Unhappy customer

So in this case, I’m the customer.
Paid over £1k for a mid package with a photographer who was brilliant on the day and looked to be in all the right places at the right times.

Today however, we’ve received the photos back. We’re incredibly underwhelmed to say the least, the photos look nothing like what they showed on their portfolio or other galleries on their website.
The editing looks like it’s received very little post processing, leaving the photographers own reflection or feet in shots which could have easily have been cropped out. First kiss was missed and the one shot we asked for looks terrible.

Anyway, I won’t go on but where do we stand with this. I’ve emailed them with my concern but realistically what options do I have from here?

I’ve done a few weddings myself and would be mortified by an unhappy customer, luckily I’ve never been in this situation so unsure what there going to come back with.

Thanks.

Was there a written contract?

Yes there was.

I have just had a reply from them calling me petty and maybe I should have photographed it myself?!

Ask for your money back. If they refuse take them to the Small Claims Court, you can do that online.

[BUZZER SOUND] Wrong Answer!

To not even offer to fix what could possibly be fixed and to call you petty - That is just plain unprofessional. I would do exactly as John said, request a full refund and take legal action against them if they refuse. They failed to deliver the quality they implied they could provide with their portfolio, and their childish reply to your email suggests they are not as professional as they tried to suggest they are. In the words of Mr. Miyagi, "No Mercy!"

As far as I am aware, in most jurisdictions, a photographer's portfolio forms part of the contract, especially if they offered it as an example of what you would get.

The tricky bit of course is convincing the court/arbitrator that there is a material difference between the two, allowing for 'reasonable variation' and any constraints that YOU might have put in place, such as, "Yes, just like those but ... "

I don't shoot weddings, but there is no way I would shoot one for a photographer!

Thank you for all the prompt advice.
I'm yet to respond to the last message I received from them so will write a reply this morning.

With regards to the small claims court, has anyone done this before and had the result they wanted?
It's not really all about the money, I would have just liked a few crops and for them to actually look like their portfolio photos - plus if they had just responded with a more professional message than a barrage of insults and telling me how wrong I am then this could easily have been resolved.

There seems to be an increasing number of photogs who pic up other people's photos for use in their own portfolio. You might want to try a reverse image search on some of their images and fully document the results.

https://images.google.​com

See if you can reach a compromise. Perhaps a partial payment/refund and access to the images so that you can process them to your liking. Most unfortunate. There is a reason I don't do paid weddings... not worth the risk and hassle. Sorry you have to deal with this....

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18932286
You might want to try a reverse image search on some of their images and fully document the results.

https://images.google.​com

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Another service is https://www.tineye.com​/

If you found that they stole other photographers' work and presented it as their own, this goes beyond a civil complaint to criminality. It's fraud. Gather your evidence. Take screen shots of their portfolio. Then sic the authorities on them.

Tried to compromise with them, however regardless of what say I just another 2 page essay explaining how wrong I am!
I also asked for written permission to edit either the .jpg's or RAW files, their response was I may colour spot them(?) and they don't want it to look like work they've created.

I really wanted to avoid small claims court as I would just rather have the images that I paid for, the one's I believed would look like the one's from their portfolio but at the moment I don't see any other option.

Thanks for all of your advice on this, it's been incredibly helpful.

Could post a couple here and we can give you our "expert" advice...

cookiejay wrote in post #18933553
Tried to compromise with them, however regardless of what say I just another 2 page essay explaining how wrong I am!
I also asked for written permission to edit either the .jpg's or RAW files, their response was I may colour spot them(?) and they don't want it to look like work they've created.

I really wanted to avoid small claims court as I would just rather have the images that I paid for, the one's I believed would look like the one's from their portfolio but at the moment I don't see any other option.

Thanks for all of your advice on this, it's been incredibly helpful.

I would suggest that you read the Consumer Rights Act 2015

You have basically three courses of action:

1) The right to repair or replacement at no additional cost to yourself.
2) The right to a partial rejection of goods and also receive a partial refund in agreement with the photographer.
3) The right to reject and receive a full refund. (This has to be done within 30 days of delivery)

The law is on your side, use it.

If that fails then take him to court.

I agree after reading through this. I think that if you can see the photographer's feet in a photo, that fails the satisfactory check of 3c, because a photo of members at a wedding should never have the feet of the photographer in them.

And then you have section 13, that if you can prove your delivered photos don't match the quality of the online or printed portfolio they presented to you. Besides the quality not being the best, I doubt you can see the photographer's feet in any of their portfolio samples, correct?

I think the proper solution by the photographer is to reprocess the photos properly this time, and redeliver them, and then issue a partial refund.

In reality, you're not going to get satisfaction. this is the big deal about wedding photography - you can't reshoot it if the photos aren't up to scratch (or that single card pooped itself ...)

So your options will only bring partial satisfaction and, as stated, could include reprocessing to a higher standard. For this to work though, the shots would have to at least be composed correctly.

Is this the case? Could a bit of cropping and correction produce an acceptable album?

As an aside, my wedding album is hopeless, too. Shot in 1975, the photog turned up pissed, went AWOL a couple of times (probably at the bar) and spent half his time photographing my sister, who was a model ...

The prints were also washed out and the shots composed with zero imagination.

I was 19, clueless and overwhelmed, so just accepted what he gave us.

I can't recall the last time we looked at the album