Video Proficient Reviews 54

UPDATE #2: A guy from Video Proficient's reputation management called and wanted to argue and raise his voice with me trying to get me to retract my review. This is both sad and frustrating. I made an honest review of my experience and am now being harassed for it. TrustPilot, I would love to talk to someone calm and cool. I had to hang up on this guy because he was not keeping his cool and I don't wish to argue.

Here's a brief summary of what has happened:
1) On September 28, when the VP salesperson [name removed at their request] quoted the project for us, he said the estimated timeline for this project would be 10-15 business days

2) After we finally decided to hire Video Proficient to create a video for us, I received contact from a project manager [name removed at Video Proficient's request] to start my project on Nov 6 (starting the project 10-15 day timeline)

3) The project manager got the first storyboard to me on Nov 17 (this is great)

4) On Nov 29, the project manager said that he would have my revised storyboard ready shortly. There were only a few minor tweaks needed, and I had already told him to make the changes and go ahead and move forward with video animation.

5) On Dec 10, I reached out to the project manager because I hadn't received a revised storyboard yet and was hoping that a draft of the video would be ready by now (this was about 7 business days with no progress...this was the first major delay and a part of the reason for my review).

6) On Dec 11, the project manager called me and apologized for the 7 business day delay and assured me that he would make it up and have the video ready by Christmas (which I was relieved to be promised...however, this did not happen, unfortunately).

7) When the project manager responded the next day on Dec 11, he responded with a "revised" storyboard that didn't include the changes I had requested. The project manager called me and asked me to detail the changes I wanted. Which I did and sent the next day on Dec 12. The project manager said he would revise and send me the updated storyboard "shortly".

8) On Dec 18 (4 business days later - another delay), I asked the project manager how the video was coming, and he sent me an updated storyboard that same day (great). I pointed out 3 minor changes, he sent me voices to choose from for the voiceover, and I chose one that same day.

9) On Dec 26, the project manager sent me the voiceover and said that the animation work would begin and be ready in 6-7 business days.

10) On Dec 31, Video Proficient sent the first video animation draft (which is ahead of schedule for the 6-7 business days estimate from Dec 26, but behind schedule since the project manager [name removed at Video Proficient's request] had promised on Dec 11 that the video would be ready by Christmas).

11) On Jan 2, I asked for a few minor changes to the video and asked about if we would receive the project source files. The project manager replied that same day and said he would make the changes shortly and that we would talk about the source files after the video was done.

12) On Jan 7, the project manager [name removed at Video Proficient's request] sent me an updated version of the video, and the next morning on Jan 8, I said "Ok, good enough. We need this now. Can you please send me this without the watermark?". I was not happy with the video, the process, or the extended timeline that it took to complete. But at that point, I was just ready to be done with it and wanted to at least have the video to show without using the sound (because the audio was way off). So he sent me the video without a watermark that same day on Jan 8 (which I really appreciate).

13) From Jan 8-Jan 14, I showed the video with no sound, and after watching it a few times noticed an error at 0:52 in the video and so I reached out to the project manager hoping he could fix that. On Jan 15, he agreed to fix that and send me the updated video.

14) On Jan 15, the project manager [name removed at Video Proficient's request] also finally answered the question I had asked back on Jan 2 about the source files saying that those would cost extra. I chose not to pay for the source files, but some companies do include these for no extra cost, so this was another negative factor for me.

15) At this point on Jan 15, I viewed the project as done. The project manager [name removed at Video Proficient's request] would be sending me an updated video 3-4 business days to fix the error at 0:52 and I was planning to record my own voiceover and mix my own voiceover and music with the video, since I wasn't happy with the current music and voiceover from Video Proficient.

16) I left my review about my experience with Video Proficient (since the project manager had sent me a link asking me to leave a review earlier).

17) Then another Video Proficient employee [name removed at Video Proficient's request] called me that same day, on Jan 15, and asked me what he could do to make my experience better. He voluntarily offered to change the voiceover and update the video until I was happy. I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS.

18) I thanked this new employee [name removed at Video Proficient's request] for reaching out and decided to take him up on his offer, so I told him the changes that I would like made. He diligently, and quickly worked to make changes, but also asked (multiple times) me to remove my review from TrustPilot or upgrade it to a 4-5 star review. I said I did not want to do that right away. He asked me several more times and didn't want to end the phone conversation until I changed or removed my review (which I declined to do). This employee [name removed at Video Proficient's request] managed to stay relatively pleasant during our conversation, and I really appreciate his work.

19) Now on Jan 17, one of Video Proficient's employees [name removed at Video Proficient's request] from "reputation management" called me and harassed me on the phone about my review, wanting to argue and raise his voice on the phone with me. I do not appreciate that and I do not want to argue, so I hung up. My experience just continues to get worse with VP. I really hope that they can get over this review and move toward improving, rather than trying to force customers to only leave positive reviews. This is just saddening.

