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VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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 Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:03 am Post subject: Need help with a difficult situation |
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So I did an eBook and delivered it over a month ago (I had sent him a link to the dropbox where the files were located). I received full payment from the client nearly a month ago and he said that he was satisfied with the work. Hadn't heard a word since. I deleted the completed files last night...I'm sure you can already guess what comes next...
I get an email this morning saying that he needs me to redeliver the files. What would you do? The E-Book was about 40 pages long.
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi
Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11074
Location: Portgordon, Scotland
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| Do a search and see if you can find some file recovery software or find an IT person near you to do the job. Shouldn't be too difficult to get them back or that expensive. |
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:17 am Post subject: |
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I just ran the recovery software but since it was deleted from a cloud drive (dropbox) it is not appearing on the software. 
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Scott Pollak
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
Posts: 1903
Location: Looking out at the San Juan mountains
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:55 am Post subject: |
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Neil, Neil, Neil...... You don't keep the original files on your computer or a local backup (or Carbonite)?
If not, and if you can't recover them, you may have to re-record and chalk it up to experience. And if so, the good news is that it's 'only' 40 pages, and not 400.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.
www.voicebyscott.com |
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:09 am Post subject: |
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If I do re record, do I charge him? If so how much? I know this situation sucks, but to me, it's on him...or is it just me?
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Bish
3.5 kHz
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 3738
Location: Lost in the cultural wasteland of Long Island
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:15 am Post subject: |
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I hate to be the one to say it, but while we would all do whatever is possible to make the situation right, where is the burden of responsibility here? OK, there have been many threads about backups, and the general consensus is that there's no need to ever delete anything. Storage is a s cheap as chips so keeping everything is a good insurance policy... yada, yada, yada,... horse, meet unbolted stable door.
Job completed. Job delivered. Job paid.
Rough estimate... 40 pages, 10,000 words, a little over one hour... four hours work. Not the end of the world, but why take on this burden? Be helpful... tell the client about data recovery services. He lost them, not you. You have fulfilled your obligation and been paid a month ago. You are not his data storage facility. He lost the files after he took delivery.
Be sympathetic. Be helpful. Quote him for doing the job again... maybe give him a discount, but it is not your responsibility to re-record for free.
Well, that's my opinion anyway.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls. |
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Dave Waters
Contributor II
Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Posts: 58
Location: Dallas, Texas
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:16 am Post subject: |
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If it's on Dropbox you can restore the file. Go to the website and click on the trash can to either show or hide deleted files. Then, right click or control-click on the file for the restore option.
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Dave Waters
www.davewatersvo.com |
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:20 am Post subject: |
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Dave Waters, if I ever meet you in real life, I'm buying you lunch buddy! Thank you so much! Crisis averted!
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:36 am Post subject: |
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Bah...I recovered the files and now they are in all small chunks of WAV and pfk files instead of the original MP3 files that were in a zip folder. Does anyone know if this is normal?
Thanks!
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DougVox
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 1706
Location: Miami
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:14 am Post subject: Re: Need help with a difficult situation |
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| Neil K. Hess wrote: | | What would you do? |
I'd learn and follow the 3-2-1 backup rules:
1) Keep 3 copies of any important file.
2) Use 2 different types of media to back up those files.
3) Store 1 copy off-site.
There are tons of ways to accomplish each of those three steps. Find a way that works for you and stick to it.
Who cares whose "responsibility" it is to keep those files on hand? I'd much rather (by a factor of about 837) be my clients' hero and say "Oh, sure, I'll send those files right over," than...
