Cancellation
& refund.

Damaged or lost shipments

If your originals arrive at us damaged due to shipping, we’ll document the damage with photos and contact you. A tape that can’t be processed because of the damage is rejected and refunded as described below.

If we ship your originals back to you and the carrier damages or loses them, we will assist with claims against the carrier (we ship with tracking specifically for this reason). Our liability for shipping damage is limited to the carrier’s coverage.

Rejected tapes

We reject a tape when its format is unknown or unsupported, when it is damaged beyond capture (physically destroyed, magnetic surface gone), or when it is blank. A rejected tape’s portion of your order is refunded automatically; return shipping is not refunded. We never charge for work we couldn’t perform.

Restoration work

Restoration on damaged tapes is quoted in advance and only billed after written approval. If after approval we find the restoration is not feasible, you’re charged only for the time spent attempting it (typically the first hour for assessment), with the rest refunded.

Quality concerns

Your results appear in your dashboard as soon as they’re ready, so you can check them before your order is complete. If you have a question or a concern about quality, email support@savevhs.com with your order number before then. If the output has a defect attributable to our process (not the source tape), we re-capture or re-process at no additional cost. Issues caused by the source tape itself (dropouts, color degradation, audio issues present on the original) are not eligible for re-work as they are not defects on our end. Advanced and AI services are designed to address these in many cases.

AI Enhancement and subjective quality

AI Enhancement is a special case. The quality of the output depends on two things we don’t fully control: the condition of the source video, and your personal taste in how vintage footage should look. Some viewers find the AI look noticeably improved; others find it too smooth, too polished, or inappropriate for old footage. Both reactions are valid.

Once AI processing on a clip is complete, the GPU time and operator labor have already been spent. We cannot refund or redo completed AI Enhancement work because the result isn’t to your liking. This is why we strongly recommend sampling first. For AI added to a Digitization order, the first 3 minutes of AI Enhancement are free for exactly this purpose: mark a short clip from your dashboard, see the result, then decide whether to mark more. If you don’t like it, you’ve spent nothing and you simply stop there. Your original Digitization capture remains in your account unchanged: AI Enhancement is an additive layer, never a replacement. Standalone AI Enhancement uploads (your own files) are billed from minute one, with no free minutes built in, because there is no Digitization order to anchor them to. To test AI on your own footage, upload a short file first (uploads start at 5 minutes).

A standalone AI Enhancement order can be cancelled with a full refund while your file is still waiting in the processing queue. Once processing has started, the order can’t be cancelled.

We do not guarantee any specific result on any specific tape or file.

If a completed AI Enhancement file is technically broken (failed processing, corrupted output, etc.), contact us within its download window and we will re-process it at no additional cost. This does not cover a result you simply don’t like.

Refund processing

• Refunds go to the original payment method.
• Card refunds typically appear in 5 to 10 business days.
• We do not charge restocking or processing fees on refunds. The only deduction besides return shipping is the $10 fee for a missed Portland pickup without 2 hours’ notice.

Cancellations after long delays

If we contact you about damaged tapes or restoration quotes and don’t hear back, we’ll remind you a couple of times. If 30 days pass with no response, the tapes in question are treated as rejected: their portion of your order is refunded (return shipping is not refunded), they come back to you with the rest of your order, and the rest of your order proceeds normally.

If you place an order but your tapes never reach us, because you don’t ship them or, in the Portland metro area, don’t get in touch to arrange a courier pickup, we’ll remind you a couple of times. If your tapes haven’t reached us 30 days after you placed the order and you haven’t responded, we may cancel the order. In that case the full amount you paid for the order is refunded.

When an order is complete

A digitization order is complete once your original tapes are shipped back to you or returned by our courier, within 3 business days after we finish working on it. A standalone AI Enhancement order is complete as soon as processing finishes. A completed order can’t be cancelled or refunded. Everything you received is in your dashboard before that point, so please raise anything that needs our attention before your order is complete.

Contact

To cancel an order, request a refund, or report an issue: support@savevhs.com with your order number in the subject line.