We've lost our photos

[alexacatalin]

<p>I've got an email from some clients asking me to send them again the photos because they lost them.</p>

<p>The wedding was in 2009. <br /><br />How do you charge for this? Do you charge?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[caleb_santos]

<p>Just send them the photos. Do you WANT to charge them? Follow your gut instinct. </p>

[larrydressler]

<p>Ask how they lost them House fire send free Otherwise ask for your time and charge accordingly.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>"...lost them House fire..." For this instance, and for a hurricane, tornado, flood, etc., it might do to inquire if the couple had insurance for such a loss of personal property? Insurance companies cover your property -- no reason for the photog to continue the Santa season in October!</p>

<p>Can you go to your album supplier and request one more *free* album for replacement of a request such as this?</p>

<p> </p>

[john_h.1]

<p>If they are asking for replacement prints that's one thing. If its a disk of images and it's not a significant burden, don't charge. If it costs you chump change for a disk, (much different than buying a new album) don't charge. Inquiring about personal property claims ect. for something less than a dollar or so will just make you look like a jerk.</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>As with the others - I would not charge them again for the images on Disk. If they lost the prints - then I would do so at cost. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[marcsaint]

<p>If it was just a disk of photos I would burn a nice disk with a very nice label (with my name, website, phone number, etc) and charge some minimal amount ($10-$15) for packaging and shipping. If you write the bride's name with a Sharpie on a generic disk, that says your work (and, by inference, their wedding) wasn't worth much.<br>

If their wedding album was lost, that's a whole different story. </p>

[paul_armes]

<p>I would also drop into an e-mail the question on how did you 'loose' them. But in the interests of good customer service I would dispatch another disk out immediately, with CD folio if needed without charging. They may already be upset they lost the disk in the first place, I would not want to further aggravate them by telling them they would be charged!

 

</p>

[ann_will]

<p>Wow.. If I had the photos I wouldn't charge (if it were a disk)- but I don't keep digital files for more than seven months after delivery of the CD</p>

[parv]

(Nearly) A year seems to be too long to hold on to a client's images. Is that the "reasonable" time period?

[john_h.1]

<blockquote>

<p>" ...how did you 'loose' them... "</p>

</blockquote>

<p>http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/looselose.html</p>

[john tonai]

<p>They didn't hold on tightly</p>

[john_h.1]

<blockquote>

<p>They didn't hold on tightly</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Lol. Yeah, that's it.</p>

[markonestudios]

If no prints are required, I would burn a CD and send it to them FOC.

[daverhaas]

<p>Karma -<br>

I checked my e-mail this AM and found that I had a new e-mail from the Mother of one of my brides (from last summer) - "....I'm not sure what happened but I somehow deleted all of the wedding photos...."</p>

<p>She's getting a new disc with all the images at no charge.</p>

<p>As for the question of how long to keep the wedding photos - Personally - I never delete a wedding. Storage is cheap. Wedding photo recreation is not.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[parv]

Thanks Dave (my question did not relate to the (financial) cost of the storage but to accounting, safe keeping, and maintenance costs of (any) storage media).

[joshroot]

<blockquote>

<p>(Nearly) A year seems to be too long to hold on to a client's images. Is that the "reasonable" time period?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have the photos from every wedding I have ever shot. Now, I don't work as hard as backing them up as I do with my own files. But I keep them on discs and external drives for just such an occurrence. This sort of thing (being able to replace photos) can mean the world to someone who has lost, through tragedy especially, their images.</p>

<p>Just as photos mean the world to many of us as photographers, we can't forget how much they mean to clients/friends/family.</p>

[richardsnow]

<blockquote>

<p>(Nearly) A year seems to be too long to hold on to a client's images. Is that the "reasonable" time period?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have the digital files, pre and post production, of every wedding I've ever shot along with the negs of every wedding I shot pre-digital.</p>

<p>I've actually had couples and parents come back to me asking for galley prints, reprints, enlargements, and albums several years after the wedding, usually as an anniversary gift. I sell the snot out of these things prior to the wedding and in my post wedding consult, but sometimes people just can't spend the money at the time. If they want these things years later, I don't want to lose the income or the potential referrals because I didn't keep the original images.</p>

<p>Besides, Archival DVDs and Hard drive space is ridiculously cheap...why not spend the pennies now to have happy customers for life?<br>

Just my two cents<br>

RS</p>

[mark_harrington1]

