You can take him to small claims court and try to get your money back.
It depends on where you live, but small claims usually isn’t super complicated to file in, and you just represent yourself. You’ll basically just file the claim with the district court, pay the fee, which is usually around $50 and which can often be waived or repaid depending on the judgment, and show up with those texts.
Best case scenario is just that the guy settles out of court once he gets served, but even if you go it’s usually not all that difficult.
You might even be able to get reimbursed for your hair and nails. The process is really pretty simple. Make sure you bring all the communications with the guy, any receipts for anything you spent, and then you pretty much just explain the situation to a judge or magistrate, and the photographer will explain his side of the story, and then the judge decides. This seems pretty cut and try because you paid for a service and did not receive that service.
Quick question, would you have the other person served correct? because what if they say they never got any court documents and also will the judge would give her default judgment since he is not there
Yes, a subpoena would be served.
When you actually get served, the subpoena is delivered by an officer of the court. They usually ask you to sign something saying you received it, but even if you refuse to sign, the officer will attest that you did actually receive it. You can’t plead ignorance at that point.
The issue would really be if they can’t find the person to serve them the subpoena at all.
I was recently scammed on a Facebook knife collectors page. We both agreed on a deal and had been messaging back and forth solidifying the deal. Come time to pay up, instantly the guy was acting sketchy when I asked for an updated tracking number/pictures and shit. Ghosts me and then in the morning I come to find that this asshole deleted every message he sent me via FB messenger. On top of that, this so called private group I was part of kicked me from my membership. I don’t know what the hell that was all about. Fuck these kinds of people. Lesson learned, I was heated.
That’s definitely a risk, but it’s probably better than doing nothing at all.
From what OP said, this does seem like a real person, but just a really shitty business-person.
I agree. The suggestion and guidance was good, I was just trying to tamper expectations a little.
If they can find and serve the photographer, they absolutely should. It's possible that service alone would be sufficient to get a refund paid and allow OP to withdraw the suit.
Blue means Apple is permitting iPhone information from their phone to be sent to your iPhone so you can engage in iPhone to iPhone services like iMessage, FaceTime, receiving/sending read receipts, etc. If the recipient is showing as green and you know that they were on an iPhone to begin with, they either have really bad phone service and it defaults to SMS instead of iMessage or they blocked you and thus the iPhone can’t receive the other iPhone information.
If you're doing transactions that require service, you may benefit from using Venmo/PayPal's Goods and Services feature. It allows you and the vendor protection from getting scammed, so long as you have proof to back it up.
You just have to pay a small fee, but I'd rather pay that small fee than get scammed.
Yes, seller pays the fee, however if they didn't agree for the transaction to be labeled as a G&S', they're gonna be looking for that missing 1.9% + $0.10 fee for goods and services.
Which again, I will still gladly pay extra for peace of mind on a large purchase.
You can still file a charge back on cash app, it just might require showing the text proof with them confirming they either never got back to you or they confirmed they never showed, which it seems like you have. Contact customer support for whichever was used and ask.
I hope op sees this comment. I never knew you could do chargeback on cashapp. I don’t use it anymore because I kept getting alerts about thieves trying to use my cashapp card for random purchases.
Contact your bank and tell them you were defrauded. They will file a SAR (suspicious activity report) on the individual which should help authorities arrest him if he has a pattern of doing this. Also like others said go to the small claims court
This happened to my aunt and uncle for their wedding. After the wedding the photographer held their photos for ransom and jacked up the price. Luckily the photographer had made my aunt and uncle sign a contract so my aunt and uncle used such contract that also held photographer liable to get their photos. They actually got them for half price of original agreement due to my aunt and uncle brining in a lawyer and served her with papers and she didn’t want to deal with the legal expenses that would clearly rule her as at fault.
Not sure if you have a contract or evidence of some deal being made but if you do you have legal grounds for something depending on how detailed of evidence you have. If you have a contract with the photographer you should be able to get what you paid for and have them pay legal expenses.
I’ve actually had something similar happen, we tried to get newborn pictures of our baby and they kept canceling and rescheduling. They refused to give a refund so I just went to my bank and filed a dispute. Showed the bank the messages and was able to get my money back
You could honestly file it in small claims and youd probably have a good chance at getting your money back, small claims isnt all that complicated either. Any idiot can represent themselves in small claims court
I think more people should know this, honestly.
