Hilariously there are many suspicious five-star reviews raving about Steven on Yelp. Fakes written by himself or his wife.
Here are the actual, honest reviews he was not able to get deleted. Notice the same pattern: as soon as he gets paid, he checks out from the scene and never delivers what he promised. He sometimes claims he has cancer, in contrast to his blogs etc showing him maniacally as busy as ever.
Jack H.
Minneapolis, MN
1 star rating
2/16/2010
The most helpful thing I can say is contact the BBB website to see his F rating:
http://www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/photographers-portrait/steven-frischling-photography-in-niantic-ct-87014266
Steven Frishling was the worst part of my wedding. He never followed through with our contract and it took him over one year to give us disks which were supposed to be delivered to us in 6 weeks. It took several angry message, and a complaint to the Better Business Bureau to see anything other than the 12 initial photos which took him 3 weeks to deliver via email (these were contractually obligated to be delivered to us three days after the wedding).
If you want to be treated like you don't matter and ignored give him a try.
Catherine S.
San Francisco, CA
1 star rating
1/6/2010
I wanted to read the one star review Laura A. mentions as I never received my album from Steven, interesting how they aren't on here anymore??
Use him if you want, but be warned. If anyone reads this and had the same experience I'd like to hear from you. I've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau
http://www.newyork.bbb.org/Find-Business-Reviews/
found under Steven Frischling Photography, LLC
apparently so have 9 other people as he has an F rating on there. Wedding pictures are so important and I would advise anyone not to use this man. I even asked him for a reference, later to find out one of the so called references was his sister-in-law. I should have known when I felt pressured by him to commit, I had two months to plan my wedding so I sent off my check. I regret using him, I regret that I have no way to get that day back. I regret that I have no photos. I had to listen to him talk incessantly about his photographic achievements and I spent months emailing and calling him only to be told excuse after excuse, promised an upgraded album, promised extra photographs for the delay and never received them. Please don't waste your precious memories.
liz k.
New York, NY
1 star rating
Update - 5/24/2010
An update to my post -- I sued Steven to get our wedding album, and he never responded!! And he was served personally... I'm really not sure what he is thinking with this. I'm in the process of getting a default judgment against him, so we'll see what happens. But even then, if I get any money from him, which will be a challenge in and of itself, I have to go have someone else make an album. Very frustrating! Grrrrrrrrrr to using Steven!!
1 Previous Review: Hide »
*
1 star rating
6/1/2009
Working with Steven has been a nightmare!!!! Never ever ever think of using him for ANYTHING, wedding or otherwise. After signing the contract, he completely dropped off the face of the earth, and was 100% impossible to communicate with. He does not answer his phone, EVER, and almost never returns emails.
As far as the quality of the wedding pictures, a lot are good, I will admit, but his "formal" pictures were absolutely horrible. I know he said he does not like to do a lot of them, which was fine by me, but at least do a good job on the ones you do!! As for his choices for album pictures, he decided that a picture of my friend's behind-crack was appropriate, but that leaving my mother completely out of the album was okay??!!
It's now been 8 months since the wedding, and I still do not have the album, nor has he returned any of my 100+ emails and phone calls about it.
I finally got the entire collection of pictures taken that day (as opposed to the 600 he decided to put on the website) a few months ago, but only after emailing him multiple times a day for months on end (with no response from him EVER, no apology for the delay, nothing...just a disk in the mail one day).
I can see I'm not the only one who has had such a horrible experience with him, and I'm glad to see that his business is now "closed", but only as long as I still get my album. I'm thinking it'll take a lawsuit to get this done....very frustrating.
Jasmine L.
Coquitlam, BC, Canada
1 star rating
5/11/2010
Steven Frischling photographed my wedding on March 8, 2008 in Vancouver, BC. During the wedding and the weeks leading up to it, he was great and responsive, and even shot an impromptu engagement sessions for us, which wasn't part of our contract. He posted approx 50 edited images within a week of our wedding, which we were thrilled with, but it went downhill from there. He was initially responsive to emails, but as the summer wore on all we heard was that he was sidelined with injuries (we heard he tore some stomach muscles, others heard cancer) and he stopped responding to emails completely, although an "office assistant" by the name of Chad Kupp surfaced in October 2008, claiming to be helping Steven through his backed-up work. It was at this time that we finally received access to a gallery of those first 50 images - before, we had to manually download them individually from his blog. However, Chad has also stopped responding and to date we have yet to receive the rest of our pictures. In the meantime, Steven's flyingwithfish blog has been busy with posts everyday, and he even found time to launch a new business called the Travel Strategist in the summer on 2008. We are disgusted with his lack of professionalism.
