ComplaintsforApril Dippy Design, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  https://www.facebook.com/101889439095334/posts/115076171109994/https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10227745300407581&id=********** Our office hired April *********************************************** Design to build a website which was to inckude photographs & a video interview, She did not deliver teh completed website after numerous complaints. She subcontracted with a photographer for photos and the video interview of the ************** of the law firm. She attended and assisted in the photo shoot. She and her photographer took *************** of us and then used them for their own commercial/marketing purposes, she published them on the web/social media without our consent & has refused to remove them despite our repeated written "cease and desist" demands. She and her photographer then submitted a separate invoice in contradicting of our understanding with her. She has refused to remove the private photos and videos and they continue to use these for their own commercial purposes and has refused to refund the money advanced to her for completion of the total website.

  Business response

  04/07/2022

  The website was 90% completed and submitted to the ********* for review when we discovered she did not like the images of herself because they were not photoshopped enough. To date she has never commented on the already completed video posted on the website as we discussed. It was clearly communicated in her agreement in writing and personally with the photographer that photo processing beyond basic editing could be an additional charge depending on time, in which case her requests were excessive, though he attempted to problem solve with her as well. We discussed 2 separate occasions on the phone that the photographer would **** her separately because the photos were an optional add on to the website construction and design. Also, the website design and deposit were clearly marked as a separate expense in my quote, I simply did basic math for the overall cost of the site upon her request so we all knew what the budget was, and never was communicated that I was billing for the photographer or on anyone else's behalf. The 50% website payment was expressed that it would be used to create the structure and design of the website buildout and pay for expenses incurred for up front costs like website themes, personnel hours, stock imagery, etc. The initial payment was never said to be refundable or based on the project being completed, though every effort has been made to do so.

  In addition to the website design and photo/video portion of the job I was hired and directed to create *********** social media accounts for a total of $600. I completed this portion of the project and have subsequently been refused payment for the website, social media design/growth and also the photographer for his work, despite dozens of attempts to effectively remedy and understand how we can move forward amicably to finish the project to her expectations. I am happy to provide the full scope of work and visuals done on the website and social media including construction, design, photography, video, and copywriting that was very close to being finalized and then abandoned.

  None of the photographers images or video have been placed on a publicly viewable place to date, they were only used in the inactive-draft website. When growing *********** social media pages I used a few pieces of behind-the-scenes content as teasers to announce the coming of the website and then the photographer shared only those images to his personal social media pages in early March as shown in the screenshot. ********* saw them, liked and even commented on them on both, thanking us and was not ever without her knowledge or clearly expressed support.

  There is a total of $2600 outstanding from my invoices of nearly completed work that I have offered for her to have someone else finish instead of wasting months of work, and another $1975 that the photographer was not paid after her and her team's full participation in hiring him and proceeding with the photography, videography and voice over work to provide the firm with a high quality production. I have offered to hand over social media account administration and remove myself upon them being appropriately compensated per our agreement, and they are then free to delete whatever posts they would like. I will make sure there is no further connection from my page to hers as soon as that is completed. It was stated in one email that she would consider it "tampering with evidence" if I touched her social media pages so I will not do that myself.

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