CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION-VII

DISTRICT: SOUTH-WEST

GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI

FIRST FLOOR, PANDIT DEEP CHAND SHARMA SAHKAR BHAWAN

CASE NO.CC/517/15

          Date of Institution:-    09.10.2015

          Order Reserved on:- 05.02.2024

                     Date of Decision:-      03.07.2024

IN THE MATTER OF:

1. Mr.Rajkamal Sharma,

S/o Mul Raj Sharma

R/o E-13/8 VasantVihar,

New Delhi – 110057

2. Mr.JyotiChatterjee,

S/o Malay Chatterjee,

R/o E-6/14 VasantVihar,

New Delhi – 110057

.….. Complainant

VERSUS

Mr.SandeepBansal

R/o D-111, Westend Heights, DLF City Phase V,

Gurgaon, Haryana - 122009

.…..Opposite Party

Suresh Kumar Gupta, President

1. The complainants have filed the complaint under section 12 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as Act) with the allegations thatmarriage of the complainant no.2 was fixed with the daughter of complainant no.1 for 01.12.2013. The OP is a professional wedding photographer who is owner of website www.sandeepbansal.com. They came in contact with OP in August, 2013 and expressed their interest to engage his services for the wedding. The OP has assured that he is a professional and experience wedding photographer and his work is of supreme quality and having professional team members to execute the work. They engaged the services of OP for the wedding events from 29.11.2013-01.12.2013 and OP confirmed his appointment vide email dated 22.08.2013. The payment in equal amount was to be made in four steps i.e. upon confirmation of booking, two days before the commencement of shooting schedule, upon delivery of low rest digital files for foreclose and videos and upon delivery of final deliverable items. It was specifically agreed that OP would provide wedding album and disk containing digital copies of wedding photos and videos to their expectation. A payment of Rs.25000/- was made upon booking. The OP has shown his unavailability on the particular date and promised that sangeet event dated 29.11.2013 shall be captured by competent and professional photographers of his team.They have explained the quality, specification and their requirements with reference to the coverage of sangeet event in the video and image. The specific instructions were given with respect to the dance performances of friends and family members during sangeet event. On 29.11.2013, the introduced professional photographer was absent who was replaced by unknown persons. These persons covered the event in a callous and unprofessional manner which resulted in poor quality of videos and images taken during event. The OP did not pay any heed to their complaints. The email dated 28.05.2014 of complainant no.2 to OP shows there disappointment in the poor quality videos of sangeet event dated 29.11.2013.

2. The OP has assured to deliver the videos and images within a period of 3 months from third advance payment of 25% by 16.12.2013. The payment was made which was acknowledged by OP in email dated 18.12.2013. The description and time schedule is as under:

3. The albums were to be in the form of coffee table books of 12”x18” comprising 30 sheets. The OP has assured that he will deliver low ress images and videos after the conclusion of marriage dated 01.12.2013. The professional photographer delivers only those images which are best in his opinion as per standard practice. The client has to then select pictures from these selected images to convert into high resolution images. On 11.12.2013, OP has delivered low resolution images which were approximately 8000 plus as OP has uploaded all the videos and images without making any effort to select best pictures and videos. The selection of 150 pictures from 8000 plus images was a daunting task. They selected the images and informed the OP vide email dated 17.03.2014. On 21.03.2014, OP has provided proofs of images and email dated 21.03.2014 was received from OP.They have approved wedding/mehandi/sangeet album proof after clarification from OP qua size, shape and number of images/pages per photo album and mail dated 02.05.2014 was written to the OP. The mails were exchanged between them with respect to the images and designing album. The OP has unlawfully demanded Rs.27625/- from the outstanding amount of Rs.110500/-. They had informed OP vide mail dated 28.05.2014 about the very poor quality of the video images of the sangeet event and requested to provide raw uncut images for completing the task which was the duty of the OP as per the contract dated 22.08.2013. The email dated 27.05.2014 was sent for the payment of Rs.27625/- and said payment was made by them on 30.05.2014. The OP has promised to deliver finished photo wedding album within a few days but finished product was not delivered as promised. An email dated 22.06.2014 was sent by OP to complainant no.2 that delay was due to the reason that he was out of the town. On 01.07.2014, the OP has sent a text message to mother of complainant no.2 that he shall not be in a position to deliver final product i.e. wedding photo album and fraudulently sent a cheque no.504386 of Rs.6000/- dated 30.06.2014 as compensation for not fulfilling the promise as per agreement dated 22.08.2013. The said cheque was notencashed by them. They have relied upon the false assurances and promises of the OP and parted with Rs.110500/-. A legal notice dated 27.05.2015 was sent to OP for payment of compensation which was duly replied on 10.06.2015 by denying all the allegations. Hence, this complaint.

4. The OP has filed the reply to the effect that Vinod Gupta is the SPA of the OP who is well conversant with the facts of the case. The complainants have no locus standi to file the complaint. The allegations are false and frivolous which are made with malafide intention. The complainants have supressed the material facts from the Commission. The complainants have failed to place any agreement or contract between them.

