Katie, sorry to hear this had happened to you. I will support you by not using weddingwire. I think if all FMers show Katie the same support by post it here, weddingwire will do something for Katie.
Katie,
I'm not sure if you are already aware of this, but there is a feature that allows you to respond to the negative critique and give your side of the story if you so wish.
davenfl wrote:
You have to make a serious decision if you think this is actually hurting your business in any real way. If so it is well worth $500-600 to go to an attorney and have them write a letter to both the client and weddingwire.com indicating that fraudulent and malicious information was both presented and published and that if the posting is not taken down you will be taking legal action for damages. I understand that while a lawsuit is incredibly expensive a lot of times the strong indication that you are going to file a lawsuit will get one of the parties motivated to cooperate....Show more →
Interesting info. I will continue to just use the free listing. Yikes. Wondering what the resolution has been ~3 months later.
@Katie: Sorry this had to happen to you. I am surprised you didn't send an invoice or a reminder as a matter of practice... I always send one (although sometimes I forget until like the week of the wedding) and on only one occasion did I have to collect the check when I arrived at the wedding. I will show up, but won't shoot anything without some payment... and I don't care who pays either I think that this reminder would've likely avoided this whole situation.
One (sort of) positive thing is it exposed this customer service problem with wedding wire.
I agree-- what a tough situation to be in and I hope it has made some positive progress for you in the past few months. For what it's worth here's a little peek into the system:
I actually spoke with a rep today about this very thing. To me, it seems their attitude is "bridezillas exhist" we know it, brides know it, there is even a whole show about it. If you want to, respond to this negative critique, but if you have 10 five star reviews and 1 three star review, overall you will still show up as a 5 star rated tog, upgrade your plan and that bad review will drop to the bottom of the list.
Wedding wire's goal is to make money. What they want you to do is pay 1k (in my area) to upgrade to a "featured" listing where you are guaranteed first page, a photo icon and all your bad reviews sink to the bottom and your 5 stars will rise to the top. They seem to not remove reviews unless the person who wrote it was never really a client of yours-- someone just causing trouble or a competitor, etc.
After chatting with them today, their model seems to be skewed to favor anyone who will pay them (of coarse), slightly towards corporate togs rather than independent/artisan types as they are able to get the funds/# of reviews with their many many clients and many many togs, though they do offer free coverage (good for the pocketbooks of us independents). The listing order rotates randomly for your region (be that good or bad). I jumped from page 4 to 9 to 6 when I checked my listing, randomly-- those 1k people stayed at the top everytime.
For what it's worth.
In the end word of mouth is the cheapest and best advertising IMO
Wow... that sucks. However, if they allow you to post a comment attached to her review, then that is probably a more reasonable avenue than canceling your account. Of course, this assumes that this service actually brings you some clients. If it doesn't, then you are probably right by canceling.
I know it sucks to have this lie posted about your business, but if you can respond to her statements (and do so well) then you might impress some potential clientele. I say this because I trust Newegg.com reviews to guide my tech purchases, but I understand that many people on there post some scathing reviews for products that just bound to have problems. It really impresses me when a company responds to a negative review on there and offers to further help the reviewer with their problem.
I know a tog that was asked by a potential client why they got a 4.9 and not a 5 on 1 category on 1 review - she did not book that event. Some people see anything other than 5 stars as negative territory.
katiedis wrote:
i am not one to sue typically. but, this is about as tempted as i've ever been.
A photographers reputation and resulting income can be fragile things easily ruined by slanderous remarks. If she falsely po-pooed you on a review site, you have no idea of the amount of crap she is spreading around in private.
Your rep has probably been damaged, prove it and seek compensation for those damages.
You could have avoide the whole thing by asking the father for the check. I am sure you would see him sometime in your travels during the wedding. He most likely given you the check right there or mailed you one quicker if he did not have one. What's the big bump to ask for the check the bride sent you over. No time to be shy.
Cal5050 wrote:
You could have avoide the whole thing by asking the father for the check. I am sure you would see him sometime in your travels during the wedding. He most likely given you the check right there or mailed you one quicker if he did not have one. What's the big bump to ask for the check the bride sent you over. No time to be shy.
In the OP's original post: "I explain to her that I am not ok with doing that for several reasons. I don't have a contract with the father-in-law...it is with her. I am plenty busy with stuff to do during a wedding day...I really didn't want to spend time tracking down her father-in-law and his checkbook. I said "don't worry about it, we can take care of this after the wedding. i don't like to discuss money on a wedding day...let's just leave it for after, ok?" I reiterated that I was fine with things...not to worry. If i'd been worried about payment, I would've asked about it myself earlier."
A lot of people prefer not to collect money on the day of.
form wrote:
I just got a Bride's Choice 2010 award from WeddingWire: Does this mean that they don't want me to cancel my account?
Literally 25 people on my FB have said this today.
"Hmmmm.... if we make up some award and email it to everyone, it'll make them more likely to link to us on their website."
Don't get me wrong. I tweeted it and FB'd it. But I don't think it means anything more than a clever approach to link-building. I'm always leery of prizes in contests I didn't enter.
I think that this reminder would've likely avoided this whole situation.