Anyone have experience taking someone to court?

[winneythepooh7]

I want to sue the photographer we used for our wedding over a year ago because I still have not received the albums. We paid up front and I have the cancelled checks. Her business # is now disconnected after I spoke with her 2 weeks ago and she gave me the lame-ass "I've been sick" excuse. Any tips? I don't want to deal with her anymore for the albums. I just want all the $$$$ we paid back in full. She's out of state too. That may be another issue............

[wordsmith]

It's probably a small claims court thing, without knowing how much you paid for service. The threat of bringing suit might get your money back, without actually going to court, but if she's a serious deadbeat and can't come up with the refund, you might have no choice but to actually go through with getting a judgment. Even at that rate, getting a judgment doesn't guarantee your getting your money back in a timely manner. My parents have had to take customers to small claims court a few times for nonpayment, and if they don't have the $$$ and don't have collateral to repo or wages to garnish, you end up pretty much SOL in the long run.

[winneythepooh7]

I am also going to try a tactic of telling her I am going to report her to the IRS to see if she is on the up and up with her reportings. I also have a friend who is an attorney so I am going to see if they will write a letter to "threaten" her and see what comes up. I wrote her a pretty strong email earlier basically saying her excuses are BS and if my husband who is self-employed ever pulled her shit, he'd probably have a serious lawsuit on his hands and be on the evening news since he deals with much higher $$$$ amounts on a daily basis from customers.

ETA: We know where she lives too because we've been to her house several times since that's where she runs the business out of. My husband said that if it comes to it, he will take a drive up there and have a nice little chat. What pisses us off the most is they claim this is the "family" business and it's her, her husband and two grown children running it. So why the hell does it take over a year to get this resolved? Even if someone is sick or lost a family member, between the 4 of them, someone has to be stable enough to make 3 photo albums.

[urban_achiever]

ETA: We know where she lives too because we've been to her house several times since that's where she runs the business out of. My husband said that if it comes to it, he will take a drive up there and have a nice little chat.

I would use caution on an action like this. If she construes anything as a threat she could have a restraining order filed against your husband and you. It does not matter that she owes you money or services...she can still have a TRO filed.

The proper channels are through small-claims courts (it will cost you a small fee to file the suit) and using the Better Business Bureau as a means of complaint against her business. After a suit is filed, the process server will be able to approach her, and it won't be construed as a threat. Unfortunately this is one of those "buyer beware" situations.

[redav]

it is probably best to not do anything yourself and instead retain a lawyer to do it for you--such as sending the 'threatening' letters. Most people act once they fear they will be sued. Hiring a lawyer can be expensive, but considering it is for such an important thing as wedding pictures, it probably would be worth it.

[winneythepooh7]

She actually disconnected the phone once before awhile ago and then told us it was "because her father-in-law died". I am just really really angry about this. The bitch has a pretty good sum of our money and she's had it for well over a year. Actually we gave her a deposit in May 2007 and the rest the week of the wedding in good faith because SHE said she is always getting screwed over by "customers". Gee, I wonder why now.:rolleyes: .

I don't think we would go to her house because my husband can be a hot-head at times, and it probably wouldn't end up faring well at all. I am going to try the other tactics I mentioned though and hope for the best. Since I have the cancelled checks, and no pictures, I would think that would count in my favor, correct?

[wordsmith]

Any proof of payment, any contract or agreement signed, etc. are going to be things an attorney would need and want copies of, if it comes to that.

[urban_achiever]

I don't think we would go to her house because my husband can be a hot-head at times, and it probably wouldn't end up faring well at all. I am going to try the other tactics I mentioned though and hope for the best. Since I have the cancelled checks, and no pictures, I would think that would count in my favor, correct?

I am sure you have enough of a case for a judgement in a small-claims court. Any judgements you obtained through that process might be hard to collect because they are not really enforceable.

Did you enter into a written contract with this person her photography services? If so you would seek damages under breach of contract.

[winneythepooh7]

Yup. Have those as well.

[jrwilheim]

If you have a friend who's an attorney, you might be able to get him or her to send a threatening letter to your wedding photographer. Sometimes that's enough to motivate someone like this to pay.

