Wedding photographer woes
Discussion
Bit of an odd one here
We're getting married in September, we booked the photographer in August 2020 and paid in full. He'd photographed my brothers wedding in 2017 so we knew of him and of his work, he was well rated on Facebook and a few wedding websites although it wasn't his full time job.
SWIMBO looked up his FB page the other day and noticed someone had posted a bad review stating he has essentially cut off communication and ignored messages she had sent, when approached about cancelling he said no but did turn up to the day albeit not being overly friendly and not taking a lot of photo's that he was asked to do so. My OH messaged this girl asking about it and she spilled the beans about the whole saga, needless to say she didn't paint him in a good light.
Now, we have sent him 2 FB messages over the past month, both of which have been read but not replied to, his photography page hasn't been updated since May 2021 yet his personal page has been updated as recently as today. OH is now understandably beginning to worry as it sounds exactly the same as the girl who left the review. We cannot cancel the contract without losing £500 or so, something i'm not prepared to lose. We can't afford to book a new photographer while he has the money.
We have copies of all the conversations, bank transfers and contract if it comes to legal action if he doesn't show up so i'm not too worried about that, it's obviously the hassle it's causing. We have a back up, 2 people at the wedding are photographers and i know a chap who runs the local camera club and he is local to our venue if required.
We plan to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, plan to call him in a couple weeks and send a letter to his home address if all that fails.
What i'm wondering is at what point is he breaching our contract? I'm guessing if he doesn't turn up on the day. We have video chatted with him shortly after booking in order to discuss the day, there is a bit on the contract about discussing timeline on the day etc so i guess the video chat constitutes complying with that.
We're getting married in September, we booked the photographer in August 2020 and paid in full. He'd photographed my brothers wedding in 2017 so we knew of him and of his work, he was well rated on Facebook and a few wedding websites although it wasn't his full time job.
SWIMBO looked up his FB page the other day and noticed someone had posted a bad review stating he has essentially cut off communication and ignored messages she had sent, when approached about cancelling he said no but did turn up to the day albeit not being overly friendly and not taking a lot of photo's that he was asked to do so. My OH messaged this girl asking about it and she spilled the beans about the whole saga, needless to say she didn't paint him in a good light.
Now, we have sent him 2 FB messages over the past month, both of which have been read but not replied to, his photography page hasn't been updated since May 2021 yet his personal page has been updated as recently as today. OH is now understandably beginning to worry as it sounds exactly the same as the girl who left the review. We cannot cancel the contract without losing £500 or so, something i'm not prepared to lose. We can't afford to book a new photographer while he has the money.
We have copies of all the conversations, bank transfers and contract if it comes to legal action if he doesn't show up so i'm not too worried about that, it's obviously the hassle it's causing. We have a back up, 2 people at the wedding are photographers and i know a chap who runs the local camera club and he is local to our venue if required.
We plan to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, plan to call him in a couple weeks and send a letter to his home address if all that fails.
What i'm wondering is at what point is he breaching our contract? I'm guessing if he doesn't turn up on the day. We have video chatted with him shortly after booking in order to discuss the day, there is a bit on the contract about discussing timeline on the day etc so i guess the video chat constitutes complying with that.
You don't necessarily need to wait for him to fail to show up before you have any rights in respect of cancelling the contract. One party can 'repudiate' a contract by signalling that they don't intend to perform it, which would allow you to walk away, but it doesn't sound like you've got to that stage yet...
I think we can make some assumptions : -
The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The £500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The £500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
ConnectionError said:
I think we can make some assumptions : -
The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The 500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
That's a hell of a lot of assumptions based on not a lot of evidence.The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The 500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
The £500 sounds more like a cancellation fee payable if the OP pulls out for some reason rather than the total cost of the job. We have no idea of the total cost. He may be cheap, he may not be.
The fact he is on Facebook is also hardly indicative that he is an amateur - nearly all local and small businesses have a FB presence.
Given that, so far, the photographer has failed to respond to messages I'd be phoning him to check everything is in order.
boyse7en said:
ConnectionError said:
I think we can make some assumptions : -
The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The 500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
That's a hell of a lot of assumptions based on not a lot of evidence.The "photographer" is a Facebook amateur.
He is cheap.
The 500.00 was the total cost of the job, and was paid in full 2 years ago.
The is no contract or real paper trail.
The photographer has possibly decided/realised that he is not very good so has ceased "trading"
The 500 sounds more like a cancellation fee payable if the OP pulls out for some reason rather than the total cost of the job. We have no idea of the total cost. He may be cheap, he may not be.
The fact he is on Facebook is also hardly indicative that he is an amateur - nearly all local and small businesses have a FB presence.
Given that, so far, the photographer has failed to respond to messages I'd be phoning him to check everything is in order.
Sorry, perhaps the total cost is higher and the £500.00 is the loss if cancelled. However I doubt any money would be returned if cancelled by either party.
The OP has said that the photographer does/did this as a side line
As I said, these are my assumptions
Edited by ConnectionError on Friday 27th May 07:45
personally, for £500 if you have doubts and it's going to cause a load of stress, I'd write it off and start again.
You could contact him and tell him either to return the money, or you'll report him to HMRC. I suspect, if he's a facebook chancer, it could all be undeclared. It might work. Or of course, if there is a contract that has a right to cancel in your favour (I doubt it)
You could contact him and tell him either to return the money, or you'll report him to HMRC. I suspect, if he's a facebook chancer, it could all be undeclared. It might work. Or of course, if there is a contract that has a right to cancel in your favour (I doubt it)
Thanks for the input, we paid In full because he offered a discount for full payment on booking, my brother did the same when booking him for his wedding, we bought the same package.
Like I said it's not a full time job for him which I'm guessing is why he is a lot cheaper but we wouldn't have used him if we'd not met him at my brothers wedding and seen the photos afterwards.
We have contract etc from him, part of which states if we cancel less than 4 months before the wedding we only get 25% back.
Popping round to see him isn't an option as he lives 3.5 hours away
Like I said it's not a full time job for him which I'm guessing is why he is a lot cheaper but we wouldn't have used him if we'd not met him at my brothers wedding and seen the photos afterwards.
We have contract etc from him, part of which states if we cancel less than 4 months before the wedding we only get 25% back.
Popping round to see him isn't an option as he lives 3.5 hours away
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