Wedding photographer now wants to claim expenses

jakebullet64

My daughter gets married October, 2014. I looked on a site called photographer for me and entered my requirements which are photographer for £250, venue walsall West Midlands. Giving my email address for photographers to contact me with their quotes. I selected a photographer who work as a husband and wife team offered a basic package for £250 or classic package for £350. Bearing in mind I stated my budget is £250. I accepted the basic package. I was informed to secure the date by making a deposit for £150, which I did. The cheque was cashed in on 8 July. Today My daughter received the contract dated 21 July, which stated £250 plus train tickets! This was the first time travel expenses were mentioned. The photographer was aware from the start of emailing the venue was in Walsall, West Midlands and train expenses were never mentioned. Bearing in mind my budget is £250 only, I emailed the photographer to inform I wish to cancel as this is extra costs to my budget and that they were aware from the beginning where venue is and nothing was mentioned. Photographer said my deposit in non refundable. But they are happy to go halves on the train tickets alternatively they also suggested that I might be better off opting for the classic £350 package which surprisingly includes travel expenses.
I think they're trying it on but I want other peoples views.
Thanks for looking.
Jake

unholyangel

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284426/oft311.pdf

Schedule 2, paragraph 1, states that terms may be unfair if they
have the object or effect of:
(i) irrevocably binding the consumer to terms with which he had no
real opportunity of becoming acquainted before the conclusion of
the contract.

Schedule 2, paragraph 1, states that terms may be unfair if they
have the object or effect of:
(l) providing for the price of goods to be determined at the time of
delivery or allowing a seller of goods or supplier of services to
increase their price without in both cases giving the consumer the
corresponding right to cancel the contract if the final price is too
high in relation to the price agreed when the contract was
concluded.

Providing she hasnt made you aware at any point that there would be extras in addition to the £250, you should be able to get your deposit refunded.

There are 3 sections in that document that will be of use (may be one or two more but off the top of my head) its 1) binding consumers to hidden terms, 2) price variation clauses and 3) suppliers right to vary terms generally.

daytona0

Hmm interesting one and I would POSSIBLY consider what unholyangel has said as being correct...


That being said, what was the variance between the standard and deluxe package? Were they to have expressed that the deluxe package included travel costs etc then you have no recourse... I have a mate in photography and she pretty much uses the same lens/camera irrespective o how much people pay so it is not unreasonable to assume that the deluxe package covered expenses. It is all down to whether the "seller" can legitimately show that they have expressed that the deluxe package included expenses but the standard one didn't

unholyangel

daytona0 wrote: »

Hmm interesting one and I would POSSIBLY consider what unholyangel has said as being correct...


That being said, what was the variance between the standard and deluxe package? Were they to have expressed that the deluxe package included travel costs etc then you have no recourse... I have a mate in photography and she pretty much uses the same lens/camera irrespective o how much people pay so it is not unreasonable to assume that the deluxe package covered expenses. It is all down to whether the "seller" can legitimately show that they have expressed that the deluxe package included expenses but the standard one didn't

Which is why i said above it was providing she hadnt made OP aware at any point that there would be additional charges on top of the £250

visidigi

daytona0 wrote: »

Hmm interesting one and I would POSSIBLY consider what unholyangel has said as being correct...


That being said, what was the variance between the standard and deluxe package? Were they to have expressed that the deluxe package included travel costs etc then you have no recourse... I have a mate in photography and she pretty much uses the same lens/camera irrespective o how much people pay so it is not unreasonable to assume that the deluxe package covered expenses. It is all down to whether the "seller" can legitimately show that they have expressed that the deluxe package included expenses but the standard one didn't

A massive assumption that a deluxe package magically includes travel because the photographer uses the same lens.

I would be more inclined, based on previous bookings with photographers to say the package is more about what prints you get at the end, the volume, how quickly they get done and what digital media you get at the end -travel expenses has never come into it before.

For me, if the OP has stated the location and the cost the location and the cost is fixed and the photographer has agreed. Strikes me the photographer offered and then found out the train tickets weren't cheap (are they ever) - and that's not the OP's problem.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

No, if the mug photographer puts up a price of £250, let them do the job for £250.

