So, this last week I was contacted by a client, who wanted to me shoot his family reunion and requested a quote. As San Diego Event Photographer, I am always eager to capture and preserve people’s memories for him or her. Little did I realize that I would need to remember to CYA.
As you know, you cannot just throw a number out there, without having an idea of what the client wants and expects. Now, I usually meet with the client for about an hour or so, to get to know them and what they should expect, from me and then compose the quote. The client, we will call him Matt just wanted a dollar amount for 5 hours and 5 16”x20” canvas prints. He had told me that the location was 30 to 45 minutes away me. I felt this odd that he knew my location, but never named a site location nor told me what why this event was special and this is where the warning signs popped up. Now, what I should have told you, this was all done via text, not by phone. When I did actually try to call Matt, his phone indicated that it did not accept incoming phone calls and for some reason, his cell phone was an area code 314 aka Missouri. When I brought this up, he said that he was deaf and that his cell phone only accepted texts.
The next topic was money, he was fine with the quote, I had given him and asked, if I accepted credit cards. I replied yes. Then things got a little interesting. Matt asked me, if I wouldn’t mind he if put $1,480 to his cost, for the event planner, $80 for me for my trouble, and an additional 3% for credit card processing. I felt this was a tad strange that an event planner did not accept credit cards. I would think that was par for the course; especially since not that many people write checks anymore. I totaled everything up and gave him the entire amount and gave him his grand total without blinking an eye. He just requested that when I processed his credit card, if I would not mind getting cash out of my account and pay the event planner immediately. He then asked who I used to process my credit cards. I am not sure what significance this was, from the client side. At this point, I was starting to get a little suspicious of the whole situation. He wanted to know when I would be able to take his credit card for processing. Since, I was at work, I informed him that it wouldn’t be for a few hours and I would contact him. An hour later, I received another text requesting an ETA to process his credit card; again I told him that it would be a few hours. On a whim, I decided to contact Ted, a fellow photographer and get his input. He thought the whole situation was a bit off and suggested that I meet with the client and see. I decided to contact Matt, informing him that I needed to meet with him over the weekend to complete some paperwork. He said that he was having surgery and couldn’t make it. I suggested that we could meet the following week to tie up the loose ends and he once again declined. It was at this point I realized it was a complete scam. I informed him that if we could not meet that we had a problem, he commented that it was my problem and not his. At this point, I kindly informed him to please seek another photographer and that I was not interested.
Now here comes the funny part. I had an opportunity to attend a Meetup, this past weekend from my good friend Brit, she photographs Weddings and models. She was telling me that her significant other was contacted by someone requesting photography services, in the near future. This person was asking for a quote and wondering if it would be ok, if he could charge an additional amount to his credit card, because the event planner did not have a way to process credit cards. Sound a little familiar; I was thinking the same thing and I am glad that I had enough insight to see this for what it was and not get taken it.
I hope I have not bored you too much. I had a lot of fun writing this one like all of my blogs. I trust I have given you some valuable tips to think about, before planning your next shoot. It’s not all bad, just be clear and informative, it will save you a lot of headaches. Remember nothing is set in stone and there is not a perfect formula, so go out and have some fun.
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