Menu
Login
Flat Rate Photography are Liars, cheater, untrustworthy worthy, unreliable, not dependable and probably won’t show up for pre-paid sessions
My fiance and I hired Flat Rate Photography to take photos at our wedding on 05/16/09. We also included in the wedding package an engagement session.
Initially we were suppose to meet in October to take the engagement photos but we could not fit it into our schedule. Therefore we called in advance and canceled the engagement session and stated we would call back at a later date to reschedule. I spoke with Liesl Ebenholtz which is the photographers spouse in December of 2008 and set up an appointment for the engagement session for January 3rd 2009 at Encanto Park.
My fiance and I waited for an hour and Keith Ebenholtz the photographer never showed up for the session. I phoned him several times while at the park and he finally called me back two hours later and stated he wasn’t aware of the photo session and that his wife had written down the 17th of January instead of the 3rd of January. Then he went on to say that they are expecting guest for a dinner party and couldn’t meet with us.
I told him that I was unhappy he didn’t show, nor call, to reschedule which is very unprofessional. I went on to say that there is no way possible I told his wife the 17th of January because I knew (prior to calling her) that I already had plans for that day. I told him that I had to talk to my fiance in regards to the no call-no show situation and give him a call back. Needless to say we decided not to use the Photographer for our wedding and now he refuses to refund us our $600. Complaint
Background:
- Product/Service Purchased:Photography – Purchase Date: 9/20/2008
- Date Problem First Occurred: 1/3/2009
Complained to the company/organization: -First Date: 1/3/2009
-Second Date: 1/13/2009
Payment Made: Partial payment made Payment Method: Check
Name of Sales Person/Owner: Mr. Keith Ebenholtz
-Purchase Price: $600.00
-Disputed Amount: $600.00
Desired Outcome: Refund of the entire $600 deposit
Keith and Leisl photographed our wedding and it was the biggest mistake we made. While they are very nice people and, I believe, honest, they are simply awful photographers. I hate to admit it but we got what we paid for. We spent thousands on parts of our wedding that we could enjoy for only a few hours. I spent around 500 for point-and-shoot quality images that we have to look at for the rest of our lives. In retrospect I got it totally ###-backwards...if I had it to do all over again I would have spent 3, 000.00 for a real, full-time photographer and cut corners in other areas. I would have preferred to serve Costco sandwich trays or even Taco Bell if it meant investing more money in images I would actually WANT to look at.
I have learned a lot about photography since then and Flat Rate is the typical "we own a camera, therefore we are professional photographers" people and there are a LOT of others just like them. After I looked closer at the contract, it appears they even apologize in advance for the possibility that you may not like their images! They actually say "we do this for fun...not responsible for out of focus or underexposed images...photography is subjective..." They have full time jobs and aren't really dedicated to the craft of photography. They knew nothing about lighting and our portrait shots have palm trees growing out of our heads plus, the backgrounds are in focus! Seriously, those are just basic things that anybody should avoid.
On top of that, they went through the buffet line ahead of our wedding guests! Tacky.
Seriously, people, it takes more than owning a camera to call yourself a professional photographer. If you bought a basketball could you call yourself a professional basketball player? You can't buy skill, talent and creativity.
I wish we knew then what we know now. To the couple who lost their 600.00: no offense but you went cheap and got what you deserved just like we did; hopefully you chose a real photographer for your wedding and spent a little more on the images.