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Ed Shapiro Of Westmount Photography ripoff Montreal Quebec
Ed Shapiro was hired to take our wedding photos.
He did take the pictures, but then left town, moved out of his appartment and studio, absconding with over 3ooo$ Canadian and all our proofs and negatives. We now have no professinal photos of our wedding and are heartbroken.
According to the concierge of his building, he left unannounced owing 3 months in rent and lots of people have been trying to find him with similar complaints of fraud.
Any information others might have would be helpful. We really just want our proofs and negatives back - money can be replaced.
A note to the woman awaiting her album: I don't think you'll ever see it. Please feel free to contact me to join forces in finding our photos.
All the best,
Esther
San Francisco, California
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Ed Shapiro
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada
Update from Ed Shapiro
#5REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, July 23, 2008
I am Ed Shapiro- the subject of the aforementioned complaint.
I did not realize that this report was filed or still on the record. I did indeed become ill within the time frame of the report and was unable to finis several order that were still at my former studio and I was unable to notify all the clients involved.
I did however, make arrangements with other photographers and color labs to recover or and retrieve all negatives and prints and place the in the hands of each client. I assume the person making this complaint has all of her material as of 4 years ago.
In all honesty, the clients concerned did have to absorb more expenses to provide themselves with albums and finished prints which I could or can no longer supply as I was forced into bankruptcy and have not been able to work in wedding photography since.
I am deeply sorry for the way things transpired but at least all otherwise non-retrievable images are in the hands of the clients and not lost.
Four years have past and I am given to understand that all negatives and prints have been received and used.
This is not a rebuttal because the reported events did happen and unfortunately enough, at the time, all of this was beyond my control. A lot of the information, however, ostensibly provided by the janitor in my former building is not actually true. At this point all of this is moot and I am writing to simply respond to a complaint that until I was recently advised of, did not know was still outstanding.
Ed Shapiro
Esther Ehrensaft
San Francisco,California,
U.S.A.
It's unlikely Mr. Shapiro is ill
#5Consumer Comment
Mon, September 27, 2004
Thank you kindly for all of your suggestions. Indeed, we have been on zuga.net. We find it unlikely that Mr. Shapiro was ill, given the following information we now have collected:
-Mr. Shapiro was seen loading up a moving truck in the last week of July from his studio. Contact with the superintendant of his building informed us that he had skipped town without paying 3 months rent in arears, and that many other customers had come inquiring about their photos and money.
-Mr. Shapiro disconnected his phone, fax, and website and left no mention of a means to get ahold of him.
-Mr. Shapiro has not responded to any of my emails really begging him to honor our memories of our wedding day by returning our proofs, photos and over 3000$.
-Mr. Shapiro photographed our wedding and was in excellent health on that day. He is not an aged man - he was very mobile and good-humored throughout all of the photographing.
If he wants to get ahold of us, he can email me at esther_ehrensaft@yahoo.com and tell me how I can reach him so this upset can be resolved.
Imagine spending the greatest part of your wedding money on what you think is going to lead to creative pictures of the most beautiful day of your life and then being deceived. Anyone who can help us get our photographs back would sincerely appreciated.
Best regards,
Alberto
Milano,Europe,
Italy
Mr.Shapiro was ill
#5Consumer Suggestion
Sun, September 26, 2004
According to a post on Zuga photographic forum (www.zuga.net) Mr Ed Shapiro was severely ill in hospital for one month. He is an aged man, and only now could write a msg in the Forum. He sais that he managed to send the photos or at least the negatives to all his customers but two that he could not contact. I am sure that the forum partecipants will be glad to help Ed's customers.
Becca
Clifton Park,New York,
U.S.A.
I think I know where he is.....
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, September 05, 2004
There is a photographer Ed Shapiro on zuga.net ,he gives advice on photography along with a number of other professional photographers, I came across this report because I was recently in a court battle regarding my own wedding photography and I went on zuga.net to have professionals view the unprofessional photographs I had and Mr. Shapiro was one of the responders. This couple can sign on to the site if they register and its free to get on , they may want to know this . I obviously cannot prove this is definatley the same person but I can say there are not to many photographers with the same name, and only one on that site with that name