to have some privacy.

Anyway, why would you need to guess? It sounds like you know exactly which client left you a bad rating and what went wrong. But in any case, you can only have feedback (very occasionally) removed if you're top-rated, so this is irrelevant.

Listen, I don't think it's necessary to be so upset about this. You have lots of good reviews, so you're clearly doing something right. Just keep working and getting good reviews and your rating will go back up again. Clients don't care as much about it as you seem to think.

[5194b3b4]

As you already know, you were given incorrect information.

---

You gave me answers but you still didn't answer.
Anyway, thanks for that! One thing just...
If support make such a huge mistake, and because of that mistake destroy someone's profile, what happens next? He keeps working, and I keep fighting with injustice?

, and this affects your JSS much more than the star rating.

So from worse it can be much worse. 🙂
I mean, it's impossible to explain these things to people who are in love with that - without space for understanding. I asked so many questions and you answered only one. 🙂 These are questions that in themselves have answers / long messages. 

My conclusion for your comment:

This system is perfection! ... BUT for the world without rude and sick people. 
When you allow something SECRET / PRIVATE to people, they will abuse it in most cases.
Ask yourself why big companies like Google, Tripadvisor andTrustpilot haven't set up a similar system.

I really love UpWork, but mistakes like this cost them dearly. This is impossible to see if sistem is same for a long time. It would be visible if this system would be easier for both parties. But who am I to talk to something so big and elaborate! 🙂

Let me grieve, if you dont have cure for this unnatural disease...

Best Regards for you!

---

---

[prestonhunter]

re: "Ask yourself why big companies like Google, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot haven't set up a similar system."

They have set up similar systems.

Upwork is more transparent about it.

[5194b3b4]

---

Preston H wrote:

re: "Ask yourself why big companies like Google, Tripadvisor and Trustpilot haven't set up a similar system."

They have set up similar systems.

Upwork is more transparent about it.

---

Hi Preston,

I'm trying to find an answer for my UpWork problem which I have explained in detail here, and which is not realistic and clear.

Thanks! 🙂

[feed_my_eyes]

---

Aleksandar R wrote:

As you already know, you were given incorrect information.

---

You gave me answers but you still didn't answer.

---

---

I'm not sure what you want me to tell you. I don't work for Upwork - I'm a freelancer like yourself - and I didn't invent the JSS system. 

---

Aleksandar R wrote:

Anyway, thanks for that! One thing just...
If support make such a huge mistake, and because of that mistake destroy someone's profile, what happens next? He keeps working, and I keep fighting with injustice?

---

---

Your profile isn't "destroyed," your life isn't "ruined" and you're not some kind of a freedom fighter. Maybe take a step back? In any case, it wasn't support's mistake that caused you to get a bad review - your client gave you a bad review based on the fact that your project went so badly wrong that you ended up firing him, blocking him, and giving him a refund just to get rid of him. Where is the mystery that needs to be solved by getting rid of private feedback?

[5194b3b4]

---

I'm not sure what you want me to tell you. I don't work for Upwork - I'm a freelancer like yourself - and I didn't invent the JSS system. 

I need someone to give me concrete answers to what I wrote. I don't need additional frustration and discussion with people who did't have this experience. You are trying to justify the existence of something that already exists. Thanks but I realy dont need happy Freelancer here. 🙂

[AveryO]

Hi Aleksandar, 

I'm Avery, a Community Moderator for the Upwork Community Forum, and I will try my best to assist you. I'm sorry it took a while to come here to post a response on your thread. I checked all your contracts and your support tickets, and I assume you're referring to Contract ID #26409682. First of all, I'm sorry to learn that this contract has caused you such an inconvenience. 

Christine is correct. We ask both clients and freelancers to leave private feedback. While we understand that any discrepancies between public and private feedback may be frustrating, the private feedback system is in place to prevent instances of fraud and retaliation and to gain honest, trustworthy insight into client satisfaction. 

I also checked, and I do not see where you see this on your account and in your support ticket: 
Here are the details:
- "Canceled by freelancer."
- Total: $0
- Public Feedback N/A
- PRIVATE FEEDBACK 0

"If you don't know which contract(s) came with poor private feedback, you'd have to guess. If you guess wrong, you could make your JSS worse instead of better."

For the feedback, are you referring to this page of your account? I do not see "Private Feedback: 0" on this page, so if you see it somewhere, please share a screengrab so that I can look into this further. 

As for the support ticket where the agent shared that you will have to guess which contract affected your score, I checked all your tickets, but I do not see where this was mentioned. I do see that several agents confirmed with you that they would not be able to share which specific contract has affected your score as it goes against our privacy policy. However, if you have the support ticket number where this was mentioned, please don't hesitate to send it too so that I can look into it with the rest of the team.

Please also take note that contracts without feedback do not affect your score. Also, jobs that have larger earnings will weigh more on your Job Success Score. Receiving stellar feedback on smaller budget jobs can still get you to a JSS of 100%. This means that strong client feedback on a higher-budget job could boost your score more than a lower-budget job. You may read more about how your score is calculated here.

I agree with Christine, and I do see that you have stellar feedback from your past jobs, and you have three active contracts. Despite recently starting on Upwork, you have stellar feedback, and your Upwork profile is close to perfect. You are doing well, and all I have to say is that you keep doing the great work you do.