Brides Say Videographer Never Delivered

[Rickey Brillantes]

I just came across this news and I just want to share this.

Brides Say Videographer Never Delivered | NBC Connecticut


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[James Palanza]

oh my god, i lost it at the guy running down the street LOL what..

[Rickey Brillantes]

Just an update: Now he has to pay $.5 million penalties and fees, just for being on what he is.

Mass. wedding videographer ordered to pay $500,000 - News Local Massachusetts - Boston.com

[Adrian Tan]

Just want to say: I do feel sorry for the SureShot guy, and I think it's not difficult to wind up in a similar situation without evil intentions, especially if: (a) you're charging too little, making next to no profit, and getting swamped by work ($500-$1000 for a 6 hour DVD? really?); (b) you have high overheads (in SureShot's case, looks like storefronts, full-time employees, advertising -- because word of mouth wouldn't get him business -- and a hefty gear investment -- photograph depicts something like a Merlin Steadicam + vest + 24-70 lens for starters); (c) you try to cope with your workload by hiring contractors, which is what the comments in response to the article seem to suggest.

And then if you try, and fail, to keep up with the treadmill, at a certain point you start not to care anymore. A person threatening to sue you is just another person threatening to sue you.

[Roger Gunkel]

I feel more sorry for the couples who's once in a lifetime experience has disappeared without trace along with their money. The guy is just a money grabbing scum bag, how difficult would it be to let the couples at least have just the raw footage so that they can perhaps have it edited elsewhere.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

I agree with Roger ..it's the couple's memories that can never be recovered so feel sorry for them not for this guy. Come on Adrian ..lack of business knowledge is no excuse for ripping off people over a long period. He was happily taking their money and not supplying any DVD's ... If he has not costed out his work correctly it's not the client's fault ..at the very least he could sit up at night, at home and edit the outstanding videos at the very least or go and flip burgers at McDonalds to pay the client's back. If he was genuinely remorseful and had messed up maybe two or three videos, I might feel a little sorry for him but according to the 2nd report about 150 people have now been scammed ... that's nothing to do with bad luck, he is simply a crook and is doing nothing about it.

Chris

[Don Bloom]

I have no pity nor do I feel sorry for this scumbag. He knew exactly what he was doing and instead of fining him (which he will never pay nor will anyone collect a dime or the video which I'm sure he doesn't have) he should have been charged (IMO) with theft, false advertising, and anything else they could have come up with. Hell, charge with the Kennedy assassination who cares, put him behind bars for about 2 to 3 years.
I get very angry when I see stories like this because it damages ALL of us and I know that for myself I've spent far too many years try to be right by my clients and do the right thing building my reputation to allow people like this to screw me because they're greedy and stupid. Goes against the rule that a very wealthy friend of mine once told me many, many years ago. You can be stupid or you can be greedy but you can't be both at the same time! what goes around comes around. He will get his one day and it will be painful!

[James Manford]

Absolute scum.

No sympathy here. The idiot shouldn't have taken on more work than he can handle! Perfect example of charging low prices and trying to churn out videos in the hundreds ...

I'm a solo shooter, charge a bit more than average I would say, but I only take on a limited number of films a year to ensure every client gets 110% of my effort in the 'film making / editing / delivery' process.

This is a perfect example that big companies that do hundreds of films a year aren't necessarily doing a good job! It's all false advertising.

Another idiot that has put a blemish on honest videographers reputations.

[James Manford]

Originally Posted by Adrian Tan

Just want to say: I do feel sorry for the SureShot guy, and I think it's not difficult to wind up in a similar situation without evil intentions, especially if: (a) you're charging too little, making next to no profit, and getting swamped by work ($500-$1000 for 6 hours of video? really?); (b) you have high overheads (in SureShot's case, looks like storefronts, full-time employees, advertising -- because word of mouth wouldn't get him business -- and a hefty gear investment -- photograph depicts something like a Merlin Steadicam + vest + 24-70 lens for starters); (c) you try to cope with your workload by hiring contractors, which is what the comments in response to the article seem to suggest.

