Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin
@Hitch
Have you considered sending them an invoice for your time that they wasted, at your usual hourly rate of course.
lesee figger figger uh... each email take 15 minutes... times 15 emails... that's 3 hours and forty five minutes... times $50/hr ... why that comes to $187.50.
hmmm, bet they don't do it again.
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Oh, believe me, I've thought about it.
But here's the problem that I (sort of endlessly) run into: they think it's part of my job. We send out a handout, with the quotes (and again, mind you, when we set up their project) that expressly states that "Tech Support is NOT included" with the work. That they will have to download and install programs, in order to view their books, etc. That they need to be able to do this, to work with us.
But then, when they can't do it--it's your problem. I have a pretty famous story (I've told it on one of the sub-forums here, I forget why) about the 80-email guy. A guy who insisted, for 80+ emails, that I'd sent him corrupted files. And why did he think that? Because, not only did he convince HIMSELF of that, but APPLE told him that, too. They told him that the mobi file I was sending him, was corrupted.
Why? Why? In the end,
because he didn't know how to download a file from Gmail. I finally had to pull out my Mac Mini, hook it up, put a monitor on it, and then shoot a bunch of screenshots, to show him HOW to download the FILE, not a SHORTCUT, from Gmail, to his Mac Desktop. Once I spent two MORE hours of my time (this is above and beyond the replies to the 80 emails, telling him exactly what he was doing wrong, mind you), hooking up the computer, synching my dropbox, yadda-yadda-yadda, and taking images, marking them up with instructions (go here, click that button...) well, IT WAS A MIRACLE! The file wasn't corrupted, after all. Surprise, surprise, surprise. (Yes, think Jim Nabors there).
But you can't tell them that it's
THEIR problem. It's
YOUR problem.
It's not John Doe who will get bad reviews online. It's not Client X who will be said to be uncooperative, or providing bad service. Or bad products. Once an error message is involved, YOU are the bad guy, because YOU sent bad products. Or, because you don't know what their OS is, or what computer they're using, or what version of X, you're not doing YOUR JOB. I got so frustrated with one guy recently I gave him the number to the Geek Squad, and told him to call
them for support (which of course, they don't do, because--that would cost MONEY).
Or the person who wants to get on the phone with you about all their POD options. Did they go to Createspace
first? Did they look at what trim sizes are available? Do they know what fonts they want, or margins? No. They want you to work on it WITH them. Now, there are perfectly good--and perfectly expensive--print-layout houses that do this sort of hands-on, step-by-step support. Usually starting at around $2500/book. But that's not what we do, and
it's not what we CHARGE to do.
So, it's a Catch-22. If I try to ding them for the support, because it's not included in our pricing (and trust me--it really isn't), they get angry, because somehow, somewhere, we've fallen down on the job. If they think we sent corrupted files, it's worse.
I had a guy who filed my one and only ever Paypal complaint because he had some type of whacky meltdown, got angry because the "emergency" email he sent on a Friday night at 6:00 p.m. wasn't answered
that night, (n.b.: we DID respond, repeatedly, on the Saturday), he stayed up and spent "the whole night formatting his book" himself, and wanted Paypal to refund him his money--after we'd already finished the book. This whole s**tfit? Was over the ALIGNMENT of some CAPTIONS on some IMAGES. He kept emailing our "do not reply" email address, and when we didn't respond--duh--he got upset. I must have emailed that guy 20x, trying to figure out what on earth was going on with him, but, hey, no,
that wasn't good enough. Paypal of course decided in our favor, in about 30 minutes, but it was seriously aggravating. I don't like customer complaints, ANYWHERE.
Yeah, and don't get me started about "emergency" books. There's two words I never thought I'd ever say together. And it's no better when they say "book emergency," either.
There's simply something about writing a book, I guess. I don't know what it is, but I have to say, had I known then, what I know now...
Hitch