EMB Photography

Review: 1 - She typically schedules 3 hours for a newborn photo shoot. She only allowed herself an hour and a half with us. Our daughter was not cooperating (she's an infant and has no sleep/eating schedule), so [redacted] had to reschedule a time to come back to finish the shoot (which she seemed pretty annoyed by).2 - After the 2nd photo shoot, she sent us a CD of the pictures she edited. There were no photos from the first time she came out. When we asked about those, she said she "didn't have them anymore".Basically, she deleted or lost half of the photos she took of our newborn daughter. The photos she lost were the ONLY photos she took of us as a family, so we have no newborn family photos now.3 - She did NOT apologize in the least. When she realized how upset my wife and I were, her only response was, "you got the number of edited photos promised to you".4 - Part of the package deal included 2-8x10 printed photos. The photo shoot was in early May. After many emails, we finally got our 8x10 photos in AugustDesired Settlement: What we really want are the pictures that were taken of our family. She claims that she deleted them; however, you can always take your memory card or hard drive to a professional to have the pictures restored that were deleted.If she refuses to do that, we feel entitled to a full refund.

Business

Response:

I am responding to the customer compliant assigned an ID of [redacted].

Here is their statement of the problem with my explanation following.

1. She typically schedules 3 hours for a newborn photo shoot. She only allowed herself an hour and a half with us. The newborn session states CAN TAKE UP TO 3 hours. I believe he is talking about the 2nd time I was at their house for the rescheduled session. That day I was able to get what I thought was acceptable amount of pictures within the hour and a half and would have stayed longer if I wasn't confident with the amount of photos I had already taken and also since I believed I had the other photos from the first session which I was there close if not 2 hours. Not all newborn sessions are 3 hours.

It depends on how the baby is and if I can get enough photos in an hour and a half then the shoot will be an hour and a half. In this particular case I was able to get Dad & newborn, Mom & newborn, sibling & newborn photos taken along with just the newborn.

2. Their daughter was not cooperating (she’s an infant and has no sleep/eating schedule), so [redacted] had to reschedule a time to come back to finish the shoot (which she seemed pretty annoyed by). I did not have to reschedule another photo shoot with them. I offered to do another session for them because their daughter was not being cooperative at the time I was there and I felt bad that I was not able to get what they wanted. So that is why I offered to reschedule another date. I typically do not reschedule already taken sessions because of uncooperative clients. I was not annoyed with rescheduling another date. I offered to do that for them because I wanted them to receive photographs that were to their liking.

3. After the 2nd photo shoot, she sent us a CD of the pictures she edited. There were no photos from the first time she came out. When we asked about those, she said she “didn't have them anymore”. Basically, she deleted or lost half of the photos she took of our newborn daughter. The photos she lost were the ONLY photos she took of us as a family, so we have no newborn family photos now. Yes, I sent them a CD with edited photos of my choice. There were between 20-25 edited photos from the newborn session on the CD, along with the pictures from the maternity session that I already sent them on a CD months before. They told me that they lost the maternity photos and asked if I could send them again. I said yes because I felt bad about how the first session went. I charge for lost, broken or extra CD's but put theirs on the same CD as the newborn session free of charge.

However, yes, there weren’t any photos from the first session because I mistakenly deleted them off of my camera. It was a mistake. I told them in an email, "as of right now I am still looking for those photos (at the time of this email I thought they were on my computer & believed I was having trouble finding the folder) I have to look through my folders again. There weren't many that were up to my standards to edit but I will let you know when I find the photos. I hope 1 didn’t make a mistake by deleting them off of my computer".

A few days later I let him know that I couldn't find the photos but wanted him to know that even with out those photos I was able to deliver 20-25 photos for the maternity session and the rescheduled newborn session,

I do apologize that they don't have a picture of the 4 of them together. I understand why they are upset not having a photo of them. I apologize.

4. She did not apologize in the least. When she realized how upset my wife and I were, her only response was, “you got the number of edited photos promised to you". Yes, I did not apologize in the email and I should have. I was embarrassed & knew it was unprofessional of me that I deleted the photos by accident I should have made sure that they were on my computer before deleting the memory card. I am apologizing that I did not apologize sooner. I apologize that that they do not have a picture of the 4 of them. Yes, I did indeed state that I delivered the number of photos for each session; the Maternity session & Mommy, Daddy & Baby Package.

5. Part of the package deal included 2 8x10 printed photos. The photo shoot was in early May. After many emails, we finally got our 8x10 photos in August. With the Mommy, Daddy & Baby package the customer receives 2 8x10 printed photos of their choice. On June 27th I received an email from them stating which photos they would like printed. I did not put the order in until July. The photos were sent to them on August 7th.

I believe that I should not have to do a full refund of $150.00. They were no complaints with the maternity session photographs & they stated about the newborn session "the pictures were awesome, thanks so much!" I offered and did a rescheduled session and was more then happy to do that for this family.

They received 20-25 edited photos from the Maternity Session and Mommy, Daddy & Baby Package Session and also received their 2 8x10 photos. I do understand that they don't have the photo of the whole family. I apologize for my mistake despite that particular picture not being a part of the package for which I offer.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Erin responded that the newborn session "CAN TAKE UP TO 3 hours". However, she scheduled our session at 8:30 and left promptly by 10:00 to make it to her next appointment so she did not allow for it to go any longer than 1.5 hours. She also gave no indication when booking this date and time that only 1.5 hours were allotted. This created stress for all of us when our daughter was awake. If we had more time, I would have been able to properly feed her and get her to sleep but everything was rushed.

The main session of photos for the newborn shoot were deleted. There are no family photos and no photos of our daughter in the gown we bought for this session. We also lost photos taken in a different room and photos of our daughter in different clothes and accessories. It is not just an issue of her not including a family photo, but every type of photo we took that day are now lost. Only photos from a one hour follow up session were delivered to us. She also specifically said at the start of the 2nd session that we weren't going to do any family photos because we had already gotten some at the first session so she knew how important the family photos were to us. We had no idea until the photos were delivered when our daughter was 7 weeks old that those memories had been deleted which meant we didn't even have a chance to capture family photos with another photographer.

The maternity photos were beautiful and we appreciate her adding those images to the newborn CD, however, when a photographer loses irreplaceable memories that she was paid to create, she has failed to do her job properly, and most unfortunately, failed to respond to our concerns with any compassion. Her email simply said, "Unfortunately, I am unable to find those photos...As stated before, I have delivered the amount of photos for each session. Maternity session & Mommy, Daddy & Baby session (20-25 each session)." If a wedding photographer accidentally deletes a couple's first kiss or first dance, this would not be an acceptable "apology".

When I told her how upset we were, she offered us no compensation or apology for her mistake. Her only response was, "Do you still want the 8x10s?" When I told her that she should take her computer and/or memory card to a professional to have the photos restored (which is a reasonable request, and completely possible), I got no response.

We really do not care for a refund. What we really want are the photos that she so carelessly deleted, and it is not impossible to get them back. She just needs to do the right thing and take the time to fix her mistake.

Regards,