Client lost images

[signature_assistant_...]

<p>Looks like I've been saving my thoughts for one single day!<br>

It's obvious now that for brides and grooms having all of their images on cd is very important, therefore making it very valuable. The clients that we do have that make this purchase are always told to have their own backup of their images, we tell them this but any normal person would assume that since you paid so much for somthing you would automatically back it up on your own. <br>

My situation, a client had her cd, used her cd, all files where good and opened correctly. Now she can't open one of the folders, therefore not seeing her images. We don't know what she could've done, she didn't back her images up anywhere.<br>

Would you charge for the replacement? I guess I'm using the theory of, if you bought a shirt from the store, and lost it would the store replace it for you?</p>

[phule]

<p>In the time it took you to post this you could have burned a new CD and sent an email telling her she could pick it up.</p>

<p>This seems like a no-brainer.</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>You should "happily" replace it. What's to be gained by not doing it or charging her again? She's going to tell everyone what an A-H you are. And for what? A 50 cent disc?<br>

What's to be gained by doing this happily? A satisfied customer whose "behind" you've saved. If you want to take this a step farther, make 2 and have her keep one elsewhere. Perhaps you out to make 2 each time and put some type of label on the archive disc....-Aimee</p>

[signature_assistant_...]

<p>We did give her the cd. I was just curious if anyone had any method they follow. This is the first time we've had this. It is a product you've created and has a high value...besides the albums and possibly prints what is on that cd is what you are paid to do. </p>

[Matt Laur]

<p><em>I guess I'm using the theory of, if you bought a shirt from the store, and lost it would the store replace it for you?<br /></em><br />But they didn't by a <em>shirt</em>. They bought <em>services</em>, and the CD is just one, small, inexpensive, easy-to-remake manifestation of those services. The value is in your presence at the event and the images themselves. The media on which the work is stored is worth less than the postage to send it along.<br /><br />What's good word of mouth worth in an industry that's almost entirely about good will and reputation... a dollar? Two dollars? Yeesh!</p>

[jon rennie]

<p>I would be surprised if more then 25% of B&G's backed up their cd of images. I charge a fee for additional copies of the disk (since i do mine up real pretty) so I would just charge that fee. If I had to go dig into a few years ago's hard drives (I keep a year or two current on my local hard drives) to get the files to put on the disk again, I may be inclined to charge a little higher.</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>Jon,<br>

You should find a better way to increase sales. <br>

I view an opportunity here for really CHEAP advertising and good will....-Aimee</p>

[silverdae]

<p>Aimee, I sort of agree with Jon. If you don't put a value on something, ie charging for the disk and for the replacement of the disk, it has no value for the person receiving it. I'm not saying charge an arm and a leg, but I would have it priced so that if it is the fourth time a customer comes to you asking for a replacement, you can choose to charge them.</p>

<p>For instance, lets say a replacement disk is charge at $50. If it is the first time, or a good customer, you can invoice out the charge. $50 fee, $50 credit for first replacement. It reminds the person that it isn't free to burn a disk, especially if you have to go years back to get the images. It also reminds them that this is something of value, not just a "50 cent cd."</p>

<p>People think that since everything is digital, it should be cheap. It isn't. My time isn't. Having to replace the disk I gave to couple should be charged out. Discounting it on the invoice, or not charging, is each photographers discretion, but I think value <strong>should</strong> be placed on the disk itself.</p>

[davidandkara]

<p>your customer paid you how much for the photography? and now you're debating charging them for a 26 cent disc and two minutes of your time? if your bottom line is so tight that you can't afford to burn a complimentary copy of their pictures again, you might want to rethink your business strategy.</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>Jon, Jen and others,<br>

I understand what you're saying.<br>

My original comment was to give them 2 initially and mark one of them as an archive CD or backup. So why not do that and let them know that it's X dollars if they need a replacement?<br>

But apparently it wasn't quoted upfront and now just isn't them time to make up a charge that will only issue bad press.<br>

It's all about nailing these things down initially and living with what was done or wasn't done with the past....-Aimee</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>burn a disk<br>

geez</p>

[eyekandy]

<p>I personally think that would just be BAD customer service if you <em>did not</em> give her a replacement. You could forget about any word of mouth business from her. Would it really be worth that??????</p>

