TRACEY HEFT does it again. The Consummate Conservator

[esquirecomics]

While I hope that all my emails between myself and my clients are confidential

 

Why does every occupation think they have privileged communications? In any event, any "requirement" of confidentiality would encompass the professional, not the customer. Unless a contract between the two requires confidentiality you should not expect it. Even in law a client can always reveal a communication. It is I as the lawyer who has to protect the privilege.

 

For g-d's sake this is comic book restoration/conservation/pressing, whatever. This is not deciding strategy that impacts people's lives.

 

I am not directing this response at Tracey per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see other industry's professionals try to create some magical confidentiality clause to intimidate or persuade everyone to keep communications private. This seems to be always done b/c the individual gets burned when their communication gets leaked and they come off looking like [insert word here]. I never put anything in writing that I would not say publicly. That is the code you live by, especially in today's society.

[Timulty]

Agreed, Mark. Smack these Sunday lawyers in the Nads.

[Sal]

While I hope that all my emails between myself and my clients are confidential

 

Why does every occupation think they have privileged communications? In any event, any "requirement" of confidentiality would encompass the professional, not the customer. Unless a contract between the two requires confidentiality you should not expect it. Even in law a client can always reveal a communication. It is I as the lawyer who has to protect the privilege.

 

For g-d's sake this is comic book restoration/conservation/pressing, whatever. This is not deciding strategy that impacts people's lives.

 

I am not directing this response at Tracey per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see other industry's professionals try to create some magical confidentiality clause to intimidate or persuade everyone to keep communications private. This seems to be always done b/c the individual gets burned when their communication gets leaked and they come off looking like [insert word here]. I never put anything in writing that I would not say publicly. That is the code you live by, especially in today's society.

 

screw that. where is the plumber/client privilege clause, anyway

[VintageComics]

While I hope that all my emails between myself and my clients are confidential

 

Why does every occupation think they have privileged communications? In any event, any "requirement" of confidentiality would encompass the professional, not the customer. Unless a contract between the two requires confidentiality you should not expect it. Even in law a client can always reveal a communication. It is I as the lawyer who has to protect the privilege.

 

For g-d's sake this is comic book restoration/conservation/pressing, whatever. This is not deciding strategy that impacts people's lives.

 

I am not directing this response at Tracey per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see other industry's professionals try to create some magical confidentiality clause to intimidate or persuade everyone to keep communications private. This seems to be always done b/c the individual gets burned when their communication gets leaked and they come off looking like [insert word here]. I never put anything in writing that I would not say publicly. That is the code you live by, especially in today's society.

 

the flip side is that information can be leaked for more than one reason so that is why it should be discretionary.

[jbcomicbox]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

Grasshopper...."Time is relative"....

 

Took me two years to get a book back from Mark Wilson. Got it back after I sent my book a birthday card for turning two!!! (Mark did a great job and there were some major issues to deal with)(oh it was a New Fun 1)...jb

[batman_fan]

I think it took Tracey about two to three months to do my Batman 1. I actually moved from AZ to NM while he had it. For me, absolutely no complaints He had to track down a book to use as a guide. For me the end results was an excellent book with minimal restoration. My hat is off to Tracey. P.S. you can see my Bat 1 on his website.

[benz]

While I hope that all my emails between myself and my clients are confidential

 

Why does every occupation think they have privileged communications? In any event, any "requirement" of confidentiality would encompass the professional, not the customer. Unless a contract between the two requires confidentiality you should not expect it. Even in law a client can always reveal a communication. It is I as the lawyer who has to protect the privilege.

 

For g-d's sake this is comic book restoration/conservation/pressing, whatever. This is not deciding strategy that impacts people's lives.

 

I am not directing this response at Tracey per se, but it makes me chuckle when I see other industry's professionals try to create some magical confidentiality clause to intimidate or persuade everyone to keep communications private. This seems to be always done b/c the individual gets burned when their communication gets leaked and they come off looking like [insert word here]. I never put anything in writing that I would not say publicly. That is the code you live by, especially in today's society.