A more detailed description of our terrible experience:
http://jasminered.xanga.com/704404623/open-letter-to-steven-e-frischling/
Kristin B.
Boston, MA
1 star rating
Update - 6/2/2009
Update:
It is now the day after my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY.
Still NO engagement session photos, still NONE of the edited photos I chose, still NO album, still NO archival prints, still NO word from Steven Frischling.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
*
1 star rating
12/11/2008
BRIDES BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!
DO NOT USE Steven Frischling Fishfoto. He is a bride's worst nightmare. Still waiting for my album. The wedding was June 2008 and I still have not received the album as stated in the contract. It is so sad b/c the man is a good photographer but what good is he b/c he DOES NOT produce the album or anything which is in the contract. He asks to be PAID IN FULL before the wedding another stupid mistake. Please don't to be scammed like so many of us.
FishFoto Photography Worldwide is NOT a business. It is a charity. You give money and get nothing in return.
If I could give 0 stars I would but yelp doesn't allow that.
patrick M.
Livermore, CA
1 star rating
5/13/2009
The biggest and only regret we have from our wedding was using Steven Frischlling as our photographer. Nine months after our wedding we still have neither our wedding album nor the prints which were specified in our contract. Judging by other reviews here, this is not an isolated incident. The only contact we have had with Mr. Frischling in the past 5 months was an email ripping us for having the audacity to contact a lawyer.
In my experience, the images we have seen from Mr Frischling are not worth the stress, aggravation, and time wasted that he has caused. Any talent he has as a photographer is completely offset by his lack of business acumen.
If you are considering Steven as your wedding photographer, I would suggest based on my experience that you look elsewhere. While he may take a few great shots, you shouldn't need to worry whether or not you will get what you paid for.
Will R.
Philadelphia, PA
2 star rating
Update - 3/27/2009
In a followup to my previous letter concerning this "business entity" and I use that term loosely, we have yet to receive what we have paid over $3,000.00 for. Why you may ask - because the photographer is refusing to complete the terms on his contract unless my wife and I sign an agreement that we will delete all negative comments that we made about his business. Can you believe this? Mr. Frieschling has been in breach of his contract with us since July 2008 and he and his wife have not been consistent in the stories that they are giving to us. He has refused to answer complaints from the Better Business Bureau.
He has companies writing about how good his photography is and how they have never had a problem with him. Of course they haven't - BECAUSE HE GETS PAID AFTER HE COMPLETES THE JOB. It is beyond my comprehension why we are being put through this turmoil. Yes, quality cost, but at this rate I should be getting what I paid for and interest.
1 Previous Review: Hide »
*
1 star rating
1/9/2009
I am a groom:
Here is my first hand review of Mr. Frischling's photography. Our wedding was held in July 5th of 2008. Mr. Frischling was paid in full April. It is now January and Mr. Frischling has yet to fulfill the terms of his contract. I concur with everything that was said by Magnolia M. I AM NOT KARA LEE.
Because of the actions and conduct of Mr. Frischling, I am now being forced to hire an attorney in Connecticut as and seek legal action as weel as punitive damages against him from failure to honor his contract. We have very few pictures to show from our wedding. My wife is distraught because she thought that she had hired a PROFESSIONAL photographer who would capture the spirit of our wedding as it was meant to be. STEVEN FRISCHLING FAILED US MISERABLY.
If anyone wishes to contact me on this matter, please do so I will give you all of the specifics as to what he promises to deliver and what you actually get. Steven - I have no problems being honest - what about you?
H. M.
San Francisco, CA
1 star rating
2/18/2009
DO NOT USE STEVEN.
We were woo'd by all the pictures of weddings Steven has done. We were woo'd by all the the photojournalism. But, had we known that we would never receive all the pictures (fully downloadable, not just viewable) and that Steven would stop responding to us altogether, we would rather have had 'uncle Eddie' take pictures with an old 110 camera.
He promised us verbally on our wedding day that we would have all our pictures within 2 weeks. This is considered a verbal contract. He sent us 12 pictures the day after our wedding, but when the two weeks came and went, and we had only received those 12 pictures, he made excuses. Over a month later, Steven began to claim he could not edit our pictures due to illness, specifically, cancer. At this point, he was already in breach of a portion of the original contract, to have a "50 image online gallery in 48 hours".