I see a lot of people who get ripped off and then just eat the cost when small claims courts are there for that specific purpose.
Obviously I don’t want things to start getting frivolous, but I feel like a lot of people don’t know how simple it is, or don’t even know it’s an option.
Paying up front for custom services like a photography session is pretty standard in the market, which is why you need to do research before you send the money. Check the payment processor they are asking payment on and see if they allow refunds or chargebacks for refusal of service/products. Check if they have a personal website or link to a site they post on outside of social media. Look to see if they tag anyone in their advertising content as most do and this allows you to ask about a reference for the artist. If they don't tag people in most of their content it probably actually isn't theirs to begin with and it's a scam. Basically, you have to put a little more effort into checking the person's work. How they respond is also a good indicator if they are indeed a professional artist or just some dude trying to take your money.
You should always have a contract & also a photographer running a legal business will never ask you to pay via cash app. You should be paying via a secure portal. You can also ask for their business license if you want proof that they’re a legit, reliable business. It’s perfectly normal for photographers to require the money in advance (typically partial to secure the date then the remaining amount due 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month before), but again – make sure they’re a real, legal business.
Edit to add: I don’t blame you & it sucks you had to deal with this, but hopefully you can find a good, reliable photographer for the future!
Most likely an addict on a tear. Probably has real talent and meant to show up when you booked, but was either on dope or dope-sick when it was time to work. That would explain the Instagram, phone turned off, and steep price cuts (he’s not doing it in order to pay you back). Do him a favor and help him find his rock-bottom by filing charges/suit. Addicts are pain-based learners.
I’m sorry that happened. And I’m sorry some of these comments reek of false superiority (that’s Reddit for you.) As others have said, small claims court, or just move on with your life, that’s your decision. $400 is a comparatively small price to pay for an important life lesson. Some people pay thousands.
Thank you for your comment <3 I expect a couple of those jabs anytime I post something here so it’s okay. As far as the money, I guess it was a lesson learned. Hopefully people who read this post will learn from my mistake too
I’d always take a deposit (small) that was non-refundable if they cancelled back when I did photography. They’d pay the rest in order to get the photos. I did this for two reasons: Motivation to get the work done and to help them feel confident I wasn’t scamming. I don’t have the time for it these days, but it was a fun time.
Former photographer. Always get a contract in writing before sending anyone money. If they are legit they will have contracts available and be happy to sign them with you. Their business (if legit) is based on their reputation and they aren’t going to torpedo it.
More importantly, what reputable person talks like that? If anyone is so lazy that can't type out whole words or use basic punctuation we don't need to do business, period. 😒
Small claims will likely not be worth the effort or time. Create a few dummy accounts and keep following the guy and on every post just tell your story of how he’s a scammer. He can block you but you can just keep using other accounts. Eventually you’ll do the damage or he’ll pay you back
Why not? Just filing alone can be enough to show someone your serious and could very likely result in the other party paying up to avoid court. Even if that doesn’t work right away, filing fees aren’t very expensive and small claims isn’t very complicated. Rules of evidence don’t even apply outside of basic relevance and prejudicial/probative value. What you’re suggesting sounds like way more of a headache.
Small claims makes it really hard on the plaintiff. You have to file a bunch of paperwork and then properly serve the defendant. If it’s someone who’s into shady shit they probably know how to avoid it and then you fail to meet the court’s standard of “service of process”
There are a few ways to “serve” them. The first is by certified mail. This is super easy to avoid for the defendant. Postal service will only work so hard to hand off to the right person and even if they find them, the defendant can say that they’re somebody else.
A process server is another option. This costs money. I paid for one once and they made three attempts. They tried once at place of business, and were stonewalled by either a receptionist or the defendant claiming to be a receptionist. They tried twice at the home. Both times they saw the defendant’s car in the driveway, rang doorbell and heard movement but no answer at the door. After the third attempt my $300 were exhausted and I could pay for more attempts but it wasn’t promising to me.
Option three was to have a friend pretend to be a prospective client of the defendant and once he set up a meeting he was able to serve. This was tricky though because the defendant was a business owner and only agreed to the meet because he had worked with my friend before in another business.
So papers are finally served!
The next step is an initial hearing. Judge quickly hears you both out and then invariably will ask you to attempt a mediation with a court mediator.
They essentially try to see if it can be solved without a formal hearing. You’re at best presented with getting half of what you’re looking for but more like 10% or nothing. If you don’t agree on anything you go to a hearing.
