Complaint Review: Michelle Riesland Prime Elegance Photography - Durham North Carolina

I found a listing on Criagslist.com that mentioned Prime Elegance was for hire. On March 2nd I emailed an inquiry with the details of the services we would need for our wedding. Michelle Reisland and I spoke by phone and discussed the details of our wedding and photography needs. We agreed to meet at Starbucks in Durham to see some of her work and review the contract.

Michelle meets us at Starbucks as planned and stated that he had 9 years experience as a photographer. She was very nice and seemed sincere about trying to make her services affordable and accommodating. She showed us some of her most recent work which was mostly fall and winter photos. She explained in detail how she got some of the angles and other tricks that she used to get the best work. After about an hour of discussing her services she gave us a contract that she uses and we told her we would talk it over and get back to her ASAP.

After talking it over we asked Michelle for photos of the most recent wedding hoping to get something that would be from February or March. She sent us 35 photos from a wedding labeled Yuli and Keith. The photos were really great and left us with no doubt about Michelles ability to take great photos. I searched the web for any negative feedback on the company and found nothing.

We asked to meet her to give her the contract and deposit of $300. We asked for a detail receipt that explained all of the services we had discussed. We meet briefly at Starbucks where I gave her the deposit of $300 and the signed contract. She gave us the receipt as promised with the full detail of services to be rendered on our wedding day. Everything went as planned up to this point and really thought we had found a perfect deal for the price.

In June we noticed that her website was down and began to worry. I then found two rip-off reports on Michelle and Prime Elegance. I was beside myself as we read the complaints about her services. I spent hours online trying to find out as much as I could about the allegations. I found a blog where they had discussed how Michelle has used other peoples photos and testimonials on her website. They claimed to have reported her to the Better Business Bureau.

I searched the names in the photos she had previously sent me and found the exact same photos on another photographers website. His photos had been recognized as the photos of the week by a New York publication. I contacted the photographer of the photos and Bobby ask to see what she sent had sent me. He verified that the photos that she sent us were indeed taken by him and she had no rights to use his work in any way. He had never heard of Michelle Reisland/Prime elegance and would help me by sending a written statement.

I emailed Michelle to see if everything was okay and inquired about the website issue. Michelle didnt respond so I called her. She answered and said she had been updating it to a flash website and couldnt keep her old website address. She gave me a long story about how much they wanted to charge to keep it and she ultimately decided to get a different website address. I didnt mention anything about my findings. She said she would email me some dates for the engagement photos. Its been a month or more and I have not received any communication from Michelle.

I would like to get my $300 deposit back and help anyone else that needs it... Please contact me at (((Redacted))) if you would like more information or would like to team up against this company/person. I have a receipt and a photographer that says she used his work to sell her services. I would also like any information you can provide to help me with my small claims court filing in Durham NC. I plan to file the paper work on 8/25/2009 if anyone wishes to join me.

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