Nope nothing, he will not even pick up. She says she sees him post pictures of other weddings he's done on facebook all the time

She paid him all the money $4500. He lives in a different state (California) and she's in Minnesota. The wedding was in January of 2013 and he came and shoot the wedding. Up to this date she hasn't received her pictures. Needless to say she's called and emailed him a bunch of times.

My experience tells me that things in reality can be quite different from description. Or just not all details provided.

Maybe there is someone here on the forum that lives in his neighborhood and can pay him a visit. just kidding. This is probably a good reason for using someone relatively local. That's a long way to go to collect the money ( I mean the photos).

I guess the lawyer route is the way to go.

I just nearly had to file a claim in small claims court in the USA. A certified letter, return receipt is a good place to start and ca. $7. You can also ask for "restricted mail" which means the person it's addressed to has to sign for it. It gets the other party to understand things could get serious. You get a postcard back proving it was delivered.

Next is small claims court. I live in Pennsylvania where I was told, I could file in the magistrates' district where the transaction took place, or I could file in the district where the other business is located. in my case this is only 10 miles apart. They will send the claim via certified/restricted mail, or in my case could have the Sheriff hand deliver it for an extra $15!

The person responded to my certified letter, and made an offer to settle, saving me the $190 small claims filing fee. The offer is low, but, I would need to hire a lawyer to get to what the real cost was, and the lawyer wouldn't make enough out of it to do it for a % of the winnings (and I can't afford to pay a lawyer, nor would it be worth the winnings, if any) so in my case this result is better than nothing and best of all, I can move on quickly.

In my case, the business did not want my negative reviews on Yelp or AngiesList etc. I can still leave negative reviews if I want to (I still haven't seen the settlement check either).

For your friend, she has paid a lot of $$$ for wedding photography. If the Photog has any professional affiliations, she could call them and ask what recourse they might help her with. There are also wedding review sites too. I am not suggesting she leave negative reviews before this get resolved, just that the thought of negative reviews can get these people motivated to do the right thing!

If he has stalled this long, chances are he has lost the files. I shot an event video last year for a small company that said their last videographer, in 1 year, never completed the video from the year before and doesn't return their calls. I suspect he couldn't cut the video or accidentally deleted the files.

I like the example set recently in Europe where the Photog had to pay a sum as if to re-stage the whole event. I know I do everything I can that, that'll never be me!

Good Luck.

I agree that legal action should probably be taken but that can take time and money as others have stated. In the mean time, it might also be a good idea to put this information out there socially and see if he is faster to respond. I wouldn't be mean or rude but just honest. I'm sure he doesn't want other clients seeing that info.

Many times these photographers live and die by their status on social media and exposing the situation may make him respond faster. Posting a negative review on yelp, his website, facebook page, etc can sometimes stir up a response.

Either way the public should know of the photographer's business practices. I wouldn't be surprised if he simply lost the files in some way. How can he give her the wedding pictures if he doesn't even have them?

This is going to be tough and assuming all is as you said, she needs to file a lawsuit now. There is generally a statute of limitations. What it is in her state I'm not sure, but she needs to hustle down to the court house. She can't force him to come back but if he doesn't, she will get a default judgment. Collecting on the judgment will be a whole new learning experience.

I can guess what's happened. He screwed up the shoot and isn't professional enough to fess up to it and probably doesn't have the money for a refund. That's why I don't do weddings. You can't reshoot them....and yeah, I'm not perfect and sometimes my shoot needs redoing.

I'm sorry for your friend but I'm afraid she won't get her pictures. It's time for her to try to get her money.

what @peternap said .....plus one other detail. The default judgement will apply ....in California ! If he owns property ...has resources, a judge will decide what is applicable. If he doesn't respond to the Minnesota suit, you'll get a default judgement. Hopefully the statute of limitations hasn't been reached. I'd personally avoid small claims court and try to get a lawyer pro-bono , splitting the returned funds....and importantly....legal costs. As well, check to see if they can be added to the claim. A $4000 claim instantly doubles. Considering the nature of the suit, you might be successful since lawyers love tooting their horns when they do a good deed....sadly only rarely ! I'd recommend a lawyer write him a registered letter. Yours most likely won't be opened. I'd avoid making any statements on social media ...until the claim's been settled. Judges tend to look down on such activity.