Dispute with sole trader

Undervalued

damianjmcgrath wrote: »

Thank you for all your advice, I'll investigate into all those points.

Just one last area of confusion for me - about the amount to ask for back as a refund, or to claim through the courts.

Let's assume for the sake of easy maths that the total amount was £1000. This, according to the invoice and agreement of work, covers him to take the photographs, provide them to us on CD, then create an album of a style we selected of 30 of those pictures. The CD was to be delivered to us within 30 days of March 27 2015, and the album produced within 60 days of us confirming to him which 30 pictures we wanted.

Obviously the issue is that no CD was ever received.

In terms of going to court for a refund, would I be entitled to the whole 1000, or only a part of that since he did actually take the pictures? Does late interest come into it at all? How do I calculate compensation of wasted time, multiple letters, phone calls, and the loss of valuable photos?

As far as I know there has never been a case regarding the "value" of wedding photos in a high enough court to set a precedent that is binding.

Quite a few years ago I was told a County Court judge had awarded a couple who's photographs were lost the amount they would have spent had they come out. He reasoned that if they were willing to spend say a £1000 on professional wedding photos they were entitled to £1000 compensation for the upset of not having any.

There may be more recent judgements of course but at one time the example I gave was widely quoted.

As I say not technically binding unless there has been a case that reached the High Court.

naedanger

damianjmcgrath wrote: »

None at all.

In that case you can certainly sue for the full amount you paid plus interest plus actual costs (but not usually inconvenience or your time).

You may be able to sue for a higher amount, namely for the cost (within reason) of replacing the photos. In other words the cost (within reason) of getting another professional photographer to take restaged photos. However I don't know this for a fact or any the details. For example, I doubt you could claim for the cost of getting all the guests together again. The more you paid for the photos (and to a lesser extent the wedding) then I think the more a court is likely to agree to pay a high amount for getting replacements. In other words if you paid a lot that demonstrates you highly valued getting good photos and, I suspect a court would value your loss as being greater than if you paid a friend to take photos.

naedanger

damianjmcgrath wrote: »

None at all.

This may be of some interest (that said it seems rather short of detail):

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/my-wedding-photographs-are-poor-quality-what-can-i-do

and

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/letter-to-complain-about-late-wedding-photographs

and

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218248/Newlyweds-win-court-battle-1-500-wedding-photographer-shoddy-pictures-include-missing-heads-car-close-ups.html

djmsemcgrath

During the small claims process, and when I complete the claim form, do I need to specify an exact amount or can I provide copies of invoices and let the court calculate the figure that they think is reasonable?

arcon5

Exact amount

djmsemcgrath

If I ask for too much, will they reduce it down, or just flat out refuse it?

naedanger

damianjmcgrath wrote: »

If I ask for too much, will they reduce it down, or just flat out refuse it?

They will simply reduce it to what the court thinks is the right amount.

You want to make the court's life as simple as possible (to help get them on your side). Therefore set out clearly what you are claiming e.g. by giving an itemised breakdown listing the various components (but if there is a lot of detail, e.g. for expenses, then put the detailed breakdown for that item into a separate appendix).

DCFC79

Have you contacted him using a second email address ?

Ask a friend to meet him and your friend says can I introduce you to my partner and you appear and you ask him where your photos are.

djmsemcgrath

I wanted to avoid anything verbally, I wanted everything in writing.

Running_On_Empty

May I suggest that you and your spouse restage the photos of you both in your wedding outfits perhaps with both sets of parents and the bridesmaids and best man? You could do this in a hotel or the place where you got married, maybe. My wedding photos were lost in the post many years ago and all I had were grainy-ish snapshots taken by guests. I have regretted ever since not restaging them. Just a thought.