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Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com
Last edited by DougVox on Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Scott Pollak
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
Posts: 1903
Location: Looking out at the San Juan mountains
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| Bish wrote: | | I hate to be the one to say it, but while we would all do whatever is possible to make the situation right, where is the burden of responsibility here? |
Bish, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. As creators of the audio, I believe we owe it to ourselves at the very least (if not also to the client) to maintain the audio files 'just in case' (as so vividly illustrated by this example in this thread). One month is nothing for keeping master audio files. I only delete audio that is YEARS old or that there is simply no conceivable way the client would ever, EVER need them again.
| Bish wrote: | | OK, there have been many threads about backups, and the general consensus is that there's no need to ever delete anything. Storage is a s cheap as chips so keeping everything is a good insurance policy. |
'Zackly right. So as professionals, why not protect ourselves easily and cheaply with backups? Anyone, in any business, of any kind, who produces a product or service, most likely uses SOME precautions to make sure that whatever it is he/she has created is protected from being lost forever, thru some type of 'insurance', be it a backup, a duplicate, a lockbox.... whatever. Why on earth risk losing it?
| Bish wrote: | | He lost them, not you. You have fulfilled your obligation and been paid a month ago. You are not his data storage facility. He lost the files after he took delivery. |
Seems to me that BOTH parties lost the files after the fact.
| Bish wrote: | but it is not your responsibility to re-record for free.
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And again, I respectfully disagree, Bish. Yes, the client lost the files, but so did Neil. As Doug said above:
| DougVox wrote: |
Who cares whose "responsibility" it is to keep those files on hand? I'd much rather (by a factor of about 837) be my clients' hero and say "Oh, sure, I'll send those files right over," than... |
I believe it is our responsibility to protect our work thru the most simple of means: backing up. As far as re-recording, I guess a lot of people will disagree with me on this, and I'm not saying I COULDN'T be wrong, but in the long run, it's a lesson for Neil to learn about saving those files. It sounds like maybe the crisis has been (hopefully) averted, but I'm BETTING Neil won't be deleting large chunks of audio files in the future!
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.
www.voicebyscott.com |
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Whit
Backstage Pass
Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 431
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| Totally what Doug says. It's good to be the hero. Part of the job is making things easy for your client and being super easy to work with. |
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7977
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:46 am Post subject: |
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Hi Neil... I can't help you with your tech question on recovering your files, and how weird that Dropbox would have converted them to something else. Call them and see if they can be of help.
Let us say what we VOs create is art. OK, it's art. When a painter completes a portrait for you and you lose it there is no expectation of a replacement sitting in storage. However, in the electronic age there is a reasonable expectation that a copy of our work is extant (with a diminishing expectation as time goes on) since an hour-long recording can literally sit on the head of a pin.
If you can't recover this, by law I'm not sure you owe him a fresh recording, but by ethics and a desire to get more business from your client and others, I'd be cracking open the mic soon.
B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005
I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. . |
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cyclometh
King's Row
Joined: 06 Aug 2010
Posts: 1051
Location: Olympia, WA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:05 am Post subject: |
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If you had the books on dropbox go to the folder where the files were using their website and look at the top, there is a link that says "Show Deleted Files". Maybe you can get them back that way?
Edit: Nevermind, I see that was tried above already. Disregard!
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net
Last edited by cyclometh on Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bish
3.5 kHz
Joined: 22 Nov 2009
Posts: 3738
Location: Lost in the cultural wasteland of Long Island
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:23 am Post subject: |
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Scott, et al... I was purposefully taking an extreme line to make the point. The job was completed, delivered, paid, done & dusted. I agree wholeheartedly that good practices in data storage (on both sides) would have made this all moot. The fact is, with the situation as presented, the customer had bought and paid for four hours of work... then lost it. This is a question about the burden of responsibility. Undoubtedly, to smile sweetly and say "let me do it again for you" may make that customer very happy indeed, but is it good business practice in all cases? Maybe it's a question of degree... a 30 second spot may not be getting such a response. Being a hero is nice, and that is good business practice... Remember, this isn't a case of selling substandard goods where there's buyer's remorse (this car is crap, give me my money back), it's a case of customer loss (I lost the car you sold me... give me another one.).
This was not an ideal situation. Ideally, the "sure I'll send those files right over" response would have been perfect... but there are no files to send, so that's why we're in this pickle arguing about what is right/wrong, good business/bad business. Let's take it one step further... would "no problem, I'll record them again" be such a good answer if it was a 10-hour book... 40 hours of work that the client had lost?
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls. |
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