should I still have to pay a wedding vidiographer if they show up late to the wedding

[PaddyPJ]

Maine
For my and my wife's we entered into an agreement with 2 guys who agreed to film the wedding and reception, edit together a dvd and make us 5 copies. They entered into a contractual agreement that called for them to be 30 minuets early and film the wedding and reception. We gave them 100 bucks as a deposit. We got the videos back and saw that they had shown up 20 minuets late and missed 2/3rds of the ceremony, we did not know this until we saw the video. I feel as though they violated the contract by not being on time and filming the whole wedding and don't want to pay them. They are threatening to take us to court for the remaining money, court fees and any damages that their business sustained.


should i pay them or am I in the right on this one.

 

[lisalewis911]

They had a signed agreement to be there at a certain time. They did not show up at that time. I say they broke the agreement and you owe them nothing.

Also, I think it would be a shame if you had to tell all of your friends and family that these guys RUINED your wedding video and then wanted you to actually pay for it, and then they told their friends and family, and so on and so on. Word of mouth is a mighty thing with these types of businesses and there is a lot of competition for wedding photography and video. I would let them know that I might not be important to them, but I have a HUGE mouth and know A TON of people, who also know a TON of people.

I would want to call the newspaper and do a human interest story. What low-lifes to turn it around and threaten you with a lawsuit when they didn't do their JOB that they were being PAID to do. I hope someone else got video of the first part of your ceremony.