[winneythepooh7]

I zabasearched her home phone # and left her a nasty message today. I also emailed her and her husband this letter:

You should both be highly ashamed of yourselves. Our wedding was well over a year ago on October 6, 2007. Since that time, we have received nothing but the run around in receiving our three photo albums that we have paid in advance for, well over $X000.00, of which we have copies of the cancelled checks. We are completely appalled that you choose to duck and hide instead of stepping up to the plate and providing the services that we paid for well in advance. X is also self-employed and both of us given his experience running his own company cannot understand, nor accept the amount of excuses you keep running by us regarding why our albums have not been completed. Especially when your business consists of FOUR people and is run out of your home. The albums were supposed to be completed by Christmas of 2007. At this point, we are no longer open to hearing any of your excuses such as “death in the family” or “I’ve been really sick call me back in two weeks” (Yeah, that’s a great one, when your numbers all turn up disconnected). At this point, we have consulted with our attorney and you will be hearing from them. We are also in the process of contacting the Internal Revenue Service regarding your shady business practices of cashing customer’s money and running off with it. If you’ve done this to us, how many other unsuspecting customers have you scammed? I highly suggest you contact us upon receipt of this letter regarding our albums we have paid up front for, although again I must inform you we are in the process of taking this to the next level since we have yet to receive a professional response from either of you at this point.

The tactic worked a little bit, as she called and left me a message on my cell that "the reason it's been taking so long is the particular albums we have chosen are on backorder". I saved the message to my phone in case I need to take further action with this in court. I also am planning to send the same letter certified once I can get to the post office to do that, so I create a paper-trail.

[wordsmith]

Backorder for a year and two months? Really?

[winneythepooh7]

Amazing isn't it? Although technically I did finally get her to meet with me in July after giving me the run around since the wedding to choose my album pics, so she will base everything on that timing probably. The first part of this that took so long was getting the proofs. I hear so many people lately and on the news having issues with photographers. If I could do it all over, this is probably one area I would've cut from the budget.

[wordsmith]

My BF's not the most keen person on photos, anyway, but I have several very close friends who are photographers, so I think that will be an area that I won't really have to worry too much about/spend a ton on.

[winneythepooh7]

We actually had originally planned to use a friend. However, his wife got relocated to HAWAII for her job so we needed to find someone new. This woman came highly recommended too, which I just don't understand.............

[wordsmith]

Yeah, that's weird.

Having worked in newspapers, I know a ton of photographers who are hobbyists with event photogaphy outside of photojournalism, which makes things nice.

[winneythepooh7]

Ha! So she sends me this email last night:

I want to congratulate you on the upcoming birth of your baby, and I am
sorry that you are upset. I was terribly sick in Oct. and ended up with
pneumonia and was hospitalized. I have your pictures and am waiting on the
album which has been on back order. Regarding the two parent albums, if
they were supposed to be x-mas presents for 2007, that would have been
impossible since you did not give me the order until 7-20-08. Anyway, I
told you that the normal turn around time for the album completion is 10 -
12 weeks and yes it has been a bit longer than the norm but I can assure
you that I am working on getting your order completed and on your way to
your asap.

Again, the reason I didn't pick out my photos until this July was because she was freakin' dodging me till then. At least I have this in writing from her though if this continues to drag on and I need to pursue legal action. And why is her business line still disconnected? Probably because she is doing this to all her customers........

[Rage]

Since you already said you took it to the next level, you may as well continue. If this lady is giving you this story, she may just be trying to buy more time and/or call your bluff. Another free method that I've had success with is the Attorney General's office in your state. They have a consumer protection division that usually handles disputes like this. They have always been good for me.

[marion]

or alternatively DIY digital camera photos

[winneythepooh7]

Since you already said you took it to the next level, you may as well continue. If this lady is giving you this story, she may just be trying to buy more time and/or call your bluff. Another free method that I've had success with is the Attorney General's office in your state. They have a consumer protection division that usually handles disputes like this. They have always been good for me.


I didn't need to take it to the next level fortunately. I got the albums, and in time for Xmas to boot. I guess my "threats" worked. :p

[AllGrownUp]

wow! thats crazy. you put up with her longer then i would have. but im glad that your letters did work out and you got the albums.