<p>I think most photographers loose sight of the big picture - you are a professional trying to build a client base, not a one-time use service employee. There are so many questions about should I give this, or do that, the bottom line is you should want to do this or give that (within reason). Take for example an engagement session, you could rightly assume you have a good chance of being the wedding photographer. Now do the wedding and assume you'll do the Holliday photos, or anniversary photos, or baby pictures. The concept is that you market to and work hard at earning the client's business. With computers it's so easy to schedule an email to coincide with anniversaries, birthdays etc. - use this tool to your marketing advantage.<br>

While it may not be required for you to keep the negatives or digital image copies, what better way to set yourself apart from you competition by saying "I save a copy of all proofs and finished images in case you may need or want additional images in the future." Simple disc replacements cost are minimal, about the cost of a couple of business cards. Now think about the client who will either say Joe Photo is a jerk and wanted to charge me X dollars or worse threw out my pictures, vs. the client saying I lost my wedding photos and Joe Photo was so nice, he sent me a replacement disc at no charge! (Who would you rather use for your personal photographer?)<br>

The hardest thing to teach someone in sales is that you are not making a sale, rather building a customer. We as photographers would be much better able to view our clients as our boss and do what we can to keep them happy.</p>

[richardsnow]

<blockquote>

<p>The hardest thing to teach someone in sales is that you are not making a sale, rather building a customer.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><em><strong>AMEN TO THAT!</strong></em></p>

[jc5066]

<p>A year is too long? Are you serious? I<br>

It takes nothing as far as resources both physically and economically to keep files forever.<br>

<br />With that said, if it's a CD, just send it. It'll take you 10 minutes and $10 to burn and mail a CD.<br>

Prints, that's another story. You can't be shelling out money for extras. It costs you money. If they don't have insurance or something maybe offer to replace them at a discounted price. Not that I'm a cold heartless Bast... but you can't take a loss due to other peoples misfortunes. You can do the discounted rate if need be and still be a hero.<br>

It really depends on the situation. For one situation it may be charge full price. For another the discount. For one it maybe bending over backwards for them for free. It really depends.</p>

 

[ted_suss]

<p>I think it's just good business to replace the disc at no charge. They purchased the images, the disc is just how you delivered them.....-TED :-)</p>

[marcsaint]

<p>"The hardest thing to teach someone in sales is that you are not making a sale, rather building a customer."</p>

<p>By giving away things, you are building a customer who now knows you give things away at no charge. I think there is a fine line between being a good businessman and being a sucker.<br>

A previous writer wrote something to the effect of this being something that should be handled on a case-by-case basis and I agree with that.</p>

[mark_harrington1]

<p><em>By giving away things, you are building a customer who now knows you give things away at no charge. I think there is a fine line between being a good businessman and being a sucker.</em><br>

The cost of a dvd and time is pennies; Stores like Nordstrom and other high end retailers learned long ago the word of mouth trafffic generated through their <strong>very liberal return policy </strong>far out weighed the loss of revenue. There are stories of people returning tires, 50 year old wallets etc to Nordstrom, it has driven many customers through their doors, yes some with bogus returns, but somehow they are still in business - inspite of the poor economy. You can stick to your guns and charge for every single aspect of doing business, however, look at the general reputation of banks, financial market, lawyers and CPA's. As a matter of fact, even my attorney often gives a little of his time and always deducts a "professional discount" from his bill.<br>

I agree people can and will take advantage of you, but shouldn't you have enough rapport with your clients to give them the benefit of the doubt the first time - when the cost of making them happy is less than a dollar? Of course I don't expect every store to offer the same return Policy as Nordstrom, but I don't shop at stores that advertise "All Sales Final."<br>

This industry is largely based on word of mouth; a happy client will give you opportunity, How much do you think an unhappy client will cost? - Less than a dollar? </p>

[marcsaint]

<p>In my initial response to this question, I advocated making up a nice disk with label, packaging, etc and charging some minimal shipping/materials/postage fee of $10-15 (or even less). I felt this gave the client a nice product and created a little potential advertising (the label). I felt that burning a quick disk with Sharpie marker label was not a good way to promote wedding photography as a professional occupation worthy of decent remuneration. The client knows as well as we do how much it costs to burn a disk (virtually nothing) and that makes the gesture of replacing their disk kind of an empty one. I feel that by having them pay the postage/packaging they are investing in the business relationship as well.<br>

Mark H.: You must have one of the nice lawyers -- mine charges me in .1 hour increments to answer my email :-)</p>