Now, I am not one to disbelieve someone claiming cancer, having seen first hand the suffering it causes, but he was still shooting engagement sessions and weddings in the same frequency as before the cancer! Still, I offered to take the pictures completely unedited, and skip any printing or the complimentary album Suzanna (his wife) offered (free, because of the delays). This would have meant a maximum 1/2 hour burning the pictures to disc and dropping in the mail. Steven could not be bothered to respond to these suggestions/accommodations either (even though he was still working, and maintaining a blog with near daily entries, that certainly took more time and energy than burning a disc).
He then invoked the contract, sort of. He said he would get us our pictures in 90 days (the contract actually reads "approximately 12 weeks").
90 days after our wedding we had no more pictures than the 12. The contract breached again, and effectively voided by Steven, we emailed one last time stating that we would soon be reversing the credit card charge payments we had made to him. Steven didn't respond. I cried when I called my credit card companies to dispute the charges, knowing I would only ever have 12 pictures of my wedding.
Steven did start responding after we reversed the charges, but to date, we still do not have more than the 12 printable pictures of our wedding.
There are talented professionals out there. In my opinion, Steven is not one of them.
Magnolia M.
Wando, SC
1 star rating
10/20/2008
Here's my "first hand" review, since Steven likes to go and get all of the negative reviews removed so he can add more fake reviews to boost his review star score. DO NOT USE STEVEN FRISCHLING PHOTOGRAPHY!! He was extremely unprofessional and did not complete the contract of what was paid for!! He also did not shut up the entire time he was photographing us. He promised to be "in the background" the whole day. Well, the whole day he put his two cents into every single conversation, and drove my family members crazy. Especially me! So there you go Steven, there's my "first hand" review.
* I AM NOT KARA LEE. Leave her out of this, you aparently have some serious issues going on and mine is just a complaint. And you know what Steven, you're so quick to respond to everyones negative reviews and get them removed, yet you can't respond or answer anyones phone calls about their wedding photo's they never recieved. This is a place for negative and positive reviews. Let people speak their mind.
Jason H.
Brattleboro, VT
1 star rating
Update - 10/17/2009
It is interesting that the truthful negative reviews keep disappearing on this site. Steven is a crook, pure and simple! We are still looking to receive our wedding ceremony photos after nearly a year and a half, he will not return phone calls and emails, and he is apparentlly hiding behind a supposed bankruptcy. Currently we are seeking assistance from the Attorney Generals and consumer fraud departments of three states to attempt to get Steven and his awful wife to complete their end of the bargain and get to us all of the images that we paid for, I am assuming we will never see the album. Despite the ridiculous "we love Steven" reviews that suddenly appeared, and the true and negative reviews that disappeared, don't trust this dishonest jerk.
3 Previous Reviews: Hide »
*
1 star rating
7/15/2009
Be cautious about hiring Steven Frischling for anything. Steven has no integrity. It has been over a year since our wedding and we still do not have all of the images from our wedding. He refuses to make contact with us, and avoids our calls. He "attempted" to send the images on disk, but sent someone elses images and cannot be reached to correct the problem. AVOID THIS PHOTOGRAPHER LIKE THE PLAGUE YOU WILL BE DISSAPOINTED IF YOU DO NOT
This is a very difficult review to write. DO NOT consider Steven Frischling for your wedding or any other item, while a wonderful photographer he has proven to be unreliable and a terror to deal with, not returning phone calls or making contact in a timely manner. I was friends with Steven for many years and had the utmost respect for him, that is until he photographed our wedding nearly a year ago. Steven has claimed to be ill, which I can neither confirm or refute, and I would have been more than happy to give him plenty of extra time to complete the work, but he REFUSES to contact me. Only after many attempts have I received impersonal emails promising that I would receive the rest of my photos on disk, something which has never materialized. He refuses to answer the telephone or reply with a phone call, which makes me suspicious of his integrity and truthfulness. I cared about Steven as a good friend and he has treated my wife and I like this, I can only imagine the hell he has put other couples through. We are nearly at our first anniversary and I would love to see the rest of our wedding photos, I hope that Steven steps up to the plate someday and provides them.