 

Mark, you're blood pressure is going up!

[benz]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

Grasshopper...."Time is relative"....

 

Took me two years to get a book back from Mark Wilson. Got it back after I sent my book a birthday card for turning two!!! (Mark did a great job and there were some major issues to deal with)(oh it was a New Fun 1)...jb

Jb did you watch kungfu series? i really like those. feeling nostalgic and planning to buy the season 2-3 dvd sets.

[bluenote]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back... but then again he probably gets alot of business from those who can't afford or wont don't pay Susan Ciccone price, ciccone price on her services are more expensive than wilson,or heft because she is the best in the business.

[WonderClassics-migration]

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back

 

In the 90's I understand it was up to a TWO years wait to get some books back from Susan.

[FFB]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back... but then again he probably gets alot of business from those who can't afford or wont don't pay Susan Ciccone price, ciccone price on her services are more expensive than wilson,or heft because she is the best in the business.

 

My problem with Susan is that she won't even give you a ballpark ESTIMATE on the cost of a job unless you send her the book and pay her $50. I don't care how good she is. That is bullt.

[esquirecomics]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back... but then again he probably gets alot of business from those who can't afford or wont don't pay Susan Ciccone price, ciccone price on her services are more expensive than wilson,or heft because she is the best in the business.

 

My problem with Susan is that she won't even give you a ballpark ESTIMATE on the cost of a job unless you send her the book and pay her $50. I don't care how good she is. That is bullt.

 

Is that really different from lawyers who charge initial consultation fees?

 

I don't, BTW.

[B-Smooth]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back... but then again he probably gets alot of business from those who can't afford or wont don't pay Susan Ciccone price, ciccone price on her services are more expensive than wilson,or heft because she is the best in the business.

 

My problem with Susan is that she won't even give you a ballpark ESTIMATE on the cost of a job unless you send her the book and pay her $50. I don't care how good she is. That is bullt.

 

Is that really different from lawyers who charge initial consultation fees?

 

I don't, BTW.

 

or mechanics who charge to "diagnose" your car?

[FFB]

A YEAR to restore a book? God almighty!

 

Dude, ask Susan Ciccone if it will take a year to get your book back.

 

i agree a year is way to long to get a book back... but then again he probably gets alot of business from those who can't afford or wont don't pay Susan Ciccone price, ciccone price on her services are more expensive than wilson,or heft because she is the best in the business.

 

My problem with Susan is that she won't even give you a ballpark ESTIMATE on the cost of a job unless you send her the book and pay her $50. I don't care how good she is. That is bullt.

 

Is that really different from lawyers who charge initial consultation fees?

 

I don't, BTW.

 

Yes it is different. I should be able to email a front and back scan to Susan and say "Hey Susan, what is the ballpark cost for you to add spine support and do a few fills plus a clean and press on this book?" and get a roundabout answer for the reasonable range of cost without having to pay her $50 to tell me what her actual work is going to cost. It's no different from a client who asks me how much I anticipate a litigation budget to be through trial. It's an estimate, nothing more, and I don't charge for that either. Every other restoration professional in the industry will give you a ballpark estimate without charging an inspection fee.

[Silver Surfer]

But she is probably the best in the business so considering what a resto job costs I don't think $50 is that big of a deal. Kind of hard to determine the extent of the damage from a scan.

[ComicSupply]

Well, I think what would be fair is say a $50 deposit. Where if you choose to get the work done that is used, if you want the book returned, she keeps say 50%. I personally would want to see her get paid for her time, but assuming she can pretty much figure out the cost in about 2 minutes, $50 is pretty steep.

[FFB]

But she is probably the best in the business so considering what a resto job costs I don't think $50 is that big of a deal. Kind of hard to determine the extent of the damage from a scan.

