In the fall of 2007 my fiance and I met with Steph Miller of Distinctive Images in Lancaster, PA to discuss his service for our wedding. Upon meeting with Steph we signed a contract and paid a deposit that day for our wedding on August 16th of 2008. Later in the year my wife had to drive from Allentown to Lancaster to pay the remaining balance on the contract. The contract included Steph and one of his associates working the night of our wedding, engagement photos with album, and wedding album. The night of our wedding Steph and one his associates arrived and took all of our photos as promised. It was what transpired in the following months that has brought us to where we are today. Steph told us on our wedding day that the album would be completed and sent to us with a couple of weeks. It is now almost August 16th of 2010, two years after our wedding. My wife and I have a one year old son already and we have still yet to receive our wedding album. There is far more to the story. During the course of the past two years my wife has consistently called Steph for updates. After the first couple of weeks went by and we still had no album my wife called again. Steph said the album would be there by Christmas. Again no luck and no word from Steph updating us or telling us what was going on. My wife called again and again, at least twice a month until Steph finally returned our call in March of 2009 to tell us he had fallen ill and was unable to get the album completed. He was so ill apparently he nor anyone that worked for him could return any of our calls to let us know of his condition. Still, my wife and I are reasonable people so we told Steph we understood. He said give him a few more weeks and the album would be done. So again we waited. And again, no album and no phone calls. My wife called consistently again. It was now a year. Steph had changed his phone number multiple times at this point. The most frustrating part of it all was that his website included photos and information regarding new contracts he was taking on, however he had not a few minutes to call us and update us on our album. The next time we heard back from Steph was over a year later, May of 2010. Steph called again, and again he told us he was sick. His voice sounded as though he was in agony. My wife told him that this time she was not buying it. That she felt bad for him the first time but now it was too much. Sick or not he was under contract and he could at least return a phone call or have someone else call us for him. He could also offer to refund us the money if he was physically unable to perform the duties stated in the contract. He said give him until the end of May. We told him no and we gave him till the end of the week. Again he changed his number and his address. No notifications. No phone calls. By this point it was June and my wife and I were all over the internet reading horror stories of at least twelve other couples who had eerily similar stories as us where Steph said he was not well. Yet continually his website was updated with new clients he was taking on. Some people were banding together to take him to court. One couple posted that he has some way of manipulating his way out of small claims court through appeal. We have threatened him several times with taking him to small claims court and ironically the next day he returns our call. Then he disappears again. On one last attempt my wife visited his website and was able to find the phone number of one of his employees (a photographer) and gave him a call. When she spoke with him he told her that he was in the process of taking him to court because Steph would not remove his name from his website. He also told my wife that we are not alone. He told her that he has been called by over ten other crying women begging him for any help he could give. He told us that Steph fakes an illness but can never deliver because he spends the money that is paid upfront and consequently does not have the money to create the album. Allegedly Steph has some addictions that he must handle first before he adheres to his contractual obligations. It is now two years later and here we stand with no album and no contact from our seemingly reliable photographer. The sad thing is, is that he is still out there and still admittedly taking new clients (or victims, however you choose to see it). If this story can help other future families out in anyway, in my mind our money was well spent.
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