Best way to handle unresponsive photographer

<p>I wanted to get the opinion of some professional wedding photographers on the best way to tactfully handle a potentially problematic situation.</p>

<p>My wife and I were married this past May. We had a great experience with our photographer. He was very professional and accommodating.</p>

<p>Our contract states that photographs would be available online 3 weeks after the event, and a DVD with edited, full resolution images would be sent to us 5 weeks after the event. We're now at 10 weeks and have received neither.</p>

<p>The delay itself is not what bothers us. This is peak wedding season and I can certainly understand someone getting behind in their work. The issue is that there has been no communication from our photographer except for one email about 5 weeks ago saying he'd get us our pictures online "tomorrow."</p>

<p>We've tried continued communication using email, Facebook, and leaving voicemails on his phone, but haven't received any responses. All the communication so far has been very courteous to just check on the status of our project. We mentioned in one of the emails what the original terms of the contract were, but received no reply.</p>

<p>During this time he has been continuing to update his website/Facebook page with weddings/engagements he's shot on dates after our wedding, so it seems he is actively working still.</p>

<p>Any suggestions on how to keep things professional, but give him a stronger nudge so he might actually respond to us?</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Ben</p>

<p>Does he have a studio? I'd try meeting in person. If not, then I'd send a certified letter asking for your photos by X date or you will consider this a breach of contract and take him to civil court. That probably sounds a little harsh, but after all your polite correspondence, I think he may need to receive something tougher. </p>

<p>Or, leave passive-aggressive comments on all his FB updates asking where your photos are :)</p>

<p>Time to send the old certified letter. These days, it doesn't hurt to also e-mail him that the certified letter has been sent.</p>

<p>In the letter, be courteous but firm. Name what it is that you want. If all you want is a response, say so (you may get a response but nothing else). If you want to be able to see the images online at this point, say so, with the note that you understand how busy he must be. If you want the images on disk without online posting, say so.</p>

<p>Request what you want and put teeth behind your request in the form of legal action. Probably small claims court. Probably, nothing else will work, unfortunately. Be very polite--state that you regret to have to take the legal step but you will, if necessary.</p>

<p>The fact that you see other weddings on his blogs and Facebook site just means he is processing enough to keep going on the stream of weddings and engagement shoots he is doing.</p>

<p>While I don't condone threatening a wedding photographer with a bad review, if you send the letter and still get no reply, you certainly can go online and write a review based upon your experience. No threats beforehand though, and keep the review factual. It <strong>is</strong> a way to get the photographer's attention when everything else fails. As the writer of the review, you can always remove it.</p>

Wll you said "Professional." As a pro this is not the way to run a business so maybe he/she has another full-time job or something. Whatever the case may be it sounds like you need to take some action here. A certified letter usually gets their attention, then your next step would probably sadly be a small claims case asking the judge to grant you the images. Since it's only been since May, don't rush to small claims until perhaps September, however get that certified letter out and in the letter tell him he needs to communicate. Hopefully the images turned out fine.

 

When a photographer delays too long there's often a reason behind this. Maybe he's been sick, family issues, whatever, but he needs to contact you.

 

Try calling from a different number. Sometimes people will pick up the phone if he thinks it could be a new wedding job.

<p>Thanks everyone for the responses. In my Googling I've found that sending a certified letter is a common suggestion. Maybe I'm missing something, but what is it about a certified letter that is likely to grab a photographer's attention?</p>

<p>He doesn't have a studio, although I have his home address since that's where we sent the original payment check. I don't intend to visit him there since that seems like it would be crossing some sort of line. From my chats with him on the wedding day it does seem like photography is his full-time job, although I have no way to really verify that.</p>

<p>My plan is to send a certified letter asking for a response and for the photographer to give us dates for when he plans to make images available online and on DVD.</p>

<p>Since our wedding was in May and it's still relatively early, I was going to hold off on setting any deadlines for him or threatening lawsuit (seems to be the "nuclear" option). Am I being too soft here?</p>

