I have been scammed by celebration studios
I have been scammed by Celebration Studios once located in Montclair NJ with Design Center in Clifton NJ. I CAN'T believe the amount of others. This is a total shame and I dont know whether to laugh or cry at this point. My wedding was 11/11/06 with the church in Bayonne NJ and reception to follow in Secaucus NJ. I contracted with Karen Towerson at the Montclair
Celebration Studios location at least a year before my wedding date. I was promised the world on a string. I was also told that if I was interested in both photography and ideography I would get a percentage off the total, but would have to leave a credit card number on file for billing purposes.
So that is what I did and was billed accordingly. I was also told that Celebration Studios would have to be paid in full before wedding album process could begin. Fine with me at that time. So my wedding day came. My photographer was Michele Rednavley and my videographer was Jeff.
I do not know his last name. Does anyone have any information on him? Well within a few weeks after the wedding my proofs were up on Collage.net and that was fine. I also received the physical proofs in good timing.
After selecting proofs, along with parent album proofs, I had an appointment in April 07 at the Design Studio in Clifton. My Design Studio contact was Alisa Diaz. We had an appointment in April and went through the Album Design and pictures for albums as well as Thank You cards, 8x10s, 5x7s, 16x20etc. She told me that the albums would take about 6 months to produce, but before she did anything with the Wedding Album she would email me the layout so I can correct anything I did not like. The little things as Thank You cards, 8x10s and 5x7s were complete in a fair amount of time. The first 16x20 was a disaster (fuzzy and blurry) I sent an email about how I was unhappy that it even left the studio that way and I was sent back an email apologizing and that I would received a new one.
To be honest with you. The second one is better than the first. BUT not 100%. Nothing like the pictures hanging on the studio walls which I made clear to my representatives at Celebration. I made sure that it was known that I was not very happy with it. I moved on. So the months went on and on and on and on and emails were sent and sent and sent, and emails were answered. Not answered the way I would have liked, but none the less they were answered.
I kept making excuses in my head for Celebration Studios lack of work ethic and timelines. From June 7 to August 14 there were 8 emails back and forth from myself to Alisa. After August 14th the next email was October 18th with me requesting updates on the album process.
The email reply: We have been running behind but have just hired some help which will free me up. I'm working on it! Came from Alisa on October 18th.
I let her know to take her time because I have not even started anything for my video yet. Maybe I should have not said that because when I emailed her to check yet again in December. MAILER-DAEMON got me! So in between my emails to Alisa I would keep in contact with Karen (My contact for contract signing) and within a few hours I would usually receive a reply from her. After my MAILER-DEAMON issue I decided to email Karen to find out what was going on. Well. Karen never responded which I found quite odd considering that she was always quick on the response. Needless to say the website changed and so did my opinion of the company. Feeling like I was getting slammed I emailed daily and would send copies to anyones email address I could find from Celebration Studios figuring that SOMEONE has to still have a pulse around there. Well on January 7th I received an email not from Karen, not from Alisa, but from someone by the name of Marie.
Marie mentioned that Yes, our website has changed and so has our design process. I will make sure that your photos are in process of being uploaded to Pictage. You will receive an email with a link and logon information as soon as your photos are available. Then, we can move forward from there. Signed with regards. January 7.
OK so this was something that was supposed to be going on all of these months in waiting. So I email back questioning what was being done in all of this time.
And Marie mentioned Your parent albums are at our old manufacturer, with whom we are experiencing tremendous delays. Alisa is no longer working with Celebration Studios, and it does not seem that she had done any work on your album.
So, the next step from here would be to get your photos on Pictage and get an initial bridal album layout. As stated in my last email, I will make sure that is in process. Since your pictures are already going to Pictage, we should probably reorder your parent albums through them. They are the same quality and product. We still have all your album design information, so do not worry. So, just shoot me an email as soon as you can view your photos online, and we can go from there. Signed with Best. January 8
If I did not see the red flag by now. I finally saw the LIGHT on January 8th after that email. Well I was patient NO longer and my emails were becoming vicious, just like my attitude toward Celebration Studios. So emailing like the madwoman that I have become I am still not getting any reply. Not from Karen, not from Victor and after I tried emailing Marie back this morning Not from Marie either. I was MAILER-DEAMON again. Marie is GONE!
After losing my mind for a minute I decided to Google Celebration Studios and that is where I lost it totally. Websites of brides just like me I thought I was having a dream. Truth be told Celebration Studios not only had me but so many others. All of the internet stories were the same. So many products never produced by the company since 2005 and everyone thought they were alone playing the waiting game for their final products.
I was not alone and since then it has been all over Channel 4 news that Celebration Studios closed its doors leaving brides (like myself) without wedding memories. They took all of our money and ran, but still have OUR product. I was robbed of my wedding day memories all I have left physically are non album worthy proofs. There is a lawyer involved on their side who claims that the company is going bankrupt. I dont care if they are bankrupt or filthy rich with all of our money. I just want my proofs they have and my un-edited wedding video. I am at wits end and need closure and MY product that I paid for in full that was stolen from me. I will gladly get involved with all class action suits against Celebration Studios. This is no longer a Celebration. PLEASE HELP! I can be reached at email address below.
Unhappy Bride ~
Trisha
Wedding Date 11/11/06
Email Address: (ROR removed for security purposes)
P.S. I have a copy of all the emails that were mentioned above.
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