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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To demand a FULL refund

100 replies

BasicallyFcuked · 17/06/2014 18:32

DH and I got married a month ago.

The photographer was a friend of a friend (but still professional) who gave us a bit of a discount. The total cost for them to photograph from 9am-6pm was £800 (a very good price by comparison to others in my area), with two copies of all the photos on discs. The venue was a long drive, about 2 hours from the photographers usual 'base' but the price included travel too.

Conversations with the photographer in the past couple of weeks have indicated that there were around 1000 photos after basic editing-out had been done. This was part of the agreement, we wanted the 'shit' photos as well as the good ones, the blurry shots, half-head shots etc (for potential amusement value), which is why there are so many.

Anyway...we had a phonecall from her yesterday. To say that somehow the discs and her camera have been mostly wiped, meaning she's lost all but about 20 random photos that she's managed to salvage. We've not seen any of them yet but they are mainly the candid shots of people talking, two of dh and I, and one group shot with everyone.

To say we're gutted is an understatement...but I've calmed down a lot since yesterday, there's no point in crying over it, nothing can be done now. Thankfully a lot of friends and family took photos so we do have some nice ones anyway.

The sticking point is...when dh spoke to her, he asked for a full refund. The photographer is refusing, and offering to refund £500. The additional £300 she thinks she should keep, as even though most of the photos are gone, we are getting 'some' professional shots (20 out of 1000...forgive me if I don't piss my pants in gratitude), and of course she was working all day, and incurred travel expenses etc.

My opinion is that I couldn't give a fcuk about her travel expenses and wasted day...we paid her for a service, which she has not delivered on, for a fairly huge event in our lives. I don't see that a mistake like this is excusable at all, and don't see why we should pay £300 for pretty much naff all.

Am I BU to expect a FULL refund, AND the 20 remaining photos on disc free of charge?

OP posts:

brdgrl · 17/06/2014 18:45

I'm shocked that she hasn't bent over backwards to get you both the full refund AND whatever photos can be recovered. Totally unprofessional AND a shit friend.

(I used an acquaintance/former student as our wedding photographer - he didn't turn up - so upsetting, you have my absolute sympathies!)

Marrow · 17/06/2014 18:46

Firstly many congratulations to you And secondly no you are most definitely NOT bring unreasonable!! She should have immediately offered you a full refund without question. Her time and travelling expenses do not factor in to this. She has made a mistake which has resulted in you only having twenty pictures of your day. (I'm not sure how she has managed to wipe all but a random twenty!)

She should be mortified and bending over backwards to try and compensate you (photoshoot of you and DH in your wedding gear?) Yes mistakes happen but how she deals with this can have a huge impact on her future business. I can't believe she would risk having an unhappy customer and possibly damage her reputation.

brdgrl · 17/06/2014 18:48

and make sure you review her online.

bloodyteenagers · 17/06/2014 18:49

Also, to edit them, you don't put them straight from memory card to disc. They have to be transferred to the hd.
So she is trying to convince you that although they should be in 3 separate locations, nothing can be salvaged aside from 20 random shots. Erm, okay then.

Are you sure she is a proper professional. Not an amateur wanna be.

CanaryYellow · 17/06/2014 18:52

Full refund is definitely required.

I'd get the story out over all of the social networks and go to the local press if she refused.

SaucyJack · 17/06/2014 18:53

Just........

Georgethesecond · 17/06/2014 18:57

Okay so maybe she deleted the SD card as she transferred them to PC, which wasn't a great idea. But they should still be on her PC and on a back up hard drive. How does she explain what is supposed to have happened?

tryingtocatchthewind · 17/06/2014 18:57

I just can't believe she's lost them. I remember my photographer giving a big speech about how many back up systems she had. Surely she'd have used more than one memory card in the first place, you can't fit 1000 on one card then out them on a computer and hard drive back up. There's no way if she's a decent professional that she can loose them.
You need to slate her all over the net and then get someone else to do a lovely cherish the dress shoot at your venue

Original poster

BasicallyFcuked · 17/06/2014 18:59

She's definitely a professional, she has a full website with lots of samples and reviews on. We also have an acquaintance who used her last year and has put a whole album of her professional shots on facebook, all of a high quality.

We have around 100 different photos at the moment which people have put on facebook, and we also have ten disposable cameras from the tables which we've not yet got developed so there's a chance that amongst the stupid drunken pics of tits and arses there may be some decent ones on there. We will be contacting everyone though to ask for copies of any photos they took.

I'm glad to see mainly people think IANBU. It gives me more determination to demand all of the money back. I think i'll speak to her tonight because DH is useless when it comes to weepy women, so if she starts sounding a bit choked up he'll probably turn so British and polite he'll offer to pay her more

OP posts:

msrisotto · 17/06/2014 19:22

If you really think you and your DH (congratulations by the way!) will struggle with direct confrontation, write an email or letter.

Lawyerbitch · 17/06/2014 19:45

This is a bit odd. How are the pictures wiped from the memory card AND the laptop? Most professionals want to put matters right, rather than claw at money from people they've hurt.

Firstly, I agree with other commenters above: she should have professional insurance to cover her so at least she is not out of pocket for the day. If she doesn't, that is her lookout, not yours.
Secondly, a full refund is the least she should be offering you both from a legal and moral perspective.

