Does your court reporting firm have transparent billing … really?
Your client works hard for their money …
Shouldn’t they know exactly how it was spent?
We all know that reporting services are not inexpensive; however, comparing “rate sheets” from different reporting firms can sometimes be confusing . . . so many variables.
Does your court reporting vendor send you invoices that leave you scratching your head - wondering how they came up with that random number at the bottom of the page? Personally, that type of billing practice with any company leaves me FRUSTRATED. I like to see what I did to incur a charge - you know, see what things actually COST.
Large national reporting firms - and some small ones, as well - do just this. The invoices leave you feeling the need to back into the math for detail … going and finding the number of pages in your transcript … dividing that by the total … having no idea how much appearance was or exhibit charges - and still having no clue.
WHY? Oftentimes, random fees are buried in that number - do your homework!
“Our clients deserve to KNOW what they are paying for ... no mysterious ‘admin fees’ or ‘litigation package’ fees ... no outrageous invoices with a single total at the bottom ... just clear, itemized billing.”
At WSG, our invoices have nothing to hide:
1) Our invoices clearly have each and every charge itemized and listed in black and white; no bundle billing - no guessing.
2) We do not have arbitrary “admin fees.” What are those anyway???
3) We do not charge you per page for the condensed formatting or index - because if I were the client, that would anger me! It’s the same transcript - just a different format. Come on . . . right?
4) We do not charge for a vague “litigation package” that you did not ask for, do not need or want.
5) We also do not CONTRACT - this subject is fodder for another whole blog post … but contracting is a MAJOR reason some of you have seen copy invoices that make your jaw drop …. these contracts are situations where special “group” rates are given to certain industry clients who set up large blocks of depositions, and then the costs are *seemingly recouped by the reporting firm via higher-than-normal copy costs to opposing counsel. This practice is illegal in Georgia, but sadly not everyone follows the rules.
Look at rate sheets differently, going forward. Just because one reporting firm’s page rate may be lower, does not mean their final bill will be lower!
Always looking out for you ….
Whit