Refund & Cancellation Policy

Most of the situations that cause refunds elsewhere do not arise here, because you are not charged until the work is done. There is normally nothing to refund.

This policy explains the situations that can still come up.

Nothing to pay until the work is finished

You pay nothing when you place an order. We invoice after the work is complete and quality checked, for the items actually converted. If something could not be converted, it is not on the invoice in the first place.

Blank and unrecoverable items

We do not charge for items that turn out to be blank, or that we cannot recover anything usable from. There is no checking fee and no minimum charge for a failed item.

If none of your media could be converted, you will not be invoiced for the transfer work at all. Return postage is payable by you the client.

Cancelling before you send your media

You can cancel at any time before your media reaches us, at no cost. Just email us.

Cancelling after we have your media but before work has started

Email us as soon as possible. We will return your media unworked. Return postage is payable by you the client.

Cancelling once work has started

Once transfer work has begun we cannot unwind it, and we will invoice for the items completed up to the point you cancelled. Anything not yet started is not charged.

Your original media is returned either way.

If you are not happy with the quality

The finished file can only be as good as the original recording. Tapes degrade, cameras were not always well handled, and a 1987 home video will look like a 1987 home video no matter how carefully it is transferred. We will always tell you up front where a source looks poor.

If the transfer is demonstrably worse than the original, that is on us. Tell us, and we will re-transfer the item at no charge, or refund what you paid for it.

Where the limitation is in the original recording rather than in our work, a refund is not offered — but talk to us anyway, because some improvement is often possible and we would rather look at it than leave you disappointed.

Nothing here affects your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act. If our work was not carried out with reasonable care and skill, you are entitled to a remedy regardless of what this page says.

If something is lost or damaged in our care

It is rare, and it is the reason we decline the jobs with the highest risk of destroying irreplaceable media rather than attempting them.

If it happens, tell us as soon as you notice. We will work out a fair resolution, which may include a partial or full refund of the charges relating to that item.

We recognise that a refund cannot replace something irreplaceable. That is precisely why we turn down the jobs we do.

If a parcel goes missing

On the way to us: the courier arrangement is yours, so the claim sits with you and your courier. We will supply whatever information helps.

On the way back to you: we will take it up with the courier on your behalf.

Late delivery

Our usual turnaround is 7 to 10 days from arrival. If we are going to be significantly later than that we will tell you, and you can choose to cancel any work not yet started.

Where you have paid an urgent-work surcharge and we fail to meet the agreed date, the surcharge is refunded.

How to raise something

Email us here with your name and roughly when you ordered. We usually reply the same day.

If we cannot resolve it between us, you can take the matter to the Disputes Tribunal.

Your rights under New Zealand law

This policy sits alongside your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Fair Trading Act 1986. It does not replace them and nothing in it limits them.