AceCoon

@Andy Murphy, what kind of settings do you have your camera on? that picture is awesome!

LG V20 ps - dont mind my dirty car, it never stops raining here haha..!

I was hoping that it wouldn't just lead to a dead end even if we won in court, which I'm sure we would as we have no reason not to.. I guess in the interim it's time to start shopping around for a new photographer/videographer.. Side note, i just found the guys Instagram and seems like he's been on the road traveling and having a great old time, as of yesterday, smh..

Well in the most recent news story they said that he didn't even show up in court for two cases, which by default led to a victory for the defendants but the attorney said now is the hard part, tracking him down and getting him to pay.. I wonder what happens if someone loses in court like that and just refuses to pay.. Thank you for the additional input, I have gathered all that stuff up this morning and will plan on sending over our email of intent to cancel..

The photo of that plane is awesome.. What kind of phone do you use?

Those look awesome!

Thank you very much for all of your input and insight on this matter.. As you guys' had stated, and as I told my fiance, I feel if we just go to the guy and straight up demand a refund, we'll probably hear from him a lot less than we do now (if that's even possible) so I'm not sure if that's the best route to go without thinking it through first.. But then again, it does sound like he's kinda shafting us already by literally never responding or calling when he says he will.. I know the photography industry is very time consuming, but I doubt every photographer out there treats their clients like this.. We still owe him $1000 to satisfy the contract as it was a $2500 contract, so if we only paid $1500, and the rest is due before the wedding, I'd hope he doesn't show up on the wedding day and try to pull a stunt of some sort.. I just think this is totally asinine, it makes it seem like anyone can just pose as a vendor, take your money, than disappear..

Thank you for your insight sir I appreciate it.. I have pondered the idea of possibly going that route, even though I hope it doesn't have to go down that road because this seems like he should just do the right thing and either return our money because he's too busy, or just start showing up when he says he's going to show up.. It's literally like he just says little one liners to keep us from thinking he's totally disappeared off the grid.. But it is a pretty cut and dry scenario here as well, so hopefully we get this figured out soon! Thanks again!

Thank you for such a quick reply, much appreciated.. Also I greatly understand that nobody here is technically able to give legal advice, I'm only asking for suggestions as I've never been down this road before with somebody and I assumed that many on this site would have been and been able to offer guidance.. 1. Do you have a copy of the Contract that you signed? Yes I have a copy of it, it was actually done through the companies website, after being referred to them via WeddingWire. 2. What does the Contract stipulate about your rights to cancel the contract and the return of the retainer fee / deposit? It calls it a "retainer" on the contract, and it does state that it's non refundable, but the reason I'd request a refund is for no reason other than the photographers sudden disinterest in his obligations. 3. The choices that you have available are dependent upon where you live, (ergo laws are applicable and what rights you have as a consumer). So we need to know that, too. I live in Lee County, Florida. Also, his mentioning of the engagement photos being offered as an addition free of charge is still stored in the text on my fiance's phone. She has the entire conversation saved from the very first text, up until the last "i'll call you later i'm really busy" text from just last night.

Hello, I'm searching for some assistance on an issue I'm having, and before I take the legal route I figured I'd share my situation on here and see if anyone has any insight they could offer. So in November of 2016 my fiance and I secured a photographer/videographer with a retainer fee of $1,500, and up front everything seemed great as we initially went over exactly what we would be getting out of this company. So we signed the contract, but he didn't (not sure if that matters), and we parted ways after meeting up to hand over the $1,500 check and to discuss our photography and videography options. Well in February my fiance told him we were going to be doing engagement photos so we could send them out in our wedding invites that we planned on sending out in June (this month), and he said he would actually do our engagement photos for us for free, which we assumed was just a friendly gesture since he is somewhat of an acquaintance of my fiance (they have mutual friends) and she has seen him out and about over the years. Well on two separate occasions since then, he would text and say "this weekend I'm free to do your photos", but those weekends came and went without one call or text, and our texts and calls went unanswered for weeks at a time following these instances. It was about this time in the end of February that we saw an ABC news segment about a wedding photographer who was failing to deliver on his end of the contract, and sure enough, it was the same one we went with! Well our wedding is in December, it's now almost July and we have been delaying on sending our invites since we were waiting on this guy to do our engagement photos, and even though he said he'd do those for free, I'm getting a bit perturbed and we now are planning on just sending the invites without photos. I'm thinking of just calling him to cancel and ask for our deposit back, but that leaves me faced with a few questions. He didn't sign the contract, does that make it any less valid of a contract since only we signed it and he didn't? We've asked him to sign it and send over a copy and he has yet to do so, even after texting back and saying that he would. We will send texts and voicemails and get no replies for weeks at a time, than other times we will randomly get an "I'll call you after work tonight, sorry been really busy" text message, which also ends up with no communication being made. I definitely am concerned with losing my $1,500 deposit, but I want to relay to him that if he is too busy that's fine, just please return our money and we will take our business elsewhere. Is there an easy way to go about this, as I've never had to secure someone for an event, and then let them go as their communication was just beyond horrid. There are multiple people on his WeddingWire page now leaving comments saying that it's been almost a year since their wedding and they still are unable to get a hold of him to obtain their photos, whereas before November of last year he had a perfect 5 star review. But the most mind blowing thing is that there are a few reviews within those negative reviews, that are very positive, so it makes me think he's picking and choosing and his priorities are just completely out of wack. I plan on calling and most likely leaving a voicemail this weekend, but just want to make sure I don't say anything that I shouldn't or that may discourage him from just being like "screw these people" and taking off with our money. In the news segment about him, it said that he refunded the money to the people so I hope it goes well, but just want to make sure I'm not completely overreacting as I've never been in this situation. I didn't put any names on this post as I don't want to burn any potential bridges, but just trying to proactively fix this as I can see it going very bad already and our wedding isn't even here yet. Thanks in advance!