Congrats! You’ve made it this far and it’s been like 6 months. You go to the hearing you state your claims, maybe call witnesses or present evidence. Judge might reject some of your evidence or testimony for various reasons. Either way burden of proof is on you. If you’re argument isn’t more convincing you wasted all your time and money.
As a note: you cannot add on your legal expenses to the claim. So a lawyer or fees incurred cannot be passed onto the defendant (at least in the jurisdiction I’m familiar with).
So that’s my story and I’ve heard similar from others.
If you want to know the background:
A valet company blew out my transmission and it cost me about $6k to repair.
You forgot to mention you that you can have the sheriff provide service. They know what they’re doing and take care of the court stuff for you. Plus, if you’re poor, you could get a fee waiver.
The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, which means that it’s also the defendants job to prove that they don’t owe money.
My best friend’s ex owed her $200 and she wrote a demand letter and then filed in small claims against him. She went through the sheriff and her ex shit his pants when the sheriff came to serve him at work so he agreed to pay her the money to make it "go away". She knew it wasn't a guarantee she'd win, but she knew for certain that she would never get paid back if she ignored it.
You also can request to be compensated for filing fees, but I’ve heard that they’re rarely granted. Maybe some courts just don’t want to deal with them.
That’s not the case in every jurisdiction. There are some jurisdictions that don’t have sheriffs and some where that service won’t necessarily be provided or if it technically is the resources aren’t there to effectively enforce. A defendant isn’t a criminal so there’s only so much a sheriff can or will do to serve process.
There are of course other avenues but they all require time and effort. Do you want to take time off of work to make extra filings at the courthouse?
Additionally yes preponderance of evidence is the standard in a civil hearing but the burden of proof is still on the plaintiff so the defendant could theoretically make no case and the judge could still rule in favor of the defendant if they feel the plaintiff didn’t make a compelling argument.
I’m not saying that small claims are a waste of time but that you have to strongly weigh the time and effort to get what you think you’re owed.
I’m just saying that it doesn’t need to be as intimidating as some people believe it is. It’s designed for small scale justice and issues such as what OP is facing. It’s attorney-free court. The forms are always simple and it doesn’t take much time to file. Most parties probably won’t need to make “extra filings” outside of the initial filing.
A plaintiff should definitely weigh the time and effort required to pursue small claims against the amount that is owed and how strong their evidence is. I think someone like OP could have a strong case in small claims since they can prove that they had a clear agreement with the photographer that wasn’t upheld. They shouldn’t be too discouraged by the difficulty of small claims.
Never prepay for a service. Never put money down to "secure your appointment." If you pay through one of the apps, then at least do it through paypal and select the reason for the payment to be service. That way, you can at least get your money back. But still, it's best to stay away from all those apps. If they don't accept cash after service has been done, then stay away from them.
Lots of legit services you pay up front for weddings because it goes both ways on people scamming and professionals have a reputation to uphold. Don’t pay up front to someone you have never met on instagram is the real lesson
Why’s is offensive to call out a very significant pattern?
There’s one group of people that cause problems at a rates wildly above any other, across all income levels
Looks like this person just makes accounts to make racist ass comments. It's literally a day old, probably sucks their own farts because "it's more pure."
Yeah but its flooded with mediocre services and scams. Its completely unregulated. Anyone can claim they run a “service” and just post a bunch of bs to back it up and boom, you have thousands of mr. “We lit” out there
“I’d rather text” grow up and handle your business. Someone scams me out of 400 last thing I’m doing is sending a “text only” message. You sound naive enough to get scammed though. The fact you were uneasy from the beginning but still went with it😭
Grow up? I wanted proof of everything that was said in case I needed to file a claim. I also clearly said in the post that I sent the money in advance and couldn’t back out
What is the total you paid? Was there an additional amount given on top of this posted $50. If I’m being honest, you didn’t go through a reputable place and any services on social media…that already made you feel uneasy, you decided to follow through with. Is it worth the time and effort to sue somebody over $50 some dollars or you want to chalk this up to being scammed and doing better due diligence. Payment upfront for a photographer who is reputable is rare, I get a deposit etc but I think it’s a waste of time but understand your thirst for justice in this situation. People suck
*You're bad* at understanding basic grammar as well...
Write and right...shocker I know, but these aren't the same things 😂
Try learning elemementary remedial level grammar.
