HELP!! Wedding Videographer does not answer my calls and emails and its +1 months overdue already!!

[bolido2000]

Ok, so I hired this videographer for my wedding. He seemed very professional and courteous and everything went fine on the wedding day as well. After that however, he has been non responsive. He only answers my emails after 1 month despite me emailing and calling him everyday (always goes to voicemail). By contract he should have given me my wedding DVD on January 23rd (4 months). He never contacted me by that date. When he finally replied, he apologized saying that he has been very busy, but that he would have it ready by Feb 15th for sure. Well, 15th came by and he hasn't responded to any of my emails or phone calls. I need this DVD by March 8th because I'm visiting my relatives overseas.

What can I do about it? I plan to show up at his house tonight and confront him. Any suggestions? I thought about small claims court as a last resort, but its a hassle and I wouldn't trust him with the editing if things went that far.

EDIT: I already paid him 3/4 of the fees. The balance when he hands me the DVD.

Update: Last night my wife and I drove to the videographer's house which is about 20 miles from mine. I prepared a nasty letter that I planned to leave at his door if he wasn't home or wouldn't open the door. Anyways...we get there at around 9:20pm and knock on his door. He opend it and gives a sort of "wtf?" look to us. He starts apologizing saying that he has been very sick and busy lately and haven't had enough time to finish all the work. I ask why he doesn't answer my emails and calls and he says that he tries not to reply to people because it slows down his work. I say that with that attitude he is just pissing off his existing customer and shooting himself in the foot as he'll get no referrals or repeat customers. He apologizes again and says that he completely understand and wouldn't expect that from us after the way things have gone. Anyways, he promises that the he will give me the DVD no later than Wednsday and will contact me on Monday to tell me how things are going.
I guess at this point I can only wait and hope he is not jerking me around again....sigh

Question: Can I pull a Michael Clayton and record my conversation with him if sh!t hits the fan I have to pay him a visit again on Tues? Does a recording like that have any valididty in court?


Update 2: Finally got the DVD!! The guy offered to knock $70 bucks off the amount I owe and gave me 2 extra DVD copies for free. Happy ending for me

 

[Ns1]

Have you paid him?

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
What can I do about it? I plan to show up at his house tonight and confront him. Any suggestions? I thought about small claims court as a last resort, but its a hassle and I would trust him with the editing if things went that far.

Yep. Have a weapon on you.

 

[Sphexi]

Definitely go to his house/office if he has one, and find out WTF he's doing with all this time. He's obviously dodging your calls, if he does this for a living then he has to answer his phone now and then or he'd have no business. I wouldn't bring up court actions yet, but get all your ducks in a row, keep documentation of all interactions with him, bring someone along to act as a witness if necessary. If it does go to court, then it'd be in his best interest NOT to destroy the tapes/videos that he did shoot, doing so would put him into a very bad position. At that point you could argue that there's no way for you to ever get a video of the once-in-a-lifetime event that you paid him for, and likely get compensation for that on top of whatever you paid him. It would also likely ruin his business once people find out.

If it gets to the point where he still has nothing ready, simply demand all of the original/un-cut tapes/DVDs, plus whatever he has cut so far, and take it somewhere else.

 

[OdiN]

Wow...that's nuts and completely unprofessional. My wedding contract states that photos will be finished in 2-4 months. However, most of the time I have them in a couple weeks unless I'm super busy for some reason.

Send a certified mail letter to his business address. If it comes down to court and such, you are not going to have it by the 8th of March. You may not anyway. You may have to copy the DVD you get and mail it over there if you are allowed to make copies.

Shit happens, and things can be late - but if he's dodging your calls - that's BS. At least if he had some good explanation of why he's behind - death in the family, or something, you could at least understand.

There was a photographer a few years back who had a whole news story run on him because he had like 15 people or something who didn't get anything but proofs. Probably ruined his business. You could talk to one of those consumer advocate types at a local news channel - or tell the videographer that you will if he doesn't shape up.

 

[FoBoT]

sue him in small claims court

don't go and "confront" him, you'll end up in jail

 

[bolido2000]

If I get to talk to him I won't go ballistic or anything like that. Just ask him whats going on and shape up. I believe he lists his home address as his business office as that is the address I got by looking at whitepages.com and the BBB.org, where btw he has a rating of F with 2 negatives

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
If I get to talk to him I won't go ballistic or anything like that. Just ask him whats going on and shape up. I believe he lists his home address as his business office as that is the address I got by looking at whitepages.com and the BBB.org, where btw he has a rating of F with 2 negatives

d'oh, shoulda looked on bbb first

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
If I get to talk to him I won't go ballistic or anything like that. Just ask him whats going on and shape up. I believe he lists his home address as his business office as that is the address I got by looking at whitepages.com and the BBB.org, where btw he has a rating of F with 2 negatives

Good job with the due diligence

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
If I get to talk to him I won't go ballistic or anything like that. Just ask him whats going on and shape up. I believe he lists his home address as his business office as that is the address I got by looking at whitepages.com and the BBB.org, where btw he has a rating of F with 2 negatives

And you were his third customer.

