Policies
Project Approval
When I have completed work on your project, I will email your project to you for approval*. I want you to be completely satisfied with my work so if you would like any changes made, I will revise your project at no charge (in accordance with our Work Agreement, which is comprised of the project specifications, terms, and conditions). *For projects estimated to cost $500 to $999.99, milestones will be established for project delivery and payments. For projects estimated to cost $1,000 or more, milestones will be established for project delivery and payments, and the milestones will be met in conjunction with use of Guru.com’s SafePay service.
Failure to Approve Completed Work
If you (or someone acting on your behalf) do not approve or disapprove work done on your project within five business days of the delivery date, I will consider the work to be approved.
Accepted Document Formats
I accept written materials in Microsoft Word, change-enabled PDF, RTF (Rich Text Format), or PTF (Plain Text Format).
Accepted Forms of Payment
I accept business checks, cashier’s checks, personal checks, money orders, PayPal transfers, and credit cards (via PayPal). Checks must be from U.S. banks. All funds must be in USD (U.S. dollars). A fee of $35.00 will be assessed for checks returned due to insufficient funds.
Make checks and money orders payable to "Watkins Business and Medical Writing" and mail to:
Watkins Business and Medical Writing
P.O. Box xxxxx
St. Petersburg, FL xxxxx
Requesting Changes or Additions After Work Has Begun
If you would like to make changes or additions to the specifications and/or terms of your project after I have begun working on it, email the changes or additions to me. I may contact you to discuss them and the best way to incorporate them into the work process.
Exceeding the Estimated Cost
I work hard to complete work on your project on time and for the estimated cost (when specified). However, in rare circumstances, a project may require more hours than first anticipated. If this is the case, and if the number of additional hours required equals 5% or more of the number of hours listed in the approved estimate for that type of service, I will inform you of this before investing the additional time. I will tell you the number of additional hours needed to complete your project, and I will send you a revised estimate for your approval.
Questions About Changes to Written Content
I am always willing to answer questions about the changes I make to your written content. If you do not agree with a change I made, please feel free to tell me. In many cases, a resolution can be reached. Please note that some changes are made so the written content will adhere to defined rules of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization, and these changes cannot be altered. See Analysis-Based Editing and Rules-Based Editing in the Glossary.
Canceling Agreements
Written project agreements may be canceled via email within 48 hours of your approval of the estimate. You will be invoiced for any work done on the project (including time spent reading and evaluating) prior to receiving your cancellation email as well as for any other costs incurred, such as those incurred to return materials to you.
Cancellation Fee
In the event you cancel your project more than 48 hours after approving the estimate, you will be charged a Cancellation Fee of 25% of your project’s estimated cost, and you will be charged for all work completed prior to receiving your cancellation email, plus expenses. All work I have completed up to that point will remain my property but will be available if the project should be resumed at a later time. Use of work done in connection with the project without my consent could result in additional fees or legal action.
Objectionable Material
I reserve the right to decline working on a project that in my sole judgment is offensive, objectionable, unethical, or illegal.
Right to Display Project
All rights to your project transfer to you once I receive full payment for my services; however, I reserve the right to add your project (in whole or in part) to my website’s Work Samples portfolio as an example of work I’ve done. I will change identifying information (personal names, business names, practice names, locations, etc.) in the project before it is posted to my website to provide you anonymity.
Limitation of Damages
Any claim for damages resulting from the work I do on a project for you is limited to the amount of money you have paid me for that project.
Privacy Policy
I hold all communications with my clients in the strictest confidence. You can entrust with me any and all information that you identify in writing as proprietary and be assured that I will not share it with any individuals or companies other than those whom you approve. In addition, your contact information will not be sold or shared with any third party nor will it be used for any purposes unrelated to our professional relationship.
Ethical Guidelines
Although my services may involve changing words, rearranging sentences, writing new sentences, rewriting existing sentences, and reordering paragraphs, all of my services are delivered within ethical boundaries. I will not edit or add content to a project to such an extent that it ceases to be your work and becomes my work, essentially making me a ghostwriter, unless this is the agreed-upon goal for which I am delivering my services. These guidelines also apply to students’ academic work, including papers, theses, and dissertations as part of college or university coursework. In addition, these guidelines apply to essays submitted as part of a college application or an application to high school and college preparatory programs, such as S-PREP, STEP, and STEM. If your project cannot be edited within ethical guidelines, I will reject it.
I do not write papers, theses, or dissertations for students, and I do not sell papers, theses, or dissertations.
Policies Updated 5-3-20
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