<p>Also, when I send the certified letter, is it necessary to send any supporting documents such as a copy of the signed contract, etc.? He of course should already have these.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>but what is it about a certified letter that is likely to grab a photographer's attention?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Certified letters tend to garner attention form many people (who don't usually get them in the usual course of business) since it often involves something negative and/or serious taking place. In this instance, that there is a very dissatisfied customer. The ultimate use of certified mail, however, is to obtain easily authenticated proof that a communication was sent and received. This may be relevant to determining how much leeway a photographer may be granted before being deemed in breach of contract for failing to produce the results in timely fashion. Its more difficult to claim extra time was contemplated by the parties where there's demand letters being sent for performance of contract terms. Proof of a demand being sent also shows a good faith attempt was made to obtain performance before taking legal action. Its considered bad form to bring someone to court without making some effort to have the obligation satisfied.<br /><br /><br />Whether any of that will really make any difference in this instance, we have no way to know.</p>

<p>As John H. said, a certified letter provides points in time that can be referenced.</p>

<p>However, if you just plan to ask for a response and dates for when he plans to make the images available online and on DVD, I would say you are wasting your 'ammunition'. He will respond, and give you dates, perhaps (or not), but then those dates will pass and you will still not have anything.</p>

<p>Without the 'teeth' I mentioned above, nothing will happen (I predict). If it were me, I would write the letter, set the deadlines myself (perhaps 6 weeks out for both online and DVD), and make the request in a perfectly civil way...but don't forget the part about regretfully filing suit in small claims court if the deadlines are not met.</p>

<p>You don't need back up documents, but IMHO, you need to mention that it is now 10 weeks past your wedding date, and 5 and 6 weeks past the contractual promise to deliver the images online and on DVD.</p>

<p>He's breached the terms of his own contract and as a result I would <em>strongly agree</em> with Nadine. You were nice and to this point and have been ignored. The letter needs to be polite, clear and with reasonable, fixed deadlines. It also needs a demand to respond within 1 week of receipt of the letter that the new deadline will be met. This way, if he ignores you again, then on the day after the week has passed, you can begin to plan legal actions.</p>

<p>Do not post negative reviews anywhere on the internet. Do nothing that would reflect badly on you in a courtroom. Once this is settled and over, then you can decide for yourself if you want to post reviews. </p>

In the certified letter it is wise to state the dates as close as you can regarding the no answers on the phone and the emails that were sent with no reply, and of course the breach of contract. The certified letter needs a signature from him, so at the post office make sure you get this signed certified document with all of the tries listed in your letter. You have a choice of getting a signed return or not. Well get it. Needless to say, keep a record of the emails and the phone calls and of course your formal letter. Lets hope your photos are not gone and this is the reason for the delay.

 

This of course carries a lot of weight. Often in small claims court, at least in California, you need some sort of proof that you have contacted the person and the issue was unresolved. I have no idea if it's just one time or what the number of times is required. I'm sure you've met these court rules and guidelines. The people at the small claims court are pretty nice and will answer all of your questions. Make sure you have his address and the name of his company with you. I'm sure that will be required.

 

Keep us posted and I will keep my thoughts with you that your pictures are safe and they look real good.

<blockquote>

<p>However, if you just plan to ask for a response and dates for when he plans to make the images available online and on DVD, I would say you are wasting your 'ammunition'. He will respond, and give you dates, perhaps (or not), but then those dates will pass and you will still not have anything.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This is a good point. It may be seen as a modification of time to perform on the photographer's part. The ball is also put in their court with great flexibility. It might be best to indicate that the time has expired but that enforcement will be delayed to a set time to allow the photographer to communicate and to make good on past due promises. I would give more than one week, as suggested before, to give a chance for the work to be done if they are swamped with other things. It looks good in court, should you need to go there, if you give them a real chance and they blow that too. I wouldn't give them too much time of course.</p>

<p>Thanks again for the responses. After reading all the suggestions, I've put together a firmer letter including the "teeth" that Nadine suggested. I've included also a 7-day initial response deadline and a 30-day deadline to deliver the images on DVD.</p>

<p>Should I also be pursing parallel paths while this is all going on, such as filing a complaint with the BBB and/or our State Attorney General's Office? Would that possibly look bad should we have to go to court?</p>

<p>John H, I was suggesting 1 week (IE 7 business days which is really more like 10 days) just for the photographer to respond. Not to get the work done.</p>

<p>So something along the lines of:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Dear Photographer,<br>

