Complaint Review: Willow Media Network LLC

We got married a while ago and someone from White Willow Studios came and filmed our wedding and after the wedding we got a link to a video clip.  But then we couldn't reach them - we would hear from them from time to time and we kept getting excuses.  Most recently we reached Kay on Facebook and she said that she had moved to Michigan but she would be doing a wedding in Chicago a couple of weeks later.  The day we were supposed to meet up to get the video she didn't contact us and then her account on Facebook disappeared.  Although we paid $1800, all we really want is our wedding video!!  Please contact me if you have any ideas for trying to fix this.  robertmh@umich.edu

I can't believe it has been sooooo incredibly long and Kay has just fell off the face of the earth!  My Wedding was June 30th- She knows me VERY VERY WELL..... I have hundreds of texts- emails that have been communicated... I NEED A RESPONSE ASAP!

I also paid 2000 for a video and have received nothing. I would like to be part of any group that would like to go ofter these people. We have talked to a few lawyers and the police station and they all said the best way to get our video was to work with a group. Please contact me at (((email redacted))).

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Email would be best to contact me.  Please keep us in the loop.  We want to be active and get this behind us.  acbair@gmail.com.  Thanks.

Hello,

I still haven't been able to find an address for them but would really like to get a group together to sue them.  I'm currently talking to a few others who are also interested in handling this together.  How can I contact you?  

We contracted White Willow Studios to do the photography and videography for our wedding on September 22, 2012.  We were dealing with Kaylea Brooks, the owner, too.  She was always very difficult to get a hold of (if we were ever able to get a hold of her at all).  She said that she was going through a lot of personal issues involving her family and asked for some patience.  We tried being patient.  That time is now over.  We now know that we've been had.  Our signed contract was for $5,695.  We will most likely never see that money again (or get any pictures, videos, etc.).  The videographers and photographers who did show up to the our wedding contacted us after we got back from our honeymoon.  They were (are) very concerned about us getting what we paid for.  Fortunately, they have all of the photos and videos, so they can work with us to get something, but of course that is going to cost us more money.  

White Willow Studios' office in Naperville, IL is no longer in use.  White Willow Studios' business phone number is no longer in service.  White Willow Studios' email address is no longer in service.  Kay's personal cell phone is no longer in service.  Kay will not respond to any emails sent to her personal email address (they have not bounced back undeliverable).  

I have submitted our contract to two attorneys for review.  I will pursue this via legal channels if necessary.  

Does anyone have any updated contact information (phone, address, email, etc.)?  What are you doing in terms of a legal recourse?  Can we work together to get this solved?

We contracted White Willow Studios to do the photography and videography for our wedding on September 22, 2012.  We were dealing with Kaylea Brooks, the owner, too.  She was always very difficult to get a hold of (if we were ever able to get a hold of her at all).  She said that she was going through a lot of personal issues involving her family and asked for some patience.  We tried being patient.  That time is now over.  We now know that we've been had.  Our signed contract was for $5,695.  We will most likely never see that money again (or get any pictures, videos, etc.).  The videographers and photographers who did show up to the our wedding contacted us after we got back from our honeymoon.  They were (are) very concerned about us getting what we paid for.  Fortunately, they have all of the photos and videos, so they can work with us to get something, but of course that is going to cost us more money.  

White Willow Studios' office in Naperville, IL is no longer in use.  White Willow Studios' business phone number is no longer in service.  White Willow Studios' email address is no longer in service.  Kay's personal cell phone is no longer in service.  Kay will not respond to any emails sent to her personal email address (they have not bounced back undeliverable).  

I have submitted our contract to two attorneys for review.  I will pursue this via legal channels if necessary.  

Does anyone have any updated contact information (phone, address, email, etc.)?  What are you doing in terms of a legal recourse?  Can we work together to get this solved?

Has anyone been able to find any contact information for them?  We got married a year ago and are also still hoping we will be able to get our video.  

How do you know they moved to Grand Rapids?

Thank You

How do you know they moved to the Grand Rapids area?  We are trying to get the video they took at my daughters wedding this spring and would like to try to contact them again as they have seemed to have disappeared.  

The vignette they created was wonderful and all we want is the video.  We don't care if its finished or not.  We are all heartbroken.  It was a beautiful day that we can never duplicate.  

