Wedding Video....Almost a year later and still no video!?

Question

My husband and I were married last October. I debated on the whole wedding video thing, but ended up deciding that I really did want the fully edited video with the subtitles and everything else. So we paid $1,900 for this and were supposed to receive the final version 3 weeks after the wedding.

So, to his benefit, he did call me 3 weeks after the wedding to "discuss" the video. Then I called him back and he didn't return my call. So I emailed him asking him what he needed from me in order to finalized things..... He responded to my e-mail by saying "call me". We continued to play phone tag for 6 months! I was soo annoyed why this man could not just tell me via email what he needed from me because cleary I was not going to be able to connect with him on the phone. And this is a reputable guy who actually has exclsive rights as the "videographer" of the chapel where we married....ugh

Now it has been almost a year and still no wedding video. I just can't seem to connect with this guy. About 3 weeks ago I started the communications again. I sent 4 e-mails and left 3 voicemails.... Nothing!

What do I do now? It's been a year of back and forth and we were supposed to have it 3 weeks after the wedding. We paid a lot of money and want our video!!!

Answer 1

I'm also a wedding videographer.  My guess is that there was a problem with your footage and the videographer wanted the opportunity to smooth it over with you in a conversation rather than e-mail or voice mail.  

In my opinion, your main objective should be to recover what ever footage this person was able to get.  I would send him a registered letter demanding the immediate release any footage to you in what ever form it may be in.  If you have any lawyer friends, get them to write the letter on their official letterhead and threaten maximum legal action if he doesn't produce some sort of video.  If you don't have any Lawyer friends, you can do it yourself, just make sure it sounds official.  You can also suggest you will pursue what ever consumer options are at your disposal, ie- local news complaint stories, Better Business Bureau, Credit Bureau, other wedding professionals and venues, etc...

This should prompt an immediate phone call from this Bozo to stop you from these threatened actions.  If he is not stupid, he will want to stop this from escalating any further.  He will most likely agree to mail your raw footage to you (unless it was lost) and he may agree to return your money.  I would shoot for both, with the footage being the most important.  If he mails it, make sure part of the agreement is that he insures it for $2000.  Otherwise he may try to claim it was lost in the mail.

If you do get a phone call from him, do not be nice anymore.  Do not get angry, but be very matter-of-fact and let him know this will not be allowed to continue any longer.  Give him a deadline for meeting your agreement before you take these serious actions against him.  It might also be effective if your husband were the one to talk to him.  Just like the car repair shop, some men think feel like they can get away ripping off a woman, but not a man.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I think that is really bad. I am a wedding videographer and we get ours out within a month (it can get busy!)

Id definatley try and visit him/her if you can.

Answer 3

I think for 1900 you can make a trip out of state. Where is your husband in all of this does he care?

Answer 4

I would call the guy and leave him a message stating that you were under the impression that it would take a month to get your wedding video and have been playing phone and email tag with him for 10 months (or so), and that if he doesn't get your video(s) to you within two weeks that he needs to give you a full refund. You have a lot more patience than I do, I would've already strangled the guy. Take $2k of someone's money and then make them wait nearly a year, and continue waiting for nothing. Yeah, I would've choked him by now. If the state isn't too far away (driveable) I'd drop in and get him face to face. It seems like the guy has either lost your footage or something and doesn't want to cough up $2k.

Answer 5

Why not have your mom or a friend call him? Maybe he recognizes your number on his caller ID and doesn't want to talk. I would have someone else call. If they get his voicemail then they can leave a message saying that they want to talk about his services and get more information. Hopefully he will call them back and then they can corner him.

You also might want to contact the chapel you were married in. Tell them what is happening with the videographer and see what they have to say. Maybe someone can talk with him for you - or maybe someone else has been in a similar situation.