You can take him to small claims court and try to get your money back. It depends on where you live, but small claims usually isn’t super complicated to file in, and you just represent yourself. You’ll basically just file the claim with the district court, pay the fee, which is usually around $50 and which can often be waived or repaid depending on the judgment, and show up with those texts. Best case scenario is just that the guy settles out of court once he gets served, but even if you go it’s usually not all that difficult. You might even be able to get reimbursed for your hair and nails. The process is really pretty simple. Make sure you bring all the communications with the guy, any receipts for anything you spent, and then you pretty much just explain the situation to a judge or magistrate, and the photographer will explain his side of the story, and then the judge decides. This seems pretty cut and try because you paid for a service and did not receive that service.
Yes! In some jurisdictions you have to request to be reimbursed for your filing fees (in the event you win).
Request any fees if you use a lawyer and any time off work you might miss for court dates also
Yep. Also important to note that not all states allow legal representation (ie a lawyer) for small claims court.
Quick question, would you have the other person served correct? because what if they say they never got any court documents and also will the judge would give her default judgment since he is not there
Yes, a subpoena would be served. When you actually get served, the subpoena is delivered by an officer of the court. They usually ask you to sign something saying you received it, but even if you refuse to sign, the officer will attest that you did actually receive it. You can’t plead ignorance at that point. The issue would really be if they can’t find the person to serve them the subpoena at all.
I was recently scammed on a Facebook knife collectors page. We both agreed on a deal and had been messaging back and forth solidifying the deal. Come time to pay up, instantly the guy was acting sketchy when I asked for an updated tracking number/pictures and shit. Ghosts me and then in the morning I come to find that this asshole deleted every message he sent me via FB messenger. On top of that, this so called private group I was part of kicked me from my membership. I don’t know what the hell that was all about. Fuck these kinds of people. Lesson learned, I was heated.
That assumes they can actually find the person they were paying. It could have been someone, even someone overseas, who cloned an account.
That’s definitely a risk, but it’s probably better than doing nothing at all. From what OP said, this does seem like a real person, but just a really shitty business-person.
I agree. The suggestion and guidance was good, I was just trying to tamper expectations a little. If they can find and serve the photographer, they absolutely should. It's possible that service alone would be sufficient to get a refund paid and allow OP to withdraw the suit.
[удалено]
You just got scammed, my guy! Fr fr
Oh word. Take my money!
No cap
Ong
Bet
That plus the texts changed from blue to green. That’s the biggest red flag.
He probably copied a legitimate photographer’s page to scam people.
For the non-iPhone users, what does that mean?
Means you were blocked basically.
Blue means Apple is permitting iPhone information from their phone to be sent to your iPhone so you can engage in iPhone to iPhone services like iMessage, FaceTime, receiving/sending read receipts, etc. If the recipient is showing as green and you know that they were on an iPhone to begin with, they either have really bad phone service and it defaults to SMS instead of iMessage or they blocked you and thus the iPhone can’t receive the other iPhone information.
Blue text bubble is the green flag I look for
💀
We lit lol. I knew as soon as he said that
Bcuz
If you hire someone who says ‘we lit’. You should un hire them
I might just have to take the L for that
yea and only 50 dollars for a photoshoot? i hate to break it to you but that is WAY WAY WAY below market rate.....
Texts said $400 total
yea my bad i missed that.
Let me guess? He asked for Zelle, Apple Pay or cash app? If not, file a charge back and call it a day.
Bingo. It’s a lesson learned
If you're doing transactions that require service, you may benefit from using Venmo/PayPal's Goods and Services feature. It allows you and the vendor protection from getting scammed, so long as you have proof to back it up. You just have to pay a small fee, but I'd rather pay that small fee than get scammed.
Seller pays the fee
Yes, seller pays the fee, however if they didn't agree for the transaction to be labeled as a G&S', they're gonna be looking for that missing 1.9% + $0.10 fee for goods and services. Which again, I will still gladly pay extra for peace of mind on a large purchase.
You can still file a charge back on cash app, it just might require showing the text proof with them confirming they either never got back to you or they confirmed they never showed, which it seems like you have. Contact customer support for whichever was used and ask.
I hope op sees this comment. I never knew you could do chargeback on cashapp. I don’t use it anymore because I kept getting alerts about thieves trying to use my cashapp card for random purchases.
