Information > Before You Order
Before You Order
1. Avoid surprises with your disc order
Every disc manufactured by HDC Media Group is custom built to your specifications, from start to finish. There are dozens of manufacturing steps involved from the day we receive your master and artwork to the day we ship your finished discs, so we work hard to make sure each one of those steps goes smoothly. Please also see our Terms & Conditions.
2. Help us to help you
You can help us make sure your finished discs come out exactly as expected and on time. The points below include simple instructions on preparing your order and what to expect once your order is placed. The more familiar you are with these processes, the smoother your order will go. You should refer your designer, agency, developer or producer to the sections on preparing your content and graphics and read up on what will happen to your order once it arrives at HDC Media Group - this will help prevent delays and problems with your order once we are working on your project.
3. Your personal account manager
Once your order comes in, you’ll be assigned your own account manager who will be your primary contact for the duration of your order. Your account manager will call you and go over any details that are unclear and will be the person who will send proofs, take care of corrections, manage your project through to completion, and handle any re-orders. For future new order quotations, your Account Manager who quoted your project will still be your contact.
4. Deposit and final payment
Please complete the credit application form and return to us as soon as you have decided to place your order with us. If your business is a limited company we are able to request a credit check, dependant on the size of your order through a number of different agencies. Once this has been performed we will then know whether we are able to offer a full credit account, or require an upfront payment until we have developed a trading history. In these cases HDC Media Group will require a deposit of 100% on the initial order, with further orders requiring a 50% deposit of the purchase price. Your account manager will inform you of the deposit requirements. The balance of the purchase price is due upon completion of the order, before shipping. Your account manager will notify you of your exact final balance when your project is completed.
Non-account holders, re-orders, urgent orders and printed materials must be pre-paid in full, including freight and any applicable taxes.
Direct mail fulfilment orders always require postage to be paid before mailing. You will be informed of the exact postage after we receive your mailing list.
5. Over and under runs
We generally make sure that we supply you with the exact amount that you require. To do this we ensure that when requesting goods from the plant and printers, we receive the exact numbers and thereby avoiding waste or working to a tolerance level at +/- 10%. On the very rare occasion you may possibly be supplied a very small number of discs short, we will make sure you are credited for any shortage.
6. Proofs (and what you can do to avoid delays)
Whether we undertake your design or you supply your design to us, we will check your files and send you a proof for your approval. In most cases, we will provide you with a digital Cromalin, but we may also send it to you electronically in the form of a low resolution PDF file (or high resolution PDF if requested) if timescales dictate. We will post the 99% colour accurate digital Cromalin proof which will be with you on a guaranteed next day service. In order for a project not to be delayed you must approve the proof before 2pm on the day that you receive it; each day you hold onto your proof without approving will result in a delay in production.
Please approve or call with changes and corrections immediately to avoid delays.
7. Mastering or re-mastering
If HDC Media Group is providing an authoring/mastering service or is just making a small amend to your CD/DVD, we will always provide you with a pre-production sample along with an approval form. The approval form needs to be completed and faxed back to HDC Media Group before we enter your amended master into production. Any delays in signing off the amended master will cause delays in production.
8. Ownership of Copyright and MCPS licenses
We require either a signed ownership of copyright document for CD-ROM or a completed MCPS licence for CD Audio. We will send you the ownership of copyright documents or you can apply for the MCPS licence online at http://www.mcps.co.uk/. These documents are essential and your CD’s will be delayed without them. As the MCPS licence can take up to 7 days to be registered, please apply in advance to avoid delays.
9. Please be aware of the following:
Any significant changes or extensive corrections you make, requiring multiple rounds of proofs or changes to artwork will lead to delays in your project. Check your proofs carefully; once you sign off on the proof, HDC Media Group cannot be held responsible for any errors that you might have missed.
If you supply the design of your project and want to make a change, it is considered a change and not a correction. There will be a charge to make the change, although we will not charge for minor corrections.
Please proof your supplied design carefully before sending it to us. If HDC Media Group provides a design service then we will provide one round of corrections for free; if we make them and you wish to make further corrections, there may be a charge. We guarantee that you will be satisfied with the design work and/or any mastering adjustments.
10. Set Production Dates
Here at HDC Media Group we operate a tight scheduling process with jobs starting and finishing on set dates. This means that once the scheduled dates are agreed by both parties, your account team can then advise what needs doing and by when to ensure the required delivery dates are met i.e. artwork approval, receipt of master disc, MCPS Licence/Intellectual Property Rights data sheet and order confirmation document.
This also enables you to work out your schedules in advance to ensure your own deadlines are met and other work can be planned and undertaken accordingly. Inevitably, as it is a manufacturing process, occasionally delays can occur, but so long as the schedules have been adhered to, HDC Media Group will always endeavour to ensure the agreed deadlines are constantly met.
11. Shipping. All orders are excluding VAT and carriage
HDC Media Group product pricing does not include freight unless specifically mentioned. All orders delivered in the UK will carry value added tax (VAT) charges. In the event of delivery to other parts of the world we will provide details of the relevant taxes applicable.
When we despatch your goods our courier services will deliver your shipment on a next day service. In special circumstances deliveries can be arranged pre 12pm, pre 10:30am, pre 9am and even a same day service. Please clearly specify the service you require with your account manager. Please be aware the quicker the couriers have to get your goods to you the higher the delivery cost will be.
12. Your satisfaction guarantee
All of our work on your project is undertaken in-house to such exacting standards that we offer a satisfaction guarantee: You must be 100% satisfied with your graphic design proofs and pre-production samples (if applicable) or we will refund your deposit in full and you will be entitled to place your project elsewhere. Your finished product will match the digital Cromalin proofs or pre-production samples you approved, within commercial standards, or we will re-manufacture it to make it right. Our single objective is to ensure that you, as the customer, are completely satisfied with our service!
Want to know more?
Send us an email and see how quickly we respond. Or call and speak to one of our friendly experienced account managers on 01274 65 65 65.
Alternatively fill in our Quick Quote form (right).
