Wedding Photography £8K+ later...

SteveVx

Hi Folks,

Just after some advice, I'll try keep this brief as it is rather a long story.

Back in 2016 my wife and I hired a wedding Photographer / Videographer to cover our Asian Wedding.



We were quoted a total £8,000 which is similair to a lot of quotes we received and covered multiple events from the registry wedding in 2016 to the asian wedding in 2017.



We received an online invoice with some very basic T&C's mainly around payment...


"50% of wedding booking is £4,000 due immediately
30% 1 month before wedding £2,400
Remainder 20% Balance due prior to dispatch of first set of Discs or album print approval"

We went to the guy's house viewed his stuff and one of the biggest concerns I had was around the time to get the final photos and film. I know a lot of people who have been waiting over 5 years for their final edits. I was assured verbally that I would get everything within 12 weeks so I went ahead and booked him.



Things started to go slightly wrong when we had our first photo shoot with him..the weather was really bad and we wanted to reschedule but he turned up by himself and didn't seem to interested in getting good shots, a lot of the photos we have looked at have issues such as my tie wasn't straight or my hair is looking really messy (Something I thought a photographer would notice and tell me to fix).


Anyway on the registry wedding things seemed to go a little better but we couldn't help notice his son who has no professional experience in videography and photography ( I know this as he is training to be a pharmacist and told this to one of my uncles) was shooting some parts of the film which was a little disappointing.

On the build up to the wedding certain important events that take place at home should have been included in the price (as he is asian himself so knows about these events) I was told I would have to pay a further £1,000! :mad::mad: which I reluctantly paid.

At this stage he had sent me some video's and photo's he had done of our wedding and I was livid! I told him I didn't want to use him anymore and wanted all my money back as he had basically screwed me over most of the photos were not even straight! He said that he would not be giving me a refund and that I should really stick with him and as he will be able to fix things and with less than 48hr's to go before the wedding day would I really be able to get someone else?


A few months later in 2017 and he had kidney stones apparently and couldn't attend any of our wedding so all our photography/videography was outsourced to freelancers who with credit were actually much better than him!



After around 7 months of constant chasing we finally received the first edit of the Asian Wedding photos and Asian Wedding Video, and it was full of mistakes! The camera was shaking at parts, their was terrible audio feedback, he had selected all the wrong audio tracks to overlay, even the date and text was incorrect. So I complained again and he said it's a first edit so you need to email me all the changes and I'll do them, so I sent them across, 2 weeks later he send me back V2 and still lots of mistakes.



I tried to explain to him it will be so much quicker and easier for us to meet up and go through this in person, he constantly refuses and says he doesn't meet up to do editing. He also sends me a demand for payment saying he won't be providing any more edits until I pay a further £850...as I am desperate to see the rest of the material I end up paying this...


He has sent me some more photos and video's and again the quality is very poor. I now have sent him a letter instructing him that I will be taking him to a small claims court. He has replied advising me to inform his solicitor he has also said if I pay him the remaining balance of £950 he will give me all the final material without watermarks and let me get it edited myself.


To this date I still not have received any final copies of anything...everything I have is in draft form.



I am definitely going to take this to a small claims court, I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience of a similair situation and could give me any tips on how I can improve my chances of winning?


1) Is there anyway I can search for past cases?

2) Should I hire a solicitor seeing as he is?

Aylesbury_Duck

SteveVx wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Just after some advice, I'll try keep this brief as it is rather a long story.

Back in 2016 my wife and I hired a wedding Photographer / Videographer to cover our Asian Wedding.



We were quoted a total £8,000 which is similair to a lot of quotes we received and covered multiple events from the registry wedding in 2016 to the asian wedding in 2017.



We received an online invoice with some very basic T&C's mainly around payment...


