Client lost images

[ujwal]

<p>I dont charge - i would just burn two DVD with photos.....write a note that they need not worry and assure them that their photos are going to stay safe with me and post it along with a few of my business cards so that they can give it to their friends.<br>

:)</p>

 

[timothygrayphoto]

<p>Aimee, just wondering how you survive? Last I checked you couldn't put food on the table through good will.</p>

[peter_wang6]

<p>No good deed goes unpunished.</p>

<p>This isn't about the financials. This is about your <strong>sanity</strong> . You have to nip this sort of thing in the bud if you have any hope to run a business.</p>

<p>I make ceramics, though not for a living. I have that rare luxury of being able to make pots every now and then just because I want to. My work has been featured in an internationally recognized ceramics magazine. And I do NOT sell my pieces because I don't need to in order to eat. That's what my regular job is for.</p>

<p>But on occasion, I have given away pieces to friends and relatives who I feel would appreciate them, because unlike photos, pots take up space. Lots and lots of space. I give them away because I believed that by not putting a monetary value on them, and by deliberately and selectively choosing who and what I give, I maintain an unquantifiable value to them. Now, most people get this. But some people, well, let's just say money talks. If they didn't have to pay for it, they think nothing of it. And I've been approached by these individuals and asked if I had others that I'd like to "get rid of." Or if they could come by and rummage through my leftovers, "just anything, please, I want some more, doesn't have to be perfect, if the glaze is off or if you just didn't like the result...." It's not that they value the pot...it's that they want something for nothing and since I previously set that expectation, I have no one to blame but myself. By putting no price on them, I thought I was showing everyone that some things in life cannot be bought. Love, friendship, devotion, sincerity. Instead, some people are so focused on getting and taking that they interpreted my generosity to mean I'm some kind of one-man Pottery Barn outlet.</p>

<p>The same goes for photos. And if you're trying to make a business of it, you better be damned sure you don't fall into that trap. By all means be professional. Be courteous. But generosity is a double-edged sword. Like I said, you are a photographer. Be a photographer. Don't be someone else's backup service, unless you happen to discover it's some long-unrealized childhood dream to be a data center technician.</p>

<p>In closing, this is the kind of ceramics I do:<br>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aM-_NR3d0g</p>

[signature_assistant_...]

<p>I have to say I agree with most of you who say to let the client know that this is a one time thing. Majority of our clients are beyond nice but ofcourse the one client who needs the replacement is the one who has an opinion. We did let her know that we would normally charge a small fee and just before we could say "we'll replace if for you at no charge" she flew off the handle, which is why I wanted to do a "survey" to see what everyone else think.<br>

Jen I completely agree with you, my thought was exactly that. It shouldn't be thought of as a mere .50 cent CD it's so much more then that.<br>

Peter I'm absolutly on board with you on this one! I beleive in customer service but I don't beleive in falling to every request a client has because nobody is an angel and if you can get taken advantage of you will. <br>

This is a business, we're here to provide skills and memories. That's what we're paid for. If 'goodwill' is such a big issue then why, in all reality, are we charging so much for our time? It's talent, a lot of work, important memories that are cherished. It's invaluable!<br>

Looks like this could be something that can be debated over and over again. It's all under the photographer's discretion.</p>

[kiva]

<p>Tell the couple you've got to charge them for burning and sending a new dvd disc of image files and the <strong>fee is</strong> :</p>

<p>1) "If you think about it, would you be willing to mention my services and photography to a couple of people if the opportunity presents itself?" You've just obtained <strong>Free Marketing</strong> ! I can almost guarantee you that you'll get one wedding from this "fee".</p>

<p>2) Read the information sheet on how to handle and care for your archival dvd. (Merely an <strong>Education</strong> piece that suggests safely archiving a master disc after creating a working disc.)<br>

(Signature Assistant: you Do have an information sheet you send along with the disc(s) right?</p>

<p>This is an opportunity to show good will and reconnect with the customer who will speak highly of your laid back approach and great service.</p>

<p>I believe that Yaiyo Yuden discs have been rated slightly better than other DVD discs (including the Archival Gold) and they are cheaper and there is data to back that claim up. Burn at slower speeds as mentioned above.</p>

<p> </p>

[gyoung]

<p>Its all about customer service these days, a client wants to feel special, and when a client is treated special you get refferals. If you have the file to burn on a new disc. It would only make sence to burn it. She will feel like you went above and beyond for her, and I'm sure would think of you when her friends are getting married.<br>

Clients only remember the bad things you did. Reguardless of how great the pics came out, or how professional you where. Don't give them any reason to think of you in a bad way.<br>

Five min. of your time could cost you alot of $$$ in refferals </p>

[gyoung]