[nishnishant]

<p>If the CD (or DVD) went bad after a mere few months, the bride may think that you gave her a bad CD (inadvertently). That may or may not be correct - for all we know, her CD reader may have been bad and this must have ruined her CD. But as long as she is not sure of that she may believe that it's your fault, and she may tell her friends this too - overall a lot of bad publicity which you'd want to avoid.</p>

<p>So I applaud what you did - that was the right decision. In fact, as a friendly service extra it'd be nice if photographers gave two copies of the CD / DVD. If you do decorate up the main CD, then you could give a plain-Jane 2nd CD (marked clearly as a backup copy) - so the 2nd CD shsouldn't cost you more than 20 cents.</p>

[aimee_pieters]

<p>I think we've reach a consesus here....-Aimee</p>

[thomas_hardy1]

<p>Maybe give two, and come up with a nice DVD holder labeled "backup - keep in safe place". </p>

[betty_lowrey]

<p>I would just send them another disc. Discs are cheap, cheaper than bad press you may get for giving her a hard time.</p>

[peter_wang6]

<p><strong>I'm going to play devil's advocate here. You are a photographer, not an offsite data archival/colocation facility.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />Yeah, you could burn another disc. But is it your place to serve as your clients' perpetual data backup service? They know you keep the images you took, and sure, it doesn't cost you anything to send them again. They paid for a service and that's fair. But they paid you to take the photos and give them a product; they're not paying you to be their personal backup service. What if you have all sorts of clients coming back to you decades later, expecting that you'll have the data they lost because they were too lazy to maintain their own records? Then what? If you don't have it, will they sue you?</p>

<p>I realize I'm being terribly pessimistic here. But there's something you gotta realize about clients of ANY business, and that's the unfortunate reality that if you set up expectations of services going above and beyond what you sold them, you'll be damned sure some of them will come back demanding it next time. It's how small enterprises get eaten out of house and home. Give your customers an inch and they'll take a mile. Yes, it's great PR and makes them happy, but you really need to watch out for the ugly side, which is that if you aren't careful about this sort of thing, you can certainly expect it to escalate and get quickly out of hand. And you do NOT want to get trapped by your own goodwill.</p>

<p>So by all means, give them the second CD but you really need to tell them that's it. They don't get freebie after freebie. Tell them in no uncertain terms that if they lose it again, it's GONE. Of course you're going to be nice about it, explain to them that you're more than happy to provide them with this one replacement, but maybe print a nice bright label on the disc or jewel case that says "irreplaceable memories/back me up/don't lose me" and give some examples of how they can do that. They're not children anymore; if they're old enough to get married and have kids of their own, they're old enough to be responsible with a freakin' CD, okay? There are a zillion options and they can do all of them at once. <strong>Safety deposit box. Online backups. External hard drives. Mail copies to friends. Print services.</strong> Really, there's no excuse. If something is important enough to you, you find a way to make sure you don't lose it.</p>

[mike_hitchen]

<p>I like Jen's solutionfor all the reasons Peter says. Give them an invoice with the disc but mark it as paid - hand it over to the bride and make a joke of it.<br>

You make your point and she's happy.</p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>A store may not replace a "lost" shirt, but the customer didn't lose the CD. If you buy a shirt and the buttons fall off and seams split after a wearing or a washing or two, most stores will replace it. Buy a camera and it stops working for no apparent reason, we expect it repaired or replaced.</p>

<p>Are some providing "off-site storage?" Yes. Many would be willing as all heck to find and make a print and often for an extremely tidy profit. Some make it clear they are holding the negatives or files hostage against future purchases and are very cranky about "copies" being made. How many would have a snit if a client asked for a second "back-up" or said upfront they were making back-up/offsite copies?</p>

[frolickingbits]

<p>As the others said, make her a copy, either mail it out, or let her come by and get it. You will get kudos for being a reasonable, nice guy. Also, without being snotty or rude, give her some tips on backing up the photos. <br>

This reminds me of a good idea that I learned from another photographer, and which I will start doing-send each disc with a little note about the life span of CD's (about 5 years if exposed to light, dust, etc, longer if not), and the importance of continuing to back up the images on new storage technologies as they come out. As an example, I had a zip disc come out of the cobwebs at the office, and was asked if I could get the files from it, so I had to go hunting for a zip drive, which is not an easy thing to find. Before too long, CD's and DVD's will no longer be standard equipment, having been replaced by something better (flash memory is coming down in price at an extremely rapid pace, for example). <br>

