against client complaint

[shoohrat]

the Client took all the working working files, plus renders, and after a month+ the Client telling me that  lost all the files, asking to send all the files over again, after i said that ive already deleted them, because ive sent the files, youve approved and its a month since, then the Client started complaining about the work ive done, asking for refund, blaiming me in all the possible way.  Is this ok, to work in this manner? Thank you.

[richardrader]

Yea he is being silly. If you sent the files, how did you send them?

Google Drive?

Upwork?

Email?

Surely the files are still there, I am sure if he checks the source in which you sent them, he can retrive them. 

[shoohrat]

via Yandex disk

[prestonhunter]

re: "Is this okay to work in this manner?"

You are describing horrible behavior on the part of this client.

Of course it is not okay for a client to act this way.

Shoohrat:
If this was over a month ago... then the contract was already closed, right?

So this irresponsible, inappropriate client can not actually do anything to you.

[shoohrat]

the contract was open, i do help clients if this possible, or client may ask for more work, so im usually ok with that, but today, after continuing complaints and asking for refund without propper  reason, i had to end the contract 07/12/21, leaving same comment about the client.  

[feed_my_eyes]

I archive my clients' files on Dropbox for at least two years (indefinitely, if they become a regular client), because they frequently come back to me months later and want changes, or on occasion they do lose track of their files and greatly appreciate me being able to provide them again. Doesn't anyone else do this? I realise that we're not obliged to serve as a back-up for clients who lose their files, but deleting them after only one month strikes me as a bit premature.

[2e395a62]

Christine is right, I keep the files as well. The only limitation might be the size of the files - I can believe that keeping terabytes of data is both costly and inconvenient. Having said that, I still can't figure out what to do with tons of CDs with projects done for clients my former agency worked for 10-15 years ago or so - they occupy half of my garage 🙂

[feed_my_eyes]

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Piotr O wrote:

Christine is right, I keep the files as well. The only limitation might be the size of the files - I can believe that keeping terabytes of data is both costly and inconvenient. Having said that, I still can't figure out what to do with tons of CDs with projects done for clients my former agency worked for 10-15 years ago or so - they occupy half of my garage 🙂

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LOL - I had a whole box of back-up CDs right up until I upgraded my computer and realised that since I no longer had a CD drive, there wasn't much point in hanging onto them. But I had a few fun hours of breaking all of them before I disposed of them.

[prestonhunter]

I archive files.

I have redundant archives in iCloud and iDrive.

For all clients, all projects.

If a client lost the files they received from me, that’s their fault. But if they contact me and ask for files, I simply send them files. No charge. No questions asked.

[shoohrat]

I usually  keep files for 1-2 weeks, beacause i do lots of simulations and vfx work, so files become big enough. In this case it was 100 GB clean archive. If i ve kept all files of clients on HDD or cloud it would turn some dozens of terrabites. Not sure if that is part of my work. As another example: ive done part of the project and my PC has burnt, client asked for done files, said that ive spent his time and did not pay anything. The client did not bother, then why should I. Thank you. 

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

Shoohrat:

You pointed out an important difference between the type of work that I do, versus the type of work that you do. The file sizes involved in what you produce are massive. Far bigger than what most of us generate.

It is not your responsibility to store other people’s files for free.

The mistake you made was not closing this contract as soon as you were paid.

You should have closed the contract right after getting paid. That way you would have removed any leverage the client had over you.

[shoohrat]

I agree, hope this will end well.) Thank you.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Shoohrat Y wrote:

I usually  keep files for 1-2 weeks, beacause i do lots of simulations and vfx work, so files become big enough. In this case it was 100 GB clean archive. If i ve kept all files of clients on HDD or cloud it would turn some dozens of terrabites. Not sure if that is part of my work. As another example: ive done part of the project and my PC has burnt, client asked for done files, said that ive spent his time and did not pay anything. The client did not bother, then why should I. Thank you. 

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In that case, do you clearly tell your clients that you'll be deleting their files after a two-week period, and how important it is to have back-ups? I realise that it's not your responsibility, but if I were a client who didn't understand very much about what you do (which I don't), I'd be surprised and disappointed to hear that my files had been deleted so quickly. I'm sure that it wasn't the client's intention to lose the files, and now they're out of luck - it's understandable that they'd be upset. I would try to provide a bit of sympathy and a quote for re-doing their project, if you haven't already, instead of just effectively saying tough luck, it's your own fault.