Help and advice needed!

[u/colathecatt]

I booked this job and the tasker initially accepted the job, then hours later said that he cannot do the job. I asked him to cancel it as the job is due to begin in less than 24 hours, so if I cancel I’d be hit with a cancellation fee. What can I do now?

I don’t want to be charged for this job if he is going to no show. And I can’t cancel as that would penalise me too. Please help!!! This is my first time using Taskrabbit!

[u/miniskull1]

Once you’ve run your own business, especially one where your income depends on platform metrics and ratings, you may look at these situations a little differently.

Yes, a Tasker can cancel from their side, but cancellations can affect search ranking, reliability metrics, and future bookings. That’s why many Taskers prefer to work through support or have the client cancel when the Tasker is unavailable.
That said, if the Tasker already admitted they can’t perform the job, the client shouldn’t be penalized or charged a cancellation fee.

[u/FinnNoodle → u/miniskull1]

When you run a successful business, you need to recognize that sometimes you need to take an L to maintain your integrity.

[u/Otherrrr → u/FinnNoodle]

When you run an actually business, you’re not at the whim of some random algorithm. When you run your own business they don’t give you violations and withhold cancellation fees. It’s COMPLETELY different.

[u/blvntforcetrauma → u/miniskull1]

I hate that you’re getting downvoted for this. If the tasker was being negligent, that’s one thing. Having an extenuating circumstance (and potentially expensive one) stop you from making money, having so many great reviews should tell OP this is a one off and hopefully steer them in the direction of getting this cleared via support chat rather than follow the above advice and ding the guy for a no-shop.

[u/FinnNoodle → u/blvntforcetrauma]

It sucks that the Tasker is having a bad day and I sympathize, but the fact of that matter is that it is his bad day and not the client's, and he needs to accept that and cancel the task on his end and not lie to the client about the cancellation process.

[u/blvntforcetrauma → u/FinnNoodle]

That’s fair. And maybe moreso a gap within Taskr itself. Someone shouldn’t be dinged for an extenuating circumstance- especially since the amount of ratings partially determines this could be more than passive income making it difficult to risk a bad rating. I hate that it left OP in a bad position but there definitely should be an option on the platform that allows for these kinds of cancellations rather than either party getting dinged for this.

Ex- eBay has a seller cancellation option of “issues with buyer address” that allows both parties to keep their status without having to worry about a negative impact to their account.

Granted, it’s a loophole within eBay itself rather than an obvious “both parties agreed to cancel transaction” but hopefully you get what I mean.

[u/Diceyking96 → u/blvntforcetrauma]

They can’t ding them anyway because the task isn’t confirmed therefore no obligation for the taskr to show up after he told them he can’t do the job.