"50% of wedding booking is £4,000 due immediately
30% 1 month before wedding £2,400
Remainder 20% Balance due prior to dispatch of first set of Discs or album print approval"

We went to the guy's house viewed his stuff and one of the biggest concerns I had was around the time to get the final photos and film. I know a lot of people who have been waiting over 5 years for their final edits. I was assured verbally that I would get everything within 12 weeks so I went ahead and booked him.



Things started to go slightly wrong when we had our first photo shoot with him..the weather was really bad and we wanted to reschedule but he turned up by himself and didn't seem to interested in getting good shots, a lot of the photos we have looked at have issues such as my tie wasn't straight or my hair is looking really messy (Something I thought a photographer would notice and tell me to fix).


Anyway on the registry wedding things seemed to go a little better but we couldn't help notice his son who has no professional experience in videography and photography ( I know this as he is training to be a pharmacist and told this to one of my uncles) was shooting some parts of the film which was a little disappointing.

On the build up to the wedding certain important events that take place at home should have been included in the price (as he is asian himself so knows about these events) I was told I would have to pay a further £1,000! :mad::mad: which I reluctantly paid.

At this stage he had sent me some video's and photo's he had done of our wedding and I was livid! I told him I didn't want to use him anymore and wanted all my money back as he had basically screwed me over most of the photos were not even straight! He said that he would not be giving me a refund and that I should really stick with him and as he will be able to fix things and with less than 48hr's to go before the wedding day would I really be able to get someone else?


A few months later in 2017 and he had kidney stones apparently and couldn't attend any of our wedding so all our photography/videography was outsourced to freelancers who with credit were actually much better than him!



After around 7 months of constant chasing we finally received the first edit of the Asian Wedding photos and Asian Wedding Video, and it was full of mistakes! The camera was shaking at parts, their was terrible audio feedback, he had selected all the wrong audio tracks to overlay, even the date and text was incorrect. So I complained again and he said it's a first edit so you need to email me all the changes and I'll do them, so I sent them across, 2 weeks later he send me back V2 and still lots of mistakes.



I tried to explain to him it will be so much quicker and easier for us to meet up and go through this in person, he constantly refuses and says he doesn't meet up to do editing. He also sends me a demand for payment saying he won't be providing any more edits until I pay a further £850...as I am desperate to see the rest of the material I end up paying this...


He has sent me some more photos and video's and again the quality is very poor. I now have sent him a letter instructing him that I will be taking him to a small claims court. He has replied advising me to inform his solicitor he has also said if I pay him the remaining balance of £950 he will give me all the final material without watermarks and let me get it edited myself.


To this date I still not have received any final copies of anything...everything I have is in draft form.



I am definitely going to take this to a small claims court, I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience of a similair situation and could give me any tips on how I can improve my chances of winning?


1) Is there anyway I can search for past cases?

2) Should I hire a solicitor seeing as he is?

My word, what a mess. You knew people he'd mucked about for five years and you still booked him, and made substantial up-front payments? Blimey.

Anyway, how to address this. Before you do anything else, and before you even contemplate engaging a solicitor, get all the facts and evidence you have in a proper timeline. Exactly what was promised in the contract, exactly what you paid on what dates and exactly what service you received at each stage.

Given the amount of money involved, I'd then see if you can get an initial, free consultation with a solicitor. If you can get one, it will be brief, so it's vital you do everything in the first step first. A solicitor will advise of the best course of action.

One thing to consider is that even if you were to be successful, you may not be able to enforce full payment of everything he owes you.

waamo

On the face of it this seems pretty straightforward. You engaged him to do some work which he has failed to do.

Send him a letter before claim outlining what resolution you want ie final prints or a refund. Give him a reasonable amount of time to provide a resolution, at least two weeks.

If he fails to provide a reasonable resolution then issue a claim.

For such a straightforward claim I see no reason to engage a solicitor. The small claims process is designed to discourage that. You can't recoup the cost of a solicitor.

I also don't see what searching for past cases will achieve. As I have said this seems a very straightforward case that won't need case law or statute thrown at it.

