Complaint Review: Ko & martin - Rolling hills Estates California

Sarah W. is the wife of Deacon Tyler of F-Sequence Studio. Her husband Deacon Tyler was the other person who filed the other report on this website.  I never communicated with Sarah W throughout the entire transaction except the time when I visited their studio, she was there with Deacon Tyler and we talked together.

She was supposed to help with wardrobe and makeup according to Deacon Tyler of F-Sequence Studio, but I never dealt with her directly.  I pretty much only communicated with Deacon Tyler her husband.  Sarah W. was cc'ed on the emails sometimes.    Here is my account of what happened.  As a personal hobby/passion project, I wanted to experiment with ecommerce retail by selling watches and jewelry online, hence needed to take photos for the watches and Jewelry.

I found Deacon Tyler Photography (F-Sequence Studio) on the internet. Deacon Tyler initially appeared to be enthusiastic and motivated for the job over the phone and emails, so I signed his contract agreeing to use his photography service for the watches and jewelry.   But right after I visited his studio (he invited me to go see his studio), his whole attitude made a 180 degree turn. He sent me an email right after the visit saying that he was actually "retiring from the photography business" and that his "motivations aren’t for a long term relationship, reviews or reputation." 

 I was a little taken by the fact that he did not tell me this before I signed his contract. His attitude made me a little uncomfortable, but I didn't say anything since I already signed his contract. I thought that since we already started the project, we might as well do the best we can to complete it.   During the following few weeks, Deacon Tyler negatively critiqued on my brand strategy, complained that I was not prepared for the shoot, and made statements like 99% of the Amazon retailers fail, and all those ecommerce retailers didn't know what they were doing.

I felt like I had to please him at every turn, sending him pleasing emails just so he would maintain a little interest in doing a good job for my project.   During that month, Los Angeles rained almost every day.  Half of the shots that he promised to do were outdoors shots. In his previous email, he said "not just the studio, but our patio, nice courtyard, the stairs, upper floor corridors, the building itself, the cabana area, the pool, workout room and then the neighborhood around our building. 

Every house and even every alley has beautiful flowers, ivy walls, gorgeous fences. We can also shoot at Marina Del Rey at sunset if we have time." With the heavy rain and wind, it would not be possible to shoot any shots outdoor. When I requested to reschedule the shoot date due to rain, he got angry and started calling me all kinds of names including calling me a "diva'.     I was completely dumfounded. I could not believe that he would take on this type of attitude towards his customers, calling them names.

He had mentioned in his email before that a lot of his ecommerce retailer clients ended up either getting into a dispute with him or became not pleased with him.  At the time I did not think too much about it, but then I saw why.     Los Angeles rained during that month literally every day. Everyone in Los Angeles would remember the rain.  It was a very strange winter that it rained so much. How could we shoot in the rain?

Even his talent agency had a "rainy day provision" which says shoot can be rescheduled due to rain.  His response was: "Well, we can do a mix of in studio shots and then we can grab an umbrella and make the most of it!"     What does it mean "grab an umbrella and make the most of it"? That does not sound like a responsible attitude.

After he got mad, on the Saturday before the scheduled Tuesday shoot, he threatened that his wife Sarah and his employee (they were supposed to provide wardrobe and makeup) did not feel like working on this project anymore and would most likely quit the job, and that he would let me know on Sunday if they quit or not, but he continued to say "but my contract won't be affected" meaning that he would still get to charge me the photographer fee even if his wife and employee quit.

 I sent him an email saying that "If you guys withdraw from the wardrobe and makeup, the shoot cannot happen then." He did not respond to this email.   In order to make an effort to still make the shoot happen, I relented to the idea of shooting only indoor due to rain and sent Deacon Tylor the following email on Saturday around noon.

  On Feb 2, 2019, at 12:52 PM. I wrote:   "Deacon, I am not going to respond to your insult and I won’t insult you either. If we go down that route, I have plenty to say about you too.  Before we go down that route, let’s try to explore a more productive option.   Two questions for you.    If we were to go forth with the shoot on Tuesday and Wednesday, would you be able to make sure that we will have proper power backup and lighting inside the studio so that we won’t waste all the models that I hired.

 I upgraded all the models to recognizable roles since you said that we could shoot also outside your studios and even on the beach towards later part of the day.  Now that we won’t be able to do it due to the weather, we would have to accomplish all that inside the studio.   With your upset-ness, would you be able to put forth your best effort for the shoot.  

