Advice need for bad service from so called cinematographer

[Keenws]

Hi all, my brother just got married and they had engage a photographer and cinematographer from the same company to record down their memory. But the service they gave wasn't a good experience for the couple. They gave bad attitude, being rude with the couple's bridesmaids and guest. Express highlight was not done with expectation. Self centered to put his team and him as priority over the bridesmaid and brothers.

There's still balance of the payment which to be paid upon collection of all product. But they are unwilling to pay that high sum for such a lousy results.
Please advice on what to do.

 

[manalishi]

Sorry to hear about that, but contractually, unless otherwise stated, the terms are tied to delivery of the service and not to customer experience. Hence, as long as they fulfil their obligations, your bro need to pay.

in terms of their attitude, did you witness it yourselves? or is it hearsay? Could it be that the bridesmaids, guests etc were preventing them from doing their job (eg blocking their shots)?

 

[JasonB]

Hi all, my brother just got married and they had engage a photographer and cinematographer from the same company to record down their memory. But the service they gave wasn't a good experience for the couple. They gave bad attitude, being rude with the couple's bridesmaids and guest. Express highlight was not done with expectation. Self centered to put his team and him as priority over the bridesmaid and brothers.

There's still balance of the payment which to be paid upon collection of all product. But they are unwilling to pay that high sum for such a lousy results.
Please advice on what to do.

Pay the balance. Work done is work done.

Give a honest review on brides forum or whatever.

This way, it shows your displeasure is genuine and not out to fleece a discount due to buyer's remorse or being broke after the wedding.

Next time, advise your friends to look towards friends for recommendations. Don't trust whatever award winning big words and anyone can brand themselves 'cinematographer' 'director' 'producer' and whatever hollywood or nat geo equivalent, end of the day, they forgot they are providing a personal service on someone's big day, not running a movie set. So drop that 'director's airs and ego.

Sorry, videographers, just like photographers, got good, got bad, and anyone can get in. Some are fly by night businesses, some are amateurs doing it for fun and bragging rights to their friends, some are established pros starting to turn proud and nasty.

Clients also must look at themselves, did they accord the necessary cooperation to the vendors? Is the planning messed up bad? Squeezed in too many for too little time? Some bridesmaids period come, some PMS, some on bitch-mode and are just plain nasty and venomous. Some brothers just want to show off and be garang, some have high ego, some are just plain hyper, some super bo-chap.

Not a good fit, don't hire based on low price or good portfolio. A good portfolio could be gotten from clients that fit that vendor. If you are not that type of client, you may not receive that kind of results. It is a very personalized service.

 

[Keenws]

Thanks for the advice! It's not a hearsay, there's a lot of witness that the videographer shows bad attitude throughout the day. They are charging $3800 for video and photo for the AD. So the couple feels that it really not worth to pay that amount for such work done.

 

[kandinsky]

Thanks for the advice! It's not a hearsay, there's a lot of witness that the videographer shows bad attitude throughout the day. They are charging $3800 for video and photo for the AD. So the couple feels that it really not worth to pay that amount for such work done.

Curious, why did they sign this particular company in the first place? Was there any misrepresentation?

None of us here can say who's right/wrong. At the end of the day, both parties don't want to be shortchanged. It's in everyone's interest to work it out. Give & take will be involved on both sides. I think the best thing to do is to leave emotions out of it, and try to communicate their dissatisfaction to the company as clearly as possible. Stick to things that can be substantiated "Quality of product received did not match quality showed in portfolio" and avoid vague stuff like "His bad attitude made us feel unhappy", unless the service agreement explicitly promised service with a smile. It's like if you hired a contractor to do your renovation... you can't avoid paying the bill because he was rude with a bad attitude and insulted your family. Shoddy workmanship, goods not delivered? You may have a case.

If it's too difficult to do in person, communicate in writing. If company agrees that they fell short in some ways, they may offer to make amends, be it discount, credit, etc. If company disagrees, you can file a complaint with CASE and take it from there. At that point, you might want to be prepared for a prolonged 'battle' if nobody is willing to budge on their demands.

If you are not a member of CASE, you have to first register to be a CASE member. This is to establish a relationship between the association and you, so that we can follow up on the dispute on your behalf.
Our Consumer Relations Officer will correspond with the retailer on your behalf to work towards an amicable resolution.
Should the matter reach a stalemate, our officer will advise you on your available options, such as mediation, going to Small Claims Tribunals or other legal options.

Lodge a Complaint

 

[manalishi]

Thanks for the advice! It's not a hearsay, there's a lot of witness that the videographer shows bad attitude throughout the day. They are charging $3800 for video and photo for the AD. So the couple feels that it really not worth to pay that amount for such work done.

need to be clearer on what the bad atittude constitutes. The good videographers (and for that matter, photographers) go about doing their work so quietly u dont even know they exist. Hence, i am not sure how the fella can irritate so many people. It's not shooting a movie leh...unless somewhere, someone somehow trigger something...

