a client asks and what do you do

[Sisters_photography]

Hello everyone

I know afew of you have had this happen and I would like to know what you did about it.

ok heres what happen

I drove over 75 miles one way to this client ranch on a saturday ( not a problem to me) he did have a referral for me on that same side of town for the same day.

that day he placed a order of christmas card and paid the 50.00 session fee i charged him. his wife asked me if i could put the pictures on a printable cd along with a letter saying that they can print the pricture. I did agree to that as long as they place a order that totaled another $100.00. well the Chrismatmas cards came in and I took them to his local house. When I got there his wife had her order form filed out. She had a list of 48 prints on it i sat with her and went over it. I told her that when I got home I would start working on the order she said that would be great cause she needed them for Christmas gifts. I stayed up till 1am that night working. After I was done I sent Him a invoice with his grand total of $400.00.

Then next day about 4pm I get a call from Mr. saying that they needed to scale the order down to about a $100.00( which is the amount that I told them so that they could get the CD) I told him that I would have to call my photo lab and see the status of the order. well need less to say the lab said that the order could not be stopped it was already printed and setting on the cutting table.
I called him back and he said that he would have to talk to his wife that she could not talk at that time she was setting at the car dearlership buying a new car.

I dont have a contract and I did not get any money on this second part of the order i know that was not a good idea but I thought he would be one of the last one to take advantage of me.

where can I get a contract or how do you guys handle things like this?

I need your help so that I dont have something like this happen to me again.
I will never again say that I will give a printable CD again!!!!!

How do you answer the famous question " can we get a CD so that we can print these or email them"

any help I would be greatful of.

Thanks
Kristi

[cdifoto]

I don't see where your problem really is. Client canceled the order too late, end of story. Collect your fees. Next time don't order prints without the client paying first.

[John Mireles]

where can I get a contract or how do you guys handle things like this?

You can get a portrait contract here: www.PhotographersToolkit.com. It has language to cover you for exactly this situation.

I need your help so that I dont have something like this happen to me again.

You need to collect 100% payment up front before starting an order. It's much easier for a client to cancel an order if they haven't paid than if they have. With payment and a solid contract/purchase agreement, you should be good to go.

How do you answer the famous question " can we get a CD so that we can print these or email them"

Just tell them, "Yes!" You absolutely can have that CD. Here's how much it costs. If you place a minimum of a $X,XXX order, you can have it free." You should sign up for my Photographer's Business Coach as well since I cover a lot of issues like this. (The link is in my signature.)

John

[IndyJeff]

Tell the client that you have already processed the prder and it has been printed and waiting to ship. As of this point there is nothing you can do to stop the order which SHE placed and you processed in good faith.
One avenue to complete the order payment would be to accept the $100 and give him 30-60 days to pay the balance.

[NickSimcheck]

While we all hope that it works in your favor, it most likely will not.

If they throw a fit you are better off saying look since you two are in a disagreement would it help if I reduced the price to say $250? Better that then throwing away 3/4 of the prints and getting $100.

Then use this as a reminder to youself to get full payment and/or contract. My advise, if people want a CD and rights either tell them your repuation is built on the quality of your work and lab quality is far batter then CVS/Walgreens, so no. But if you want to give rights tell them sure, $10, $15, $75 or whatever per image.

[NickSimcheck]

...Oh and if she's new car shopping their not broke, keep that in mind.

[liza]

Moral of the story: Always collect your fee up front.

[Sisters_photography]

Originally Posted by NickSimcheck

...Oh and if she's new car shopping their not broke, keep that in mind.

Thats the way I feel about it. its not like I charge a arm and a leg for my work they had 48 prints and one was a 11x14.

I hope they pay for them and I dont get stuck with the pictures.

[NickSimcheck]

Just a thought, maybe try to meet with them and show them the prints.

Most likely they will hate the thought of you throwing out 75% of the images (never to be seen again, oh dear!) and they will take at least 90% if not all of them.

[sierra_nova]

You should sell a CD, not give a CD. Set a price for your CD of Images that you are happy with. It should be a price that you are happy with even if they order no prints. When they order more than expected in prints, sure, throw the CD in if thats what you feel like doing - but always always always get your money up front, before you print.

Cheers,
Naomi

[symes]

I have a standard policy...when orders total $800.00 or more for portrait sessions I will give them a printable CD with high resolution photos and a permission letter. Barring that they can outright buy files at $150.00 per file.

Cheers,

[kevie]

I would have given an invoice based on their order before sending to the printers actually before snapping a single photo. Its kinda like going to an expensive restaurant and not looking at the menu and just ordering blindly, then getting the bill before your food comes out.(so many variables of what might come out bad: cold food, wrong order, takes too long etc.)