Upwork Client Wrote Defamatory Remark, How do I deal with this properly?

[aidangignac]

I was invited to a contract by an individual who ended up not working out. This really kills my reputation for what he did on this platform. Inititally I was invited to the job after just receiving my first 5 star review. Things looked good however, he wanted me to send him a driver's license prior to starting work or some proof of identity. I did not feel comfortable at that time but he eventually let up and let me begin work without sending such. Shortly after beginning work, he expressed severe time constraints like wanting bugs fixed within 10-15 minutes, this comes after my first day on his job and getting everything setup. 

I eventually end the contract due to absuive, degrading language, him saying I lied to him about my experience which I clearly did not. This individual may have extremely damaged my prospects on this platform, I am beyond crushed. What can I do to correct this? 

1.  I did not lie by my experience in his words, he may have interepted me with a certain level of expertise but I never directly stated to him what he claimed I did in terms of expertise.
2. He then restated that I lied about my experience publicly in a review. This is defamatory and can be proven otherwise within our DM conversation if needed.
3. I attempted to take the high road and leave a reasonable, decent review but he just gave me a 1 star. I am curious what metrics he scored me by as a client? I assume he was disgruntled about me ending the contract early due to uncontemptness of the client's behavior.

I would say him wanting me to send ID and proof when I mentioned that Upwork already did this is very unprofessional and unsecure. I will say that should have been a red flag but then he retracted so I gave him the benefit of the doubt which turned out to be a mistake.

What are my options to deal with this? I know reputation is everything on this platform and with my second client degrading my reputation with slandering, baseless claims. I feel left out in the cold. I was trying to switch to self-employment full-time but this may have killed that. If Upwork support could reach out for a dispute or an official moderator can reply, that would be great. I would love to get this corrected and keep fulfilling future clients work. Thank you.

[25005175 · Accepted solution]

I attempted to take the high road and leave a reasonable, decent review but he just gave me a 1 star.

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I don't understand why you did this unless you didn't understand that the feedback is blind - neither party gets to see the public feedback that the other posted until after both have posted feedback (or 14 days are up, whichever comes first). There is ZERO business value in providing a good/mediocre review to a bad client. From a moral perspective, you just told other freelancers that the client is better than he is, and they may very well use your decent review as evidence when deciding to apply to his jobs.

I eventually end the contract due to absuive, degrading language

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Abusive language, while not a technical violation of Upwork's ToS, is prohibited and can be reported.

What are my options to deal with this? I know reputation is everything on this platform and with my second client degrading my reputation with slandering, baseless claims.

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Regarding the feedback, you won't have any option to remove it until you become Top Rated, which is a minimum of 16 weeks after you get your JSS - which won't be until you have a few more completed jobs or qualifying long-term jobs. But considering how trashy the review was, next to your good review, I believe good clients will ignore it, recognizing it for what it was - an encounter with an unscrupulous client.

[aidangignac]

I appreciate the reply. I guess I didn't want to throw a lit fuse on a strenous client and further any issues. I am new and getting my feet off the ground but you do have value to these points, I should be more transparent going forward and ideally honest with how this client interacts and treats people. I do have a few clients that are either interested in me or have on going work which are much more respectable and ideally can deflate the weight of this user's review on me especially overtime. Going forward honesty is the best option despite being generous and taking an authortative moral high ground, the truth will set you free and ideally help other freelancers not got mistreated and be a victim of circumstance as I unfortunately have.

This is all good, factual context and a fair assessment of the situation. Much appreciated!

[tlsanders]

"I attempted to take the high road and leave a reasonable, decent review"

What an awful thing to do to your fellow freelancers. Why did you want to trick others into working with this client after you had so many problems with him?

[aidangignac]

I already answered this "I didn't want to throw a lit fuse on a strenous client and further any issues". That was my reasoning and I won't make that mistake again.