Complaint Review: Steve Rouch Photography - St. Paul Minnesota

I need to address a couple of the false statements that were in Steve Rouchs previous rebuttals that I have not yet addressed.

Visa is not a legal company, there is only so much that they can do to help with a business like this.  Steves story continues to change. There was a date on our contract that said we should have receive all our items by this time (about 2 months after the wedding).  After this date had passed, we sent in for a visa charge back.  About two weeks after the money was taken from his account, he quickly mailed me the package of the cd, with the wrong resolution.  About two weeks later he sent the corrected cd.  I have copies of both of the packages that were sent to me with the date clearly on them (a month after we had sent the charge back).  Visa received this information with the copies and Steve is well aware of this.  And would be willing to provide this if you need proof.  He again, is flat out lying.  He, I assume, freaked out and sent the pictures as soon as the money was taken out of his account so that he could try to make the claim that he is making....that I had just wanted all the pictures and was now trying to get my money back.  Clearly, it is a complete lie.  In addition to this, he still owes us many things, almost 9 months after the wedding.  Like I mentioned, we got ripped off.  Sometimes justice does not always go the way that it should. 

There are very few pictures that are on his slide show from my wedding.  This is the trick that we fell into.  Consumers need to view a WHOLE album.  Like Steve says, any photographer can get a couple of decent shots.  He recently just deleted my proofs from his site, isnt that convenient.   Feel free to contact me and I would be happy to show you a full file of his work. If you dont want to, here is a brief description.  About 100 of the shots are overhead views of guests tables, no one is visible.  100s of our photos are guest shots with no one looking, no expression, backs to camera.  There are not any good pictures of the bride and groom.  Pictures are blurry, bad lightening, unfocused, bad angles, and meaningless. 

I checked my reviews to make sure I had never put in another email address or a faulty name.  I have used both my name and my email address.  Regardless, like I said, there have been no false statements that I have made about it no foul language used.  I have told my story.   I have not created several different accounts on a site and bashed him, like he is claiming.   So, again, this photographer is making false statements.  And, like I said probably trying to cover up some of the other complaints that have been made by other people and trying to pin them on me.

This should never happen to a bride, especially by someone in the wedding business, ever.  The lies by this photographer are getting a little ridiculous and story seems to keep changing.

Again please do your research.  Ask around.  Ask brides.  Ask photographers in MN.  Like I said before, I would have actually respected this photographer if he had even tried to apologize for what he did to us.  Or, even tried to contact me to resolve or make and attempt to compromise after the work he produced.  Instead, his response is here for all to see.  He has tried to slash me as a person and a consumer, made up several lies  and blamed me for the things that he did.   There has been no attempt to make it right, no class, customer service  or professionalism.   

It is sad that a business can not own up to the mistakes that were made.  He has made several false statements in rebuttals as he did to me as our photographer.  As I mentioned earlier.  I explained to Steve why I was unhappy with his work and asked him what he was willing to do to make us happy customers.  He replied with nothing. He did not try to offer us a deal, he did not try to get another photographer to retake some of the pictures he ruined, he did not offer to edit them, he responded with nothing.  This photographer has shown us that his only concern with us was our money.

If any of Kelly Crimi Fortis's claims were true it would have been impossible for me to remain  in a full time wedding photography business for 39 years. It takes thousands of satisfied clients to support a business that long. This is simply a case of

an "interesting client" trying to discredit me because she expected me to refund her money just prior to her wedding after turning down many other brides for that date.

I offered her credit for her monies paid to me and she accepted and had me do her reception. (That doesn't make sense because her issue was that I can not do photojournalism....why would she have me shoot the part of her wedding day that is 100% photojournalism?). It would have been just as easy to not give her anything cancelling that close to her wedding but I chose to try to serve her and show her

how talented I am at photojournalism. The images from her wedding are on my home page in the slide show. The images are amazing. If you see shots of head table, dancing, garter toss etc. that is from her wedding. I can only assume that her plan was to have me do the wedding, get the pictures and cd of all the images from me, claim that she did not like them and then do a chargeback on Visa to get everything from me once she downloaded all the images onto her hard drive. When Visa reviewed the charge back they saw the pictures and sided with me (very rare for Visa to side with vendors).