It was great having you capture our wedding day and you made the day enjoyable blah blah. Unfortunately it has become less enjoyable since that time because we have not heard from you about image delivery and you have not responded to emails and phone calls from us.<br>

We've emailed and called on several occasions to get our photographs delivered as per the contract terms. The dates of communication are as follows:<br>

1) June 10th, email (see attached copy)<br>

2) June 16th Phone call which went to voice mail<br>

3) June 17th Second email, see attached copy.... etc.</p>

<p>The terms of the agreement were, that you would deliver an online gallery of images 3 weeks after the wedding (May X, 2012) which would have been June X, 2012 and then you were to deliver the completed DVD of images 5 weeks after the wedding day which would have been June X, 2012.</p>

<p>Unfortunately with all the above emails and phone calls, we have not heard anything from you since wedding day and are now 4 weeks past the last deadline and no indication of when any image delivery will take place.</p>

<p>This letter serves notice that we expect a written response by no later than August 10th (7 business days after receipt of this certified letter) as to a new time-line for delivery as outlined below.<br>

1) No later than August 15th, an online gallery of wedding day images as outlined in the original wedding photography contract.<br>

2) No later than August 30th, a delivered copy of the DVD images as outlined in the original wedding photography contract.<br>

<br />If you are unable to meet these scheduled dates for any reason, please explain in your return correspondence the reasons and suggest a reasonable alternate set of deadlines. If no response and confirmation of this new schedule is forthcoming within 7 days of receipt of this letter, we will have to investigate further action to guarantee delivery of our wedding day photos.</p>

<p>Regards,<br>

Getting Pi$$ed"</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>So now he has 3 deadlines to meet.<br>

1) Get a reply back in 7 business days.<br>

2) Get the online samples up in approx 2.5 weeks<br>

3) Get the DVD done and delivered in 4-4.5 weeks. (In fact he can avoid further delivery delays by just sending the finished work Via Dropbox to download ad send the DVD out after that if he likes.)</p>

<p>The time with the new schedule is more than enough for any capable photographer assuming there are no family/health etc issues causing problems. Even so, that should be communicated to at least the clients have some idea what's happening.</p>

 

<p>No, don't take any steps, such as with the BBB or State Attorney's Office, that would be considered negative. Those can, and should be later, after yet another failure to perform.</p>

<p>Thank you for the clarification Peter. As to the letter, there may be too many deadlines. Better to have one for acknowledgement and one more for delivering everything. Separating due dates this far out can encourage partial performance and associated game playing. If partial performance is done, they can weasel more time for the second part. </p>

The BBB is OK. Sometimes you can gain a lot more info from other sources. If you really want to make a stink YELP does a good job at posting both the negatives and positives. There are plenty of other sources as well. Beat up this nerd later when you have the time.

 

Your goal here is to get everything that is in your contract. That's simply your main objective. Get the ball rolling. Start tomorrow. If no response from the certified letter, file in small claims right away. Get this over with. If you don't, expect your wife to get pretty emotional. Needless to say thats not a good thing!

 

This whole process should be done in less then 30 days. Of course the court case will probably take another 2 months or so to get a court date.

 

Good luck and get going! I'm sure you will do fine with this process. By the way, if you win, which should be the case, the photographer usually has to pay all of your court costs.

<p>I wanted to provide an update since I hate reading threads with cliffhanger endings. We sent the certified letter (thanks all for the suggestions--we incorporated pretty much all of them!) and unfortunately the initial 7-day response deadline came and went. We even waited a couple extra days in case the photographer put his response in the mail on the deadline day.</p>

<p>So now, unfortunately, we're preparing to file in small claims court. A question here: We and the photographer live in the same state (different counties, though), but the wedding was performed in a different state (we live right near the border). Which state/county should we file: where we live, where the photographer lives, or where the wedding itself was held?</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the great responses!</p>

 

<p>Ben, That's truly remarkable and I'm sorry you are going through this. I would suggest you check with your local court house. Each jurisdiction will have different guidelines and I know here, if I were to go to the courthouse, they will tell me everything I need to know about filing a claim and how/where to proceed.<br>

<br />Keep us updated on what happens and good luck.</p>

Sue in your state as you both reside there, the fact that the wedding was elsewhere is irrelevant.