Posted by cylvia on August 16, 2000 at 23:36:15:
In Reply to: Re: Transcription JOB posted by ocg on August 16, 2000 at 12:27:13:
Another thing you can do is send him all but the last one or two transcriptions as e-mail attachments until he gives you final payment. Then you can send him the invoice and the remaining transcripts and rewound, unerased tapes.
Let me state that I have had no dealings with this person. I agree with OCG, I would estimate a little high because it might take you more time than you think to finish the job. Make clear to him that you are giving him an estimate. One 45-minute tape can end up easily being 32+ pages depending on how it is formatted, and can take you at least 4-5 hours to transcribe especially if there is more than one speaker.
Also ask him to send you in writing along with the tapes exactly what he wants you to do, just to ensure there is no confusion on either end. Do this before you start the job. That is a standard procedure I use.
Also, the deposit idea is not a bad idea. A lot of times I simply invoice the person. Once I had a feeling that the person would not pay and had them sign a terms of agreement statement. One of the smartest things I could have done. Then once I had a client who subcontracted work out to me, told me she had the money in hand, then didn't pay me. That's when I thought about using ABSSI's collection agency because I had two customers at once that together owed me about $500+. I was very angry but did not lose my cool. Instead, I wrote them very friendly reminders that they had not paid me and got results.