Proper refund for some damaged photos

<p>Hey everyone! I have been photographing weddings for six years now, but a situation happened this past summer that has never happened before and I need some advice. And I apologize if I am not in the right category. Nothing else really fit the category for what I am asking....<br>

Anyway, I photographed a wedding for a client in August. When I came home that night and sat down to start backing up the images, the memory card became jammed in the camera and I could not get it out. Not even thinking, I tried to get it out myself and when I finally did, the memory card was cracked, which was why it was jammed inside. (I know, I know, I should have hooked the camera to my computer via the USB, or should have taken it somewhere first, but I didn't!! Blond moment!)<br>

I took the card to my local lab who fixes them on site, and while they were able to recover most of the images, they were not able to recover 92 of them. The majority of the shots lost were the formal family pictures, along with a few from the actual ceremony. In all, they still have a great variety of images - all of the pre-ceremony, the majority of the ceremony, a couple of the formal family shots and all of the reception shots.<br>

I have not given them a set price on a refund, but they are asking for half of the money back?!?! If half of the images I did that day were damaged, I could see giving them half of their money back, but since only 92 were not saved, I'm not sure what to refund them, or if I should even give them one at all (which I feel I should because the family formal shots are missing.) I understand the family shots are important, and I did offer to redo them and give them a free family sitting, but they denied.<br>

I thought of refunding $100, averaging $1 per picture (which I rounded up to $100), and also refunding the generous tip they gave me of $60, which would equal a $160 refund.<br>

In total, they have 450 images from their wedding (which goes beyond the maximum amount of images I guarantee for the number of hours they purchased, which was 6. I guarantee roughly 400 images for that amount of hours). Also, I haven't even started editing them yet as I just got them back this week, so add in the additional black and whites and other editing I will do, and it will go even further beyond the 450 mark.<br>

Here's my question - is the $160 refund reasonable?? And how do I politely explain to them that half of the refund is not possible?? I do have a Limit of Liability listed in my contract, which does state I will be responsible for any damages, but it really only covers the loss of all images and what the guidelines will be for that.<br>

Thank you in advance for your input in this matter. I have never had this happen before so I am not sure what route to take.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about this. Since you asked, here is my advice.</p>

<p>Not sure what your contract says but bottom line, you made a big mistake and you are lucky they are not suing you. I don't believe that it is fair to say that since only a % of the pictures were damaged, that they should get an equavalent discount. These were once-in-a-lifetime pictures for them that they will never get back all because of your mistake. </p>

<p>Since they are asking for half back, I would take that offer quickly and be happy that they are not demanding a full refund or hiring a lawyer.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Kelly - </p>

<p>Sorry that this happened to you - and yes - you should have tried the USB first - but if the card was already damaged, it may not have mattered. When we are in a panic situation, rational thought is often the first victim. </p>

<p>Family photos and formals are a big part of any traditional wedding photographer's repertoire - and from the sound of it - a big part of the expectation from this client. For a lot of families, at least in the Midwest, weddings and funerals are the only times that the whole family gets together and at one of those two events - no one is suggesting family photos. </p>

<p>Wedding in August - Photos still not ready in December? Hope you've been in contact with them; which it sounds like you have. Just based on the delay, I'd be giving some refund. Even with the card issues it should not take that long to turn around. </p>

<p>You also need to consider the word of mouth this client will give, either good or bad. If you have a bad experience - you tell 6-10 people. They in turn tell another 6-10 each. Is that publicity worth the difference? </p>

<p>Bottom line - swallow your pride on this one and give them 50% of the wedding costs back - excluding the tip. I would not even suggest the $1.00 per photo rounded up. I would also hope that they don't google your name and find this post with that amount in it. To me this one is a no brainer. The fact that you provided far more photos than called for is not relevant in this situation. You failed to provide the photos that they value most. </p>

<p>Now for some suggestions to avoid painful things like this: <br>

1) Get Errors and Omissions Insurance - it pays when you don't deliver through no fault of your own - meaning it doesn't pay if you're doing something you're not capable of or if you misrepresent yourself. </p>

<p>2) Switch cards - OFTEN. Don't rely on a single memory card for the entire wedding. I didn't even do that when I was a digital rookie. Just because a card is 8 gb doesn't mean you should shoot an entire wedding on it.</p>

<p>3) Check your memory cards before you use them. I always double check them when they come out of my bag and into my pocket for a day's shooting. Then they get a quick triple check when I put them in the camera.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>To directly answer your question, no, the $160 refund isn't reasonable. The formal family photos are one of the most important sessions of the entire day for most people, partly because most families are hard to get together, much less together AND all dressed up.</p>

<p>I would try to recover those images--go to some other, professional recovery places--to see if you can get those lost images back. Even if you give the client half their money back, your reputation will still suffer. IMHO, better to exhaust all methods of recovering the files first.</p>