Takeaway_Addict

SteveVx wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Just after some advice, I'll try keep this brief as it is rather a long story.

Back in 2016 my wife and I hired a wedding Photographer / Videographer to cover our Asian Wedding.



We were quoted a total £8,000 which is similair to a lot of quotes we received and covered multiple events from the registry wedding in 2016 to the asian wedding in 2017.



We received an online invoice with some very basic T&C's mainly around payment...


"50% of wedding booking is £4,000 due immediately
30% 1 month before wedding £2,400
Remainder 20% Balance due prior to dispatch of first set of Discs or album print approval"

We went to the guy's house viewed his stuff and one of the biggest concerns I had was around the time to get the final photos and film. I know a lot of people who have been waiting over 5 years for their final edits. I was assured verbally that I would get everything within 12 weeks so I went ahead and booked him.



Things started to go slightly wrong when we had our first photo shoot with him..the weather was really bad and we wanted to reschedule but he turned up by himself and didn't seem to interested in getting good shots, a lot of the photos we have looked at have issues such as my tie wasn't straight or my hair is looking really messy (Something I thought a photographer would notice and tell me to fix).


Anyway on the registry wedding things seemed to go a little better but we couldn't help notice his son who has no professional experience in videography and photography ( I know this as he is training to be a pharmacist and told this to one of my uncles) was shooting some parts of the film which was a little disappointing.

On the build up to the wedding certain important events that take place at home should have been included in the price (as he is asian himself so knows about these events) I was told I would have to pay a further £1,000! :mad::mad: which I reluctantly paid.

At this stage he had sent me some video's and photo's he had done of our wedding and I was livid! I told him I didn't want to use him anymore and wanted all my money back as he had basically screwed me over most of the photos were not even straight! He said that he would not be giving me a refund and that I should really stick with him and as he will be able to fix things and with less than 48hr's to go before the wedding day would I really be able to get someone else?


A few months later in 2017 and he had kidney stones apparently and couldn't attend any of our wedding so all our photography/videography was outsourced to freelancers who with credit were actually much better than him!



After around 7 months of constant chasing we finally received the first edit of the Asian Wedding photos and Asian Wedding Video, and it was full of mistakes! The camera was shaking at parts, their was terrible audio feedback, he had selected all the wrong audio tracks to overlay, even the date and text was incorrect. So I complained again and he said it's a first edit so you need to email me all the changes and I'll do them, so I sent them across, 2 weeks later he send me back V2 and still lots of mistakes.



I tried to explain to him it will be so much quicker and easier for us to meet up and go through this in person, he constantly refuses and says he doesn't meet up to do editing. He also sends me a demand for payment saying he won't be providing any more edits until I pay a further £850...as I am desperate to see the rest of the material I end up paying this...


He has sent me some more photos and video's and again the quality is very poor. I now have sent him a letter instructing him that I will be taking him to a small claims court. He has replied advising me to inform his solicitor he has also said if I pay him the remaining balance of £950 he will give me all the final material without watermarks and let me get it edited myself.


To this date I still not have received any final copies of anything...everything I have is in draft form.



I am definitely going to take this to a small claims court, I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience of a similair situation and could give me any tips on how I can improve my chances of winning?


1) Is there anyway I can search for past cases?

2) Should I hire a solicitor seeing as he is?

You knew alot of people waiting over 5 years for their final edits and you still went with him.

Fancy sending some money my way as you have plenty to slosh about?

Mr_Singleton

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

My word, what a mess.

Ahhh for puck sake did you REALLY need to quote the ENTIRE message????

Spank

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Ahhh for puck sake did you REALLY need to quote the ENTIRE message????

Did you really need to post just to say that? (Yes i realise the irony) it's not like you can't scroll through it and it preserves it if the op deletes the message

Mr_Singleton

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

You knew alot of people waiting over 5 years

Thank you for quoting the entire message AGAIN because I'm totally sure that people need to be re-read it at least every other reply in case they forget what it said.