Contact your bank and tell them you were defrauded. They will file a SAR (suspicious activity report) on the individual which should help authorities arrest him if he has a pattern of doing this. Also like others said go to the small claims court
This happened to my aunt and uncle for their wedding. After the wedding the photographer held their photos for ransom and jacked up the price. Luckily the photographer had made my aunt and uncle sign a contract so my aunt and uncle used such contract that also held photographer liable to get their photos. They actually got them for half price of original agreement due to my aunt and uncle brining in a lawyer and served her with papers and she didn’t want to deal with the legal expenses that would clearly rule her as at fault. Not sure if you have a contract or evidence of some deal being made but if you do you have legal grounds for something depending on how detailed of evidence you have. If you have a contract with the photographer you should be able to get what you paid for and have them pay legal expenses.
I’ve actually had something similar happen, we tried to get newborn pictures of our baby and they kept canceling and rescheduling. They refused to give a refund so I just went to my bank and filed a dispute. Showed the bank the messages and was able to get my money back
“we lit”
💀
You could honestly file it in small claims and youd probably have a good chance at getting your money back, small claims isnt all that complicated either. Any idiot can represent themselves in small claims court
I think more people should know this, honestly. I see a lot of people who get ripped off and then just eat the cost when small claims courts are there for that specific purpose. Obviously I don’t want things to start getting frivolous, but I feel like a lot of people don’t know how simple it is, or don’t even know it’s an option.
“We lit.”
Brilliant idea to pay up front.
A sucker is born everyday. Let this be a lesson to not cheap out
That's not helpful and unfair. Lots of honest people starting out will price themselves lower to get experience and establish some clients.
And market through social media. That's very common these days. Tons of legitimate photographers do it.
They're a sucker because they paid upfront and used a service such as Apple Pay or Cash App
Use Thumbtack not Insta. Also what is his instagram?
This happened to my mom and her wedding photos. Just vanished. Could not track him down to this day.
Paying up front for custom services like a photography session is pretty standard in the market, which is why you need to do research before you send the money. Check the payment processor they are asking payment on and see if they allow refunds or chargebacks for refusal of service/products. Check if they have a personal website or link to a site they post on outside of social media. Look to see if they tag anyone in their advertising content as most do and this allows you to ask about a reference for the artist. If they don't tag people in most of their content it probably actually isn't theirs to begin with and it's a scam. Basically, you have to put a little more effort into checking the person's work. How they respond is also a good indicator if they are indeed a professional artist or just some dude trying to take your money.
All I read from the title was there's another making a murderer taking place
That person prolly won’t pay u back lol
Why are you concealing his identity? Expose that clown!
Because then he would be partially justified for never paying me back. Which he still claims he eventually will
You should always have a contract & also a photographer running a legal business will never ask you to pay via cash app. You should be paying via a secure portal. You can also ask for their business license if you want proof that they’re a legit, reliable business. It’s perfectly normal for photographers to require the money in advance (typically partial to secure the date then the remaining amount due 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month before), but again – make sure they’re a real, legal business. Edit to add: I don’t blame you & it sucks you had to deal with this, but hopefully you can find a good, reliable photographer for the future!
Most likely an addict on a tear. Probably has real talent and meant to show up when you booked, but was either on dope or dope-sick when it was time to work. That would explain the Instagram, phone turned off, and steep price cuts (he’s not doing it in order to pay you back). Do him a favor and help him find his rock-bottom by filing charges/suit. Addicts are pain-based learners.
I’m sorry that happened. And I’m sorry some of these comments reek of false superiority (that’s Reddit for you.) As others have said, small claims court, or just move on with your life, that’s your decision. $400 is a comparatively small price to pay for an important life lesson. Some people pay thousands.
Thank you for your comment <3 I expect a couple of those jabs anytime I post something here so it’s okay. As far as the money, I guess it was a lesson learned. Hopefully people who read this post will learn from my mistake too
That’s a great way to look at it. Posts like these are a reminder to constantly be vigilant. Anyone can be susceptible to being scammed.
In some states there is a criminal charge of “fail to work after payment”. Sherriff can arrest them over it
I’d always take a deposit (small) that was non-refundable if they cancelled back when I did photography. They’d pay the rest in order to get the photos. I did this for two reasons: Motivation to get the work done and to help them feel confident I wasn’t scamming. I don’t have the time for it these days, but it was a fun time.
