Insurance

[Steve Bleasdale]

UK anyone recommend a insurance company that will cover for corrupt SD cards, failure to finish a film due to loss or damage of cards or cameras or? Anything else that would not let me finish a wedding film. Steve

[Noa Put]

Would that be worth insuring? The max amount you would loose is the price you ask to shoot that day and it's not that this will happen to you very often, we all pray it never will but until now I have encountered this once in 9 years (knocks on wood) when a hdv minidv tape refused to transfer the ceremony I shot. Also I take it you use several cards throughout the day which minimizes the risk so you will most likely give the couple a discount depending on the lost material. One thing that insurance won't cover is for you to re-shoot the missing parts.

[Peter Rush]

You need professional indemnity insurance Steve - I'm with photoshield

Pete

[Dave Partington]

We're with TowerGate which gives us professional indemnity cover, loss of data cover, data reinstatement costs etc.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Thanks guys will check that out, a lad i know just got severe fine for not carrying out the brides request due to losing a card. cheers

[Steve Bleasdale]

Originally Posted by Peter Rush

You need professional indemnity insurance Steve - I'm with photoshield

Pete

Cheers Pete did you get the £99 £199 £299. steve

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

a lad i know just got severe fine for not carrying out the brides request due to losing a card.

Don't you have that covered in your contract? You can't prevent people from suing you but I don't understand what they plan to achieve, it won't bring back their memories, as if money will make them feel better afterwards.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Yes Noa but its going far beyond what we think we would get away with..You would be surprised the way the UK is going, my wife has a bridal wear shop and i would tell you one day the things they try to get money back on and the things they do to try that.

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Cheers Pete did you get the £99 £199 £299. steve

£259 Steve - I think the cost is in some part due to the value of your gear

Pete

[Michael Silverman]

In the US, you can purchase Professional Liability insurance (a.k.a. E&O insurance) which will cover you in case the client sues due to equipment failure, mistakes made in the field, or if they're just really unhappy with the product. I've read about brides being really displeased and suing for over $100,000 for "pain and suffering" because it's a non-repeatable event and they have to live with a video they don't like for the rest of their lives.

In the US, you can sue over just about anything even if you have no chance of winning and people often do that. Many large production companies get E&O insurance because there's so much money at stake and it's so easy to get sued these days. My guess is that you would need to have the right combination of a very upset bride and several very bad mistakes made on your end to get sued, but it definitely happens regardless of what the contract states. This may be different in other countries, but it's definitely real in the US although I doubt it happens to wedding videographers nearly as much as larger companies with more at stake.

[Noa Put]

It makes me wonder what the use of a contract is then if you can get sued and convicted anyway, even if the couple would sign they are ok with the risk of failure and that they are ok to get a total refund in such a case, more money won't bring their memories back. I guess it's better to be safe then sorry.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Thanks guys will check that out, a lad i know just got severe fine for not carrying out the brides request due to losing a card. cheers

What were the circumstances? You only get fined by the court for committing a crime. If it was actually not a fine but damages it's difficult to see how it exceeded the price the couple paid for the video. The companies that sell insurance do have horror stories of photographers having to fork out for the cost of re-staging the wedding because they lost the images of the day but I always take those tales with a pinch of salt.

A video of the event is very much an incidental as shown by the fact that less than 10% of couples bother with a wedding video. The whole wedding was not staged just to produce a wedding video so even if it was a complete screw up then just refunding the fee will cover any loss. Damages in a UK court are only supposed to put the parties back into the position that they were in before the breach of contract they are not supposed to profit from it & there is even a special phrase to describe this 'unjust enrichment'. In the UK there is no such thing as punitive damages.

[George Kilroy]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Thanks guys will check that out, a lad i know just got severe fine for not carrying out the brides request due to losing a card. cheers

Do you actually know this guy or is this a friend of a friend tale. These sort of scare stories have been going round ever since I've been involved in the business yet I've never had first or even direct second hand proof of it happening except to those few out and out incompetents featured in the "Daily Mail".

A technical fault should be covered in terms and conditions and I can't believe a court would fine someone for such. As Nigel Barker states the most likely would be a refund of any money paid unless the person had set out to hoodwink the couple and use the damaged card as an excuse not to produce anything but refused to return any money to them.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

What were the circumstances? You only get fined by the court for committing a crime. If it was actually not a fine but damages it's difficult to see how it exceeded the price the couple paid for the video. The companies that sell insurance do have horror stories of photographers having to fork out for the cost of re-staging the wedding because they lost the images of the day but I always take those tales with a pinch of salt.

A video of the event is very much an incidental as shown by the fact that less than 10% of couples bother with a wedding video. The whole wedding was not staged just to produce a wedding video so even if it was a complete screw up then just refunding the fee will cover any loss. Damages in a UK court are only supposed to put the parties back into the position that they were in before the breach of contract they are not supposed to profit from it & there is even a special phrase to describe this 'unjust enrichment'. In the UK there is no such thing as punitive damages.

Damages sorry

[Steve Bleasdale]

Originally Posted by George Kilroy

Do you actually know this guy or is this a friend of a friend tale. These sort of scare stories have been going round ever since I've been involved in the business yet I've never had first or even direct second hand proof of it happening except to those few out and out incompetents featured in the "Daily Mail".

A technical fault should be covered in terms and conditions and I can't believe a court would fine someone for such. As Nigel Barker states the most likely would be a refund of any money paid unless the person had set out to hoodwink the couple and use the damaged card as an excuse not to produce anything but refused to return any money to them.

Friend of a friend