Met with another videographer this weekend. We saw some stuff online and thought maybe the final product on the disc may be better. It was one of the worse meetings we have experienced during the wedding planning process. Our wedding planner wasn’t able to attend the meeting but followed-up with us soon after. I had my FH respond to her because it may have seem to be exaggerated by me or that I had Bridezilla syndrome. Here is a copy of the response. I “XXXXX” names/Company and such out to avoid slander/libel accusations.
Audrey,
Have you spoken with XXXXX yet about the meeting? We are about 99% sure we won't be using XXXXX for video.You can stop reading now or continue for an in-depth breakdown of the meeting.
I am wondering if his body language would have been the same if you had been present. He was almost ten minutes late, and when he arrived, he seemed to be a bit standoffish. He began our discussion by saying you weren't sure about the date of our wedding, which I had a hard time believing. And, he said that you didn't provide him with any information other than our name, a $1500 budget and two possible dates, of which you couldn't verify the actual wedding date. One of the next things out of his mouth was that he would go over our day with us, but we couldn't get much for a $1500 budget. He made no attempt to say what he could do, and let us decide if we saw the additional value in that service.
He said that he had done Vietnamese weddings before and was clueless as to what the table toasting was. Additionally, in regards to the table toasting, he said that we would be very lucky people if we could get someone to video the entire thing. I have an additional problem with that. Why on earth would it matter WHAT he was videoing so long as it was all in the expected time of our reception?
Again, he suggested that with a $1500 budget, we wouldn't be getting much. I was just short of needing to coerce him into giving me an actual quote.
Then, he literally wanted to argue with Betty about whether she wanted a Lion dance or a Dragon dance as if he knew so much more about her culture than her. And, to be honest so what if he did (which he didn't). Arguing with the bride to be didn't seem like any way to draw in business. After, finally conceding it didn't matter whether it was dragon or lion dance, he said he could film it for an additional charge. I'm still wondering what is additional about it. I'd like to add that he never conceded that she MAY be correct - only that the correctness wasn't of importance for our discussion.
Betty and I know lots of smokers, and we are fine with smokers. We aren't fans of the actual cigarette smoke, though. He smelled like he smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in a closet right before walking through the front door. That could have been what he was doing with his extra 10 minutes while we were waiting.
We watched his videos online and both thought they lacked lighting. At the conclusion of our meeting he asked if we could think of anything to make his video/products better. Betty noted that she would like the option for continuous play of the documentary from beginning to end without being forced to watch three highlight videos. And, I noted that I thought they lacked light. He dismissed our input by saying he's been doing video for X number of years, and he's never had a single complaint; so, they must be fine. Why ask if you aren't taking it to heart. He said it must be my monitor (I watched on three different machines before the meeting.); however, the final product DVD he brought also lacked light. He said it was probably the device (His portable DVD player). So, I asked if I could take the DVD to my home to watch it on my Tv. He gave it to me free of charge, but added that it looked great on his 52" plasma; basically, to me, saying that if it doesn't look good at my home, it is probably because of inferior equipment.
ALL in ALL he wanted $4500 to shoot the wedding, and later said it may only be $3500 because he refused to shoot at Hotel Derek in HD.
To be honest, we haven't seen the DVD on our TV yet because we pretty much decided to not go with XXXX ONE second after walking out the door.
Sincerely,
David (and Betty)
P.S.: I did not exaggerate. You can discuss it with him if you like, but that's his it went down. If you do discuss further with him, I'd be very interested to see/hear any rebuttals he made to my claims.
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