I actually have the pictures of approximately 12 16x20's from her engagement session that I did for her that she proudly displayed at her wedding. How she could claim she did not like them and then display them at the wedding is beyond me. I have to have some sort of policy on last minute cancellations. I have all the expenses any business has with payroll, rent, heat, lights, insurance etc. I take clients seriously and honor their date. I didn't drop her for a better job...she dropped me at the end to save a buck. I am sure she will go on and on about many trumped up issues. I am a member of the Professional Photographers of America. Their attorneys are currently looking into a slander charge against her. She is posing as different brides all over the internet with different names and different issues. That is slander. The attorneys are checking these "reports" out and finding their are coming from the same IP address over and over again.

All the major bridal shops in the Twin Cities have me as their exclusive recommended wedding photographer. They have for 30 years. I am the photographer in The Wedding Shoppe, Angeliques, Dena Marie, Rush's and The Bridal Center. The recommend me for a reason. For 3 decades I have thrilled brides with my work. They want to make sure they recommend someone that is not going to give them problems or a bad name. There is no "incentive" I can provide these major established shops or for that matter past clients that would be worth the hassle if I was what Kelly Crimi Fortis claims me to be. Who would take the time and effort to recommend me if I was anything like she claims me to be?

I assume the assault will continue and again I feel this is a very sad situation. If I had to do it over again I do not know what I would do differently. I explained my policy in writing and verbally. She signed that policy sheet the day she booked. I chose to givee her credit and do her reception.  I did an amazing job with her pictures and would for anyone on the net to see them. I am very happy to have her collect the extra pictures she has credit for if she would kindly tell me what she wants.

This makes me so grateful for the wonderful clients I have that continue to pour in the doors on a daily basis to support my business and put the trust in me that allows me to exceed their expectations. I am also so grateful for the awesome bridal shops and many other wedding vendors that recommend me daily, monthly and yearly.

This is a great business, I love what I do, I do it well and am proud of what I do.

If anyone would like to see proof of the things that were promised to me, that I did not recieve or the photos that were took, I would be happy to show them to you!  I have shown them to several professional photographers and all of them were shocked that the pictures were from a supposed professional photographer.  I did my engagement pictures with Steve Rouch and was very uncomfortable with his work. I would be happy to show anyone these email coversations that took place.  He was very well aware that I did not like his work.  So it is completely false to say that I was in love withe any of his pictures.   I was talked into trying one more shoot before the wedding, by my family because they had assumed that maybe he was not sure what I wanted even though he claimed, initially, that he could shoot what I wanted.  I sent him examples and told him what I was looking for and again was very disappointed with his professionalism and work after the second shoot.  We talked later that week and I explained that he was still not doing what I was looking for.  He said "why don't you have another photograher."  This was his suggestion not mine.  He knows this and is making false statements.  This for me had nothing to do with money.  I bride should be happy with the pictures that she will be getting on her wedding day.  It is an irreplaceable day.  He wrote me a long email after we spoke, claiming that he really could do it and he needed to be a fly on the wall and wanted to shoot photojournalism.  He work is clearly very outdated.  I invite anyone to view my photos and ponder if you would be happy with the work he produced on your wedding day. 

He did lie to my husband on our wedding day. He walked up to my husband, who again was intoxicated at the time because we had been drinking at our wedding and told him that I had signed this document and that he needed to sign it too. It is clear on the document, that my signature is not there.  Steve never approached me during the wedding to sign anything.  Nothing was signed by my husband prior to the wedding day, nor had they spoke at all outside of one shoot that we had.  All the work was done through me so I am curious as to why he felt the need to lie to my husband to get him to sign documents and never even approached me.  This is no way is ethical.