<p>Otherwise, I agree with Barry--pay them what they are asking for, and learn from this incident.</p>

<p>Refund the 1/2 amount; and go with your contract: 400 images of the wedding. If fewer images are included of the family dinner, try to remember it was a wedding (the bride-and-groom are the priority) first, and a family gathering second.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Been there, done that except your situation is a little less horrifying than mine was.</p>

<p>It's never an easy thing to go through and I truly hope no other photographers on here have to go through it. You lost 92 images - I lost 500 images. It's something I would never want to experience again, but in the end, we are human and we do make mistakes.</p>

<p>As far as a refund goes, I do feel $160 is a little low, however, I do not feel you should have to reimburse half of their money. Yes, the family pictures are some of the most important pictures of the day, but you did offer to retake them and they did deny that offer. Although it wouldn't be the same as the wedding day, you made an attempt to fix the problem and that is a first step. </p>

<p>The refund amount is obviously going to depend on how much they paid in the first place. Lets say for example the package were $1,000 - they want $500 back, you offer $250. Some people might think I'm crazy, but you have to take into consideration the fact that they do have the majority of images from their day and you didn't lose half of the images. You lost a small amount - yes, a small important amount - but you still have their day documented. And things could be worse and they all could have been gone. I'm sure they would rather have some documentation of their day from a professional standpoint, rather than none.</p>

<p>When this happened to me, I offered my clients half of their refund back. yes, I lost 500 images (very important ones at that), but I also gave them 1,100 images shot over a 10 hour period and most of their day was still documented. Most of the images I lost were before and during the reception (including cake cutting and first dances). The couple was fine with that offer and, as I mentioned above, they were just glad they did have documentation of their day, rather than just disposable camera images.</p>

<p>Every part of a wedding day is important - from the bride putting on her dress, to the kiss, to the dance. Yes, family pictures are important as well, but so is everything else. And if you feel you are still able to provide these clients with a wonderful documentation of their day, they should be glad they have that and nothing at all.</p>

<p>In the end, offer them half of the half. Yes, you lost some of the important images, but you also captured some that are just as important. You also have to take your time with them, your time at the wedding and your time in the editing of the images into consideration. Although you did make a mistake, you are still offering to them what you do for every other client, minus the damaged images.</p>

<p>I've seen photographers who have given half refunds and have lost almost all of the images. It just depends on how your contract is worded as well.</p>

<p>Good luck and let this be a lesson learned!! It was for me and now I always carry several memory cards. I have mine marked 1-10 and I try to shoot 150-200 per memory card.</p>

 

<p>I agree: give them what they want (in my contracts I even account for compensation for their distress), apologise profusely and hope they accept this as a gesture of good will, understanding and professionalism.</p>

<p>It is NEVER about the number of images - it's always about the quality. Maybe the ONE image they would end up framing and keeping for a lifetime was among those lost - that is something you can never price...</p>

<p>If you guaranteed 400 images and that was part of the contract, they could easily ask for a full refund if you do not deliver. In that respect, $160 is reasonable.<br>

I know you stated that you would deliver closer to 450 but I do not consider colour and black and white versions to be separate images.</p>

<p>Their offer seems generous to me, suggest that you refund the 50% and consider yourself ahead.......</p>

<p>If the damage to the card is only to the case or micro-circuits then it may still be salvaged.</p>

<p>Not sure what your lab did, but if the card's case is still intact then they probably didn't do much more than load it into a reader. That's not a thorough solution. It's fairly straightforward to get data off a card by removing the memory circuit and mounting it on a PCB board. This is what a forensic recovery expert would do (or anyone good with microelectronics).</p>

<p>You may want to explore more options for recovering the data -- not in terms of saving your fee or reputation, but so you can do as much as possible for your clients.</p>

<p>Otherwise a 50% refund sounds very reasonable. Unless you've got a very thorough contract covering non-performance, liabilities, waiver and consequential losses then I suggest you take it. But you might want to issue a waiver with it that indemnifies you from further action.</p>

<p>It's unbelievable that the OP's even asking this here. I would strongly suggest that she refunds them 50% and also apologize to them for this error.</p>

<p>I would recommend a 100% refund of services and a profuse apology. You don't indicate if you are to compile an album or not, but I would charge your standard rate for any "add-ons" remember, your customers contracted for wedding coverage apparantly including the formals and ceremony. By your own admission the error is all your fault, this is totally your responsiblity. This industry is based on customer referals and as such your are only as good as your reputation. When you get down to it, the only thing you are giving away is your time and a little wear of your equipment. Imagine how the client feels, you didn't deliver and therefore shouldn't charge. One of the things I don't understand is why photographers don't hold the money paid in escrow until the client is happy and satisfied. While I can understand the desire to run out and spend the money, you job is not complete until the customer signs the final approval. Yes customers can and are often wrong. I let them know if their understanding or expectations are not those contracted for, however, I never spend the money until the project is complete, just like I don't use the memory cards until the project is fully complete - with the low cost of memory cards, I may just factor the cost into the wedding and buy a new set each time - solves all kinds of problems. Certainly your reputation is worth a few hours of work...</p>

