In December I hired a friend of a friend's photographer to shoot my wedding day. The photographer Robert Mannix who owns and operates MX2 Productions and 2Deep also is employeed by A What's Happenin Productions. I went to his place of employment on two seperate occasions to speak with him and pay in full for the service of wedding photography.
Mr. Mannix did give us a price of 600.00 as a friendly gesture and assured us he would take the same quality photographs as he had shown on his old website and that of which he delivered to our mutual friends. We did not ask for the discounted price nor did we expect such a discount. We were to receive all of the negatives and our pictures and a video (which we asked him to just set up the video camera on a tripod and do a still video. He showed up with a videographer, a female photographer and allowed them to do all the formal shots.
After the wedding he promised (again without our requesting) to put the pictures on the MX2 Production website where we could view them in one week. After we viewed the 170 pictures we realized they were of extremely poor quality and the female photographer was in alot of them. There were no formal shots and there were duplicates of the majority of the pictures.
After being lied to (Mr. Mannix told us originally that the "good" pics would go up after a couple of days and then later told us he didn't put them on because there was no room) he finally told us that those were it and it was because the female photographer Brenna Bardwell had actually destroyed the film, so there were no more. It was because she was incompetent and negligent. He stated he would take digital pics and try to fix them but any photographer that has seen them since has stated they cannot add people into the pictures and really how do you remove the photographers rearend anyway from the formal pictures?
We took Rob Mannix to court. Upon our arrival the judge questioned the fact that he crossed off A what's Happenin Productions letterhead and wrote his company's name on it because he didn't have a contract in his name yet for his company. The judge ordered us to change the lawsuit to sue A What's Happenin Production instead.
Prior to this we had already filed a BBB report against that company and the owner of A What's Happenin Production responded that he he nor his company had anything to do with us and our contract and that Mr. Mannix did this deal using his company, and therefore could not be held responsible. However the day we went to court the owner of A What's Happenin Production testified under oath that I had came into his business and sat down with him to draw up a contract for Mr. Mannix's service and that I went threw their books and reviewd their work.
I went their on two occassions, the first visit I spoke to a clerk (not the man in court) and I said I was there to drop off a deposit for the service of Rob Mannix under his company name (the clerk took my credit card and charged 50$ and then wrote a receipt stating "2deep" and crossed out A what's Happenin Production) and I left... Never speaking to Mannix because he was not there. The second time My husband went in and dropped of a second payment and was there all of 3 minutes because I was waiting in the car with our two kids... He paid the balance in full.
We have yet to hear from Brenna Bardwell to hear her story nor have we heard from the judge about a decision on this case (which according to their small claims booklet states a decision will be rendered in 30 days and it has been since July 12 since court.) It seemed odd to us that the owner of the company would deny having anything to do with us in a letter to the BBB and then show up to court to defend a photographer that went against everything this man supposedly had avoided for the so many years he had been in business.
There were also statements that the pictures were of photojournalistic quality and thats why the quality was not what we expected (Rob Mannix's Company advertises this if you want it) and a What's Happenin production does not advertise this type of photography. They both testified that their mistakes were digitally enhanced not pictures they messed up and tried to fix.
They have a so-called digitally enhanced pic of me and my wedding party (which includes minors) hanging in their business on the wall for advertisement for their company (again they denied having anything to do with this photographer's work to the BBB). If you look at the picture that they had no permission to use in the first place you will see the blurrred images and the bodies that were cut out because the photographer's obvious inability to set people up for a large group shot, which as any professional would know that you would have to pose differently to fit them in.
Our wedding album was a 3dollar special... It had a picture of a yellowed wedding cake on the front (our cake was white with purple flowers) and the first three pics when opened up were of the same sister of mine in the same pose with the same expression, there were nothing but 20 or so pages of nothing but blurred, red-eyed, half missing people and or bodyparts, photographers rearend in the formal shots, some of the bridal party was either in the "dark" in the pics or they were cut out completely. Not one pic of my husband and myself together, nor of him and his parents, there were pictures that I and the rest of the bridal party posed for and the guests posed for and they were missing from the album.
Basically Rob Mannix can't take a decent picture to save his life and blames his mistakes on others. If Miss Bardwell cares that her name has been put on these poor pictures then I would have expected her to come forward and tell what really went on. He doesn't care that he ruined a once in a lifetime event for a couple and he has since sent e-mails stating he normally wouldn't get out of bed for a 600.00 job, a price that he set. He claims that because we only paid 600.00 for the pics that we got what we deserved, although he states he gave us a 3,000 package.
He also has poked fun at the pants I wore into court in a response to an email one of my guests to the wedding sent after viewing the pics online. (which I would think he doesn't have the right to do since A What's Happenin Production claimed they are the ones I did business with) So really which word should we go buy that of the A What's Happenin Production owner who denied to the BBB having anything to do with this whole case or that of the A What's Happenin owner who showed up proudly in court to testify on behalf of a crappy amateaur photographer who thinks that because I only paid 600.$, that I didn't deserve better quality. I would have been happy I paid that amount if I could say at least I have one good picture of my husband and I with our bridal party and we can actually see everyone in the pic clearly... A What's Happenin Production supported a man s who makes comments like " tell (the customers we would have referred) to keep their 600.00.. They should use that for more important things like rent.in my opinion its people like you who are the downfall of our society and due to the fact that you will never amount to anything in your life you need to do all you can to get hand outs from real men"
What Mr. Mannix failed to realize was this was not my husband he was speaking to, as he so thought by his last statements "Let your wife know I liked her pants in court..." in fact it was my brother who happens to be a very successful individual in the US Navy, in Mannix could read and comprehend he would have known that by where the email originated from. So now we see what Mr. Mannix is truly like and how he truly feels about potential customers who can only pay 600.$ I suppose the company that so happily defended his dishonesty and lack of care for someones memories should too put up a sign stating we only will treat you right and care for your purchase if you pay above the outrageous prices we already charge for shoddy work that we provide and claim to be "great"
*Remember Mannix set the price. We didn't ask for it and we didn't expect it so if he doesn't normally get out of bed for 600.00 then why did he jump so quick at our money! By the way for someone who claims I am the downfall of society he sure looked stupid accepting work for such an amount if he claims he was worth so much more... I am sure we will see just how others feel about A What's Happenin Production and there star photographer does when I paste the pictures on my new Ford Escape and do a little advertising for them, I think i will say something like..." A What's Happenin Production took My wedding Pictures and Rob Mannix and Brenna Bardwell were their photographers who came to the wedding to take them! Or maybe the ones where they are actually seen in my pictures I will advertise their names that way! See You On Western Ave!!!
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