Wedding Photographer mess!

arcon5

spacey2012 wrote: »

If he puts it in writing, you can use that, I would send him a letter before county court claim for the full amount you paid, as the service is incomplete.
Make it clear he either provides the full service as agreed as he accepted the stay or you shall seek a CCJ for the full amount.
What he provides in his defence is his problem not yours and a Judge will decide what percentage he can keep.
You need to work quickly at 6 years it becomes statute barred.

:eek:

Op engages the services of a photographer 5 years ago and since then has had full benefit of this service and the photos provided, now through fault of her own hasn't received an album and you think he should sue for a full refund!

Not forgetting now the primary service is photography, not an album. The albums are merely the peas next to the steak which ops let get cold.

stevejbrecon

Hi all,

Just a bit of an update. I have reviewed the contract. There is absolutely no mention of time restraints or anything similar, but it does have this clause

"Although care will be taken with the negatives, digital images and photographs taken at the wedding, Photographer limits any liability for loss, damage or failure to deliver photographs for any reason to return of all deposits paid"

The contract also make it very clear that it is for production of a storybook 30 page album and DVD of all images.

Correct me if i am wrong, but if the contract states that the album is part of the deal and the album has not been produced then that constitutes "Failing to deliver photographs" as stipulated in the contract?

I am assuming that a breach of contract is a breach and provided it falls within the limitation period I can still enforce the terms or seek compensation, or am I missing something?

Cheers everyone

spacey2012

I would say this was a service contract and completion constitutes fulfilment of contract.
I would LBBCC him giving the option of fulfilling the contract in full or re-paying the total amount or taking the dispute to county court before it goes statute barred.
Was he a sole trader or LTD, you need to make sure you get the right entity from day 1.

stevejbrecon

spacey2012

Thanks for the response, having a newbie moment if i'm honest but what is "LBBCC" ?

I am minded to send him a letter stating that we believe the contract has not been fulfilled and we will be looking at starting small claims proceedings asap, but to resolve the situation we would accept £XXX now.

I guess this is when working in a Law Firm comes in handy, i'm sure a pack of caramel digestives can get me a formal letter on headed paper.

I don't want to screw the guy over because I know we have waited a long time, and to be honest I can understand him not really wanting to go back and do the work now, but I need to be refunded enough to get someone else to do the work he hasn't.

Cheers everyone

wealdroam

stevejbrecon wrote: »

...what is "LBBCC" ?

That is an acronym known only to Spacey.
He usually uses LBCCC - Letter before county court claim.

A perhaps more common term is Letter Before Action, or LBA.

Normally I would refer people to a CAB webpage that offers full guidance on LBAs, but with your legal contacts you wont be needing that.
Google cab letter before action if you need to.

spacey2012

Just a typo, letter before county court claim.
LBCCC.
Basically a final warning to the other party that unless they can fulfil the contract you shall seek a legal redeem to the situation.
The objective is to make him decide , OK I have had your money and long spent it, tried to fob you off, looks like I will have to do the work after all.
If he will not then let the judge decide what portion you should have returned.

Many on here do get upset when they see posters getting actual help other than moral judgements.
If they have little in the way of positive advice to offer, just ignore them.

You had a contract, you have a legal right to either have that contract fulfilled or a compensation payment to rectify the shortfall.

failing this let him explain to a judge why he should not provide your service when he spent your money.
He may try to bat it over six years, so be careful.

The process is you claim the full amount, the defendant would have to file a defence of admit all the claim, admit part the claim, or deny everything.

mountainofdebt

I have to say that if someone offered me £70 to cover the non receipt of a wedding album 5 yrs previous I would be biting their hand off, especially given as I would have the photos on a cd.

Given that the number of times I've looked at my wedding photos 24 yrs down the line can be counted on one hand I can't see what the issue is.

emawasten

I don't think there any software which can't deal with jpeg format. May be your photographer is not interested in your project.
And if your last date is went.It is hard to get money back.But at least you can try.Just file a case.I hope you will get your money back.

Hintza

I think the best you can hope for is a little more that the £70 and not much else.

Price up having prints made and buying an album and go to him with that.

InsideInsurance

stevejbrecon wrote: »

"Although care will be taken with the negatives, digital images and photographs taken at the wedding, Photographer limits any liability for loss, damage or failure to deliver photographs for any reason to return of all deposits paid"

The contract also make it very clear that it is for production of a storybook 30 page album and DVD of all images.

Correct me if i am wrong, but if the contract states that the album is part of the deal and the album has not been produced then that constitutes "Failing to deliver photographs" as stipulated in the contract?

The contract term says that they are limiting liability but not to what.

I'd have expected this to be followed with something like "the value of the contract", so in otherwords if he messed up and couldnt produce any photos all he'd have to do is give you the money back rather than being open to you suing him for £1m for "emotional distress" because you never had any photos of your wedding, or for the cost of rehiring the venue to stage a second post wedding photoshoot etc.

A letter before action is the correct way to go but you need to decide what a realistic value is to place on the claim. Clearly £1,000 isnt as you have had the majority of the value received. I likewise dont think you can say it is the difference between what you paid then and what he charges now just for photos as prices have changed in the last 5 years.

I'd contact another wedding photographer and ask them how much they'd charge to take your selected photos and get a 30 page storybook made. This can be used as evidence to justify the amount of the refund both to him and if needs be the courts.