Real Estate Photo Terms of Service--forget and you'll pay
As a real estate photographer and videographer, I'm essentially selling a service to realtors in the Toronto and GTA area. Since this is not a product, and there is no immediate exchange, I have to--or at least I thought I did-- give realtors the benefit of doubt regarding payment for my work. For quite some time, I would do the work without any payment upfront and would trust that I would be paid for it. Hehe. Except for a few realtors who chose to pay me three months after I did the work for them and following many emails and calls, I got paid for all my work. I was lucky, I guess.
Since learning that my competition takes payment upfront before doing any work, I have began doing likewise.
And I wish I would have implemented this earlier. Yesterday, I received a cheque from a client (I would never divulge any client names so don't ask) for an amount less than what I had invoiced. This client decided to alter my invoice, straching out the travel charges with a note stating "I was not aware of this", and then proceeding to recalculate the total before the travel charges. At first, when I saw this, I was upset and ready to email this client a piece of my mind. I had, after all, travelled 1 hour each way (that's 2 hours total--not to mention the hour of photography) to this property, which is my time (which I could have used to shoot local jobs for clients in need), car fuel, and wear on the vehicle. But, thankfully, I stopped myself before reacting and quickly realized that I was at fault. I had failed to have this client read, sign, and return my terms of service agreement before commencing work, so he could not have known that I charge for extended travel (which, by the way, is industry standard) and was right (I think?) to modify my invoice and pay me less.
I learned two lessons here:
1) Always request that your clients give you a signed copy of your terms of service.
2) Always take payment upfront.
After I cooled down, I emailed the client back, apologised for the misunderstanding, and explained that I had forgotten to request for the terms to be read and signed. I hope that was appreciated.
I appreciate my clients and over such a small misunderstanding, would rather swallow my pride and admit fault than to bicker about what's right, etc.
Oh ya, one more lesson: You learn quick when you lose money!
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