And then if you try, and fail, to keep up with the treadmill, at a certain point you start not to care anymore. A person threatening to sue you is just another person threatening to sue you.

I agree with you to the extent that if your work is good, people recommend you, you can easily be tempted with more bookings than you can handle.

But thats no reason to start taking money off people, knowing you won't be able to deliver.

I was actually contacted by a company the other day (not going to state any names here ...) that asked if I would MAKE THEM THEIR FILMS AS THEY HAVE TOO MANY CLIENTS BOOKED. They wanted to pay peanuts as well!

Yes, we both had a similar style of film that we delivered to clients. But, on their facebook page they clearly mention they never ask any one else to edit or film for them. But yet they contacted me? False advertising.

It's in situations like this were companies can lose track of everything and start getting very sloppy.

[Robert Benda]

$600-$1000? AND he has a storefront and employee? Sweet moses.... wonder what other work he's doing.

[James Palanza]

Yeah, no sympathy. I don't charge nearly as much as what seems the norm (im at 1000-1500) but I'm a solo shooter so I find it difficult to justify to the bride more than that without them having a second shooter there. Still, I've always been able to edit a wedding in about 8 hours from start to finish, including the DVD, so this guy was clearly just a fraud. I get at some point he must have been so backed up he probably just said the hell with it, but come on you can do the work if you haul ass. I work a fulltime job during the day in addition to my weddings.

[Don Bloom]

There was a guy here in Chicagoland that did pretty much the same thing. He started out working for someone else, broke off on his own. Advertised on the big bridal websites, got lots of work. He was on the less expensive side, really overbooked himself, started failing to answer emails, phone calls and delivering work. He got CLOBBERED on the bridal websites, had papers served to him by a few really unhappy brides, never got it cleared up that I knew of. A guy I know didn't know about this guys background and he hired him as a contractor. Did a couple of jobs everything worked out well. Then one day he didn't show up at a wedding. Luckily the guy I know always sent 2 guys to the ceremony so he got it covered. The guy that didn't show never called or emailed. Just dropped off the face of the earth.
I don't know if he moved out of state, got sued into oblivion, or if someone he screwed decided to get their pound of flesh. After my buddy told me about how this guy didn't show up I told him it sounded like (a name that I will not mention) he said yeah that's him I asked my buddy if he hadn't heard about this guy and he said no. Well long story short, this guy is gone never to be heard from, my buddy got the wedding covered and who knows what happened to all the brides he screwed out of money and their videos. I wish him nothing but the worst.

[Chris Harding]

The thing that still amazes me is when you get to the stage where you have 10 weddings backed up and more following SURELY you know that you are already in a mess and unlikely to get out of it? Yet these guys forge on blindly taking more bookings and getting deeper and deeper in the mire!! They must already know that they have gone past the point of no return, yet they carry on and on and do nothing about the growing problem and consequences. Do they just close their eyes to the problem and hope for some divine intervention?

Chris

[Robert Benda]

Locally we just had something identical happen with a photographer. One couple was waiting 2 years (!).

There used to be a videographer here, Uncle Frank, back in the 90's, who was famous for his slow delivery (6 months to 2 years... if you bugged him). Even stranger was, more than once he showed up at a wedding I was MC'ing and just started filming for a while.... but he wasn't hired to and wasn't a guest. So weird.

[Don Bloom]

Chris,
I think it goes a bit with the thinking that "hey, I can handle it. I'll sit in front of the computer for 60 hours a week and just pound these things out no problem. I need and want the money"
THEN reality sets in. You get bored in front of the computer doing the same thing over and over again. You want and do go out for lunch, longer and longer. You take longer breaks, you answer email, read the on line forums ;-) make a few phone calls.
People sometimes over estimate what they are capable of doing and underestimate the amount of work they have piled on the desk.
Like I said, greedy or stupid, not both at once!