Warning about Bahamas Photographer

[ultimateme143]

I am truely not the type of person that would bad mouth anyone. But I feel that a warning is nessesary in this case.

My wedding was held on May 2, 2009 at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas. The resort supplied me with a list of recommended vendors. Since there was hardly any information available about most of them, I asked who they thought was the best. They suggested Kevin Williams.

 

In the begining he was great. I never waited more then a day or two for him to get back to me through email. He even called me once to introduce himself, and verbally verify everything. We negotiated a package that included 4 hours of photography, 1 12x12 60 page book, 3 8x10 'parents' books, 4 5x6 'gift' books and a copy of ALL pictures. This for a grand total of $4000. Now, I dont know if that is a good price for what I was suppose to get. But he worked with my price range and we agreed $1500 upfront, $2000 the day of and $500 once I received the proofs.

 

He was great the day of the wedding and everything went smoothly. I received a copy of the pictures and was pretty happy with them. I spent hours picking my favorite pictures and sent my picks to him within two weeks because I was hoping to give the albulms to our parents for Christmas. Over 3 months ago he sent me a copy of the albulm proof. OMG I hated it!!! Just the poor effort of it made me so upset. It was as if he clicked 'fill in the blanks' and random pictures were put on pages. Not to mention creases of the book going right through peoples face and pictures that I did not choose. So instead of just saying, I dont like it - fix it. I spent hours righting down all the changes that I wanted. I was very detailed and specific. Basically, I designed the book. The letter to say the least was long. But didnt leave Kevin with a need to create a new design. This was over 3 months ago.

 

Here is where I am sooooooo mad, frustrated, disappointed, upset.... he did not get back to me for over a month (even after 2 additional emails sent). He did not get back to me until I finally contacted Atlantis to let them know. He sent me this email saying that he never had someone so disapointed and he didnt know how to respond. He also included that becuase I am changing so much, that there would be an additional fee. BULL****. Its not my fault the book was terrible. I even questioned myself and asked my husband, mother in law, friends and coworkers. They all agreed. I have sent 3 more emails asking when I would receive the new book proofs and I have heard NOTHING. I have included the fact that I wanted the books by December 15th in ALL of my emails.

 

So now I am asking myself, 'what do I do now?' I have paid him $3500 already. I am considering taking the pictures that I have and bringing them to someone to get printed. I have made a book on Shutterfly, but its just not a wedding albulm. It is going to cost me well over $500 to get all these books made (I wouldnt include the gift books). Do I ask for a refund? Or do I keep on trying to get this guy to give me what I paid for?