Do you charge a data recovery attempt fee?

[Emellid]

I always charge for an attempt because a clone has to be done so that's wear and tear on my equipment. My fee to attempt is 50$ which can be used as part of the whole process which usually is 150$ and up for backing up. Sell them a new drive and dump the restored files on it.

 

[lcoughey]

Wow! Nothing like an old thread just popping up out of nowhere. But, now that it is here, I'll give my 2 cents worth.

As a professional data recovery lab, Recovery Force does not charge an assessment fee (with some exceptions, such as RAIDs) and have a no data no charge policy.

If it were possible to say with certainty, I'd be tempted to charge an assessment fee for projects that come in after unsafe things have been attempted. You put the drive in the freezer and ran Spinrite? Okay, that is a $100 assessment fee.

 

[onetech4all]

Re:

I generally get asked the following:
1) Can you recover the data? My hard drive is doing this and that. Based on what they tell me, I answer.
2) What is your recovery charge? I answer: $250 flat fee (does not include parts if necessary). But you should know that I have a diagnostic charge of $45 that provides you with an accurate diagnostic. (In some cases, they have no problem paying for it. As a matter of fact, I just got paid over PayPal for a diagnostic fee. Hard drive platters were scratched badly. The read head broke off, and the arm fell onto the platter, dug in it, made several holes through the platter. This was a WD Caviar 21200).

That being said, my time is valuable to me, since I could be studying for something that would further my career, or improve my business, or I could just enjoy the rest of the day. I have no problem, if anyone decides to go with another company because of a small diagnostic fee.

 

[300DDR]

We also charge no fee if we can't get back the data the client wants (unless we recover 100% of the drive, and we do charge $50 upfront, put toward recovery, if the cover has been opened). Luke, a $50 fee for freezer or SpinRite would be nice too But then less people would probably tell us the truth.

My thought is: if you are good enough at data recovery, the small percentage of drives you can't recover is worth charging $0 for, so the customer comes back next time (rather than finding a place, like us, where we don't charge any attempt fee). They also have no risk when sending us the drive, unlike anywhere else that charges up-front. Since our customers are typically looking for the best deal, they will go with us over anyone charging an attempt fee.

If it works for you, keep it up. After all, it's common practice in the data recovery industry. For us, it's worth it not to charge anything and keep all clients as happy as possible (and we like to prove with our rates/policies how different we are than most data recovery companies -- "no data, no charge" is just one part of that).

 

[onetech4all]

Everyone's responsibility is to keep the customer happy. So, everyone is doing that, including myself.
The way that I look at the whole "free diagnostic" scenario is a desperate attempt to bring in more business; especially since we are all living in a culture that enjoys free services, handouts and entitlements.
I could agree with cutting costs, but not providing anything for free. It costs each and everyone of us to run a business, why should it be free for anyone?
I turn the computer on, turn the light on, spend my time to troubleshoot it, it all costs money and time! That's my 2 cents!

 

[300DDR]

This is true, but the fact is, you will get less clients because of it (and we all need to weigh the pros and cons, if you are spending more time on drives you can't recover, then a diagnostic fee isn't a bad idea - and may be the only way to run your business profitably).

With my Mac repair business, I always used to charge a $50 diagnosis. Now that I'm having my Mac business partner run that business exclusively, he's dropped the charge and all diagnosis are free. At first, I thought it was a big mistake (sometimes I still do). But, in reality, it's better. More people drop off so more people are likely to get their Mac fixed with us. Also, and perhaps MORE importantly, it cuts down on phone time: explaining all potential problems and possible outcomes. We just say, "drop it off for a free diagnosis." They rarely have a follow up question and just drop off. This may save an hour or more a day on phones alone! That is worth some money in and of itself! (And the same thing is true for data recovery: "bring it in, there is no risk, let us see what we can do.")

Just my 2 cents.

 

[onetech4all]

I know where you are coming from with this and I thoroughly understand the business approach, I'd just hate to feed this "monster" of free stuff and handouts.
Anyway, something to try out, thanks 300DDR!

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

We charge $250 min fee to try to recover data from a hd. WE will have time in it, it is not our problem if the data is not recoverable or is going to be more expensive than they want. In many cases we will have several hours in before we know we are going to get something or not. We do not do that gratis.

 

[PDXMicro]

Yes. My fee is split into two parts: assessment and recovery. Assessment is 50% of total, recovery constituting the other 50% of the fee.

Customers do not seem to mind. In fact, I dont recall anyone ever saying "no thanks" when I have told them thats how it works.

The reason I charge the fee is because it takes time to do the assessment and Im not interested in performing any tasks for free.

Ditto. I have an initial fee to attempt the data recovery ($60), another $60 if the data recovery was successful, and then $1 per GB of data recovered and it's provided on any method of storage they wish (hard drives if provided by the client, or DVD's if no other options available). I've never had someone say no so far.

 

[allanc]

We also charge no fee if we can't get back the data the client wants

If you retrieve 1,000 files but not the one specific file that the client wants do you send them the 1,000 files for free or do you send them nothing and treat the job as if you were totally unsuccessful?

 

[Rosco]

i charge a 50 non refundable deposit. If it is recoverable it depends on how long it takes. Usually between 50 and 100.

 

[lcoughey]

My question to all the non data recovery lab folks out there is, "What do you tell the client so that they can make the decision on whether or no you should try the recovery attempt yourselves?"

 

[Mindfulness]

If you retrieve 1,000 files but not the one specific file that the client wants do you send them the 1,000 files for free or do you send them nothing and treat the job as if you were totally unsuccessful?

We show them what was recovered and ask if that is worth the recovery fee. If they say no, then we would give them none of the files and make no money on that job.

As pointed out by 300ddr, free estimates with repairs or no charge unless we recover will bring in a higher volume of clients(with some draw backs). That is what we do for both repair and data recovery. It works well for us.

 

[300DDR]

If you retrieve 1,000 files but not the one specific file that the client wants do you send them the 1,000 files for free or do you send them nothing and treat the job as if you were totally unsuccessful?

The latter, no data for no charge. We NEVER give any files back for free. Most of the time, even if we don't get that "one" file they need, they still want the other 1,000 files for our low rate (rather than paying 4x our rate for that one more file). Sometimes they don't, as that file is crucial for business and/or the ONLY reason for the data recovery, but usually this isn't the case. Sometimes it's worth it for customers to take what we've recovered (and get some data back ASAP) AND try the next level clean room (though this is more rare).

 

[allanc]

The latter, no data for no charge. We NEVER give any files back for free. Most of the time, even if we don't get that "one" file they need, they still want the other 1,000 files for our low rate (rather than paying 4x our rate for that one more file). Sometimes they don't, as that file is crucial for business and/or the ONLY reason for the data recovery, but usually this isn't the case. Sometimes it's worth it for customers to take what we've recovered (and get some data back ASAP) AND try the next level clean room (though this is more rare).

Thank you for the clarification.