The last thing I want is a photographer who does not want to do a good job and doesn’t care, particularly since you mentioned to me after I signed your contract and paid the money that you already retired from the photography business in 2018 and that you really are not looking to build any long term working relationship or reputation in the photographer business.  I really wish you had told me that before I signed your contract and paid you the money.  

It really never was my intention to put you at odds with me.  Dylan has been super nice and cooperative as well, which I really appreciate.  Please understand that I am not trying to make your life difficult.  I just want to make sure we don’t waste all the models that we have hired to shoot on a rainy day.  That is all.   SMILE   Lingling"       __________________________   Here is Deacon Tyler's response on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 1:04 PM   "The logistics for your shoot are up to you and you put a whole lot of words into my mouth that isn’t winning you any friends.   Not the least of which is my status as a photographer.

 Retiring from FULL TIME photography does not mean retiring from photography altogether.   You’re a diva and a difficult client and have no clue what you’re doing.  You even told ya as much.  I’ve dealt with many like you and very few have any longevity or success in business, especially when you make a note to piss off the people you booked to help you.  

My job is just to take photos I’m just the camera man.  Everything else is your job. Did you already secure a permit with Film LA to shoot at the beach?    See you on Tuesday.  Since you want to be in charge so badly, you will call the shots and be the director - the poses and expressions of the models, as well as the locations and props can be entirely up to you."   _____________________________   A series of unpleasant emails were exchanged after that.  All in all, it did not seem like Deacon Tyler was going to put much effort into the shoot.  I was the customer.

 I hired him to do photography on the products. Now it seemed like he has pushed all the work onto me, including locations, props, even poses and expressions of the models.  I vaguely remembered some scenes in some movies that it was always the photographer who would tell the models to move a little this way or that way or smile a little more. I, as a customer, won't have the camera in my hand. It won't be me looking through the lenses. How could I be in charge of the models poses and expressions?

All these email arguments from Deacon Tyler on that Saturday were cc'ed to the talent agency that he claimed to have worked with for the past 20 years. On Sunday (the next day) the entire day, I did not hear from him. I thought his wife and his employee must have decided not to quit. So I started to send emails to Deacon Tyler to make the final preparation to shoot the photos only indoor on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got no response from Deacon Tayler.  

What shocked me next is that the next day (Monday, the day before the scheduled shoot), I received an email from the model agency (the agency that Deacon Tyler had been working with for the past 20 years) and they informed me that they would no longer provide the models for the shoot. According to the talent agency's previous email, they "typically send it (the contract) out a day or two before the actual job once the models have all been booked.  And according to my email with the Talent agency, all the models have been confirmed on Friday before that weekend.

Now comes Monday after the talent agency has been cc'ed on all the angry emails Deacon Tyler sent, and who knows what communication Deacon Tyler and the talent agency had behind my back on Sunday, the talent agency now sent me an email and cancelled the models.   30 minutes after I got the cancellation email from the talent agency, I got an email from Deacon Tyler, giving me 3 options. "Option 1: You can secure models on your own and schedule them for Tuesday and Wednesday. Option 2: I can see if I can secure models, but if I do this, you will not be at the shoot and I will not submit the models for your approval... If we go with option 2, I don’t want to hear feedback or complaints about the shots we get, nor will I take any creative notes into consideration. 

I will shoot the watches in the manner I feel fits the time constraints, the products themselves and the ability of the models...You would just need to show trust and then accept that you get what you get.  Option 3: I charge a new retainer and we pick a new shoot date.    What type of options are these?  I don't know where to get the models. So option 1 won' work. For option 2, according to Deacon Tyler, I will be forbidden to come to the shoot and will have to be happy with whatever he gives me.  And who knows how much money he would demand from me for the models he hires.

Option 3 means I have to pay him more money.  In addition to the money I already paid him, I have to pay him for another two day shoot.   It was then I realized it was a set up. He and his talent agency set me up into this situation where the shoot could not go forward, meanwhile Deacon Tyler still want to claim the cancellation fee. He later said in his email that he "had a hunch that the talent agency would cancel the models".

 Well, having a hunch, but wait for it to happen, so the shoot will not happen, he will get to take his cancellation fee.   I was so upset at this point that I called my credit card company and reported Deacon Tyler for scams and filed a credit card charge dispute.  The credit card company was Citi Visa.  I am sure they have sophisticated procedures where they inform the merchant about the dispute and ask the merchant for supporting documentations.

 I don't know what Deacon Tayler (F-Sequence Studio) provided to Citi Visa.  Citi Visa eventually completed their investigation and luckily Citi Visa gave me the refund.                Every dispute has two sides of the story.  Here is mine.  

Thank you for reading.    

SMILE Lingling