Mr_Singleton

Spank wrote: »

Did you really need to post just to say that?

Yes, yes I did.

foxtrotoscar_2

I'm not sure the OP was saying that the people he had heard about waiting five years had used this particular photographer.

Jox

I don't think OP was saying that this particular photographer had kept people waiting 5 years, he was saying he knew people who had waited 5 years for their videos so he got assurances from the photographer that he would provide the videos within 12 weeks.

Takeaway_Addict

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Thank you for quoting the entire message AGAIN because I'm totally sure that people need to be re-read it at least every other reply in case they forget what it said.

No problem.

SteveVx wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Just after some advice, I'll try keep this brief as it is rather a long story.

Back in 2016 my wife and I hired a wedding Photographer / Videographer to cover our Asian Wedding.



We were quoted a total £8,000 which is similair to a lot of quotes we received and covered multiple events from the registry wedding in 2016 to the asian wedding in 2017.



We received an online invoice with some very basic T&C's mainly around payment...


"50% of wedding booking is £4,000 due immediately
30% 1 month before wedding £2,400
Remainder 20% Balance due prior to dispatch of first set of Discs or album print approval"

We went to the guy's house viewed his stuff and one of the biggest concerns I had was around the time to get the final photos and film. I know a lot of people who have been waiting over 5 years for their final edits. I was assured verbally that I would get everything within 12 weeks so I went ahead and booked him.



Things started to go slightly wrong when we had our first photo shoot with him..the weather was really bad and we wanted to reschedule but he turned up by himself and didn't seem to interested in getting good shots, a lot of the photos we have looked at have issues such as my tie wasn't straight or my hair is looking really messy (Something I thought a photographer would notice and tell me to fix).


Anyway on the registry wedding things seemed to go a little better but we couldn't help notice his son who has no professional experience in videography and photography ( I know this as he is training to be a pharmacist and told this to one of my uncles) was shooting some parts of the film which was a little disappointing.

On the build up to the wedding certain important events that take place at home should have been included in the price (as he is asian himself so knows about these events) I was told I would have to pay a further £1,000! :mad::mad: which I reluctantly paid.

At this stage he had sent me some video's and photo's he had done of our wedding and I was livid! I told him I didn't want to use him anymore and wanted all my money back as he had basically screwed me over most of the photos were not even straight! He said that he would not be giving me a refund and that I should really stick with him and as he will be able to fix things and with less than 48hr's to go before the wedding day would I really be able to get someone else?


A few months later in 2017 and he had kidney stones apparently and couldn't attend any of our wedding so all our photography/videography was outsourced to freelancers who with credit were actually much better than him!



After around 7 months of constant chasing we finally received the first edit of the Asian Wedding photos and Asian Wedding Video, and it was full of mistakes! The camera was shaking at parts, their was terrible audio feedback, he had selected all the wrong audio tracks to overlay, even the date and text was incorrect. So I complained again and he said it's a first edit so you need to email me all the changes and I'll do them, so I sent them across, 2 weeks later he send me back V2 and still lots of mistakes.



I tried to explain to him it will be so much quicker and easier for us to meet up and go through this in person, he constantly refuses and says he doesn't meet up to do editing. He also sends me a demand for payment saying he won't be providing any more edits until I pay a further £850...as I am desperate to see the rest of the material I end up paying this...


He has sent me some more photos and video's and again the quality is very poor. I now have sent him a letter instructing him that I will be taking him to a small claims court. He has replied advising me to inform his solicitor he has also said if I pay him the remaining balance of £950 he will give me all the final material without watermarks and let me get it edited myself.


To this date I still not have received any final copies of anything...everything I have is in draft form.



I am definitely going to take this to a small claims court, I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience of a similair situation and could give me any tips on how I can improve my chances of winning?


1) Is there anyway I can search for past cases?

2) Should I hire a solicitor seeing as he is?