ComplaintsforAnderson Court Reporting, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I contacted Anderson Court reporters for copies of a transcript from a 20 minute hearing in Fairfax County. The company refuses to provide a price list of cost per page and refuse to provide me with a page count of my transcript. They do keep giving me different estimates and pressure to "order now or the price will go up". I have used ****** court reporters in the past and have had 500 pages and 8 hours of transcription copy cost no more than $500 and with a proper invoice and fee list. The lack of transparency is alarming. I need a copy of these transcripts without being price gouged so that I can review the hearing and possibly file an appeal. I would like a fee list and a page count of my transcripts.I have several emails with demands for payments of a variety of charges and fees.

  Business response

  03/09/2023

  March 8, 2023  

  Dear *** ***** ******,  

  We appreciate the opportunity to respond to this complaint. We received a call to request a  quote for a transcript of a hearing. The audio was 20 minutes in length. For audios of this size,  our fee is a Minimum Transcript Fee. On longer proceedings it is customary to charge per page.  However, with transcripts of shorter proceedings it is necessary for us to use a flat-fee based rate  that allows us to cover the costs associated with this type of work.  

  We offered the complainant an estimate based on this Minimum Transcript fee. They insisted on  a per page rate. We tried to explain to them several times that there were two things here to  consider: 1) There were currently zero pages to account for as the transcript had not been  produced to-date; 2) The audio length of the hearing would indicate that it would fall under the  Minimum Transcript flat fee, should we produce the transcript, and as such would not be billed  by the page. This is a very common billing practice in our industry. Our company has applied  minimum transcript fees since its inception, a practice we gained from our predecessors.  

  Furthermore, as is standard practice in our industry, the rates are increasingly more expensive the  sooner the deadline. We made sure to let the complainant know that her requested turnaround  time would have a cost estimate that would vary should she delay payment and still wish to hold  to the same due date, thus reducing the number of days in production, or what our industry refers  to as expediting the order. We believe, based on the complaint received, that the customer failed  to understand this practice and mis-represented it in their complaint as “giving me different  estimates and pressure to ‘order now or the price will go up’”.  

  When we were met by continuing demands for a per page rate, we attempted to call the  complainant per chance to better explain it by phone and answer any questions they may have.  We were unable to reach them. Our efforts to explain the rates by email were unsuccessful.  Without the ability to reach the complainant by phone to better offer an explanation of our clear  and transparent billing practices, we missed the opportunity to send her a rate sheet, showing the  same. We believed that seeing a long list of rates would only further confuse this customer, at  this time. We apologize for the confusion and misunderstanding.  
  

  While the complainant has made reference to the billing rates and practices of another court  reporting firm that they have used, we would like to express that we have every right to run our  business in the way we see fit and are not compelled to use the same rates or rate structure as our  competitors. We work on standing policies; administered the same to each of these types of  customers. The two policies they took issue with here are our right to charge a Minimum Fee as  a flat-fee and our right to require a deposit payment before beginning the transcription work on  their request.  

  We value customer feedback and are grateful for the opportunity to grow in our abilities to serve  a wide array of potential clients and their varying understanding of our rates, practices, and the  court reporting and transcription industry. We will make a better effort to communicate with the  client and meet their needs, including an explanation of charges.  
  

  We hope that this response is satisfactory. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to  reach out to us. We can readily share many invoices of previous customers seeking the same  type of transcript of proceedings of similar length, falling into the Minimum Fee requirement, as  well as demonstrating that our practice of requiring a deposit in advance is fair and just and  applied objectively to one and all of our pro se customers, without prejudice.  
  

  Thank you,  
  

  Stephanie K***  
  Director of Operations  
  Anderson Court Reporting, LLC  

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