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Hired Brad and Julie Hodge of Discount Wedding Photography dba Hodge Photography for wedding in the summer of 2011. Our contract states we will have the services we contracted for (pictures, dvd, photo book, slide show and more) five (5) weeks after our event. It has now been six (6) months, several e-mails and still nothing. We were even willing to drive out to him for our goods. He has not only done this to us, but to several others, who's weddings date back to early 2011. His [protected] is now disconnected and he states he is homeless, living in a ditch but continues to e-mail and cover wedding events. Several couples have filed in small claims court against him and have upcoming cases pending in February and March. One couple had their court date in December, but he failed to show. They then had the burden to prove their case and actually did and won. Judges do not award your case easily unless you can prove the facts or show the breach of contract, which in their case, they did. Make sure the photographer you hire for your event is not only qualified but committed to abide by the contract you he signs with you. If not, you will be in the same situation as several of us, still waiting for photos of their once in a lifetime event. You can't get back the moments you missed if you have nothing to memorialize them with. Brides, Grooms, Families Beware of whom you trust with your most precious day.
HE'S NOT RUNNING HIS USUAL SCAM UNDER A NEW BUSINESS NAME! "DREAM WORKS IMAGERY" www.dreamworksimagery.com CHECK THE WEBSITE TO SEE IF YOUR PHOTOS HAVE BEEN USED ON HIS NEW SITE. MY COWORKER WAS SCAMMED FROM HIM AND SHE SAW HER PHOTOS (THAT SHE NEVER RECEIVED) ON HIS NEW WEBSITE. BEWARE
My wife and I were married on October 1, 2011. We contracted Brad (and his second photographer) to photograph our wedding and our wedding beach party the night before. Brad never showed up to the beach party and when I finally talked to him 4 hours past his scheduled arrival time, he asked me to remind him what he was supposed to be doing for us that weekend. It gets worse... A few hours later he informed me that he double booked weddings but we didn't need to worry because he hired the photographer who shot his wedding to shoot ours. So the next day (our wedding day) I had not heard from Brad or the other photographer that Brad supposedly hired. Finally, an hour before the wedding Brad showed up looking pale and disheveled. He told me some story about why there was all the confusion but never addressed why only he showed up and not 2 photographers as promised.
After 2 months and lots of frustration and anguish we were finally able to download our photos from his web site. Technically we only got half of our photographs since only one photographer showed up. Our last communication from Brad in regards to what we are owed was in December 2011 and we have not yet received our photo book or canvas print.
We did get an email in January from Brad telling us that he is homeless and broke and most importantly NOT A CON ARTIST. What is interesting is that an out of work, homeless and broke photographer (which Brad claims to be) is still able to post new wedding albums to his web site...some as recent as mid to late January.
WE WANT WHAT WE ARE OWED OR WE WANT A REFUND... ANY NON-SCAM ARTIST PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THIS SIMPLE REQUEST.
DO NOT HIRE BRAD HODGE AS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER. YOU WILL REGRET IT.
I hired Brad for my engagement and wedding pictures me and my husband paid him up front within days of meeting him first I did get my engagement pictures well a CD of them after 5 months of emailing asking for the pictures and asking for a refund not till I asked for a refund did I get my pictures. His excuse the pictures must have got lost in the mail and for that he promised to give us a canvas needless to say i never got it. Second the day of the wedding he did show up however he showed up late the contract stated he would be there 40mins before the time of the ceremony to take the getting ready pictures his excuse "my wife has been in a car accident" so needless to say he didn't take any getting ready pictures of me well i guess that doesn't really matter since he still hasnt given me my wedding pictures even though its been 4 months since my wedding i waited a month before i asked him for the pictures and he said he was just about done editing them i should get them in a week. 2 weeks went by i asked again and still nothing now he doesn't even answer my phone calls or emails. I hate that this guy has done this to so many brides a wedding is a once in a lifetime moment and me like some of you other brides have no pictures of that special day. Future Brides his prices might look good but you may never get the pictures. Update i have filed a small claims suit against him for breach of contract.
Brad Hodge used his legitimate business to take our money and then never provide services for our wedding day. My wedding was Oct 1st, 2011. My wife found Hodge Photography and showed me the webpage which looked professional. We signed a contract for the "Merlot Package" with a free engagement session. Brad was a half hour late to our postponed engagement session. He said he would have the pictures uploaded to his website within a week and he would even be willing to redo the engagement session if we didn't like the pictures... My wife and I thought this was very nice of him and at that point we felt we could trust him and that we were in good hands. After two weeks, I called Brad several times to ask for the pictures as we wanted to enlarge one for the wedding day. He would not pick up or return my phone calls. After multiple e-mails and calls, we finally received a CD with the pictures in the mail which we were pleased with.
Prior to the wedding, I tried to get in touch with Brad Hodge to discuss and arrange the meeting time and location for the wedding day, but received no response. Finally, the day before the wedding I was able to review all the wedding details for Brad and his wife, Julie Hodge. That's when I learned his wife would not be showing up to the wedding as the second photographer contracted since she was having a hard time getting around due to her pregnancy. At that point, there was not much we could do so I told Brad we would make it work out and to plan on showing up at the hotel where my wife was staying before 1pm. Since the photography was important, we contracted two photographers with Hodge Photography for creativity and a third photographer for documentation purposes which was part of a package from a separate video company.
The ceremony started at 2pm and Brad never made it to my wife's hotel or wedding ceremony. He did not send backup photographers or even call us. All I received was a text message at 2:05pm saying "My wife fell down the stairs and I had to take her to the hospital. Please use your other photographer and I will refund your money. I can't get there in time".
Our backup photographer, who was only supposed to capture photos of the guests, took our wedding pictures which did not meet the quality and creativity we had previously received and expected from Brad Hodge. Brad never showed up to our wedding at any point. We had arranged a photo shoot at Balboa Park after the wedding ceremony but it had to be cancelled since the other photographer didn't know the place that well. After our wedding, I tried to contact Brad to get an explanation and a refund but I was never able to get a hold of him. I gave him a deadline for him to respond before proceeding legal action. Two days after the deadline, he finally responded saying he's been having a rough time and asked if we could work out a payment plan. I was willing to work it out again but had to reject his proposition as he wanted to give me only a partial refund. He wanted to charge us $300 for the free engagement session and refused to pay the hotel room I booked for him in place of travel fees to stay at the resort after the wedding reception. He broke his contract and was not proactive in resolving the problem. I even think he lied about his pregnant wife falling down the stairs after reading a review of another couple who said Brad told them his wife got in a car accident! We have not received any part of a refund from Brad Hodge three months after the wedding.
I filed a small claims suit at the Temecula court house but had to extend the trial date as Brad Hodge was not served on time, but the process server finally found him earlier this week at the Lake Elsinore address. My trial is scheduled for February 6 at the Temecula Courthouse.