 

[bolido2000]

Yeah, I screwed up on this one
Other than that the wedding went very well

 

[Josh]

He lost the video and is scared to admit it

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Josh
He shot the wedding without film and is scared to admit it

Fixed

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Josh
He shot the wedding without tape or hard drive and is scared to admit it

Fixed

Again.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
Yeah, I screwed up on this one
Other than that the wedding went very well

That's why it's important to not care about the video, so with it goes wrong it doesn't matter.

 

[gsellis]

If you go for a refund, don't forget to get all tapes of the wedding as part of the deal including any soundtrack that he might have done on additional equipment. If you know what cameras he shoot on (or not), another editor can do it with a little help from you guys.

If he advertised that he is a member of WEVA (Wedding and Event Videographers Association), contact them with a complaint. http://www.weva.com/index.shtml They have a couple of groups that oversee member relations and they might aid you if he is a member.

Edit - another wedding videographer still owes me about $300 for editing her shot. I did the first one as a favor for cheap because she "had too much work to edit and the next ones would be more". I spent about 10 hours just fixing the part where they did not monitor to see that the main camera was not recording the mic on the groom, patching the holes where they turned off the only other camera running (now those holes are missing audio), color correction, stabilization, etc. Spent about 50hours on it. That would be $5/hr for me and my equipment rental.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Josh
He fucked you over

Fixed

Again.

Once more.

KT

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Definitely go to his house/office if he has one, and find out WTF he's doing with all this time. He's obviously dodging your calls, if he does this for a living then he has to answer his phone now and then or he'd have no business. I wouldn't bring up court actions yet, but get all your ducks in a row, keep documentation of all interactions with him, bring someone along to act as a witness if necessary. If it does go to court, then it'd be in his best interest NOT to destroy the tapes/videos that he did shoot, doing so would put him into a very bad position. At that point you could argue that there's no way for you to ever get a video of the once-in-a-lifetime event that you paid him for, and likely get compensation for that on top of whatever you paid him. It would also likely ruin his business once people find out.

If it gets to the point where he still has nothing ready, simply demand all of the original/un-cut tapes/DVDs, plus whatever he has cut so far, and take it somewhere else.

Take a bat with you.

But he might have a gun.

 

[Kelemvor]

Call your local TV stations. They usually love ot do stories on people like this. Then contact the BB and your state's Attorney General office to file complaints with each of them.

 

[bolido2000]

I dunno...he seemed like a nice guy when we first met and contacted him, and he was on time and very professional on the wedding day. I know most scammers probably are like that as no one would trust someone that looks like a scammer the first time you meet them. Anyways...I asked a friend to call his number and leave a VM pretending to look for a videographer. He left my voicemail number, so I will have a recording if things really go sour. Let's see if he returns the call.....

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: bolido2000
I dunno...he seemed like a nice guy when we first met and contacted him, and he was on time and very professional on the wedding day. I know most scammers probably are like that as no one would trust someone that looks like a scammer the first time you meet them. Anyways...I asked a friend to call his number and leave a VM pretending to look for a videographer. He left my voicemail number, so I will have a recording if things really go sour. Let's see if he returns the call.....

Marked for later then

 

[BooGiMaN]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Josh
He taped the Superbowl over the wedding tape and is too scared to admit it

Fixed

Again.

fixed again

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: bolido2000
Yeah, I screwed up on this one
Other than that the wedding went very well

That's why it's important to not care about the video, so with it goes wrong it doesn't matter.

I videotaped my own wedding with a few cameras I set up ahead of time, and in the 2 1/2 years since I got married we haven't even watched it. We watched a little bit of the reception video after the wedding, but that was it. No one watches their wedding videos.

 

[bolido2000]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: bolido2000
Yeah, I screwed up on this one
Other than that the wedding went very well

That's why it's important to not care about the video, so with it goes wrong it doesn't matter.

I videotaped my own wedding with a few cameras I set up ahead of time, and in the 2 1/2 years since I got married we haven't even watched it. We watched a little bit of the reception video after the wedding, but that was it. No one watches their wedding videos.

Yeah I agree. I haven't even looked closely at my wedding pictures!
But I figure after 20 or 30 years it will be great watching the wedding video with my kids

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: bolido2000
Yeah, I screwed up on this one
Other than that the wedding went very well

That's why it's important to not care about the video, so with it goes wrong it doesn't matter.

I videotaped my own wedding with a few cameras I set up ahead of time, and in the 2 1/2 years since I got married we haven't even watched it. We watched a little bit of the reception video after the wedding, but that was it. No one watches their wedding videos.

That is because Sanctified Crack Gorilla did not do yours. They rule.