But I am afraid you will get a poor product for that price. 2 Photographers, Husband and Wife. 5 hours work at the wedding, is £25 per hour per photographer. What would you expect, a cheap book of prints from photobox?

Or iof I put it another way. If the photographer did 50 weddings a year, this would give an income of £12,500. Could you live on that.

PS, I charge £3,000 per wedding. I would not get out of bed for that money.

let us know what the pictures are like!!

bap98189

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

But I am afraid you will get a poor product for that price. 2 Photographers, Husband and Wife. 5 hours work at the wedding, is £25 per hour per photographer.

Then add in the 2-3 days spent sorting, deleting, and editing the photographs. A lot of people don't seem to realise that when you book a wedding photographer, they will spend far longer working on the editing than they will taking the photographs.

paddyrg

Wow - train tickets could easily run to £250 alone. Personally I'd probably take the 'going halves on the travel' option - I can't imagine you'll get much in the way of cheaper offers.

Speaking of which, where do they make their money? My hunch is that the £250 covers attendance, you may find you pay a premium for prints/originals on CD - be worth checking what you've actually agreed to.

jakebullet64

Hi there,
Thanks to all of you for replying.
These are the terms originally sent after asking for a quote.

"There you will find the latest examples of our work, Wedding inspiration and our latest published work.

Here are our two Wedding Packages:

1. The Classic Package
• Full Day Coverage (up to 8 hours included, let us know if you need more than 8 hours coverage)
• All your images presented as un-watermarked high resolution pictures on a CD/DVD, suitable to produce prints
With this Package you may add a Wedding Photo Book at a later time.

· Price: £350

2. The Basic Package
• Full Day Coverage (up to 8 hours included, let us know if you need more than 8 hours coverage)
• 250 images of your choice presented as un-watermarked high resolution pictures on a CD/DVD, suitable to produce prints
With this Package you may add additional images on extra CD/DVD or a Wedding Photo Book at a later time.

· Price: £250"

Train tickets via red spotted hanky are coming out as £120.

The first I'd heard about the train fare / expenses was when they'd sent a contract through a couple of days ago for signing.
Prior to this was no mention of train fares; deluxe packaging inclusive of expenses etc.

I'm going to reply requesting a refund of the deposit, which was cashed weeks before the contract.
Cheers
Jake

susancs

jakebullet64 wrote: »

Hi there,
Thanks to all of you for replying.
These are the terms originally sent after asking for a quote.

"There you will find the latest examples of our work, Wedding inspiration and our latest published work.

Here are our two Wedding Packages:

1. The Classic Package
• Full Day Coverage (up to 8 hours included, let us know if you need more than 8 hours coverage)
• All your images presented as un-watermarked high resolution pictures on a CD/DVD, suitable to produce prints
With this Package you may add a Wedding Photo Book at a later time.

· Price: £350

2. The Basic Package
• Full Day Coverage (up to 8 hours included, let us know if you need more than 8 hours coverage)
• 250 images of your choice presented as un-watermarked high resolution pictures on a CD/DVD, suitable to produce prints
With this Package you may add additional images on extra CD/DVD or a Wedding Photo Book at a later time.

· Price: £250"

Train tickets via red spotted hanky are coming out as £120.

The first I'd heard about the train fare / expenses was when they'd sent a contract through a couple of days ago for signing.
Prior to this was no mention of train fares; deluxe packaging inclusive of expenses etc.

I'm going to reply requesting a refund of the deposit, which was cashed weeks before the contract.
Cheers
Jake

Th trains tickets are usually cheapest 12 weeks before, so if the wedding is at the middle/end of October the fares may be cheaper in a week or two when these fares are loaded. Just a thought as although you are probably correct that you should be entitled to a deposit refund, £250 is very cheap for wedding photos and I think your dd may well struggle to get anything in that budget. I got married nearly 25 years ago and paid more for a photographer then.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

So two photographers for 8 hours, that is just over £15 an hour each. Travel then reduces this to £8.16 per hour.

One wonders what quality the CD will be?