wwyd photographer problems

[ptmmg]

we had a huge family vacation in Aruba in June we hired a professional photographer to do some family pics on the beach at sunset. I got his name of a website similar to this but its all about Aruba. He had a great website answered our email often when we where inquiring about him before we hired him. My sil gave him her CC through his website to book him.

He shows up at our hotel takes all our pics for well over an hour . But he says he has been having problems with USA credit cards (SIL cc was never charged) that we needed to give him cash. we gave him cash It was $300 to do the pics and when you order you get $100 credit towards your order.

About a week later(like he said) the pics are up in his gallery (they came out very nice) we place our orders but he is still having issues with the USA credit cards. He wants us to wire money to him. Well I have no intention of doing that. My Sil and I came up with another solution and emailed it to him last week but he has not got back to us!!! Our solution was that my MIL is going back to Aruba in November he could meet her at the hotel and they could exchange cash for the pics!!

I just emailed him again but not sure what I can do now what are my options?

 

[eliza61]

Sorry, some thing sounds "off". Generally "cash only" is a big red flag especially when dealing with international companies. He's a professional photographer on a island that makes their money off of tourism and he's having problems processing credit cards? and it's taking him longer than a week to fix it.

Try contacting a soliciter in Aruba and see what the procedures are. what are his refund policies?

some thing sounds shady. His website says he comes back to the states often, see if you could arrange some thing then.
Don't send any more cash.

 

[ptmmg]

I am definitely not sending any money! the thing is he has great reviews on the official Aruba message boards. I just posted a message over there as well!

 

[Jpieces]

can you do paypal or something? sounds shady....did you ask your resort if they have heard of him?

 

[Disney845]

I do not see anything fishy about it yet?

You contracted for him to take pictures of your family for $300 ($100 of which would go towards the cost of the prints). Seems like so far he has done exactly that.

Yes he had trouble with the CC (for whatever reason...) but he made other arrangements with you (cash) and he held up his end of the bargin. He took the pictures, and put them on his website within the week (as you say he indicated he would).

Why do you see this as a red flag? If he has done exactly as he said all along (responded to your initial questions, arrived at the appointed time, photographed you for the agreed upon amount, and then posted the pictures to the gallery in a timely manner) why are you suspicious of him?

 

[ptmmg]

I do not see anything fishy about it yet?

You contracted for him to take pictures of your family for $300 ($100 of which would go towards the cost of the prints). Seems like so far he has done exactly that.

Yes he had trouble with the CC (for whatever reason...) but he made other arrangements with you (cash) and he held up his end of the bargin. He took the pictures, and put them on his website within the week (as you say he indicated he would).

Why do you see this as a red flag? If he has done exactly as he said all along (responded to your initial questions, arrived at the appointed time, photographed you for the agreed upon amount, and then posted the pictures to the gallery in a timely manner) why are you suspicious of him?

Im suspicions because we gave him $300 and still have no pictures!!! I try to order them from the website once we were home but he is still having CC issues so now he wants me to wire money to him him how am i protected ??He gets my money and what if I don't get the pictures at least with a credit card I'm protected. Now that I have come up with some sort of solution my mother in law meeting him for an exchange he hasn't got back to me with 1 email saying this would or wouldn't work!

 

[Calliaz]

It sounds to me more like he has bank account issues or doesn't want to pay credit card fees. Can he take paypal? That way you still have some protection.

 

[Bryan Morris]

Hi Tammy,

I'm really sorry if the entire way this proceeded caused you to doubt in my credibility. I don't blame you totally as we currently reside in a cruel world. But I'm obliged to inform that that is not the way that Bryan Morris conduct business. I believe in a higher power, call it what you want but I call him God and whatever goes around comes around. If I be dishonest with you in any way, whether you live to see it or not but I will reap the repercussions of it. Besides scamming you of a few hundred dollars is not even worth it.
I would never do so to you nor anyone else, it will not only reflect upon me but also the island that I live on and love so much. The reason why you've chosen me is because you felt comfortable with the recommendations you've read on this very site. I wish I could help but the rug was suddenly pulled from under me by the bank stating that I will no longer be able to make manual transactions with my credit card machine. If I could've done different I would've. I'm currently studying the possibilities in order to facilitate my clients by credit card again. I've given you the three optins that I currently have; 1. Wire Transfer 2. Western Union or 3.
I must however admit that I'm a bit disappointed that you did not choose to discuss this with me. I'm a very easy going guy, sometimes to naive and too trusting. I'm a phone call and/or an email away. If calling me is costly for you, just send me an email saying you will like to talk to me and I will promptly call you back. This could've been discussed as two adults and come to a resolution. You've sent me an email this morning I did not even get a chance to respond and you're here and on other forums implying that I might be a scam artist. However this is the way that you've chosen to approach this situation, I don't mind as I'm very transparent (see my blog) There is very little left of myself to be mentioned there, the reason it is not mentioned is because I believe it's nothing special so I might just bore my readers.

I will be calling you or Maureen today as to try and have this resolved.

I repeat, I will NEVER ever scam you nor any other visitor or anyone for all that matters. That is just not my style. I love what I d and I love where I live and will do nothing as a disservice to my family, My God nor my island, Aruba.

Bryan Morris

we had a huge family vacation in Aruba in June we hired a professional photographer to do some family pics on the beach at sunset. I got his name of a website similar to this but its all about Aruba. He had a great website answered our email often when we where inquiring about him before we hired him. My sil gave him her CC through his website to book him.

