Different photographer turned up on the day!!!

Liam81

Hi, I havent posted before but have viewed. I got married on June 20th, had a great time and am soo jealous of those of you yet to do it! Anyway, here is the reason I am posting. I booked with a photographer approx 18 months before our wedding. I did alot of research on him and he came to our houseto show us his work. We were very pleased with his stuff and went ahead and gave him a 300euro deposit. The week prior to my wedding I rang everyone I had booked and re-confirmed everything, made sure everyone had all the necessary details, etc. Again, 2 days before I got married I rang the photographer to ask about his payment. I owed him a balance of 1300euro and I wanted to know if I should pay him half of it on the day and the rest upon receiving our album. He said that he must have the full amount outstanding on the day of the wedding. I was a bit dubious about this as I did not feel right about paying over this amount of money before seeing my pics, but anyway I decided it would be grand and had the draft for the full amount made out. On the morning of the wedding Iwas greeted by a man that I had never met before. I said straight away that he was not D***. He simply replied "no im not but we're going to be grand". I was given no reason for my photographers absence or no apology. As you can understand I did not want to get worked up or upset before I even left my house so I didnt get into it with him. I am not for one minute doubting he mans ability but he is not who I booked. At one stage during the day Iasked him to takesome natural shots, ones that were not posed and he said to me that it was a bit late in the day to be requesting that. I told him I had said it to the man I booked. When I returned from honeymoon I rang my photographer for an explanation. H e told me that his wife was ill so he couldnt make it. I said I was sorry for that but that I was still not happy. The guy that came was obviouly not a great, in-demand photographer if he was available at such short notice. Anyway, I cut to the chase and told him that I want either money returned to me or some extra parent albums complimentary. He did not agree to this at all but did say that when the photos are ready we would meet and come to some kind of understanding.
Anyway, so sorry for the HUGE post but really need some advice or opinions on this please just to see what any of you think. Should I receive any compensation or not etc.
Thanks in advance, Amy - No-Longer-Bridezilla!

Wile E. Coyote

I would definately be looking for some sort of compensation. You paid this photographer to provide a service and he didn't do what he was paid for. He got someone else to do it for him. You wouldn't accept it if a different band turned up on the day so why accept it from him?

Try find out who the other photographer was and how much he charges for a wedding photoshoot. It'll probably be a lot less than what you paid. If he was any good he wouldn't have been available at such short notice.

quazzy

FROM: http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/10/02/story8422.asp

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Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act

The Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act covers your legal rights for the goods and services you buy, as long as they are business to consumer transactions.

Under this act, any goods you buy should be:

of ‘merchantable' (reasonable) quality, meaning they should be able to do what they are supposed to do, last for as long as you were told they would, and you should only have to pay the price advertised

‘fit for the purpose', meaning you should be able to use the items for their normal purpose

‘as described', meaning they should meet product descriptions as outlined by a salesperson, packaging, label and so on

With services, you are entitled to expect that:

the supplier has the necessary skill to provide the service

the service will be provided with proper care and diligence

the materials used will be sound and that goods supplied as part of the service will be of merchantable quality.

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There's more in the link but its a good start and I would say that you are in the right.

He didn't provide the agreed service(s).

Good Luck

cch

When talking to photographers I asked one what would happen if she couldn't turn up on the day. She said that she was a member of some guild/society/something of professional photographers (sorry can't remember the exact name!) and that they help each other out and stand in when someone else can't make it. And that the original deal would stand, i.e. no price increase if the substitute would normally charge more. I'd guess that's what happened here, I know I'm vague but it could give you a start for more googling. Hope this helps...

DotOrg

Liam81 wrote: »

On the morning of the wedding Iwas greeted by a man that I had never met before. I said straight away that he was not D***. He simply replied "no im not but we're going to be grand".

i'd normally discuss the very rare possibility of this happening with clients and if something did come up it would be expected you'd call the client and let them know of the necessary change in plans

but, and this is very important, you should have this situation in your contract with the photographer, any decent contract will have a clause regarding this situation.

without a contract you'll be very hard pressed to get a refund or any extras based on the way this photographer has treated you so far

mikeanywhere

As Dotorg says, did you have an agreement/contract in place??

If you have, check out the liability part of it and go from there.