It happens quite often.
Return the hdd in initial condition.

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data recovery Poland

Thats 'dobre', means twisted logic. This also means that if you return drive after being duly paid you are still guilty.

We have all sorts of clients
Most of them are very respectfull and so am i towards them, but i'm always very cautious.
I have had some weird clients in the past.

Like they say, 'dont put the cat with the milk'.


Dobre

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Murphy was an optimist

Datarecovery in Belgium, Holland, France and Germany
Datarecoverytools http://www.drtools.eu

If I had a client that told me that the quote was ok, and after my work was done the client tells me that he had a second thought or short of money and wanted the drive back I had refused that. Or put the drive in same condition as it went in.
I this country an agreement is a agreement (written or told), no money no drive...PERIOD
I had talked to the client why this behaviour...if lack of money I have give him a suggestion to split it to 3 equal parts or so.

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Rescue IT Datarecovery service Sweden
Rescue IT Dataräddning Göteborg AB
http://www.rescue-it.se

It doesn't matter what part of the world we're talking about, if the client accepts the quote and the recovery is successful then he/she is obliged to pay. Getting written (e-mail for example) agreement works perfectly well as they can't deny they gave you the go ahead, you have proof. Bombard them with the invoice until they pay. You have their drive and their data so you have the upper hand. As others mentioned if the customer has financial difficulties then offer them some terms or agree on a discounted price. Difficult customers will always exist and in my opinion are more difficult to deal with than their faulty drives a lot of the time

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Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Data Recovery Cape Town

I see DR in most cases as an electric provider service. With the exception of people with disabilities, hospitals and so on, does a person need electricity to survive? No. Same is with DR. Nobody forces anybody to bring in their media and approve for data recovery service.

And so, if you hire anybody to provide a good a service then you are liable for it.

@pclab, I recommend you add in a entry in your terms of agreements that should the customer decline service after approving, then the customer is liable for $200 of 20% of the total quote, whichever is higher.

Best wishes

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

I own a computer repair shop and have been in situations similar to this a couple times. Sometimes the problem can't be diagnosed without fixing it. If I agree with my customer to a $75 diagnostic fee, then end up fixing it by doing a repair I usually charge $190 for... and they don't want to "fix" it after my diagnosis, I'm really stuck only charging them $75 but giving them back a working computer. Granted, it was really my fault for not telling them/having them agree that if I end up fixing it, it will cost XX much, and I've learned from those experiences.
Not exactly the same situation, but if it was me I wouldn't waste any more time on it. Be the better man and give them the drive back in working condition. They are the one who will have a guilty conscience. Also, you avoid the stress of confrontation. Explain to them that the drive probably won't work long and tell them to keep you in mind for future problems. They will probably refer business to you.

Completely agree. It doesn't happen frequent. However laptokowiec says it happens 'frequent', then different meassure should be taken, not necessary apply to OP's case.

The method to put heads back on platters is not acceptable, as drive is in good condition, but it might not survive another sticktion case.

Yes, agreed it is a method to deal with such case.

Backup the data and keep it with you wipe the whole drive and return it .

And angry customer will post on some forum Fu**** DR Pro wiped out all my hard drive!
Looking forward for more drastic solutions to be proposed.
I love you guys, real men serving justice, real DR Pro!

Mod, please make it sticky, or part of the DR Pro FAQ: Solutions to my first nasty customer in my practice!

Proper agreements solved the problem in future.

For example - if client resigned, while you are working on drive or you already finished, he should pay 60% (and he can't get any data). Of course client signature must be below this agreements.

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Flash Killer - everyday new resources (pinout, XOR, ECC,config) for flash devices

I just got a similar case. Stiction case on a Toshiba 500GB, client agreed (and signed agreement) and next day they called and said they simply can't afford it. They seemed to really want the data but can't afford it. They proposed we do this in a few months after they gather the required money.

We offered payment in 3 installments and client finally agreed to this. Imaging drive as we speak.

We have several other cases with declined jobs, but in this case we deny returning the original media. It is part of the signed agreement, with which client agreed beforehand.

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http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

I agree that offering 3 easy installments for situations like this is a good idea as long as they keep to it & pay them.

Do you give them the data back on final payment? Otherwise I can see a situation that they agree to the easy payments scheme get their data back on the first payment & then think I'm not paying the rest now I've got my data.

I also agree in this situation that if they change their mind after accepting & giving the go ahead, that they dont get their drive back.
If they then push it & really want their drive back then it should be wiped. Saying that this all needs to be in the terms & conditions that they sign

There is no reason now a days why a customer on the phone as an example cant print off a T&C + Quote you email them, sign it & take a photo of it on their mobile phone & email or picture sms the documents back.


Loki

Hey Loki

Yes we only give them data on final payment, OR we suggest them to use credit card. This way they can have as many installments as they want and we get our money on time. In that case they get their data once credit card has been approved.

We have never wiped a drive. It is not in our T&C and we prefer to just deny returning the drive, no matter what.

Our lawyers are happier this way.

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http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Don't feel bad.

I had to outsource a mechanical job last year. Customer agreed fee from me. The company I used got all data back. They needed paying before release of data.

I paid them promptly by debit card, received a complete recovery. Then the customer decided to move to Germany. Then decided not to pay.

Down by £370 for a mechanical fix. And I only quoted him £430 to cover P&P time sending it away and rebuilding his PC with windows and transferring all his data to it.

Do what your conscience tells you to. I try and do one job a month for free, but I had not intended it to cost me £370.00.

Should have used a credit card :-/

Live and learn.

Logical.

The client may have decided the data is not as valuable as he originally thought. Well I think you should return the drive to its owner in a condition as close to the original as it is possible to achieve. If that means the drive is in a condition where data is easily recoverable by an end user have you considered making a minor modification to the firmware which only a data recovery professional would be able to reverse using pro tools? You would have to make sure the data is not destroyed, but only available with pro intervention.

I see stupid and unprofessional solutions gone, discussion becomes real, I give you the following advice.

When you outsorce you should add insurance fee to the customer. In this situation you will be paid by insurance (if it is a real one) or from the set-aside internal account. It is sad that good customers pay extra charges, but it is a common practice in business and works well.

The reason it's quite "frequent" in Poland is the money.
For most of your countries 400$ for recovery with head exchange is not a big deal but here it's a lot of money for most clients.
And the price of the donor is the same (or higher) as enywhere else (50-100$).

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data recovery Poland

I just bought 2 donors for 450usd.

Should I quote the client with 500usd?!?!

Hhhhmmmm thinking of it. Don't want to steal from him...

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http://www.pclab.com.pt facebook.com/PCLAB.A.T
ACELab partner