- Kaylea and Anthony are married

- They moved to East Grand Rapids, MI

A couple things you may not know:

1 - They are husband and wife

2 - They moved to East Grand Rapids, MI (don't have an address)

Anthony, we are that couple that got married 7/27 and not once did you, Kay, or anyone at white willow studio contact us for our timeline. In a email from Kay, she said and I quote, "all we would need to film the wedding is a timeline, and we usually ask for that a week before as that's when it's typically finalized." Never once did we receive an email requesting this. In fact, the last time we heard from anyone from White Willow was on June 30. NEVER once did we say we did not want you to show up for our wedding. We emailed you a contract needed by our church in order for you to film our wedding twice, asked for a response because we made changes multiple times, and not once did you reply. We sent a total of 16 emails from June 30 up until July 23 (4days till our wedding). Why would we send that to you if we supposedly "did not want you to provide services". Do you really think people should not worry if they can't get a hold of their videographer 4 DAYS BEFORE THEIR WEDDING!! So the fact that you can sit there and lie about something that happened to us is completely absurd, dishonest, and disrespectful.

You never contacted us in time, like you stated. How do you explain Kay's last email to us on 6/30 that she would get back to us with the videographers availability ASAP? And then no response even up to now. Please enlighten us with your side and explain why we did not get a response after June 30.

Here is our response to the other post. Tony you seem to ignore everything all the other couples are saying.

This is in response to White Willow's comments. We are the couple that got married on 7/27.

Beginning the end of may/start of June we tried contacting white willow studio because we were promised a meeting with Kay and the videographer a month prior to our wedding. No response was received for almost a whole month. We even emailed a videographer once contracted by white willow try to get a hold of them. Finally, at the end of june Kay contacted us through a new email address. We told her we have lined up another videographer and asked for a refund and her response was, and I quote, "a refund is not an option as we have done nothing to violate the contract. All we would need to film the wedding is your timeline, and we usually ask for that a week before as thats when it's typically finalized so that youre not stressed and its an easy exchange. Please let me know how you would like to move forward." and we responded, "if we have no way of getting out of the contract then we need to meet with the videographer soon. So if you continue working with us, know that we will be very particular with our video." she immediately responded and said she would be set up a meeting, asked when is a good time for us, and said she would get in contact with her videographer to arrange that ASAP. I gave my availability, and on June 30 she replied, "talking with my videographer about what works for him. I will get back to you ASAP." that was the last we heard from Kay or anyone from white willow studio. We proceeded to email them 16 times almost daily until july 23rd (4 days before our wedding). I emailed them the church guidelines needed to be signed prior to the wedding (TWICE), sent messages letting them know we've made changes and asking for a response.... I don't think messages like that would make it seem like we wanted to cancel. We never once said the word CANCEL, we never said we booked a replacement videographer (we lined one up just in case we got a refund), nor did we ever say we didn't want them at our wedding. Kay, I have every email we sent (my almost 30 emails to you and your 4 to us). Get your facts straight! Don't make liars out of honest people, not just us, but all of your other customers.

By the way, since you apparently read these comments and respond to messages here and not emails that are sent directly to you, we are demanding our refund for services never provided. We've emailed you multiple times now, but to no surprise, we have yet to receive a response.

Again, what White Willow Studio is saying about our wedding is a lie. You even had the nerve to tell us in email from you on June 28 "we have followed through everything thus far and would never take advantage of anyone." You lead us on to believe that you were filming our wedding, so that was a lie!!

Yep! Thats us! 

We in fact did go to court... yep because we refused to pay the overtime charges that White Willow Studio attempted to enforce on us. WWS showed up around 12pm on our wedding day.. they weren't scheduled to arrive till 2:30pm. They did not contact us to let us know that they would be coming early or that there would be overtime charges. When we went to court over this the judge did not award them the overtime.

WWS also took no pictures of my husband with his family. No formal shot with him and any of them.... Mind you I supplied WWS with a detailed list of "Must have photos" because of this the judge knocked off an additional amount do to them not doing what they agreed to. 

Over all... We have paid them! In full! We still don't have all of our products - 9 months after our wedding! So how would that make us "crooks"... We did what was ordered. What's stopping WWS from giving us our stuff then they NEVER have to deal with us again? Kay stated in court "I won't f**k you over" - doesn't seem that way since we still don't have what we paid for. 

