David M. Davad, Matrimovie Delivery of product, unconsionable contract, horrible communication Ripoff Schaumburg Illinois

We contacted David M. Davad in January 2004 to film our wedding which took place in July 2004. I was looking for a videograher and got his company's info off the internet. My fiance and I contacted him and made an appointment to see him. We met him and he was a very nice, pleasant person. We hired him to do the video. He handed us a contract which was 3 pages long with 8pt font all in single space. I started to read it, but he steped in and said" it's just a standard contract." He seemed trusting enough so we signed it, little did we know it would bite us in the ass.

He came to film our wedding ceremony and reception. He left before the reception was done, but we understood we contracted him for only eight hours. He left and seemed to be in good spirts. He never mentioned to us anything that was amiss.

I call the following week to get an update on our video and says we are 7th in the queue.We had no contact till the middle of Sept. when he spoke to my husband and told him he didn't receive the additional material for the video. We sent out our music and our only copy of our honeymoon video. We didn't have contact with him until I started getting worried in december. I called him, but all I got was his answering machine. I left him a message. I waited a week for a response, but nothing. Between my husband and I we called him a total of at least 30 times and left about 15 messages.

I got tired and emailed him. I didn't get a response till three weeks later from his wife saying he was injured and could not finish our video. Mind you this was already over 5 months and still no sign of our video.

By this time I had filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. He responded to the BBB saying that it was our fault! He's the one who never botherd to talk to us! Anyways, so eventually he tells us that our video is ready.

I drive all the way to Schaumburg to the UPS store, expecting what I paid for. Instead I receive one raw footage copy on VHS and bill for an additional $1000. According to him, the extra charges were for overtime and a damaged tripod, which he mentioned nothing about neithe at the wedding nor in the months following. I also had to sign a release form saying that I would not sue him or ask anything of him. I scratched almost everything out and signed it.

This did not make him happy. He threatened to sue us, for what, I do not know. He's such an idiot who thinks he knows it all. Apparently,he thought his stupid little contracts protect him.

Oh, I forgot to say that the "standard" contract we signed in Jan 2005 said we relinquish all rights to a law suit or sueing or anything. The whole contract has clauses to this effect about 100 times.

Of course my husband and I are appalled so we take a risk and give the contract to an attorney who said that not only was the contract unconsionable, but is also void. She also said it was the most ridiculous innane contract she'd ever read.

Once I told Mr. Davad this, he sort of gave up. We agreed that he would send us a the digital raw footage tape and would drop all his additional charges, except for his tripod (which I'm 99.9% sure was not damaged at my wedding).

We received the tape and our honeymoon video, which he claimed for months did not receive.

In the end I had to send the tape to be edited by someone else and we just received our finished video last week (Septmeber 2005).

Moral of the story is: DONT LET THIS ASSHOLE FILM YOUR VIDEO! He's a vile and corrupt person with no human emotions or empathy. This whole episode that lasted over one year was a horrible nightmare. I have not even told most of the story.

I am not the only person to be ripped off by him, at my last check he had 9 BBB complaints.

Jessica
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.