 I never posed as other brides.  This is a completely false statement.  I'm not really sure where he got this and would invite him to prove this. I am assuming this photographer has been trying to cover up other complaints by blaming them on me. He definately does not have a good reputation.  Like I said, I believe he incentivizes his good reviews, so this may not be a reliable source as incentivized would be skewed.  As a consumer, I have had a terrible rip-off that has occurred and that is exactly what the review sites are there for.  I was never slanderous, false or rude.  I told my story and people need to be aware of what this photographer is doing to people.  Like I mentioned earlier, I have yet to find someone that has anything good to say about their experience with him as a photographer.  Do you research, ask around, ask other photographers that you are looking at. 

He has been in the business a long time, yes.  However, he has found was to cover himself legally because of several legal issues that he has been through in the past, I am assuming.  He is NOT a member of the MN Professional Photography Association or BBB.  You would think that someone who has been a professional photographer for so long and that claims he thrives on his awesome customer service would be a part of these groups.  He is not.  I am assuming he does not want to have any outside pull from other associations.  Credit card companies do side with vendors especially when they trick you into signing legal documents that they have had years to tweek because of their legal encounters.  I have accepted it, I got scammed and there was nothing the credit card company could do to help at that point. 

You don't have to believe my story. Do the research yourself.  I am just sharing my story so that this does not happen to others.  Feel free to comment if you feel you would like more information. **

I have been in business as a wedding photographer for 39 years. I have photographed 2,000 weddings and 6,000 portraits in my career. I have studied with the great Masters and become a Master photographer myself. I have won every award imaginable. I take what I do very seriously for my clients. Wedding photography can be very tricky and full of problems if not handled correctly. It has taken me decaded to figure out the fine art of making each bridal client happy. Since I heard of "Ripoff report" in 2006 I have photographed 250 weddings and 800 portraits. This is the one incident in those many assignments. We are very honest with our clients. Here is how.

We put everything in writing. We verbally explain everything. We go over many ideas that will help clients. We ask if they are happy every time we work with them. Kelly Crimi Fortis hired me to do her wedding and an engagement session and a glamour session. She loved both the engagement session and glamour and bought all the pictures from each one. She displayed all the pictures of her engagement at her wedding....a dozen 16x20 prints! Why then, after holding her date for a year and turning 20 other brides down for her date did she want to drop me as a photographer and hire someone else? Probably money. I can only guess. I explained to her in writing before she booked and after that its hard to turn down all that work AND just before her wedding give her the money back. We give it back in photo credit. She then had me shoot her reception. I did and did a great job. All the images are on line at my site for anyone to see. We are proud of them. The shots on the slide show on my home page of the reception. That is Kelly Crimi Fortis. I am so proud of the quality of the work we did. She said she liked what I was doing and so did her mom and her husband Nick that night. I was shocked when she then complained about the work later after the wedding. It did not make sense. We have tons of great reviews on the net. Go ahead and read what people have to say.

She was not really available to me during the wedding much. She never let us have a phone consult, personal meeting, or a chance to review and sign final papers. We tried many times to get that done before the wedding and she never returned our calls. I asked her husband Nick to complete the paperwork at the wedding (where else am I supposed to do it....they live in NM). He did and said I did a great job.

The Kelly Crimi Fortis started posing as different people on the net complaining about me. She made up different complaints and senarios about me. She went all over the net to do this. Then she filed with Visa to get all her money back after she got her disk and all her pictures. Visa NEVER sides with a vendor like me....vendors do not do well with Visa. Visa saw the images and the documents and sided with me!

So now Kelly is back at it again complaining about me. This complaint is proof. I really care about my clients and the excellence of my work. This is a sad situation. I have no idea how I would have avoided it. I am going to be more cautious about who I let hire me from now on. No one could have done any better in this crazy situation. It makes me sad!