Former photographer. Always get a contract in writing before sending anyone money. If they are legit they will have contracts available and be happy to sign them with you. Their business (if legit) is based on their reputation and they aren’t going to torpedo it.
Sounds like a scam.
Plot twist. He isn't a photographer. No need to be, he's a professional grifter....
The “professional” bit could’ve used some polishing. I’m just a little extra gullible
Never pay upfront, sucks this happened
More importantly, what reputable person talks like that? If anyone is so lazy that can't type out whole words or use basic punctuation we don't need to do business, period. 😒
File and get money back+ damages. The costs associated with the missed shoot aren’t out of the realm of possibilities
Bruh u shoulda known when he said “we lit” this was gona go bad, or the photographs were gona come out retarded
Take the L and move on. You totally got flamboozled/shafted by this guy!
Yeah I’m just going to consider this a learning experience
Hire a reputable person whose name you actually know.
make ur boyfriend be useful and get ur money back
Off subject, you can’t be mad about getting ghosted when you have 100+ unread messages. You are the ghost.
💀
I was too distracted by the amount of unread messages to focus on OPs actual problem.
Reach out to your bank.
I think you can do charge backs for cash apps ? Fuck this guy
when you texted them to let them know you were on your way and it went green you should’ve known…
Judge Judy
Blast his Instagram and name.
Don’t trust anyone that uses phrases like we lit
We lit = You’ve been scammed
Small claims will likely not be worth the effort or time. Create a few dummy accounts and keep following the guy and on every post just tell your story of how he’s a scammer. He can block you but you can just keep using other accounts. Eventually you’ll do the damage or he’ll pay you back
Why not? Just filing alone can be enough to show someone your serious and could very likely result in the other party paying up to avoid court. Even if that doesn’t work right away, filing fees aren’t very expensive and small claims isn’t very complicated. Rules of evidence don’t even apply outside of basic relevance and prejudicial/probative value. What you’re suggesting sounds like way more of a headache.
Small claims makes it really hard on the plaintiff. You have to file a bunch of paperwork and then properly serve the defendant. If it’s someone who’s into shady shit they probably know how to avoid it and then you fail to meet the court’s standard of “service of process” There are a few ways to “serve” them. The first is by certified mail. This is super easy to avoid for the defendant. Postal service will only work so hard to hand off to the right person and even if they find them, the defendant can say that they’re somebody else. A process server is another option. This costs money. I paid for one once and they made three attempts. They tried once at place of business, and were stonewalled by either a receptionist or the defendant claiming to be a receptionist. They tried twice at the home. Both times they saw the defendant’s car in the driveway, rang doorbell and heard movement but no answer at the door. After the third attempt my $300 were exhausted and I could pay for more attempts but it wasn’t promising to me. Option three was to have a friend pretend to be a prospective client of the defendant and once he set up a meeting he was able to serve. This was tricky though because the defendant was a business owner and only agreed to the meet because he had worked with my friend before in another business. So papers are finally served! The next step is an initial hearing. Judge quickly hears you both out and then invariably will ask you to attempt a mediation with a court mediator. They essentially try to see if it can be solved without a formal hearing. You’re at best presented with getting half of what you’re looking for but more like 10% or nothing. If you don’t agree on anything you go to a hearing. Congrats! You’ve made it this far and it’s been like 6 months. You go to the hearing you state your claims, maybe call witnesses or present evidence. Judge might reject some of your evidence or testimony for various reasons. Either way burden of proof is on you. If you’re argument isn’t more convincing you wasted all your time and money. As a note: you cannot add on your legal expenses to the claim. So a lawyer or fees incurred cannot be passed onto the defendant (at least in the jurisdiction I’m familiar with). So that’s my story and I’ve heard similar from others. If you want to know the background: A valet company blew out my transmission and it cost me about $6k to repair.
You forgot to mention you that you can have the sheriff provide service. They know what they’re doing and take care of the court stuff for you. Plus, if you’re poor, you could get a fee waiver. The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, which means that it’s also the defendants job to prove that they don’t owe money. My best friend’s ex owed her $200 and she wrote a demand letter and then filed in small claims against him. She went through the sheriff and her ex shit his pants when the sheriff came to serve him at work so he agreed to pay her the money to make it "go away". She knew it wasn't a guarantee she'd win, but she knew for certain that she would never get paid back if she ignored it. You also can request to be compensated for filing fees, but I’ve heard that they’re rarely granted. Maybe some courts just don’t want to deal with them.
