Bob Tea - Fake Videographer in San Diego!!!!!!
First of all, many of you know how expensive anything related to weddings can be. The whole industry is one big giant rip-off!
Then come along people like Bob (Robert) Tea, owner of Video Production Specialists in San Diego, California. He is an amateur using consumer grade equipment and billing himself as an experienced, seasoned professional.
You know something is wrong right off the bat when his price for a full day wedding is three to four times lower than others in his profession. There is a wedding website & message board (www.sandiegoweddings.com) where in less than a year, Bob Tea began to be noticed and received most of his business from. Somehow it came out that he was doing video part time while employed at a hotel for something totally unrelated. Video was a hobby. Brides-to-be were hiring him left and right because he was so cheap. And the ones who had used him praised his personality but found it was taking about 6-8 months to get their finished product back from him. Also, it was also posted that Bob would not return phone calls or emails from existing customers in a timely manner, if at all.
New customers always reported getting a quick call back, though. Sorry to say, my daughter was conned by this guy who showed her a demo of someone else's work, pawning it off as his own and she paid him in full many months in advance of her wedding.
About 2 months before my daughter's wedding, a post from a bride on the message board came up saying that she just got her finished product back and it was HORRIBLE! She said Bob Tea was really nice and it pained her to write the message but her conscious wouldn't let her stay quiet with so many brides hiring him. This newlywed offered to show the tape to anyone interested. My daughter and I took her up on the offer as did a ton of other brides. We all agreed, her tape looked like utter crap. It was so sad. You can't redo your wedding day! This newlywed gal even consulted with a real professional who evaluated her footage and made the statement that her tape was an amateur production shot with cheap equipment!
After several unreturned phone calls, we tried to email with him to request a refund on the basis that there were many complaints about his finished product and delivery time. At first he didn't respond. Then I posted a message about the situation on the board and he decided to respond, but refused to withdrawal himself from her event, saying he was still going to show up! Also saying that the only reason he was being fired was not for fear of his terrible work, but because my daughter hired another videographer which was not true. I did hire an alternate vendor, but only after we learned of this guy's incompetencies and he refused to refund her money.
My daughter filed a complaint with the San Diego Better Business Bureau. After a month of two mailed attempts to contact Mr. Tea, he finally responded to the BBB counselor with a letter chock full of lies and he signs the letter by asking the counselor not to share the letter with my daughter!!! Of course, because then she'd be able to rebut his statements and prove him a liar.
Brides and Grooms beware!!!!!!!