Complaint Review: Viktor Snopkov - North Royalton Ohio

Viktor Snopkov came into my work with his wife, Polina, where I sell cameras, a handful of times looking to get into photography.  He saw some success from a local couple at his church, Essence Of Love Photography, whom he would often criticize and talk down upon, and felt he could do much better.

Viktor knew nothing about cameras or photography, so he relied heavily on my knowledge and recommendations.  He was very impressed with some photo samples that I showed him from my portfolio, so much in fact that he asked me to personally train him.  He seemed like a good guy, so I accepted an invite to go to his apartment for pizza while I trained him on some photography basics.

We then became friends, going out to shoot together a couple times while I continued to train him on everything I knew.  He started to mention that if I ever wanted to start a business, that he would just like the chance to be a part of it.

He continued over the next month to come into my work to buy things for his camera, his stash ultimately grew to over $10,000 worth of equipment.  I helped him get very good discounts for being a loyal customer.  I even gave discounts to some of his other family members.  He then started to ask me that if we started a business, that we would be "50/50".

Viktor then came to me with an offer to photograph his niece, Tanya Ryshkova, who was just 16, and her boyfriend.  The day of the shoot, Tanya's boyfriend flaked out the very last minute, making her very upset, but we continued as planned to photograph her as good learning experience for Viktor.

Just over a week later, Viktor and Tanya call me and meet me after work to ask me to have another photoshoot.  I agreed and we set the date.  The first shoot was in an abandoned building on the east side of Cleveland.  At first I was stunned to see that Viktor brought his baby daughter, Sonya, who had to be around a year old with us to that dangerous area and dirty building.

Just after an outfit change, Tanya was bending over making a clothing adjustment, un-posed, Viktor was sneaking pictures of her.  He then busted out a laugh, and told Tanya to come have a look, which then she laughed and said that "he got my nipple!".  I was creeped out.  That was wrong on so many levels.

After a couple hours of shooting, we leave and Viktor drops his daughter off at a families house and we head to a new location.  This next spot was a creek where Tanya wore a bikini. 

After we edited those bikini pictures and sent them to Tanya, she posted them to her MySpace.  Her boyfriend as well as Viktor's wife were upset about those photos.  Her boyfriend felt that it was creepy that 2 "old guys" took those pictures of her and Polina felt that Tanya was trying to "seduce" Viktor during the shoot.

I even had pictures of Viktor, taking pictures of Tanya during the shoot up on my Flickr page, and Viktor asked me to take them down because his wife was so upset.

As far as the "nipple slip" pictures go, back at Viktor's apartment a week or so after the shoot, while Polina was out of the room, Viktor showed me the pictures, which he had hidden so his wife would not find them.  He heard his wife coming back into the living area and he quickly closed them out.

There was red flags and drama everywhere, but me and Viktor continued to talk about a potential business.  Maybe I was blinded by how much money he was spending on his equipment.  We agreed to take the steps to get started in a business venture.  I agreed to pay for half the domain names, hosting, and a flash website template.  This came out to a total of $320 for us to split.

While selecting a website layout, we ran into more problems.  His wife got involved in every decision, now making it more difficult for us to find a middle ground.  I more so, felt like the odd person out because I had to not only convince Viktor that I liked something, but also his wife.  We eventually selected a layout, but then the very next day, Polina found something she did not like and they wanted to change it.

At this point, I had enough and wanted out.  I was the one with experience and I was started to bend way too far.  It was just 2 months ago at that point that he came into the store looking to buy a camera.

Viktor came into my work to activate a new phone for his wife and happened to see me.  I told him how frustrated I was, he said "I know" and looked over toward his wife's area and said "sorry bro", like I should understand or give some sort of sympathy for his relationship.

So now started the process of us canceling orders to get our money back.  I paid them in cash while they used their credit cards, and there was no contract - a double negative by me, I know.

A couple days passed, and Viktor was refunded some of the money, both he and one of the companies confirmed this to me.  He said that there was a complication on one of the charges and that it might take a while to get the rest back.  I asked him for my half of what he already got back, but he said "sorry bro, but if I don't get paid back, I will lose too", which of course made no sense.  I got very upset and demanded my money back, but then I never heard from him again.

I still had contact with Tanya and Polina, but both have made excuses for Viktor not contacting me (out of town, number changes).  Tanya even called me childish and said that if she were me, that she would just "let it go".  Tanya even edited some of my photos, removing the copyright, a big no-no (she did remove them when asked).  I warned Polina that I could come public with my side of the story, and she said "I don't care.  Do what ever you want.  Good luck!!!"

All Viktor owes me is $131.

I know over the last year, Viktor bought an expensive gas-guzzling SUV, a huge HDTV, a top of the line notebook computer, and of course all that camera equipment.  It's not like he can't afford to pay me back.

I trained him on my own time, on my days off of work.  I helped him buy his camera and equipment, gave him discounts, showed him how to use his camera, showed him how to edit photos, and more.

They are probably mad because I backed out, but can you blame me?  I should have not got involved in the first place.  Still, it does not excuse their actions.  You don't treat people that way.  In my opinion they are unprofessional, dramatic, creepy, scumbags.

I would avoid them at all costs, both professionally or personally.