What is the name of your state? Michigan
Hello, I have never taken anyone to court over anything so any advice would be wonderful. Here we go. I got married in October of 2004. As with any wedding we hired someone to take pictures and videotape the wedding. We contacted her 4 months prior to the wedding to set everything up. As the wedding approached we hadn't heard from her or recieved a contract. I called her and she claimed that she sent one out but don't worry about it, she had it marked on her calender and would be there. She was at the wedding, took all the pictures, videotaped it, etc. We paid her the agreed upon amount ($500) in cash that night with the understanding that we would recieve everything within two weeks. Two weeks go by, no pictures, no phone call....nothing. A month goes by and finally I contact her. She says she was really busy and asked for my work address so she could drop them off. I gave it to her and on the day we set up....no pictures. I call her again, she apologizes, had car problems and couldn't make it. We set up another time and again she's a no show. So by now I'm not happy. I again contact her and she makes up another excuse. This time she says she will send them through the mail. Didn't like the idea of having them sent through the mail but figured it was the only way I would get them anytime soon. She claims there will be 2 packages. About 3 weeks go by and finally we get a package. Problem is there was only 1 package containing half our pictures, mostly from the ceremony, none from the reception and no videotape. I check with the post office and they tell me there was only one tracking number given and if there were two packages there would be two tracking numbers. I call the photographer immediately and inform her of this and she swears up and down she sent both packages. I ask why there was only one tracking number then, she hasn't got a clue. To make a long story short, it is now 5 months after the wedding and we still don't have half our pictures nor the videotape. My wife and I have contacted her numerous times and were told on numerous occasions that everything was being sent again, but of course nothing ever shows up and we are given excuse after excuse why she hasn't sent them yet. Now we can't even get a hold of her and she isn't returning our phone calls. I don't know what to do. Do I have a case and can I also sue her for what we paid for the pictures since she has so grossly broken what verbal contract we had (since the original contract magically didn't make it). This has severely stressed both myself and my wife out in fear that we will have no record of this event to share with our kids, grandkids, etc., someday. I apologize for the long winded post but I wanted to be thorough. Again, thank you for your help.
Hello, I have never taken anyone to court over anything so any advice would be wonderful. Here we go. I got married in October of 2004. As with any wedding we hired someone to take pictures and videotape the wedding. We contacted her 4 months prior to the wedding to set everything up. As the wedding approached we hadn't heard from her or recieved a contract. I called her and she claimed that she sent one out but don't worry about it, she had it marked on her calender and would be there. She was at the wedding, took all the pictures, videotaped it, etc. We paid her the agreed upon amount ($500) in cash that night with the understanding that we would recieve everything within two weeks. Two weeks go by, no pictures, no phone call....nothing. A month goes by and finally I contact her. She says she was really busy and asked for my work address so she could drop them off. I gave it to her and on the day we set up....no pictures. I call her again, she apologizes, had car problems and couldn't make it. We set up another time and again she's a no show. So by now I'm not happy. I again contact her and she makes up another excuse. This time she says she will send them through the mail. Didn't like the idea of having them sent through the mail but figured it was the only way I would get them anytime soon. She claims there will be 2 packages. About 3 weeks go by and finally we get a package. Problem is there was only 1 package containing half our pictures, mostly from the ceremony, none from the reception and no videotape. I check with the post office and they tell me there was only one tracking number given and if there were two packages there would be two tracking numbers. I call the photographer immediately and inform her of this and she swears up and down she sent both packages. I ask why there was only one tracking number then, she hasn't got a clue. To make a long story short, it is now 5 months after the wedding and we still don't have half our pictures nor the videotape. My wife and I have contacted her numerous times and were told on numerous occasions that everything was being sent again, but of course nothing ever shows up and we are given excuse after excuse why she hasn't sent them yet. Now we can't even get a hold of her and she isn't returning our phone calls. I don't know what to do. Do I have a case and can I also sue her for what we paid for the pictures since she has so grossly broken what verbal contract we had (since the original contract magically didn't make it). This has severely stressed both myself and my wife out in fear that we will have no record of this event to share with our kids, grandkids, etc., someday. I apologize for the long winded post but I wanted to be thorough. Again, thank you for your help.