Melvin E. Craig, The Detailing Pros Ripped off videographer, claimed dissatisfaction then used products to fullest Huntington Beach California

Mel Craig signed with me to create videos for his channel after we met at the Chamber of Commerce.  He told me stories of how "famous" he is and how important it was that his videos be professional.  I took that into account as a videographer and gave him everything I could in terms of quality and customer service.  He bullied me throughout our professional relationship and at the end ran out without paying me.

Every time he would see my work, which he later used and bragged about and even received praising calls from (I was standing there while his assistant took one of them), he would first take care to belittle me and bring up everything he could to make me feel inadequate, including mentioning how he ought to just hire his relative who was in film school but for "whatever reason" they wouldn't work with him.  I wonder why.   He would blame me for his choices in scenery, and for not telling him or his "Master Trainers" or his students when they weren't performing a detailing technique correctly or when he was wearing his glasses, watch, etc.

He blamed me for using bad photos, even though they were from a group of his hand-picked photos for me to use for that segment.  I explained I was not a detailer and that my responsibility was to the technical aesthetic, but he ignored me and continued to lay on blame.  Even when I began correcting the mistakes of others to the best of my ability, he would insist on seeing raw, unedited footage and keep me there for hours, blaming me for anything missed as well as complaining about the quality, despite my reminder that the footage was raw and not performance ready yet. 

He demanded that I give him direction regarding his online presence but then would deny my reccommendations and double check everything I said with less qualified individuals who were his friends, reasoning that I was "young and didn't know".  Even his friends would back up the vast majority of what I said, yet there was never an ounce more respect, credit, or weight to my words, despite My videos having exponentially large views in comparison with his subscriber base on YouTube, and the quality being professional. 

When he left and gave me no instruction for one of his videos except to "show up on x day and film everything", I ended up staying the whole day and doing my best to film anything I could.  When the "wrong" things were filmed or things were "left out", he became beligerent and frustrated at me for having to pay me for the day, despite having signed a contract saying he understood my hourly rates and final payment policy.  Out of respect I offered to come in and re-shoot at 40% off, and I took a loss to try and be a good contractor. 

I also came in and filmed a ribbon cutting event of his for an entire evening for free, neither of which he ever acknowledged.  I invoiced him for two final projects (which would have been done sooner had he not cancelled on me several times) and he said they would be ready the day I came in for a pre-production meeting for a big project, but that he needed the final product that evening.  Although I reminded him of my policy by saying I would drop off the files when I picked up my checks, I made a big mistake and trusted his words.  He CC'd me the password to his YouTube account and I sent him the final product the next day.

When it came time to discuss an upcoming project, he had emailed me and his assistant texted me that they would be cutting checks for my last two invoices that evening.  I came by and only one check was there.  He said he could get me the last and larger one in two days, but I told him how badly I needed it and he said he'd cut it the next day.  he and his non-filming and non-media trained friend came in and began demanding direction and solutions for problems, but contradicting every viable solution I offered. 

He cited several occasions where I "messed up", even though both occasions were his choice and he was present during filming. I had to leave for another appointment at that point as he had the meeting running late, though not before he and his friend decided on a filming date and demanded I be there without even asking if I was busy or not. 

The next day he sent me a text saying, "i sent you an email, your services are no longer required".  and another when I asked him about my final check saying, "no more money".  I called him several times and he finally picked up.  All he said at first was, "no more money".  I asked him to expand on that.  He went into detail bullying me once more, claiming I didn't know anything about my feild, talking about how dissatisfied he was with the product, and how I knew nothing about business. 

I told him regardless of his sudden feelings, he was not excused from paying me for my work.  He then tried to tell me I was naive and he ahd a problem with my invoice, which he never had before with the same format.  I told him I could discuss it further with him but that it still didn't excuse him from payment.  I told him the videos were stolen property until they were paid for and he hung up on me.

That evening I sent him a cease and desist email and gave him 72 hours to pay for the videos, which were removed from the account.  He replied telling me to keep the videos, that they were poor quality and that I would not be getting paid, then threatened me with his lawyer.  The following day he reuploaded both my original videos and is profiting from them today, ignoring my letters and demands for payment. 

This is not the first case where he has tried to get off without paying.  Mytee is currently trying to sue Mel for doing the same thing, as well as many other cases if you care to look it up.  Do not do business with this man, there is no guarantee you will ever see any benefit.