<p>Kelly, I'm sure this isn't the kind of response you were hoping for, but truly you are in no position to hold onto the client's money. The ultimate care in damage control here is critically important given how referral-driven our industry is. I think you are fortunate that all they are asking for is half. Frankly though, they might decide to get even more angry about it later on and demand the rest, so if they are offering half I would jump on it AND get it in writing from them that this is an acceptable resolution of their problem. I would also continue to kiss their butt and make sure they are not only aware of your contriteness in the matter, but that you are going to make sure to take extra special care of them from now on.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>is the $160 refund reasonable??</p>

</blockquote>

 

<ul>

<li> No, $160 is not sufficient recompense and your logic for working that figure out is flawed in respect of good business sense.</li>

</ul>

<p>***</p>

<blockquote>

<p>And how do I politely explain to them that half of the refund is not possible??</p>

</blockquote>

 

<ul>

<li>With skill, finesse and probably lots of work, best most likely getting solid legal advice first so you are ready for all possibilities and reactions.</li>

</ul>

<p> ***</p>

<p>Though you have not asked, I comment that I also do not consider that all reasonable avenues of recovery have been exhausted.<br>

Recovery might cost more than $160.<br>

Also, my best guess is you have already caused damage to you business: it would be wise to spend time and money repairing that damage and doing so as soon as possible.<br>

The most leverage you will have in this situation is to have all the images, even if that course costs more than the amount of recompense the Client is asking at present, or may later seek, especially should you dilly-dally, any longer.</p>

<p>WW </p>

Do you still have the broken card? If so, email me.

 

As far as refunds go, I'd suggest a complete refund, so the client knows you did your best and things happen.

 

I would also offer free family portrait sittings.

 

My feeling is you messed up, regardless if it was the card or you trying to get the card out. It doesn't matter. This may sound too harsh, but you failed to document this very important single day of everyones lives; perhaps the most important day of there lives.

 

You really need to find a way to do some portrait sittings. What if someone passes on? No photo's - this could be a hard thing to swallow and live with.

If you don't give a complete refund pray they don't take legal action. It could cost you a lot more then an insulting $160.

<p>What's really ironic is that professional photographers have been bemoaning the fact that people don't understand why they need to pay 2000-3000 for a good photographer, and then you have photographers like the OP perpetuating the line that a photo's value is $1.00. :-)</p>

<p>My wedding experience goes back to the days of film but I saw something happen to a friend that bears telling. He bought a new camera, photographed his family and friends on a picnic then used it as the sole camera at a wedding. Of course in the film days there was no automatic feedback. The lab phoned him three days after he dropped the film off. Camera shutter failure, complete disaster - all photos were gone.<br>

He immediately phoned the father of the bride, explained what had happened and scheduled a reshoot of the wedding party as soon as the b&g returned from the honeymoon. He paid to have the bride and bridesmaid dresses cleaned, for the rental of a tux for each man in the party, bought replacement flowers and a replacement cake. He contacted the church and arranged a time and paid the minister his usual fee. One groomsman could not be here, having returned to his home state. The photographer called a photographer in that state and arranged to have the groomsman photographed there in order to have an artist/retoucher cut him into the men's pictures. He also paid for having a tux rented for those pictures.<br>

When everyone got together he recreated as many of the pictures as possible, including groups shots, cutting of the cake, the first dance, etc. Several friends brought refreshments and it was treated as a party. He took pictures of the party. My friend also told the couple that he was giving them a free album and free prints, with a complete refund of the money they had originally paid.<br>

A lot of good came from this. The florist did the flowers for nothing and the bakery did the same with the cake. The rental company gave him a huge price break on the tuxes and a dry cleaners did similarly on the cleaning. Both the florist and the bakery began to send referrals his way.<br>

The bride and groom asked him to title the album Married Twice, and happily accepted it as a wonderful memento. He even provided pages for snapshots the family took of the original wedding. Over the next decade the bride and others in her family recommended him to over 37 other couples, many of whom booked with a man who would stand behind his work and fix his mistakes.<br>

I always felt that there was a lesson here.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I always felt that there was a lesson here.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>It is well documented that a customer's perceived view of a business is better if there was a problem which was efficiently sorted out to the customer's satisfaction than if there were no problems at all.</p>