Remember several weeks back when I told you of my struggles to find an easy way to transcribe lengthy interviews? (It’s right here if you missed it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.) At that time, I purchased the Scribe program from MacSpeech, only to find it didn’t work the way I needed. It can’t handle multiple speakers, for example, and has to “learn” the sound of your own voice — at which point you can then speak into the computer and have your words magically appear on screen. That’s cool and all, but since I don’t write by dictating, that’s not what I wanted or needed.
When I called MacSpeech to let them know of my issue, I was told that since the program was “working as it should,” it was likely I would not be issued a refund — the problem was on my end, not theirs. I groaned at that, but fair enough — I wrote it off to the Lesson Learned Department.
Well. To my surprise, several days ago, I noticed that MacSpeech had credited my bank account for the cost of the program. Yes, they refunded my money — no real hassles, no follow up questions, no fireworks. They didn’t even notify me that they were doing so.
So, since I initially grumbled a bit after my initial contact with MacSpeech, I wanted to follow up and give them a shout out and some credit where credit’s due. Thanks for understanding my issue, MacSpeech, and for refunding my money. I appreciate it.
And while we’re at it, let me also give a plug to the transcription company I’m using to have my interviews transcribed. It’s Production Transcripts out in California, and they’ve been nothing short of fantastic. I got an electronic file within two days, and the transcript was accurate and virtually error-free. Their costs are based on the length of your recorded interview — they charge by the recorded minute — which allows you to get a fairly good ballpark figure on costs before you send anything. It was a top-notch job, and I’ll be sending more work their way.
Brian Jay Jones 