Has anyone read this?

[Braineack]

There is a follow up from the photog. Seems the bride did this as a marketing stunt to profit her blog [emoji16]

well she failed in this regard since I've seen no reference to the bride's blog in the original news story or any other's that have picked it up. But I've gone to the photographer's blog/website.

There isn't an option for the cover that is plan with no photo?

$125 is the cheapest basic cover. This is why the fee should have been eaten by the photographer and only covers above this should have extra fees--which should have been written in the contract.

 

[paigew]

I couldn't link earlier from my phone for some reason. But here is the photogs response. After reading I changed my opinion to support her vs the client....sounds pretty shady to me

 

[pgriz]

Thank you , Paige. Interesting read. Assuming that the photographer is not misstating any facts, this could be a case of ulterior motives.

I've had retail prospects who gave me the wrong vibes, and generally, I've put enough checks into my sales process, that getting the "client from hell" doesn't happen too often - maybe once a year. But when such a "client" slips through, it's a time and money pit trying to extract yourself.

 

[KmH]

The General Shop Talk forum seems more appropriate for this since it's about the business of doing photography, an on topic subject.

Dear wedding photographer,

Welcome to doing business in the Internet age.

Apparently, several of your business practices were ineffective and created a customer dissatisfied with your service and pricing.
Unfortunately, the customer went public with their story of woe.

The First Law of Holes (Healey's Law in the UK)
When you suddenly discover yourself standing in a deep hole - stop digging.

Here is hoping the negative publicity does not result in revenue loss so severe it kills your business.

Cheers!
Wedding Photographer Business Weekly.

P. S. - FWIW, the customer is only rarely "right", and most such situations are driven by 'ulterior motives'.

 

[snerd]

Seems I read somewhere a month back that this was leaning towards the clients being real dicks. Regardless, in the Internet age, it's sad that you can be put out of business in a weeks time by a concerted effort to make it so. Along with all of its wonderful possibilities, it carries with it the threat of destruction.

 

[SquarePeg]

Dicks or not, if the contract states that you are getting an album you should not have to pay additional to get the album.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Stop digging, I would say so! Not sure she helped herself with that letter. Not sure the bride helped herself either.

The paragraph about commitment made me think plenty of people have things like that happen, that's how life goes sometimes. I don't think it works to go on about how self sacrificing you've been; instead a business owner needs to be able to take care of a problem effectively so it doesn't escalate. Seems like it would have been better instead of the manager continuing to email back and forth, for the photographer as the business owner to call the client and get it resolved.

It seems like the bride may have had a legitimate complaint but to post comments online that made it seem like she was enjoying all this, the local news coming to her house, etc., doesn't seem like it was the best idea. I think you gotta think about what you put in writing and make public.

Why didn't she just provide the cover? and make it clear in the contracts in the future that a fancy schmancy cover would cost an additional fee, and maybe none of this needed to happen.

 

[waday]

Reminds me of when I went to buy a car for my mother. The deal was almost done and I asked why there were no floor mats in a new car. Dealer said it was an optional extra. I said you either throw in the floor mats for free or I walk. He didn't and I did.

I've done this exact thing. My wife thought I was crazy. Glad to know there are others out there that think floor mats should be free when spending thousands on a car. They either want my business or they don't.

 

[snerd]

Dicks or not, if the contract states that you are getting an album you should not have to pay additional to get the album.

Agreed. Hopefully she'll learn a valuable lesson. That still doesn't clear the bride and groom. There were any number of ways for recourse............... they chose the most damaging one to the photog. And were enjoying it.