My husband and I have reached out to Kay and Anthony both by every form of contact possible. When we paid them in April, Kay said we would have our full video and cases in 4 weeks. It's now been over 3 months and they have made ZERO effort to return our calls or emails. I emailed Tony 7/31/12 on Yelp which he was on that same day and haven't received a response. They have no problem finding the time to try to defend themselves on the internet but can't email or call customers back. I even gave him my contact info again yesterday. Nothing... 

If they are honestly trying to say they are just backed up then what is keeping them from contacting the people who are depending on them to either provide a service or deliver on a product they were paid for.

Unfortunately, my information isn't falsifying or misleading in any way.  In addition, do you realize you just conducted in defamation of character with the couple your implying are "the real crooks?"  I hope they know or are at least aware that you are posting things about them and slandering their reputation. I will notify them of the statement you made about how they are "real crooks" considering we're in contact as well.

You are going to sue us?? Omg are you kidding me right now.  While my fiance has handled this his own way, mind you he also is going through a lot...his father was on life support until this past Monday where he passed away.  But I on the other hand have been nothing but courteous, giving you guys a chance to explain.  As soon as I started reading posts again from OTHER people I sent Kaylea two message to call me back ASAP with my cell # in email and I told here I was freaking out from reading things.  I never received a phone call...then I tried to call your phone #, disconnected, cell#, disconnected.  My fiance drove all the way to Naperville where we found out your office is no longer there, mind you we found out from neighboring businesses we weren't the only ones that have stopped in.  

Yes we sent you a message on facebook but that was because it was the only way to track you down.  You could have contacted us through new email you say you have, mind you I have since emailed that twice.  Once to ask for a contact phone and again to ask for address on where you sent this letter with new contact details as there is no reason we should have never received it.  You do still have our contract correct?

Also regarding the fact that you were "going" to contact us 2 weeks before our wedding as it was still a month away.  If you read the contract we had a before and after shoot that was meant to be done 2nd week of August, next week?  When were you going to contact us for that?  You also mentioned you asked us for timeline...no that is not what you said.  This is directly from the message you sent us..."We will be contacting you soon for your timeline." Well we are still waiting for that phone call? 

 And yes our friend had a beautiful wedding with no issues, but your company is clearly in a different position than you were at that time so you can not compare?  We gave you the opportunity to handle the situation differently but you did not. We still have not heard from you directly only by responding to posts...if you have the time to do this why not pick up the phone and call us and set the record straight?

I am just very dumbfounded at the fact that you don't expect a bride to react this way on not being able to get a hold of you by any means!!! Its a very special day for us that is supposed to run smoothly, not have our memory tainted forever by all this drama.  I'm very insulted at what you said about me as I have been very nice considering the circumstances and have only gone off of what I've read myself from other brides

"Kay was awesome to work with throughout my engagement and wedding day!

She helped us pick a photographer, videographer, and DJ that best suited what we were looking for. The prices were great and quality was top notch! They are extremely accommodating of your needs and wants and work with you to make it happen. Kay does all the video editing and she has such an amazing talent for illustrating the whole day into one short highlight video that we received within only days after our wedding - we absolutely LOVED it and so did all our family and friends!

White Willow has a super talented staff and I would highly recommend them!"
-Words from your own friends.

The client from October 2011 who is complaining about not receiving her products is only because we allowed the client a special arrangement to pay after her wedding as it was so short notice and they did not have enough money to pay in time before the wedding. After the wedding was over, they refused to pay their balance and from November to April, we had to pursue them for payment before finally having to file suit and take them to court for the balance. We could not even start working on their video until the judgment was paid - they're the real "crooks", trying to get away without paying and having to be taken into court. So now it's been 2 months since we won the case, they already have their photos, there is only one person working on videos so everything is behind, it's taking a lot longer to finish the videos. I am sure the client didn't tell you that they didn't pay til April, they probably just told you they've been waiting since October.

The client that was "contacted 4 days before" their wedding is inaccurate, this client was contacted 2-3 weeks before the wedding requesting the timeline (that is the only reason we would need to contact them before the wedding). Client told us they didn't want us to provide the service anymore because they weren't able to reach us at their discretion.

In every instance, we were willing to do the wedding and contacted them in time to get their information, and just because they couldn't get a hold of us when we didn't even need their information yet, they didn't want us to do their wedding (which I addressed in the last post too but you seem to ignore anything except your narrow agenda).  Instead of actually reading the explanation and considering the experience your own friends have had, you are not even listening to the explanation or taking anything at all into consideration. You only want your side of the story to be heard.

I have provided representation with your information and these postings in building a defamation of character lawsuit against both of you.

