"unhappy" customer advice
TenThirteen
Registered Users Posts: 488 Major grins
Ok, so this might be a bit of a long read... :cry
I was hired by a woman through an ad on my corporate jobs employee 'homepage'. She hired me to shoot photos for an hour at her friends birthday party at a local restaurant/club. (Apparently in this groups culture they celebrate birthdays with 'lavish' parties and always hire a photographer). I gave her a VERY reasonable hourly rate with the agreement that I would provide at least 35-45 photos on a disc for one hour at the party. She informed me right off the bat that they ended up HATING their last photographer, Uh Oh, should have run away right from the start. :dunno
So, the night of the party, they were a little more than TWO hours late. I was pissed, but proceeded to stay there for OVER an hour once they arrived, and ended up posting more than 75 photos for them. They LOVED the pictures, but would only pay me for an hour, and for the disc of images. I was pissed, but I am new to this business, and could only blame myself for not standing up for myself.
A week after the first event they loved the photos so much they hired me for another birthday party AND a small wedding for someone within their circle of friends. Wouldn't take no for an answer on the wedding, and even changed the date when I had a scheduling conflict! Ok then, at least they really like me! lol
Second Birthday Party was last weekend, same location, mostly the same group of friends. They arrived over an hour late this time. I again stayed for more than the agreed upon hour, and I published roughly 75 photos so far for them to view. I get a call this morning telling me they HATE the photos, and want to know what I am going to do about it??? :huh In my opinion they are almost EXACTLY like the previous ones, people dancing, people drinking, equal amounts of candids and posed, same processessing methods used and everything!
I honestly don't know what to do. In my heart I can tell they are trying to get something for NOTHING since I have already let them walk all over me... I have emailed them asking them for specific 'problems' with the photos so I can see if I can fix them up to their standards. I will see what they come back with, but at this point I am sensing a battle of them trying to get my paid hour of time back (I made them pay me up front for the hour this time because last time it took almost 2 weeks for them to pay me in full). Our agreement was for them to pay an additional $25 for the Disc of images once I was fully done with the processing.
Has anyone else had a repeat customer behave this way?
I was hired by a woman through an ad on my corporate jobs employee 'homepage'. She hired me to shoot photos for an hour at her friends birthday party at a local restaurant/club. (Apparently in this groups culture they celebrate birthdays with 'lavish' parties and always hire a photographer). I gave her a VERY reasonable hourly rate with the agreement that I would provide at least 35-45 photos on a disc for one hour at the party. She informed me right off the bat that they ended up HATING their last photographer, Uh Oh, should have run away right from the start. :dunno
So, the night of the party, they were a little more than TWO hours late. I was pissed, but proceeded to stay there for OVER an hour once they arrived, and ended up posting more than 75 photos for them. They LOVED the pictures, but would only pay me for an hour, and for the disc of images. I was pissed, but I am new to this business, and could only blame myself for not standing up for myself.
A week after the first event they loved the photos so much they hired me for another birthday party AND a small wedding for someone within their circle of friends. Wouldn't take no for an answer on the wedding, and even changed the date when I had a scheduling conflict! Ok then, at least they really like me! lol
Second Birthday Party was last weekend, same location, mostly the same group of friends. They arrived over an hour late this time. I again stayed for more than the agreed upon hour, and I published roughly 75 photos so far for them to view. I get a call this morning telling me they HATE the photos, and want to know what I am going to do about it??? :huh In my opinion they are almost EXACTLY like the previous ones, people dancing, people drinking, equal amounts of candids and posed, same processessing methods used and everything!
I honestly don't know what to do. In my heart I can tell they are trying to get something for NOTHING since I have already let them walk all over me... I have emailed them asking them for specific 'problems' with the photos so I can see if I can fix them up to their standards. I will see what they come back with, but at this point I am sensing a battle of them trying to get my paid hour of time back (I made them pay me up front for the hour this time because last time it took almost 2 weeks for them to pay me in full). Our agreement was for them to pay an additional $25 for the Disc of images once I was fully done with the processing.
Has anyone else had a repeat customer behave this way?
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Long story short and after much deliberation she agreed to refund the full amount to the client but with a contractual agreement that they would not use or print any of them (This because she refuse to hand the disc over) or there would be a penalty involved.