So, without getting too technical, just including a note that explains some backup strategies and lets clients know not to just forget about their backups until years later when they actually need it.</p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>If it's within a couple of years, I replace it free.</p>

<p>If older, I ask for the cost of materials and shipping (about $35.00).</p>

[francie_baltazar]

<p>we keep everything on a local hard drive for one year - after that there is an archiving fee because now we have to go to the safety deposit box - get the set of DVD's burn them onto our hard disc then burn a new set - so under a year - no charge just a nice note reminding them to back it up... after a year 75.00 vauting charge. Simple... when they know they could be charged they back it up...</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>Hello? Have we not heard of archival quality ('gold' layered, 300+ year rated) DVD & CD -Rs? Yes, I know most photographers (I did say most...) don't bother... but really... for the extra $1 it'll cost you per disc? Isn't it worth it?</p>

<p>I don't have a single 'standard' CD-R, CDRW, DVD-r or DVD-RW disc over five years old that still works reliably. They are CHEAP, they DEGRADE, (god forbid you accidentally left them in the OVEN of your laptop for a week, or worse...your car!!) I've never had this happen, because I did some research, and switched to archival quality discs (I only bother w/ the DVD-Rs)a couple years ago, for about a buck a disc, I have never visited this particular problem.</p>

<p>Peter - I hope you're not serious. frankly though, <em>your client's problem is YOUR problem</em> , you provide not only professional service, but control over that service. You should be thanking them for coming back to you so you have the opportunity to remind them how PROFESSIONAL and CURTEOUS you are... (Plus that you are an outstanding photographer, are still in business, and decades later can shoot their daughters wedding). Do you not know how human memory works? <br>

Think about how much you pay for marketing to try to get repeat or referral business, for the cost of a disc, you got an old client to come in (or meet up) and look around, chat for a second, and walk out w/ great feelings, a business card (or three) plus a CD & case plastered w/ your logo/ business name... ...LOL maybe I'm on the wrong track with the archival discs...</p>

 

[oistrakh]

<p>I agree with most people who say that the OP should burn the extra CD and ship it to the bride since the contract did not state otherwise. But Peter has a very legitimate point, which is that everyone needs to make sure they address this situation as part of their business practices. In the pre-digital days, you'd charge the client if they lost their wedding album and you had to dig up the negatives and re-print everything, right? As digital becomes more pervasive, customers are expecting files and images to be more and more accessible, and they will expect YOU to be part of their data recovery plans. While it is indeed great PR to help a bride and groom out for free if their computer fails and they lose all their wedding photos, you can't run a business like that, not with the way digital is changing things. All wedding and social event photographers should have language in their contract that addresses this situation, probably via a time-sensitive escalating fee (i.e. within the first year it's free, years 2-5 it's $XYZ, then after that it's $XYZ * 2). Remember that as your client list grows, so does the number of clients who might come back to you with requests for extra copies of their images; you need to make sure you get paid for that extra work that you are doing to give them those copies.</p>

[fotografz]

<p>I agree with Marcus, (assuming that you provide wedding images to the client on storage media.)</p>

<p>This post points out a serious issue with this industry. Most people are providing all the wedding images on discs ... probably mostly DVDs. Take a moment to research the life expectency of the average DVD most people use. It's sobering given that wedding photography is often a part of a family's historical record. My family has silver prints of Great Grand Parent's wedding portrait ... and I have negs of my parent's wedding in the 1940s. A while ago I scanned a wedding from the 1960's and printed an album for the couple's 40th anniversary, (they had been to poor and never had done an album).</p>

<p>My solution is to make a master using Archival Gold DVDs burned at the slowest (read: deepest) speed, and imediately burn a second regular DVD for immediate use, (programs like Toast offer that option when the first DVD is done, and then the second only takes moments to burn.)</p>

<p>The Gold versions are provided in a archival folio, and I emplore the client to place them in their safe deposit box along with birth records, passports, titles, etc. and use the regular one for the immediate future.</p>

<p> </p>