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Policies/procedures for customer acceptance
I welcome feedback on how to best secure final customer acceptance whereby any alts after this point are at CUSTOMER EXPENSE.
My problem is that when I provide a DVD proof, my customers do not thoroughly review EVERYTHING (video, audio, subtitles, text, etc). I get a verbal Okay, so I finalize the project, burn & print DVDs and deliver the job. The next day I get a email indicating that there is some minor error (maybe their fault, my fault or most often a miscommunication between us) and they expect me to re-finalize the project at my expense and immediately!
– Do you provide the customer with a written policy on customer acceptance and related matters?
– Do you insist on something in writing that the project is accepted?
– How do you educate the customer on their role in properly proofing their job.Thanks for taking time to respond.
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2 Replies
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I used to send customers .wmv files of the end product for their final approval, but always got a problem with the fact that they would send it around every office so that everybody at the business would be able to give their 2 cents. Of course, everybody wanted to impress the boss with their input, and the changes started to get totally unreasonable.
Nowadays, I invite the client to come and sit in the edit suite with me, and view the finished product there. They are always impressed by the atmosphere, technology etc, and are more complient to your advice and explanations. They have ONE chance to make any changes, and one chance only. Thats for free, and written in the contract.
After the master is delivered, any changes are billed at a normal daily rate.
Simon -
This depends entirely on your billing scheme. If your contract with them calls for x number of hours, and there are hours remaining in the contract, you are on the hook to provide services until those hours are exhausted. Generally my studio works this way, providing any changes asked for regardless of reason/intention. We just keep careful track of all hours worked and keep the client notified of their actuals every day or two. Once the original invoice hours are gone, the client goes to hourly.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com
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