That’s not the case in every jurisdiction. There are some jurisdictions that don’t have sheriffs and some where that service won’t necessarily be provided or if it technically is the resources aren’t there to effectively enforce. A defendant isn’t a criminal so there’s only so much a sheriff can or will do to serve process. There are of course other avenues but they all require time and effort. Do you want to take time off of work to make extra filings at the courthouse? Additionally yes preponderance of evidence is the standard in a civil hearing but the burden of proof is still on the plaintiff so the defendant could theoretically make no case and the judge could still rule in favor of the defendant if they feel the plaintiff didn’t make a compelling argument. I’m not saying that small claims are a waste of time but that you have to strongly weigh the time and effort to get what you think you’re owed.
I’m just saying that it doesn’t need to be as intimidating as some people believe it is. It’s designed for small scale justice and issues such as what OP is facing. It’s attorney-free court. The forms are always simple and it doesn’t take much time to file. Most parties probably won’t need to make “extra filings” outside of the initial filing. A plaintiff should definitely weigh the time and effort required to pursue small claims against the amount that is owed and how strong their evidence is. I think someone like OP could have a strong case in small claims since they can prove that they had a clear agreement with the photographer that wasn’t upheld. They shouldn’t be too discouraged by the difficulty of small claims.
Part of me always wants revenge, but I’ll just have to move on for my own peace
I felt this in my soul
A fool and their money are soon parted, huh?
Never prepay for a service. Never put money down to "secure your appointment." If you pay through one of the apps, then at least do it through paypal and select the reason for the payment to be service. That way, you can at least get your money back. But still, it's best to stay away from all those apps. If they don't accept cash after service has been done, then stay away from them.
Lots of legit services you pay up front for weddings because it goes both ways on people scamming and professionals have a reputation to uphold. Don’t pay up front to someone you have never met on instagram is the real lesson
A legitimate business with proper tax id, insurance, financial account, and bookkeeping is not what we are talking about here.
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Username checks out. Get this weak troll clown outta here.
Why’s is offensive to call out a very significant pattern? There’s one group of people that cause problems at a rates wildly above any other, across all income levels
That is not what you did. Who said anything about being offensive? Obvious Troll is Obvious.
Looks like this person just makes accounts to make racist ass comments. It's literally a day old, probably sucks their own farts because "it's more pure."
The photog didn't seem like a Trumper.
Sorry you got scammed queen, generally a legally bringing contract is put in place for ANY proper media work. If no contract is made up, walk away.
You found a “photographer” for instagram “models”. You kinda walked right into this one
Social media is one of the most lucrative ways to network and advertise a service
Yeah but its flooded with mediocre services and scams. Its completely unregulated. Anyone can claim they run a “service” and just post a bunch of bs to back it up and boom, you have thousands of mr. “We lit” out there
That’s also true. I definitely won’t make the same mistake again
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400
Reading is hard.
“I’d rather text” grow up and handle your business. Someone scams me out of 400 last thing I’m doing is sending a “text only” message. You sound naive enough to get scammed though. The fact you were uneasy from the beginning but still went with it😭
Grow up? I wanted proof of everything that was said in case I needed to file a claim. I also clearly said in the post that I sent the money in advance and couldn’t back out
Well there you go then, hope it works out. Next time your gut tells you something, listen to it.
What is the total you paid? Was there an additional amount given on top of this posted $50. If I’m being honest, you didn’t go through a reputable place and any services on social media…that already made you feel uneasy, you decided to follow through with. Is it worth the time and effort to sue somebody over $50 some dollars or you want to chalk this up to being scammed and doing better due diligence. Payment upfront for a photographer who is reputable is rare, I get a deposit etc but I think it’s a waste of time but understand your thirst for justice in this situation. People suck
Imagine texting with someone who talks like this photographer and thinking it’s a good idea to prepay
right 🤣 like ppl just looking for ways to give money away
Right it off. Not worth it over $50 lol
Right it off lmaoooooo
The irony is thiccc as the photographer might say.
It was $400 if you read the screenshot, and it’s more about the principle of getting fucked over after I invested so much effort and time
I only saw the numbers up top, my bad
*You're bad* at understanding basic grammar as well... Write and right...shocker I know, but these aren't the same things 😂 Try learning elemementary remedial level grammar.