Buyer Beware
Just an FYI since this is the NC Baby Board. This is a review I just posted on Yelp about this photographer that Toads and I used this summer. It was a nightmare to get our final product.
This made me really grateful for all the wonderful photography ladies on this board who surely have ethics better than this woman.
"We also had the opportunity to use Sarah Kimmel Photography this past summer as the first reviewer did.
Our experience was the total and complete opposite ending with us having to file a BBB complaint to finally receive our disc.
This is definitely one of those you get what you paid for situations so buyer beware.
We paid SKP in cash in full at the time of our shoot on 8/10. Our disc finally arrived on 10/19. During this time Hurricane Irene did in fact do much destruction throughout the OBX however the service we received was still below par.
The communication we received from this photographer was always initiated on our end rather than her keeping us up to date on the status of our order.
Promises were also never kept. She has deleted all of the evidence from her FB page but if you go look now you will see she promises shipment after shipment and there is always an excuse for why something was sent when she promised.
It almost seems like she accepts payment and then you are her mercy as to when you will receive what you paid for.
Throughout all of this we never received an apology or anything to make amends for her horrible service. A simple apology and change in her actions would have sufficed however the customer is always right is not even close to how she works.
At the bitter end she threatened to contact her "legal team" if we used the images that we were still basically begging to receive because they were owned by her. Nevermind the fact that we had paid in full and STILL did not have them.
Buyer beware. "
Re: Buyer Beware
Agreed. We were actually very understanding until the bitter end when we figured out we were basically getting the run around.
It was awful! We have since learned that there are others in the same position.
None of the photographers on this board or the ones who started on this board and are now gone would do that.
This is an fyi to those who may be vacationing like we were though and isn't directed at anyone else.
Definitely not a way to run a business! I treat my clients like gold. If she just got swamped and didn't have it ready, she should have been honest and compensated you for the delay on her part. What did your contract say? I promise things within a certain timeframe and if I don't make that timeframe I would surely do whatever it took to make the client happy.
I'm confused by the whole threatening of her legal team. Was that in an email? Or in the contract? It's hilarious that you didn't even have your pictures yet but she's worried about copyright infringement. Random!
I was reading her FB page...she only ships once a week? lol. There are multiple recent posts on people wondering where their discs are. Sounds like she is high volume and needs to outsource her editing (probably what's holding everything up) and/or have her postman pick up her shipments daily.
She is low price/high volume and did at one point admit it was the editing holding things up.
Would you still be doing sessions if you were that far behind though? I don't know. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
We didn't pay much because we were on vacation and I'd already spent a fortune on L's pics this year. That said both the other girl and I are pretty honest people. Just be up front, keep me in the loop and I'll leave you alone
The legal team threat was in an email when she said she mailed our disk but it actually went to the wrong address. I guess she thought we had it but we didn't.
And the contract didn't state a timeframe. I should have asked but in good faith didn't think it would take over 2 months. That is forever long!
Anywho, this was just an fyi because I wouldn't want anyone here to go through that when there are lots of other photographers who like you said treat their customers like gold.