Buyer wants the work resent, I already deleted it

[emmntt]

Hello,

I've got a tricky situation. I composed a movie score for a film director. It was a big project and took ~2-3 months of constant back and forth. When completing, I attached to the delivery a link to my cloud. I do not usually do it, but the format they asked was clunky and the entire thing was ~20 Gb, so I could not attach it to the delivery (looking back at it, I should have zipped some 1Gb packs, you live you learn). They received the files, confirmed that it was OK and accepted the delivery.

3 months passed, they contacted me back, asking to resend the files. Apparently, their mixing guy stopped responding and the director does not have the files downloaded. Needless to say I got shocked. I checked my cloud, just to see that my files and project are already gone. I probably removed them around New Year to get some disk space. So they had 2 months to get them.

I replied that I would check, after checking my cloud and my disk with a recovery tool, I'm 100% positive I cannot recover the files. I technically could remake the score, but it will take me lots of time, and I'm not sure I'm getting payed extra.

I feel rather lost here. Have you ever been in this situation? What would be the best business approach here?

Thanks,

Vlad

[brandluxetech]

Hello Vlad.

I totally understand your plight and I emphasize with you.

It's true,this kind of situation is somehow tricky,but it's not that complicated.

You've done the work,the client and their team has approved it,and they've paid because you have helped them on the project to a desired satisfaction.

You don't have to worry much since they didn't agreed with you on a recurring support service, it's kinda one off,and after three months they're coming back to request they want the project resent.

After 90 days.

Even if you have the files available,they have to pay you to resend it based on business legal terms.

What I think you should do is to explain to them about Everything and let them know you have discarded the file after 90 days.

But you can help them with another one if they are will to pay you.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards.

Emma

 

[emmntt]

Hey Emma,

Thank you so much, your reply is very reassuring. I certainly lack some business understanding skills.

I'm now working on me text to the buyer. Thank you for your help!

Vlad

[nikandco]

1 hour ago, emmntt said:

I feel rather lost here. Have you ever been in this situation? What would be the best business approach here?

I have had a similar situation. I delivered the final video via Fiverr platform, so I could access that. But Buyer came back after a few months and asked if I could tweak some of the text. Since I no longer had the source file, I couldn't tweak without re-doing the whole thing.  I politely explained the situation to the Buyer, letting them know I only save the original files for a few weeks due to storage, and they were completely understanding.

In good faith, you could offer them some sort of small discount to redo it, but you don't have to. You haven't done anything wrong.

 

[emmntt]

Thank you @nikandco. This is a cool story! I have just adressed my Buyer, explaining them the situation and offering my support. I hope they will be understanding too.