5. On merits, it is averred that OP is a professional photographer having unblemished record. The complainants were initiallyreluctant to book the services of OP but they again came after a week but by that time the OP has booked another assignment for the said dates. The complainants have failed to make the payment in time but still the job was executed. There is no parameter to determine the expectation of the complainants. The OP has promised and delivered what he has promised to the best of his professionalism. The complainants have opted for standard 1080PXHD video i.e. video with average quality. It was made clear to the complainants that events will be covered by the professionals of his team as they were aware about his non-availability. No instructions to cover the friends and family members were given to his team mates by the complainants. The complainants have changed the schedule as apparent from email dated 11.11.2013 that sangeet event would be up to 1 AM but complainants forced the team members to cover the event till 3AM. It was agreed that OP shall provide services on 29.11.2013 for evening functions starting at 7.30PM but email dated 11.11.2013 shows that complainants also included extra event at 10AM. The entire event was covered though it was never agreed. The highly professional and competent team members have covered the event. The family members of the complainant were adamant on directing the team mates to click the images as per their whims and fancies as a result photographer had to click hundreds of photographs in order to satisfy the poses and expectations of the family members of the complainant till late night. The OP has requested to release the next instalment. The complainants have not filed any raw footage to substantiate the allegation of low video quality. As per agreed terms, the photos were to be delivered on the final selection by the complainants and not within 3 months from the payment of third advance payment. The complainants did not select the photographs and put pressure to deliver the album. The complainants are themselves guilty of not abiding by their commitment. The low ress images are converted into high ress images after selection of the images by the client. The complainants have failed to choose the photographs though 8000 plus photographs were delivered.  The OP has selected some of the photographs at the request of the complainants even then complainants were not satisfied with his services. The complainants have failed to do the final selection of the photographs in time.The payment of Rs.27,625/- was to make the complete payment of Rs.1,10,500/-. The video was edited and developed exactly as promised with the complainants. The complainants have received photograph in high resolution format, all videos produced and edited including raw footage of all the events and high resolution design and copy of all album layout developed by the OP. The conduct of the complainantswerehostile and violent and even mother of the complainant no.2 abused his team members and threatened that in the event of non-refunding of printing amount, the OP has to face dire consequences upon which OP has returned the amount vide cheque no.504386.There is no deficiency of service on his part. The allegations are false and frivolous and without any merit.

6. The complainants have filed their rejoinder wherein they have reiterated the stand taken in the complaint and denied the averments made in the written statement.

7. The partieswere directed to lead the evidence.

8. The complainants have filed their own affidavit in evidence and corroborated the version of complaint and placed reliance on the documents annexed with the complaint.

9. The OP has filed his own affidavit in evidence and corroborated the version of written statement and placed reliance on the documents.

10. We have heard the Ld. Counsel for the complainant as no one has tuned up on behalf of the OP to address the arguments and perused the entire material on record.

11. It is clear from the material on record that complainants have engaged the OP to cover the wedding events from 29.11.2013 – 01.12.2013. It was clear from the very beginning to the complainants that OP himself is not available on the dates as he has taken another booking for the said dates and even then complainants have engaged OP.

12. The allegation of the complainants is that the untrained photographer instead of the introduced professional photographer was sent by the OP though this allegation is denied by the OP. The complainants have not disclosed the name of the introduced photographer and further no evidence is lead to show that the photographer, who covered the event, was incompetent or thoroughly unprofessional. Mere bald allegation is not enough.

13. The allegations of the complainants are that the photographs and videos were not taken as per their expectations. The photographers have covered the event till the time it was over. Nothing is brought on record how their expectation was not met by the photographer. The complainants have not placed any photograph to show that images were not captured by the photographers or that proper videos of the events were not prepared as directed by them.

14. The payment schedule was duly agreed between the parties. The complainants had to make a total payment of Rs.110500/- at different levels.

15. The allegations of the complainants are that videos and pictures of poor quality but nothing is placed on record to substantiate this allegation.

16. The team of the OP has clicked more than 8000 plus images. The complainants have nowhere alleged that team of the OP has not covered the complete event or any particular ceremony or event was left which was of vital importance to them. The clicking of 8000 plus images itself shows that events were properly covered by the team of the OP.

17. The complainant have nowhere brought anything on record that it was the duty of the OP to select best images and videos. To our mind, the complainants are the best persons to select the images according to the event and no fault can be find with the OP if he has not selected the images.

18. The complainants after selecting the images have sent the same to prepare the album. The payment was made as agreed between them. The emails exchanged between the parties show that OP has decided to cancel the printing of the album and handed over link on email to download the high resolution copies of the album at their end and refunded the printing amount through cheque to them.The cheque given by the OP was allegedly not by way of compensation but by way of refund of the printing cost.

19. It is not the case of the complainant that the entire images have been kept by the OP. The exchange of email between them shows that OP has provided a link on email of the complainants to download the high resolution copies of the album for printing at their end. The OP was to get prepare the album from the link. The album was not prepared for one reason or other but at the same time the link was given to the complainants for printing at their end by refunding the cost of the printing as received by OP.

20. All the facts and exchange of emails between the parties show that there was no deficiency of service on the part of OP in covering the entire events starting from 29.11.2013- 01.12.2013. The complainants have failed to advance the allegations as set out in the complaint.

21. In view of above discussion, the complainant has failed to substantiate the allegations as set out in the complaint and accordingly the complaint is dismissed.

• A copy of this order is to be sent to all the parties as per rule.
• File be consigned to record room.
• Announced in the open court on 03.07.2024.