He Says, She Says: Raleigh Woman Wants Her Wedding Pictures

Ideally, weddings are a once-in-a-lifetime event. That is why so many couples hire professional photographers tocapture the special moments. A Raleigh woman called 5 On Your Side when she was notable to get her wedding photos.

The dispute involves a reorder of wedding pictures. It has gone on for more thanfour months and has turned into a major case of "he says, she says."

Veronica High hired Raleigh Studios to take photographs of her wedding last September. She paid photographer Cletus McLaurin $1,700 for his servicesand prints. The problem: She has not been able to get the $500 reorder she placedin April.

"He's giving us the runaround," High says. "He does good work. It's just unfortunateyou can't get the pictures from him."

High says repeated attempts to get the prints got her nothing but excuses.

"I just can't understand it," she says. "I'm a reasonable person."

It started when High called to check on the status of her reorder twoweeks after placing it.

McLaurin told her that he had not even submitted it because she did not pay up front. Then, she paid immediately. Weeks later, he told High he hadmissed package deliveries that might have included herpictures.

"He even claims that the lab messed up with theorder twice," High says.

When efforts to talk with McLaurin at his office in July became heated,High called 5 On Your Side.

"She was unreasonable and irrational," McLaurin says.

After repeated attempts to talk with McLaurin over the phoneand after talking with his attorney, the twofinally agreed to sit down with 5 On Your Side.

"I said if you'd like a full refund where wecould get all this resolved, I'll be gladto do it," McLaurin says.

Despite offering a full refund, McLaurinnow says the reason for the delay is that herecently realized High owes him money.

"The main reason Mrs. High has not been able to get her reprints is because there is a substantial balance left on her account," he says.

McLaurin claimed High owed him $153 for a price increase and more than $2,200 for "preview" pictures she did not return. He admits he never toldher about either.

The photographer has since dropped the price-increase issue because the reprint prices High paid were spelled out in her original contract.

Mclaurin agreed to give High the reorder if she returns thepreviews. But High says she returned the previewswith her reorder. McLaurin agreed to scour his office, saying perhaps hisintern hadmisplaced them.

McLaurin says he cannot find the previews. Though he claims she owes him for them, he again offered to refund herreorder payment. High did not wantthe refund, because the photographs are copyrighted, so McLaurin is the only one who can authorize reprints. The dispute may be headed to court.

There is a lesson to be learned in this case. The reorder deal got friendly and operated on "good faith" instead of with updated contracts. Alwaysremember to keep business separate from friendships.

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