Morally, I would argue she is liable for the cost of reshooting the entire day, all of it. Legally that's not going to happen obviously because of the enormity of it and in any case, at small claims level there is a requirement that the claimant tries to reach reasonable agreement.

I suggest this: the middle ground here is to find another photographer you like, get him/her to quote for a set of formal pictures, estimate the cost of hair, makeup etc as well and give her the figure. This is very least she can do to rectify the situation. You also get a full refund because she did not provide the service you contracted for and she caused you significant distress. Insurance should cover the lot. If she's operating without insurance, tough. She doesn't get a pass for that.

She'd be wise to settle this out of court with you.

Vida · 17/06/2014 19:46

I wouldn't bother phoning. I would write one email, keeping it very simple, saying she has until the end of the week to return the money, every penny, and the 20 photos, if she doesn't want you posting about it all over the internet so it comes up every time someone Googles her. Can you imagine anyone hiring her after reading that?! She will lose thousands, never mind 300.

After the initial upset, I would like to think I could forgive something like this and not resort to the above, if the person was genuinely sorry/mortified/would do anything to solve the problem. But with that attitude...

Play hardball! You've definitely got the grounds. I mean, what kind of photographer doesn't have airtight back up in place to avoid a potentially reputation-ruining situation like this? Newspaper photographers, for example, have wifi built that sends photos to a cloud immediately (in case something happens to their camera/it's stolen suddenly), plus memory card, plus downloading on to computer...she has been horrifically unprofessional.

BecauseIsaidS0 · 17/06/2014 19:55

YANBU.

My wedding photographer used two memory cards (her camera and her assistatn's) and hers got corrupted. She spent hours on the phone with a recovery company until she got it fixed, but even if that hadn't worked, she had professional photographer's insurance that would have paid for cleaning my dress and re-doing the shoot. With guests and shit. Of course, it wouldn't have been the same, but my point is that a professional photographer is well prepared for this eventuality.

Also, as people have already mentioned....lost the data in all the memory cards, her laptop and the discs? I not buying it.

Safmellow · 17/06/2014 19:57

YANBU, that is terrible :(

You should definitely demand a full refund! I would also suggest you email or write rather than phoning so that you have a full record of all correspondence. Plus as others have said I would tell her that you will be suing her if she doesn't refund in full and will be asking the judge to award you compensation for your loss and costs. Good luck!

slithytove · 17/06/2014 20:00

Small claims and don't back down, I had to do this with my hairdresser who didn't turn up.

It's an easy, cheap process. Start with a formal email or letter and keep records of everything.

Reindeerbollocks · 17/06/2014 20:00

Tell her it's a clear breach of the sale of goods and services act (think it's 1981/2) and she owes you a full refund for failing to provide the service offered.

As she has failed to ensure her side of the contract she is in breach of the contract and as the consequence of failing to provide pictures is so serious it would constitute a breach of the conditional terms and you would be entitled to a full refund via the small claims court.

She should have offered this from the offset. Sorry you no longer have your pictures but I hope your wedding day was a happy one with lots of lovely memories for you.

PrincessBabyCat · 17/06/2014 20:08

How did you pay? If it was by card (debit or credit) you can file a claim through the bank and they will reverse the transaction for you so long as you say you are responsible for the legal repercussions. It is then on her to take you to small claims if she really feels she needs the money back.

My dad has done this to mechanics that have unfairly jacked up the agreed price but then refused to give back the car. He paid to get the car, then had the banks reverse it. He got the money back and they worked out a fair solution while they didn't have an unfair bargaining chip.

PiratePanda · 17/06/2014 20:09

Small claims.

RosiePosiePing · 17/06/2014 20:29

I agree with Lawyerbitch

I would be looking for her to pay for a replacement photographer/hair etc for key shots/ travel for key guests etc. Her insurance will pay and if she doesn't have any she its trading illegally.

Just the £300, priceless.......

Pipbin · 17/06/2014 21:05

I hate to say this but anyone can make a website, put some pictures on Facebook (nothing to say they are hers). I guess there are the shots that she did of your friend but I still smell a rat.

Bollocks has she lost the pictures and nothing can be recovered. As far as I know unless she has done a 'one wipe' on her card and computer they are still there. She has to give you a refund or get to fuck simply.

HarbingerOfHappiness · 17/06/2014 21:19

Wow! YANBU Not in the slightest, tiniest little bit. The minimum would be getting a full refund.

Congrats on the wedding. I hope you find some nice alternative ones.

arethereanyleftatall · 17/06/2014 21:26

Yanbu at all! Good grief, that's shocking. Full refund and on her knees apologising!! If you still have the dress she should come out and redo at least the couple shot at her expense.

HaPPy8 · 17/06/2014 21:27

YANBU. You are also taking it very well, I would be so upset!

Dutch1e · 17/06/2014 21:48

Another vote for YANBU

I'm a freelance writer and am just wondering what would happen if I said to a client "look, I know I promised you a 3000 word feature article, but I'm just visiting from 1994 and didn't keep all my files stored securely online. Here's 60 random words, will we just call it 300 quid then?"

londonrach · 17/06/2014 21:57

Wow, not a penny and if anything small claims so day can be reshot. Sounds like she hasn't try to locate them. Congratulations by the way.

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