I'm having trouble with my task, what should I do?

Most tasks on Airtasker get completed without any complications, but sometimes tasks become more complex than expected. Disagreements can happen when customers and taskers expect different results on a task or something that doesn't go to plan.

Airtasker has a free dispute service, but you’ll need to try and resolve your differences first before we can help you. If you’re having trouble with the other person in your task, try following the below tips.

Jump to a section:

• Communication
• Payment
• Tip for Taskers

Communicate openly

To help prevent communication from breaking down, keep communication lines open. Be straightforward, concise and honest in your messaging.

Do:

• Be clear in your communication (don’t be afraid to double-check details such as the date/time if you’re not sure).
• Be aware of your tone over messages - things written can come across differently than you intended.
• Try to reply to messages as quickly as you can - this helps reduce tension.
• If you feel the task isn't going well, talk to the other person about it. Discussing what is happening when it is happening can prevent complications later.
• Keep communication through Airtasker (with private messaging) as much as possible.
• If you’ve made a mistake, give a genuine apology so you can move forward.
• If the communication becomes heated, reach out to Airtasker Support and we can communicate on your behalf.

Don’t:

• Wait a long time to respond to messages. The other person might assume you don’t want to continue and try to cancel.
• Be rude or disrespectful in your messaging. Poor behaviour never helps and can lead to your account being limited (or in some cases, deactivated). Find more information about this here.
• Respond badly to feedback. Try not to take any feedback from the other person to heart and try to learn from the experience for next time.

Discuss payment

Fair payment is important for both parties, so we understand that you can be concerned about payment if things aren’t going to plan. One benefit of using Airtasker is that the task payment is held securely in Airtasker Pay. If something goes wrong, there are still options for fair payment.

Do:

• Keep task payment on Airtasker Pay
• Be respectful of the other person’s situation. Taskers should be clear about what’s included in their offer, and customers should think about what expenses go along with the work.
• Suggest different payment amounts if the task scope changes.

Don’t:

• Negotiate payment outside of Airtasker, unless it’s for an explicitly confirmed expense recognised by our Community Guidelines (more info here).
• Try to cancel the whole task in favour of paying cash. You won’t have the benefit of insurance or the dispute resolution service.  

Tip for Taskers: Complete the task as best you can

Sometimes when you arrive to do a task, it might be a bit different from the description. If you’re confident you can still complete the task, we’d encourage you to do your best to complete what needs to be done.

Do:

• Make a genuine effort to complete the task as it’s described.
• If the task changes from the task description, make sure you record the difference in the private messages. This is where you can also negotiate changes in scope and price.
• Collect evidence of the work you’ve done (e.g. photos again)

Don’t:

• Do a task if you don’t feel safe or qualified to do so.
• Start extra work without the customer agreeing to pay more. Use the increase price feature and wait until they've accepted before you start any additional work.

In order to resolve issues in the quickest time possible, it is important to communicate with other members.

We understand that being in a dispute is stressful but we hope these tips will help you come to an agreement.

If you’ve already tried these tips and haven’t come to a resolution within 48 hours, please read through Airtasker’s dispute process here.