Compensation amount help

Essexgirl_3

Hi
My family took 3 VHS tapes to a developer to transfer onto memory stick and they have lost 2 of the tapes.  They have asked us how much compensation we want, but these tapes are priceless to us, we have no idea what to request. We have no other copies of the tapes, they're just home movies from 35 years ago. Could anyone help? Thank you

DE_612183

It's a difficult one as they are only probably obliged to give you what the tape was worth - a few quid - but I fully understand that the personal memories are irreplaceable.

It really depends what you want to do with any money they give you - I can't think how I'd spend say £50 as whatever I used it for would only remind me of what I have lost.

mr_stripey

a gesture of goodwill should be expected I think. Hard to say how much. At least that is better than the tapes having been damaged or lost at home.

swingaloo

That's a difficult one, we had some of ours put on DVDs but they had something in the T&Cs to say they are not liable for anything above the cost of the films. 

You cant quantify your loss and really its down to a gesture of goodwill however annoying and upsetting the loss is. 

DullGreyGuy

Essexgirl_3 said:

My family took 3 VHS tapes to a developer to transfer onto memory stick and they have lost 2 of the tapes.  They have asked us how much compensation we want, but these tapes are priceless to us, we have no idea what to request. We have no other copies of the tapes, they're just home movies from 35 years ago. Could anyone help? Thank you

Your financial loss is probably sub £1

What the goodwill gesture should be is going to be hard to say... were they just random family movies or were they more important life events like you wedding video or parents funeral?

You've at least 1 tape left, do you have others at home? Do other family members have any? 

Have you actually looked at the one they have transferred? Is it watchable? I only ask as found a VHS copy of something I've not been able to find on DVD/Bluray so excitedly found a VCR and plugged it in... the quality was totally unwatchable so it went in the bin. A combination of aging on magnetic tape and old SD Interlaced content going onto a 110" screen that normally is showing 4k content. 

Essexgirl_3

DullGreyGuy said:

Essexgirl_3 said:

My family took 3 VHS tapes to a developer to transfer onto memory stick and they have lost 2 of the tapes.  They have asked us how much compensation we want, but these tapes are priceless to us, we have no idea what to request. We have no other copies of the tapes, they're just home movies from 35 years ago. Could anyone help? Thank you

Your financial loss is probably sub £1

What the goodwill gesture should be is going to be hard to say... were they just random family movies or were they more important life events like you wedding video or parents funeral?

You've at least 1 tape left, do you have others at home? Do other family members have any? 

Have you actually looked at the one they have transferred? Is it watchable? I only ask as found a VHS copy of something I've not been able to find on DVD/Bluray so excitedly found a VCR and plugged it in... the quality was totally unwatchable so it went in the bin. A combination of aging on magnetic tape and old SD Interlaced content going onto a 110" screen that normally is showing 4k content. 

The one that made it is fine, old weddings from 30s 40s and 50s so the picture isn't great but it's as good as it ever was on VHS. The lost tapes are a wedding from the 80s and lots of home movies of my sister and I when we were kids, again in the 80s. All unique and not recoverable from anywhere else. Lots with my Dad, who has now passed.
It's just one of those things, were all very sad about it but there is nothing to be done. We're still hoping that they will turn up.  The shop had put them on dvd already by mistake so they had to go back again to get put on memory stick, we just called them again on the off chance that they kept the digital copy but they said they don't keep anything. Wish we had kept the dvds lol but too late now. If I could go back in time....

DullGreyGuy

A google shows a few other cases and people were being offered around £100. There are various examples of wedding photographer/videographer claiming a corrupted memory card etc with them paying £350 (on top of refund of fees) however I'd argue your own wedding is more material than weddings from the 40s which were decades before your existence.