I'm not going to waste anymore of my time on you dishonest scumbags than I already have responding to lies, lies, and more lies.

Anyone who is reading this please BEWARE when doing any whatsoever business with KAYLEA BROOKS and ANTHONY F. ODARCZENKO.  If you don't believe me take a couple minutes and Google: White Willow Studio and click on Chicago Weddings or Yelp.  There you will find all the evidence you need.

See you in court crooks!

Please beware of these dishonest crooks.  If you don't believe me just google:  White Willow Studio and look at all the horrible reviews on Chicago Weddings from numerous other couples.

Anthony and Kaylea are criminals and will be prosecuted.  In addition, I'd love to hear your response in regards to the other victims you crooks scammed.  The novel you just wrote is only taking into account us.  What about the others?  What about the poor girl who it was 4 days before her wedding and they were trying to contact you for months?  You said you would honor every wedding throughout this year?  Well you didn't honor theirs so what makes the other couples different?  Lastly, what about the couple who has already taking you scumbags to court and still hasn't received their the items stated in their contract?

See you in court crooks!

A lot of information provided here is incorrect and unfounded and I feel it is important to set the record straight. While White Willow Studio is not booking new weddings,  it is honoring the contracts of all clients that it has already signed. The company is still legally active.

White Willow Studio has not renewed its toll-free number, office lease, and e-mail service as we are no longer looking for NEW business, but we are still honoring every contract that was signed and will be contacting our clients when necessary information is needed for their specific wedding. White Willow Studio has NEVER not performed a wedding service it was contracted to, except under two circumstances where the couples told us not to come and would not be permitted to provide them the services because they were unhappy with the amount of constant communication available prior to the wedding, which I have documented.

We were 100% willing to provide the services and they told us they were hiring someone else and did not want our staff at their event.

In regards to the comment made by "J K" I can tell by the way it is written in comparison to recent communications I have had with this couple as well as the contract amount that the complaint listed here is filed by our clients for the UPCOMING wedding on September 1, 2012 . I have let them know that we have already contracted staff to provide video service for their wedding (over a year in advance they were contracted) and they told us they did not want us to, they only wanted a refund. Providing a refund is impossible when the company has already contracted and paid staff to provide the services on their day. White
Willow Studio stands 100% willing to honor the contract, but J&J (not to give their full names at this point publicly out of respect and confidentiality, even though they have no respect for us) have told us they do not want us to provide the services at their wedding and are seeking legal action. Legal action for what? We were contracted to provide a service and stand willing to provide it, and now they want to cancel because they are unhappy with the level of communication we have had during a very difficult time in our lives. The fact is, the wedding is over a month a way, I have asked them to send me their timeline when I last messaged them, and they are electing instead to say they don't want us to come. The contract obligates the customer to pay, the customer has paid, the contract obligates us to provide the service on the day, and it is our plan to. There is no provision for canceling the service in the contract. If client elects to have us provide the service or continues to stonewall the fact that we are providing the service for their wedding, either way, I will provide the information here.

White Willow Studio is scamming clients out of money? This is far from the truth. White Willow Studio provided wedding photography and videography services as recently as Friday, July 20th and 21st in Lombard and will be covering all three services for a wedding this upcoming Saturday, August 4th. Some clients have been upset because they couldn't be in constant communication with us and have chose not to respect our privacy during an extremely tough time in our family lives, but we have always gotten in contact with the client prior to the wedding to get the timeline information (and in two of these instances, the couples have chosen not to allow us to provide the service on the day)

In fact, we provided photography, videography, and DJ entertainment services for friends of the couple that filed this complaint and received nothing but positive feedback. They should know better that we are not the kind of people to run away with their money. Just because people are going through tough life changes which are extremely personal and I am not going to get into detail about here and aren't available 24/7 at their disposal does not mean they're not going to honor their contractual agreement.

White Willow Studio has weddings booked and will be providing services for several more weddings, the final wedding being in early December. Because of this permanent false information posted, it has caused a frenzy with current clients that were not concerned and had no reason to be worried. Our goal is to never create animosity with anybody, but the same time our family life needs to be respected and has not been for a long time by multiple clients.

In summary, White Willow Studio has and will perform every wedding we are contracted to unless obstructed from doing so by the clients.

White Willow Studio will contact all clients for upcoming weddings to let them know contact information they can reach us when needed.

I apologize, but the correct spelling of Anthony's last name is Odarczenko