Well it the wife has authorised the repair, even if it's only verbally then that is a contract. I would demand payment before releasing the hdd + data. If he came to collect it, I wouldn't let him have it. simple.

Jes, and in insisting for payment before returning the machine (including data)
one has a lot of quarrel, arguing, and finally and most probably to face a lawers
letter (most of people have a law insurance included within there home insurance).

Then - if you have no written proof of the customers order - you´ll loose a case on court.
(End user is always the poor guy beaten by a company....)

So - again - you have worked, the customers drive contains now all data clearly accessible
and readable on it. Customer refuses any payment at all (because his "friend" can do the
job cheper than you) wants his computer (including the fixed data) back or otherwise you
have to face above.

What are you going to do? Be a good (and dum in my opinion) guy or a bad guy?

I would stick to your guns.

Refuse to give the system back until he has paid.

There was a verbal contract for you to do the work by his wife, which you have done.

I don't know how much you are charging for the work, but I wouldn't expect them to go to the lengthy hassle of lying in court (which they would have to do, if they are trying to say that no verbal contract was made), if the data was so urgent.

Call his bluff!

IMHO of course.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Understand your point - but:

- I would create a much bigger fight - and you know 1 bad customer equals more than
20 by bad word of mouth ....

- and I never would be able to (if he really pass the drive on to sombody else) let him
feel sorry.

And I only wanted - please dont laugh - € 90,- for work + 60,- for new drive.
Its always when I want to be kind - it reverts in that way....

Now - to be honest - the data is still there - but ....

My first thought was that U don't have any business relation to the guy.
U received it from the lady, so she should come and pick up the part and negotiate things, U have nothing to do with the guy. U don't even have to believe he is her husband. Especialy in such a case...

pepe

_________________
Adatmentés - Data recovery

Simple! Always pretend an irrevocable written and signed work order, with terms and conditions, sent via fax or personally. Always include in terms/conds a penalty for late repent and always pretend an evaluation fee to be paid in any case, maybe in advance depending on case/customer and subtracted from total in case of acceptance. P.s. We have rights to fight for, too!!

You need to speak with the lady who gave you the computer and make sure that this person coming to pick up the drive is authorized to pick it up. If someone pulled that on me first I would call the lady to confirm she no longer wants you to work on it and confirm who this guy is coming to pick it up. If your a data recovery company then you should have already made an image of the drive. Thus when you hand over the computer it is in its unrepaired state. If your a computer repair shop I would demand payment before giving any thing to anyone and call the police if they get angry. You should have a signed work order when she dropped off the computer. It would prove your case in any court.

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

People always do to US what WE allow... Eliminate the cause and the effect will go away.

You are definitely right!

Should have insisted for a written contract from her husband next day.
He braught the computer (which belongs his wife) to us.

As others have mentioned, do NOT start any work until you receive a signed authorisation from the customer.

We analyse the drive and then send an authorisation document to the customer, outlining the service options, pricing and terms and conditions. Until we receive a signed copy back via fax, with payment details, we do not begin the work. This will eliminate any confusion between you and your customer and this sort of thing will not happen to you again. Unfortunately it takes something like this before you change the way you operate. I've learned the hard way from customers trying to screw me over in the past because we've been too nice. At the end of the day, it is a business transaction and should always be treated that way, no matter what the individual circumstances.

If we change heads on a drive and the customer decides not to proceed, we always replace the original heads and seal the drive again. We then put a large sticker with the job number and details on the drive. We also state that the drive has been opened in a class100 cleanroom environment and that the ORIGINAL HEADS HAVE BEEN REPLACED. DO NOT POWER THE DRIVE ON AS THIS MAY CAUSE PLATTER DAMAGE.

_________________
Data Recovery Ireland

Don't forget you are also handling DATA !!

Falther - if that happened to me I would keep refusing to release the system unless they paid. If they file a court case I would fill the drive with garbage and give it back to them while keeping an image of their data. When their other guy can't do anything about it, I would charge them 5x more than my previous quote for their data back. Refusing to pay 90 pounds for a DR job is just ridiculous. Customers like that make my blood boil.

I suggest you to get them their system back and forget about it. If they don't want to pay - they have a right to do that

BTW if you are going to refuse releasing their system they can go mad and ask Odiferous to make investigation
And you will be next "FRAUDULENT DR COMPANY" in his list
Beware

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Well you defenitely should be aware of Odiferous

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

I agree with Doomer,

Not worth taking this person seriously, keep your eye on the ball
and more profitable work. Give them their "stuff" back with big smile,
you will be rewarded.

At this point why not putting some roadkill into the pc case? You can always say I didn't open it, you stopped me before... LOL ! btw, hope they or their 'friend' aren't reading this forum. P.s. What would you do if a post clearly concerning THAT case spring out on THIS FORUM? LOL again...

I swear sir, the tire marks were already there...

_________________
Buy your friends Toshiba\Hitachi and your enemies Seagate.

1. Rewrite the corrupt image onto the original drive (although, I never work with original drives, so I could simply give the original drive back)
2. You are not the authorized point of contact. I have no desire to find out if there are marital or business disputes that may be related to this data, so you are not getting anywhere near my actual client's data.

I am sorry, but for confidentiality reasons I am unable to discuss this matter further with you until you are made an authorized contact. I have to call my client now and inform her of your attempt to obtain her data and interfere with our transaction.

Have a nice day.

In conversation with her:

3. I have great news for you! We were able to recover all data as promised. Unfortunately, there was an attempt to interfere with our transaction by a third party, which we blocked.
4. The time to shop was before work was authorized. Sorry. Now the diagnosis and attempt fees are due and payable. If you wish to receive the data from the drive, a recovery fee is due and payable instead. We were successful and you won't save much money at this point after an amateur sees what we were actually up against as it'll take them several hours to correct the problem if they take all the precautions that we do.
5. I suggest we proceed with our transaction as we originally planned. When should I expect to see you?

He dropped off the equipment, but that doesn't make him an authorized person for altering negotiations.

Odiferous

We too have seen drives where they have been passed to larger firms, or retail multiples as unrecoverable; and the quotation not accepted. We have been successful in some instances.

Also working frequently with lawyers on forensic cases, I would errr on the side of caution before publishing.

(1)Ensure you have written witness statements from the client, otherwise if (and only if) the large firms lawyers were to get their hands on it, there will be a mess. You must have a watertight case!

(2) Check with your professional indemnity insurers that they will continue to support your business

Good luck with the cause, but be careful mate!

scegs

Thanks Scegs - but believe me, I have considered the alternatives.

I don't do mediocre - so you can imagine what "fraudulent" does for me.

Besides - neither Apple nor Seagate have sent their lawyers around. I have no hesitation in slating them, and will continue to do so for as long as I am satisfied (or, more appropriately, dissatisfied) that they are shipping sub-standard goods.

But the caution is appreciated - because in my experience, a dodgy DR company is one of the most aggressive beasts in the forest. They also happen to be total cowards.


Duncan