She agreed and signed the contract and my friend took the loss and live and learned.
What makes your circumstances a little more unique is the fact that they were happy with your work before and hired you for other events so it does sound like they are wanting something for nothing. Are you already under contract for the wedding?
I would cancel if you could and send the client down the road to "brand x" photographer and let someone else deal with them.....
1) Try to appease her by giving pictures & partial refund (or just disc for free and getting out of there).
2) Calling her bluff by sticking to your contract and saying she can pay you upfront for the disc or just buy prints from you, but that the quality was no different from prior shoot.
Unfortunatly it doesn't sound like they are going to be happy in any case so you are basically trying to play damage control here. I would definitly try to get out of the wedding if you can. At least you need to be paid upfront.
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With that said, the fact that they've been late both times show that they don't have much respect for your time. I do agree that I'd think twice about working with this client again just for that reason.
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It kinda sounds fishy though.... the we hated the last photographer bit and then booking the wedding right away and even changing the date. Doesn't sound right. After you hear back from her to see how you might "fix" the images, and she is not reasonable, might be wise to cut your losses. IF you decide you still want to shoot the wedding, I would have an iron clad contract, but if the same people are there it could be awkward.
I am going to guess these people are never going to be happy even if you do it all free, they are taking advantage of you for being so nice and young.
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Sam
"Pics or it never happened".
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To remedy the problem of the client being late (at least for this particular group) I would make them sign a contract that states what time you will start and what time you will end. Then add in a clause that states what you charge for over time, and how it is charged. State what your minimum is, like a half hour or hour, for the over time. This will make them think if they try to keep you over 10 or 20 minutes. The whole thing will also make them plan a little better as well, and be on time.
GaryB
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I do have a reason (a couple) for not posting examples.
A: This is not at all the kind of work I pride myself in or specialize. To put it out there with my name on it is not what aligns with my goals and ideas. Also, I am confident with the work I did for their needs, and am not looking to expand on this area of my business. That's the only reason I haven't posted pics.
B: I feel like posting pics of these particular clients, their dress and behavior isn't appropriate for this forum. I don't want to spark a 'culture' debate based on their behavior, nor do I think "Party" or "Club" photographs have any base for discussion on this particular forum.
I was simply looking for opinions/support on how I was treated and have since resolved the matter AMICABLY with the clients.
And Trudy, they are much younger than me, age was not a factor in them taking advantage of me, it was my own insecurities. I am 27, I am not a 'spring chicken' as my mother would say. I am 'young' but glad and proud of myself in the way I handled this situation. Thanks everyone for your responses, I always appreciate and learn SO much from this forum.
~Kai
did you have them sign a contract? or is this more of a 'friendly' deal? if it was a friendly deal, if i were in your position, i would just refund the money but make sure that they will NOT use the photos. if they signed a contract, then just follow whatever is on it (regarding refunds)
Posts like this are a bit exasperating. You came here and asked for advice and support yet won't provide key information for the group to assess your situation. You are focusing in on your perception that they have taken advantage of you. Your complaints seem to be the clients arrived two hours late, you stayed beyond the time you believe was agreed to, and provided more images than originally agreed to, with the quality being acceptable.
Without a contract no one knows what the actual agreement was (in fact there may not have been an agreement). You have your recollection, they have theirs.
The clients seem to have one complaint, image quality. No one here can address the central point without viewing the images. You clearly state "this isn't the kind of work I pride myself in" This leads me to believe the image quality may not be up to professional standards.
You / we are photographers. Image quality is the keystone. Everything else cascades from there.
Lets assume they kept you waiting for two hours, you stayed longer that agreed on and you provided more images than agreed on, but the images are poor to unacceptable to the client. Do you really think trying address their lateness, your exceeding the contract time and quantity is the way to go?
As it stands you say the quality was good. The clients say no. I / we can't comment or help on that.
You go on the say your proud of hay you handled and settled the issue without letting us know what you did.
I take a more holistic view of situations like this. If I screwed up and wasn't able to produce good high quality images I would try and see if there were a way to make up for it, or give them their money back. I wouldn't be arguing about how long I stayed or that I delivered 25 more images than I sad I would.
Sam
Glad that as we all chimed in from different angles it that it ended well for you!
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