Standard Terms

Pricing

Babbletype charges by the audio minute. This is the number of minutes of actual audio contained on a file or tape to be transcribed. Our standard pricing is $3.00 per verbatim audio minute and $2.25 per edited summarized audio minute. However, discounts are available both based on order size or volume, and also based on requested turnaround time. See the table here. 

You can lower your costs by choosing a longer maximum turnaround time for your for order. You can also lower your price depending on the volume of work you order. You can obtain this discount either on a single order basis (i.e., a discount on a single large project) or on a monthly basis (i.e., discounts due you based on your overall volume in a given month). Discount levels are based on the number of audio hours in a project or per month. Per month volume discounts are applied automatically at time of invoice.

Note that you can also vary your required turnaround time by file within a larger project, requesting some files very quickly and others more slowly (or vice versa) to control your own costs.

Process

Our standard process includes transcription, a 100% audio audit, and a 100% QA review of all files — with each step performed by a different specialist. All work is client auditable via change tracking in copies we retain.

No file conversion fees, no file quality or audio file repair surcharges

We do not charge fees related to additional time and effort related to poor quality files, although of course we cannot guarantee the final results we will be able to achieve. Where possible with poor quality files, an audio engineer will attempt to clean up and improve the audio. There is no charge for these additional services.

No deposits required, net 30, 1% discount net 10

Babbletype bills upon completion or at the end of a month in the event of projects which span two or more months. We do not charge deposits. Payments are due 30 days from the date of the invoice. We reserve the right to charge a late fee of 1% per month or the maximum lesser fee allowed by state law, to invoices which are more than 30 days past due. We offer a 1% discount on payments made within 10 days of invoice receipt.

Cutoff times

The cutoff time for file receipt is 5:00 pm EST for files received via remote upload or download, as well as for files received on physical media in an immediately useable digital form (i.e., MP3 files on recordable CD, DV, flash media, etc.). The cutoff time for files received in physical formats requiring conversion (such as audio and video tapes) is 12:00 pm EST, since in many cases these formats require extensive time for digital conversion. We will attempt to prepare files received later than noon, but cannot guarantee their readiness for same day production.

Quality guarantee

If the client is unsatisfied with the quality of our work for any reason, we will redo the work at no charge.