UPDATE: I received a phone call from the more pleasant employee mentioned in 17-18 [name removed at Video Proficient's request] who saw my review on here and asked what he could do to make me a satisfied customer and get me to change my review on here. Please note: he reached out to me. I didn't reach out to him or the PM. I simply left a review of my experience on here.

If this was all he had done, then this would have been a mark of good customer service (i.e. when something goes badly, you follow-up and try to make things right - that's good). But unfortunately, he asked repeatedly for me to change my review to a 4 or 5 star review or to completely remove my review. I simply said that my review as an unfortunate but accurate description of my experience and that I did not want to remove my review.

He is improving the quality of the video, and I appreciate that. But now, I see that Video Proficient flagged my review and claim that I tried to blackmail them, which is just not true. I asked if they would fix an error in the video that I noticed, but was willing to accept that they might not, since technically I had approved the video earlier. That doesn't change the experience that I had throughout the project.

VideoProficient says that they asked me to pay for fixing the problem, that is also incorrect. They tried to up-sell me on paying for the project source files, which I had asked for and thought I was able to receive (so that I could fix the problem myself). When I learned that it would cost extra to get the source files, I chose not to upgrade and was willing to accept that I wouldn't receive the source files. However, when the PM realized the error that was in the video, he agreed to fix that small error without any extra cost.

TrustPilot, I have captured a screenshot of the entire conversation between VideoProficient and myself and would love to send you a copy if you would like to review and verify.

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REVIEW: My company hired Video Proficient for an animated video, and 1) they didn't meet deadlines, 2) the work quality was poor, and 3) they try to up-sell you on other services (e.g. source files and logo animations are extra...which is fine, but when I decline, that shouldn't decrease the quality of work for what I did pay for).

From my experience, I would have to recommend spending a little more money to go with a better quality company. I do not plan to use or recommend VP at this time.

(BTW - Normally, I give very positive reviews to companies. So it's sad when I do have a bad experience and leave a negative review. But I do so only to share my experience with others, not out of ill-will to the company. My hope is that the company will improve and that experiences like this will not happen again and that they will go on to succeed and help many clients. I wish VP all the best and hope that in the future this negative moment will not represent the ever-improving picture of the company. Companies are always learning and growing. We all make mistakes and can learn from them. VP can too. This negative review is not the end - just an opportunity to recognize some weak points and improve.)

I wish VP all the best and hope that this will simply serve as a learning experience that will result in growth and better client relations for the next client that they serve. Again, I do not have any ill-will toward anyone at VP.

Best wishes,
Peter

Easily understood some specific imaging and story requests- was very prompt in getting back with us as a team. Took the time to understand out business and market- very impressed.

Jeff W. at Video Proficient made it so easy to complete our video project on-time. He was always quick to respond to our challenging needs and offered his vision and expertise that took our video from being good to really great. Thank you Jeff for working with us on this video. I will definitely recommend Video Proficient in the future.

I was looking for a company to create a short animated video, after contacting 3 or 4 other companies I connected with Jeff Williams over here. Great communication all the way through, very thorough and responsive. We are very happy with our first video and have already contracted for a second and looking forward to seeing it all completed. Thanks guys!

Jeff Williams and his team at Video Proficient are very skilled, helpful and accommodative. We wanted our project done a very specific way and they willing obliged to make the necessary revisions over and over again until it was just right. Although we're still in the process of finishing up the project (the voice over is yet to be finalized), I'm sure they will do an excellent job in that as well. Thanks a lot guys!

My experience with Video Proficient has been great. They not only work with my company on price, but allowed as many changes to get the project exactly how we wanted it. It sure made the process much easier than expected. It has been great working with Jeff and the team. I would gladly recommend this company to others, keep up the good work.

Robert R.(SAFEBIE LIMITED)

Video Proficient does a good job of producing fairly high quality videos for very low cost in a short time frame. They are mostly good about communicating and being responsive, although sometimes you do have to follow up if you have a tight deadline. Here's what I would recommend to have a successful experience with them:
-Give them a very detailed outline of the narrative of your video to make the process easier, because they don't do as much discovery as other video vendors to understand what your company does or your message.
-Be aware that they will quote a super low price up front and then try to upsell you additional features like animated logos or custom characters nearly every time you talk to them.
-If you have a strict deadline you'll want to ask them how long each round of edits will take because they don't necessarily advise you that another round of edits will push out your delivery date. To their credit, they don't charge extra for edits.
-They will harass you until you send them feedback/post a review such as this one once your project is done. I got a few calls and emails advising me that my feedback was "required" even after I did give my feedback during the initial call I received.

For the extremely low cost, they are worth it for companies on a budget.

Great Service, amazing result. Really surprised how good they where. top recomendations

Excellent team with focused solution, loved it!

These guys are amazing , we needed a new logo for our business and they did a perfect job ,the way they listened to us and did the work was just extraordinary.

One of the best people i have worked with, very professional and go out of there way to help me out.

Quick results with effective communication. They did a wonderful job on my video.