I'm a sad customer, ethical question... :(

<p>Anne, I hope you keep us all abreast of future developments and results of conversations with the event organizers.</p>

 

<p>I have been involved in many silent auctions for charities as an organizer and as a donor. I also think the OP should contact the charity, tell them what has happened with the photographer and the confusion about what was sold, and hopefully be offered her money back. <br>

And I think this photographer should not be donating to charity auctions. There seems to be no charitable intent or spirit to her and I do believe that the photographer is acting in a way that brings discredit to herself and to the charity. If I were in charge of this for the charity I would be appalled by the photographer's attitude towards the OP and I would not allow that photographer to donate services to the auction in the future. <br>

Part of the problem here is that the photographer apparently did not make clear to the charity exactly what she was offering. Blaming it on the auctioneer is a bit of a cop out by the photographer. Auctioneers are smart enough to know that they need to describe things well for the auction. </p>

<p>What the photographer was willing to give for the charity auction should have been clearly spelled out. If it was for a <em>sitting</em> and <em>X </em>number of photos of a defined size, that is all you can expect.</p>

<p>The photographer can not be expected to give more than they agreed to and expected to give no less than they agreed to. If services and materials are being requested that goes above and beyond it is their decision as to how to proceed with their business plan.</p>

<p>I do not want to sound harsh, but you should have read and understood what you were getting for your money. It should have also been clearly explained.</p>

<p>If a contractor was coming to remodel your bathroom, before you would agree to have the work done, you would want to have a contract. If you agree to the work without a contract, you would be leaving yourself open to the contractor not doing all the work or over charging you for what you expected.</p>

<p>The auction should have had the service you were bidding on clearly printed out and that would be your contract.</p>

<p>It doesn't matter what I think is fair or what I would have done or what any other photographer here on PN thinks. I wish you were getting a deal you would be happy with. We all have our own ideas on what we think is fair, what we can afford to do for a given price or what we can donate to charity, be it time and/or cost of prints.</p>

<p>In the end, if this photographer has met their obligation per the agreement, anything above and beyond that is their business decision as to price for service and again you have the right to ask what price for what you want before you paid more money. I would think they would consider public relations, reputation, fairness verses costs and time in that decision.</p>

<p>You have paid a lot of money, in my opinion, but it does sound like you are getting high quality photos from a professional. If you can't afford it or wanted a better deal including the digital files, you should shop around. Some photographers will include them, some won't, some charge less for a better package. You should tell the photographer what you want, ask the price and make a contract or walk away before hiring them and writing a check.</p>

<p> </p>

I will keep you abreast Gup, and thank you Mark and Bob. I appreciate your responses.

 

What I have come to realize through this forum thread… Aside from a few lessons in English and grammar, LOL, is Ive

realized that there are many different ways that photographers make money and many different styles of how

photographers sell their finished product. Do I think she was being malicious? Well before I posted on this I actually did.

But reading everybody's replies I come to understand that this is just her style of sale… To never give images and only

sell prints. I get it. It's been helpful to learn that this practice could be standard. Frustrating but acceptable and

understanding.

 

Do I think what she did was very nice? Well considering that she gives free sessions normally in advertisements all the

time I'm not sure that what she gave to the auction was really anything more than an ad. I think we can all agree on that.

 

It doesn't matter at this point I feel like she shot quality photos and I am going to pay for them. Now, I do feel like the

auctioneer made an assumption and told me information that maybe he shouldn't have? Yes but I also feel that when she

learned of the mistake she could have done SOMETHING to make it right. she did nothing to try to compromise. So I am

still a little disappointed that I just had to accept that a mistake was made and come all the way to her side instead of

having even a slight compromise.... Other then 25 Xmas cards that I don't even get to pick out and I had to buy 25 more

for $50. Forgot I'm buying those too.

I just think it sucks and more could have been done to make right, and yes I still feel that way. But it is what it is. All in all

I will get a quality memory that will last forever. While the lesson was only $150 plus great expectations turned to

disappointment, the investment is truly priceless.

<p>"Well considering that she gives free sessions normally in advertisements all the time I'm not sure that what she gave to the auction was really anything more than an ad. I think we can all agree on that."</p>

<p>NO WE CAN NOT ALL AGREE ON THAT. Time and talent has a value. The sitting has a cahs value even if the phiotographer includes that "free" in the price of a "package".</p>

<p>BTW, I agree that the whole situation sucks... but it is difficult to determine who it sucks more for - you, the photographer or the "auctioneer". I'm stumped.</p>

<p>All I can say is that for someone who says they struggle to make ends meet... you are very lucky to be able to spend nearly $1K on photographs. I hope you find peace and enjoyment in the end.</p>

<p>Anne, would you, in the future, recommend that photographer to others, or use her again ?</p>

<p>I think you've lost 150 now. It may be a good idea to forget that and step back, rather than risk spending an extra 500-700 more in a bid to save the 150 you already paid her. </p>

<p>Look out for groupon offers where relatively new photographers offer economy packages for 100-150 bucks. You may not get the same level of quality as a $2000 photographer, but you'll still get some fairly good value for your money. </p>

<p>Yeah, don't spend another dime with her. You'll always think about the negative when you see the photos. Walk away. Take the $150.00 lump. Leave her with nothing. Hopefully for your $150 you can feel like you've wasted $800 worth of her time, and then I would complain to the organizer that the description was vague and misleading. If you need more ways to vent your frustration, consider a letter to the local paper, the BBB, write a blog post or whatever, but I think you'd be much happier if you just took your own family photo like the other 92.453% of us do. If you're complaining about the $150 and how tight money is with your family, why in the heck would you agree to $800 worth of prints? That just makes Zero cents... er, sense.</p>

<p>Forgetting photography for a moment...</p>

<p>If I were to bid $150 on Product X, I would expect to get Product X for $150. I would not expect to have to spend ten times that amount for an opportunity to take Product X home with me.</p>

<p>If I were the supplier of Product X, I would want to ensure that the bidder received Product X and that they were happy with it. I would structure Product X so that it would not require costly materials or services, only a donation of my time and expertise. (Shooting, editing, and delivering photos in digital form would quality as such a deliverable).</p>

<p>I would consider good publicity from the auction and a happy customer in the community to be valuable assets to my business. A "sad" and disappointed customer would not help my reputation, even if I were able to convince them to pay more money than they had expected to pay.</p>

<p>Anne, where do you live? I would re-shoot your family portraits for free. And you will get every image to print any way you want. </p>

<p>There are many unethical business owners out there, and I think this lady is one of them. You should let the event organizer know not to deal with this person again, or make sure that she is very upfront and honest in her ad. Something tells me that she was not. </p>