Try to remove the emotive part and focus on what went wrong and do those stuff warrant a non payment of the balance.
Anyway, besides CASE, u can always try SMC (singapore mediation centre). Do note that there's charges involved though and both parties must be willing to mediate.

 

[daredevil123]

In the end, you have to look at the sales contract. Did they deliver? If they did, the couple need to pay. If the couple do not pay, they have the right not to hand over the deliverable.

Whether the service was done politely or rudely does not matter to the amount owed. As long as they can deliver what they promised, your friends have to pay up. If the deliverable are not up to the standard promised, the couple might have a case. But the couple will first need to pay up, get the pictures and video. After which, if they are still dissatisfied with the output, they will have to contact the company to state their displeasure and demands. If no agreement can be reached by both parties, the couple will then have the option to sue. But they must make sure they have enough evidence to show that what was specified in the contract was not delivered, or, there is strong evidence to show misrepresentation.

if the couple refuses to pay up, how can they get the photos and video? and without the photos and video, how can they have any evidence to show the company did not do a good job?

If your brother does not have enough evidence for a strong case, he will have to bite the bullet. What he can do is to state his displeasure in social media, or forum such as wedding forums or here in clubsnap. remember if you want to leave a bad review, you must be specific (tell people which exact company it is) and also be able to show examples/evidence on how they screw up.

 

[Keenws]

Ok. Thanks all for the advices.

But if you are in this business, calling yourself a Pro, will you not put your company name or logo in the video of your work? That's the curious part like whether the videographer really going to play punk and in the first place saving his company reputation?

 

[ricohflex]

After all this, why is the name of the firm not disclosed?
What are the names of the photographer and videographer?
Do you have photos of these persons to upload here, so that we can identify them?

 

[daredevil123]

Ok. Thanks all for the advices.

But if you are in this business, calling yourself a Pro, will you not put your company name or logo in the video of your work? That's the curious part like whether the videographer really going to play punk and in the first place saving his company reputation?

Sometimes the videographer is not from the same company, just that they have been pulled into the project. So they will not put any logo.

There is no way they can save the reputation, your brother or yourself just need to post some complains and feedback on various forums. That will be enough to let them feel the impact.

 

[Keenws]

They are from Hwee Studios, Ben the videographer also the founder of the company, member of WPJA. Not professional at all

 

[Anson]

They are from Hwee Studios, Ben the videographer also the founder of the company, member of WPJA. Not professional at all

Curious why don't you post the video & photos they delivered and let us see if it's worth the $3800 that your brother had paid for it?

 

[kandinsky]

Hmm... based on the wording of TS's post, the only physical product they've received/viewed so far is the express highlights.

There's still balance of the payment which to be paid upon collection of all product.

The majority of their unhappiness seemed to be about service/experience.

From TS's post:
----------------------

• The service they gave wasn't a good experience for the couple.
• They gave bad attitude
• They were rude with the couple's bridesmaids and guest.
• Express highlight was not done with expectation.
• Self centered to put his team and him as priority over the bridesmaid and brothers.

----------------------

 

[sjackal]

Hmm... based on the wording of TS's post, the only physical product they've received/viewed is the express highlights.

Curious why don't you post the video & photos they delivered and let us see if it's worth the $3800 that your brother had paid for it?

Really or not!? $3800 for an express highlights ahh!?

 

[kandinsky]

Really or not!? $3800 for an express highlights ahh!?

Calm down

There's still balance of the payment which to be paid upon collection of all product.

 

[XsenseX]

$3800 for full day photo + video is consider pretty fair for an 'experience' company ...

Many of my wed photographers friends already charging $3K+ for 8hrs AD.

Maybe the portion of Video is only $1k in the combine package, nobody will really know except them.

 

[hamanoshun]

Wah.

Sorry to burst your friend's bubble, but as someone who provides AD wedding video services, his works are as good as old-time traditional videographers.

That aside, there is still a contractual obligation to pay the remaining to get your deliverables. As for customer experience, which is something I suppose is not covered, you just have to make known to the public the experience you have and let them judge from there on out.

 

[samboy931]

Just take note of the company, so in the future, you would know and tell your friends and maybe your friends' friends not to take up the company and to be careful about hiring a company. Other than that, if possible, do ask for all the footages and pictures from them, I believe that the services that they gave for the wedding isn't near satisfactory, so I would suggest maybe keeping the raw footages and maybe hire a professional editor to edit for you? Or even edit it yourself!

 

[bedezz]

May we have a look at the edit? =]

 

[sai1sg]

Allow me to give my 2 cents worth. Hwee Studios has actually been in this wedding industry for some years. Based on their videos, Ben is quite skilled in his camera shots. However, many have complained about his attitude towards the brothers and bridesmaids. There used to be some in sgbrides, but probably been taken down already.

As many have mentioned, a job's done is done. Probably will just have to live with it. If not, the bad experience will only keep haunting back. And all the big joy and happiness of the wedding will be lost. Probably all that you can do is to help your friends and future brides/grooms to warn them about this company. No matter which forum you wrote about them, they can just take it down. The only place they can't take down is your own Facebook and word of mouth.