It's important that all producers reading this PM me here to get this valuable information!
this information is vital. do not get scammed by this guy!
Here's the back info.
I got a first time email from someone wanting a custom with Vivian. we were supposed to shoot with her in 2 days and he asked for a custom. He asked for a full story and wardrobe that included Pencil Skirt, white shirt, red tie, hair done up in a bun, black high heels, and a waistcoat.
We printed out his story and followed it as written.
We edited and delivered the project the next day
(we had 2 other customs with Vivian so editing took no time)
The client watched it and emailed me that he had wanted a wasit coat and i had given him a business coat (suit coat) This was an error on my part as I confused what a waistcoat was. in my head I was sure it was the same as a business jacket but I was wrong and it was actually a vest.
20 minutes after writing the first email about the error with the jacket I get a long winded email from him telling me i was in breach of the services and good act of 1982. and that he was entitled to a full refund of his 200 pounds (roughly $320 USD)
He told me I had 24 hours to send him a full refund or he would seek legal action.
I explained that I would be willing to offer him a reshoot but he wanted a full refund because one woman in the custom was not wearing a waistcoat.
he then started to escalate his threats and i realized he was just looking for a free custom.
I told him to have his lawyer contact me and she did..... except that the email came from a law firm that didn't exist. the email address came from a website that didn't exist! I googled the name of the lawyers firm and found that there was no listing for that name in the UK (or anywhere else for that matter) What I did find was that the website had once existed....but the domain name lapsed in 2008
(how curious)
I then got another email from him saying that he was sitting with his lawyer at the moment and that she wanted an answer.
I then googled the local time in the UK and found that it was 1:00am in the UK. what lawyer is still in her office and sending out introduction emails at 1am while sitting at her desk with him present?
I told him as much and he has since not returned emails.
This guy looks to get free customs by extorting producers. threatening him with lawsuits and exposure.
I am posting this here because I want every producer to contact me privately so i can give them his names used (there were two) his email, his ip address, the name of his paypal and some more info on him.
If this person contacts you beware that he is looking to extort you and looking to get a free custom. he will nitpick it and then decide to go with a lawsuit if a refund is not issued.
if you do decide to shoot his custom be prepared for the wall of legal text he throws at you and the threats of exposure, ruining of company name, etc. Under no circumstances should you feel fear when you see the lawyers email. its a bogus address.
if you want more details please contact me here via PM
This person is a freeze client so he probably has access to this forum. its probably where he is picking his victims from.
Be carful guys.
P.S.
Also i would like to point out that mistakes have happened in the past and I have had to give out refunds to clients and have either fully refunded or partially refunded depending on the error. I have even gone so far as to give a full refund and then offer a bunch of our movies on top of that as a way of saying "sorry it didn't work out" as of this moment I am waiting for the C4S check so i can hand out two refunds for the liz river shoot that never happened. so its not like I am trying to screw a guy because he wants a refund. I am looking to expose a scam artist.I'm sorry for having to expose you guys to this.