Good question fujimax
I agree with pepe.
Personally I think that this is a general business for all kinds of services.
For example:
If you send a car to a mechanic store, and after they fix the car you decide that you do not want it back and you will sell it damaged as is, it would be correct to return the car fixed ??
Offcourse not, because you would have invested time, and parts in it.
If a customer decline my quote, he will receive the equipment / data as it have arrived in my lab. That is why I always try to quote before doing the actual recovery.
Advancind in this subject, do you guys quote the price for the difficulty and parts needed for the job, for the amount of money that the client is ready to pay, for the importance of the lost files or a mix of this all ???
-BR-