 

How do you know she's the best in the business? Have you used her? I know she had that reputation for years during the late 1980 and 1990s, but more recently she was out of the business for several years. Have you seen any of her recent work? The examples on her website don't look that great to me, personally. You can see all of the color touch along the upper blue band of the Detective #29, just as one example. It's obvious even from a small picture, which means that the color is poorly matched. Each of the other books has visible work too.

 

And on the last point you made, I agree that some kinds of damage are hard to assess from a scan. But if I send her a front and back scan of a book and say "Roughly how much will it cost to fix the spine on this book?" why is it that Matt Nelson and Tracey Heft can give me a rough estimate at no charge, but Susan won't say boo until I ship her the book AND pay her $50?

[jimm94]

FFB,

 

I will only charge you $49.99 the next time you want to say "hello" to me.

 

My guess is that Susan wishes to limit the number of restoration jobs she accepts, and minimize the amount of time that she may perceive as being spent dealing with tire kickers. Charging a $50 consultation/estimate fee is certainly one way to do that, but it can be a turnoff to many potential legitimate customers.

[Silver Surfer]

Agree with Jim on this one, she probably wants serious, repeat customers to use her services and $50 just doesn't sound too outrageous to me. Wouldn't you rather have a firm estimate up front instead of geting stung for an additional $200-$300 at the end of the process because there was additional work/time needed that wasn't evident from simply looking at a scan.

 

I suggested that she is the best simply from what I hear on these boards and I don't know if this is true or not but we can probbaly agree that she would be on everyone's top three. I use to have the impression that Mr. Heft was your favorite but given your recent comments maybe that has changed.

[FFB]

Agree with Jim on this one, she probably wants serious, repeat customers to use her services and $50 just doesn't sound too outrageous to me. Wouldn't you rather have a firm estimate up front instead of geting stung for an additional $200-$300 at the end of the process because there was additional work/time needed that wasn't evident from simply looking at a scan.

 

It doesn't work that way with the other guys. The way it works is, I email Matt or Tracey a scan and say "Hey Matt (or Tracey), if I want to get this book up to Apparent VF/NM or better, what do you think it'll cost, ballpark? I'm just looking for a loose estimate and won't hold you to it if you decide it needs more work when you have it in hand." I then get an estimate from them and can make an informed decision re whether it's worth my time and money to ship them the book and get a formal quote. It takes only a couple of minutes and costs me nothing up front.

 

$50 may not sound outrageous given the cost of the overall treatment, but how would you feel if you sent her a book and $50 only to have her say "It's going to cost you $4,000 to restore your AF#15" (which will be worth about $2500 following the resto). It's easy to say "That's not much money" when you're not the one who has to pay it out just to get a ballpark estimate that the other two guys will give for free.

 

I suggested that she is the best simply from what I hear on these boards and I don't know if this is true or not but we can probbaly agree that she would be on everyone's top three.

 

Considering that there are exactly four people in the industry who have any kind of name recognition (with one of them being Matt Wilson, who I think pretty much everyone will agree is the least of them in terms of skill), I don't view being on "everyone's top three" as being much of a compliment. I'm not saying this as a slam and it may in fact be true that Susan is the best in the industry -- I'm just saying that I see a lot of people calling Susan "the best in the biz" when I am pretty sure they have no idea what her work looks like. When I see obviously mis-matched color touch on her "exemplar" books on her site, I have to wonder what the jobs look like that she didn't choose to display.

 

I use to have the impression that Mr. Heft was your favorite but given your recent comments maybe that has changed.

 

I like Tracey just fine on a personal level, but I've never held and seen a book that I knew was restored by him -- and so I have no idea how good his work looks these days. I had to pull back my AF#15 that he was going to work on. He's been too busy to work on it because of people sending him stuff from Louisiana that has to be worked on immediately to prevent permanent damage, and also because there were interior paper issues that might have kept it from grading as highly as I'd have wanted it to after the work was done.

 

I do know that Tracey is a very knowledgeable guy, and I know this from talking to him. But until I actually see a book he's worked on, I have no way of saying he's good, great, bad, mediocre, or otherwise.