Why do some freelancers bury their head in the sand when there's a problem? Debate

idealmike Level X³

August 23, 2016, 12:19 pm

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Sometimes when there's a problem with a service you've ordered, such as the delivered order isn't right, there's something wrong, done wrong or even missing. Why is it when you bring this up with them the freelancer they completely and totally ignore you? I think some of you can relate to this, it doesn't matter how many messages you post in the order or via a private message, they simply plain flat refuse to reply and respond to you. And then when you request to cancel the order they just leave it sitting in limbo forever and you have to open a support ticket and ask staff to look at it.

I just, I can never understand it. I've never been able to get my head around why people do this. Why they prefer to bury their head in the sand instead of face it and sort it out.

Why do people do that?

Some reasons I can only think of. Maybe you can add to them.

They just don't care one iota enough to deal with it.
They have no professional business working skills or ethics.
They can't understand English? But they could before I ordered. Hmm.
They would rather ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist than face and sort it out.

Another thing is sellers who, after there has been a problem or issue brought up, rather than let you leave a negative rating on that service ask to cancel it instead. You then accept the cancel and that's that but so it goes on to happen to another buyer. As there is no way to leave a rating for a canceled order, nobody can be none the wiser.

It doesn't happen much. And mostly for smaller priced services. But by then 2-3 days or so have passed and I have to go about searching for another service.

For instance, someone bid on my WTB a while back, and I messaged them recently about it asking if they could still do it. And I stressed that I need the links after to which they replied and said they could do it. Okay. So I ordered. Now they turn round and say oh sorry I forgot to collect the links. When I told them how to get them, they just plain flat ignore me. Not even a message to say something like "Okay I'll try and get them for you". Just, nothing. No response, nothing. It's as though they died.

Should sellers/freelancers be forced to respond to their buyers?

I think that sellers should somehow be "forced" into responding to a buyer. And if they don't "respond" after a certain time, the order is automatically canceled and funds are returned to the buyer. What do you think of this idea?

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Everett

I often think either they have no time, or have no idea what they are doing. A lot of freelancers actually outsource to third parties. For instance, if I were to buy a SEO package for $150, they'll probably outsource it to freelancers that will be doing the work for $20. Usually when freelancers bury their head in the sand or don't reply fast enough they are usually waiting for the outsourer to respond back, so they can respond to the buyer.

I do not like this type of business setup. I think if you are going to be offering services you should know what you're doing, and reply back as fast as you possibly can. I'm not saying you need to stay online to reply to back to each response in seconds but at least note that you're aware of their message and doing everything in your power to help.

10 years ago

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TommyCarey

The Good Sellers: They always respond quickly and with more information than I asked for, which is really nice because I don't have to ask follow up questions. These people usually have a good business sense and want to keep their clients happy because they know one bad review can hurt their profits. So if they keep everyone happy, they make more money in the long run
The Sh*tty Sellers: These are the people who say they're going to do a ton of work in a specific time frame but don't do any of it and now your campaign is a week behind schedule. You bring it up to them that the order is late and they claim they are still working on it and they apologize for the inconvenience. The seller isn't still working on your campaign, they just started because you complained. Regardless if they forgot about your order or if they didn't plan on doing it in the first place, it's not good for business to do this.
The Dumb Sellers: These people think that they can offer full service work and have it turn out better than anyone in the world, but in reality they are horrible at what they do and should crawl under a rock. These are the types of sellers that are arrogant and getting mean when you try to cancel the order because it's not even close to as good as to what they described. I actually had a banner designer make something for me that looked like he did it in MS paint... But his examples on the service page were amazing lol

When someone doesn't respond because you tried to cancel an order, I would say these people fall under either the Dumb or Sh*tty sellers category lol

I think it's that the seller is angry at you that you had the audacity to try and cancel the order. They feel the order was done to completion, even if it really wasn't, and now you are trying to get your money back. They see it as you trying to game the system and you see it as they just don't want to respond. I've dealt with 3 kinds of sellers on marketplaces like this. [list][*][b][u]The Good Sellers:[/u][/b] They always respond quickly and with more information than I asked for, which is really nice because I don't have to ask follow up questions. These people usually have a good business sense and want to keep their clients happy because they know one bad review can hurt their profits. So if they keep everyone happy, they make more money in the long run :D[/*][*][u][b]The Sh*tty Sellers:[/b][/u] These are the people who say they're going to do a ton of work in a specific time frame but don't do any of it and now your campaign is a week behind schedule. You bring it up to them that the order is late and they claim they are still working on it and they apologize for the inconvenience. The seller isn't still working on your campaign, they just started because you complained. Regardless if they forgot about your order or if they didn't plan on doing it in the first place, it's not good for business to do this.[/*][*][u][b]The Dumb Sellers: [/b][/u] These people think that they can offer full service work and have it turn out better than anyone in the world, but in reality they are horrible at what they do and should crawl under a rock. These are the types of sellers that are arrogant and getting mean when you try to cancel the order because it's not even close to as good as to what they described. I actually had a banner designer make something for me that looked like he did it in MS paint... But his examples on the service page were amazing lol :D[/*][/list] When someone doesn't respond because you tried to cancel an order, I would say these people fall under either the Dumb or Sh*tty sellers category lol :D

10 years ago

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Lynne

OMG Mike I am so with you on this one!

I have only experienced that once here and it was a small order that wasn't really important. However I have encountered that so much with suppliers in my country when I was running my online baby store. It got so bad that I often couldn't tell my customers what was happening with their orders even though it was 3 weeks late.

I cringe even now when I think about it! I changed suppliers like 3 or 4 times and things went fine for a while and then they too did it to me.

I don't mind an order being late every now and then, I don't even mind so much if the order is a complete stuff up but I want to be kept in the loop at all times, especially when it affects my orders with my customers and my reputation.

This is something that just does my nut in. I can deal with anything but I need to know where I stand. This is the one thing that for me is a complete deal breaker. I will never ever place an order again with someone that does this to me. I don't like leaving negative feedback and often I will refrain from leaving any feedback if I am less than happy... but with this I will write a book of a negative response.

10 years ago

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Cristian

Guess they're just waiting and hoping everything will turn out fine or maybe they're too lazy to make the modifications you've requested and since they're being lazy, well...why bother replying or even clicking a button for the cancellation?

I don't do stuff like this but I did have periods in the past where I went online for long periods of time and I only logged in from my phone every day to check my services...and to be honest from my phone it's pretty difficult to manage orders, especially rejected ones that I need a desktop or a laptop to see where the problem stated by they buyer is.
So yeah, I may have ignored some people in my freelancer career, but never intentionally.

10 years ago

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Barida

I think effective communication in the world of freelancing is key for any freelancers to go far. I do not support an act of a freelancer who ignores the buyer when things go wrong for such issues should be handled in a calm and positive way. Let everyone that works online, and even offline as well, think of the relationship in work as a two-way-thing.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

All I can think of why the freelancer ignores the complaint is that he doesn’t know how to reply or what to reply. But it will boil down to an encounter so it is not a good idea to ignore a complaint on the service. Besides the buyer has a right to that so the freelancer should be apologetic unless… that’s his way of doing business which is not a good practice. If that happens to me, for sure I will do my best to report and to spread it in social media because it is a great insult to be ignored with your complaint.

9 years ago

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Kakashi2020

I think it depends on the skill of the freelancer you hired. Normally freelancers are experts in what they do and if the order is clear but what was agreed upon wasn't delivered then something's wrong with that freelancer.

8 years ago

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Seoclerks

Why do some freelancers bury their head in the sand when there's a problem? Debate

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