<p>Its all about customer service these days, a client wants to feel special, and when a client is treated special you get refferals. If you have the file to burn on a new disc. It would only make sence to burn it. She will feel like you went above and beyond for her, and I'm sure would think of you when her friends are getting married.<br>

Clients only remember the bad things you did. Reguardless of how great the pics came out, or how professional you where. Don't give them any reason to think of you in a bad way.<br>

Five min. of your time could cost you alot of $$$ in refferals </p>

[william-porter]

<p>First, some of the responses here seem to be based on a false dichotomy. The options are not either (a) smile and give her another DVD or (b) be a jerk and tell her she's going to have to pay through the nose for it. There's also © smile, charge her a small but reasonable replacement fee, and perhaps remind her about that helpful info you sent in the first place about backing up.</p>

<p>For me at least burning a new DVD is not the work of five minutes. It takes a LOT longer than that to burn the DVD (with gigabytes of images), test it, and use Lightscribe to burn a title on the disk. </p>

<p>I make it clear to clients that I cannot promise to keep their disks forever. I promise one year. As it happens I still have every digital photo I've taken since 2000, but I simply can't promise to store everybody's data forever. I'm not an archival service. NOTE carefully that the issue here isn't what I am or am not actually DOING. It's simply what I am PROMISING to do.</p>

<p>Finally - and this is the most important thing after urging them to make backups - I make sure that my clients understand that digital photo technology and computer technology are very much still in flux. And the real problem isn't the quality of the storage medium itself. It's whether you'll be able to access it. I have in my office boxes of old floppy disks, microfloppy disks, Zip disks, Jaz drives, etc. - NONE of which I can easily read right now. Not to mention my extensive collection of VHS tapes for which I no longer have a working VHS player. CDs and DVDs LOOK like they'll be usable for a while, but nobody really knows.</p>

<p>Paper is impermanent, too, but, heck, so is the planet, and in terms of accessibility, paper is the just about the best technology ever. I have books in my library that are several centuries old and as readable as they day they were printed. I urge my clients (a) to print out the photos and save the prints and (b) to bear in mind that in a few years, if DVD/CD technology is replaced by some new technology that stores 100 GB on a disk the size of a penny, they may need to transfer their digital files to the new storage medium or risk having very well preserved old disks that they can't get to. Ditto with the digital files themselves. Jpeg looks like it will be an accessible file format for years to come, but "years to come" is pretty vague - and yet it's as precise as anybody can be.</p>

[mt4x4]

<p>Data Rot/Bit Rot, read up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rot</p>

<p>Like getting good word of mouth refferels? If I still had the images, I would provide a replacement for a nominal fee (shipping+cost of cd/dvd). But that's just me.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>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>

</blockquote>

<p>She paid you for a service and clothing stores don't generally rely on word of mouth for refferels.</p>

[bill_dewberry]

<p>Sometimes the hardest part of being self employed is seeing the big picture.<br>

Successful people do.</p>

[deb1]

<p>I would burn them another cd, in a heartbeat, for two reasons: Simple kindness and it leaves them with an overall good impression of you and your photography. When they speak of you to others, and they will, they will have positive words to say about you and your work.<br>

It's not about - did they do the right thing? It's more about the right thing being done!<br>

deb</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>William, I'm sorry, but the problem IS the media itself, I have drives from 2000 (or thereabouts) that will read any CD ever written (provided it's still readable), but I don't have any CDRs from then that are still useable.<br>

I would call that a media failure. I'm 100% certain that failure of this particular (ie. standard CDRs) original media will predate the obsolecence of the drive systems, not because I have a crystal ball, <em>but because it already has, and routinely does.</em> All volatile storage is, well, volatile, but the organic dyes used in most CD/DVDr have a ten year <em>or less</em> lifespan. They are not chemically stable.</p>

<p>However this is a serious issue that is facing our industry, most of us haven't been shooting exclusively digital for ten years, but have been delivering files on CDr/DVDr since we did go digital. I know I have. Over the next few years, I would expect this problem to snowball as the original media inevitably fails.<br>

I'm not worried about a client coming back years later with a disc they can't read because they don't have an optical drive, same as I don't worry about a client coming back to complain about the 'crappy' 6/8mp resolution of their images from a few years back. That truly is NMP. However, a media failure IS my problem... especially if I charged for that disc.<br>

From a liability standpoint, it's outlined in my contract 1+3yrs, so I'm covered right? Well any good lawyer could use <em>this very forum</em> to prove that we know about the lifespan problem of 'standard' CD-Rs and did not seek a solution, therefore were negligent by providing a 'backup' (especially if we restricted our client's right to copy/backup through copyright laws, which many photographers do) with a limited lifespan.... especially if I charged for that disc.</p>

 

[Aoresteen]

<p>Burn the CD. Give it to them. Get 4 new leads.</p>

<p>Easy!</p>