He shows up at our hotel takes all our pics for well over an hour . But he says he has been having problems with USA credit cards (SIL cc was never charged) that we needed to give him cash. we gave him cash It was $300 to do the pics and when you order you get $100 credit towards your order.

About a week later(like he said) the pics are up in his gallery (they came out very nice) we place our orders but he is still having issues with the USA credit cards. He wants us to wire money to him. Well I have no intention of doing that. My Sil and I came up with another solution and emailed it to him last week but he has not got back to us!!! Our solution was that my MIL is going back to Aruba in November he could meet her at the hotel and they could exchange cash for the pics!!

I just emailed him again but not sure what I can do now what are my options?

here is his website

 

[TheRatPack]

I applaud you for coming and explaining your side of the story Bryan....and understand why the original poster felt a bit cautious. In todays world you just can't be too careful....while many say they wouldn't scam over 'just' a few hundred dollars....I was just scammed for 30.00 last month on my debit card...LOL Each person has their own idea of what amount is a LOT I suppose.

Anyhow....I hope you and the original poster can get it resolved....sad that the bank has not given you many options, as I'm sure you want your state side customers to feel secure when using your services in Aruba and this limits your ability to do so. Hope it all works out...for both sides

Oh and just my opinion....I don't think she was necessarily calling you a scam artist, she was just asking advice on whether or not she should feel that way and giving the facts. Last year when we had family photos done, we used Paypal to pay the photographer and then did the same to order photographs. Maybe you could set something up through Paypal.

 

[aaarcher86]

Well.... that was awkward.

 

[eliza61]

I do not see anything fishy about it yet?

You contracted for him to take pictures of your family for $300 ($100 of which would go towards the cost of the prints). Seems like so far he has done exactly that.

Yes he had trouble with the CC (for whatever reason...) but he made other arrangements with you (cash) and he held up his end of the bargin. He took the pictures, and put them on his website within the week (as you say he indicated he would).

Why do you see this as a red flag? If he has done exactly as he said all along (responded to your initial questions, arrived at the appointed time, photographed you for the agreed upon amount, and then posted the pictures to the gallery in a timely manner) why are you suspicious of him?

Easy, most scams always start out with "there has been some type of Problem" with the scammers bank, credit card company or some other reason why scammer cannot possibly do the transaction any way but cash.

Of course cash is the one thing that is hard to trace and prove receipt of. I don't deal business in cash EVER.

Brian Kudos to you for getting in touch. BRAVO.

 

[disneyandme]

I think she totally implied that it was a scam-- I hope OP apologizes when she talks to the photographer and works things out.

 

[piglet33]

Is anyone else wondering how he knew she posted this here? Seems kind of weird.

 

[disneygirl 17]

Well.... that was awkward.

 

[ptmmg]

Bryan thank you so much for coming out and explaining your side. I was in no way calling you a scam artist. I come this board daily and respect the opinions of the people who post here. I was just coming to ask what their thoughts were and to ask the what I should do next, hence title WWYD.
As for the emails I emailed you when I placed the order and my sister-in-law emailed you about my mother-in law going to the Island this fall seeing if we could set up an exchange at that time and nobody responded to the emails.

I would really love to get this resolved I was happy with the time you took with such a big group and the pictures.

 

[Acklander]

Is anyone else wondering how he knew she posted this here? Seems kind of weird.

She posted his web address, if anyone clicked on the link, he can see where the post came from.
I know with my website I pay extra to see how people find me, that way I can see if my advertising dollars are working.

 

[ptmmg]

ok I was wondering that to!

 

[pyrxtc]

Is anyone else wondering how he knew she posted this here? Seems kind of weird.

You can have an alert pop up if anyone links to your website or posts your name somewhere, the website thing works faster. It's not hard to do. This way you can stay on top of things in your life and not worry about being badmouthed and not know about it.

to the OP, I think you need to trust him and Western Union the money. he has done everything he has told you he would and now it is your turn to trust.

Brian, I don't think she meant any harm by what she said, she was just looking for advice on what to do. A lot of people have fallen for scams similar to this and she got nervous. I'm sure she will follow thru with her purchase and recommend you to others.

 

[disneymarie]

I do not see anything fishy about it yet?

You contracted for him to take pictures of your family for $300 ($100 of which would go towards the cost of the prints). Seems like so far he has done exactly that.

Yes he had trouble with the CC (for whatever reason...) but he made other arrangements with you (cash) and he held up his end of the bargin. He took the pictures, and put them on his website within the week (as you say he indicated he would).

Why do you see this as a red flag? If he has done exactly as he said all along (responded to your initial questions, arrived at the appointed time, photographed you for the agreed upon amount, and then posted the pictures to the gallery in a timely manner) why are you suspicious of him?

Is there a cash exchange rate difference. When in Canada, using our credit card the best rate exchange to our advantage was used. So if one day it was better rate for US the card used that.

If cash is used and the rate is lower in Aruba, say .90 cents,by taking US cash he can make an extra 10%, may be all about the $$$$. not fraud in a way.

But, I do not know anything about their rates, and I know US rate is not as good as it was.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

If he plans on doing any buisness in the US, he really needs to check into either ExposureManager.com or Smugmug.com - both are high quality sites that he can post his picture to. The customers pay the website, they process the images and cut him a check for his commission!

Easy and takes the issue out of taking US credit cards.