This is an additional review-the other reviews apparently "dissapeared"
*
1 star rating
6/5/2009
I am still attempting to contact Steven to no avail, our families are upset that at our one year anniversary we still only have the images from the online album to show, not all the images from the wedding, no album, etc. What a nightmare Steven is to deal with. He will not make contact or fulfill his obligations
Still no contact and it has been over a year since our wedding
*
1 star rating
5/19/2009
This is a very difficult review to write. DO NOT consider Steven Frischling for your wedding or any other item, while a wonderful photographer he has proven to be unreliable and a terror to deal with, not returning phone calls or making contact in a timely manner. I was friends with Steven for many years and had the utmost respect for him, that is until he photographed our wedding nearly a year ago. Steven has claimed to be ill, which I can neither confirm or refute, and I would have been more than happy to give him plenty of extra time to complete the work, but he REFUSES to contact me. Only after many attempts have I received impersonal emails promising that I would receive the rest of my photos on disk, something which has never materialized. He refuses to answer the telephone or reply with a phone call, which makes me suspicious of his integrity and truthfulness. I cared about Steven as a good friend and he has treated my wife and I like this, I can only imagine the hell he has put other couples through. We are nearly at our first anniversary and I would love to see the rest of our wedding photos, I hope that Steven steps up to the plate someday and provides them.
Shaunelle R.
Philadelphia, PA
1 star rating
1/6/2009
I used this photographer for my wedding and I have come to regret it. Seven months later, I have not received any discs, prints or my album, even though the contract stated that I would have everything within a three month time period.
When first interviewing Steven, he claimed that we did not have to worry about travel costs because he had so many frequent flyer miles. And our engagement shoot, he told us that the flight for the wedding was booked and what time he would be arriving. We were late with our last payment because we had so many payments to take care of and his wife, sorry pseudo business manager raised the price on us by almost $1000 because " the price of tickets had gone up". Now my business mind tells me, that if you knew what you were doing and had an ounce of integrity, the airfare would have been taken care of from the time the first downpayment was made. But alas, not so with this company.
Fast forward to the wedding and he did take some fantastic shots, but to date I only have a total of probably 70 or 80 out of 2500 shots.
Now is Steven's defense, he claims to have had health issues and emailed me to let me know this ( a few weeks before my package was due), he claims to have sent me my discs since Thanksgiving, and I haven't received anything, when I asked for a tracking number, he gave me one that the postal service did not recognized. Doesn't this sound fishy? ( pun intended).
Two days after Christmas, my grandmother passed away, and I emailed Steven to ask if I could at least have the pictures of her for the funeral since she attended the wedding. DO you think that he even had the decency to respond??? Of course not! Hence this review on yelp and every other site that I can find.
It is a shame, because he really is a gifted photographer and I would have been thrilled to give him an outstanding review, but his customer service is seriously lacking and the only time he and his pseudo management team is in contact is when a payment is due.
If you want to risk not getting your pictures by all mean use Steven...
katelyn k.
New Haven, CT
1 star rating
Update - 7/9/2009
Steven's wife contacted me on yelp a few months ago, apologized, promised the album, and........STOPPED CORRESPONDING WITH ME ONCE AGAIN. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????? Here is the proof, for those of you that don't believe us, that they are a bunch of scammers. I was married on September 9, 2006. We're 2 years, 9 months, 9 days, and counting....... Susannah S. Block User 5 months ago If you receive your album and prints will you remove this and other online posts as well as your complaint from BBB? katelyn k. 5 months ago Um, yes. That's the point. All I want is what I paid for, and for Steven to do the right thing. I am 9 months pregnant, and really don't like dealing with the stress of this anymore. I get so upset when I look at my wedding photos because of this situation, and I just want it to be over with. I appreciate your responding to me, as I have had no contact for the last year and a half. All I want for Steven to complete his end of the contract. Thanks Susannah. Susannah S. Block User 5 months ago ok. let me figure this out and i will deliver them to you. steven has some real issues and i am sorry you were caught up in this. Susannah S. Block User 5 months ago email me at _(email address omitted by me so this review won't be flagged and deleted by steven again)___________ and i will figure out what you need and get it to you.
2 Previous Reviews: Hide »
*
1 star rating
1/2/2009
This review is a ZERO....well, it seems my review has mysteriously disappeared, but my will to let people know how this photographer treats his fully overpaid clients is not....DO NOT USE HIM. almost two years later, and still have not received my album, after going through a lawyer. I, someday, will come up with the money to bring him to court, and put this all to rest. Until then, unfortunately, it looks like he keeps getting away with all the terrible things he has done to many other brides on their most special day. How he can deal with this...I don't know. He lives in his own world obviously, and is completely annoying while in yours.
*
1 star rating
4/22/2008
If there was a zero stars for a rating, I would choose that. I could not disagree more with the previous review. He photographed our wedding a year and a half ago, and we still have not received our wedding album. We only received our photos 6 months ago (which was over a year after our wedding date), and had to go through a lawyer to get them because he refused to return any phone calls or emails. DO NOT USE THIS PHOTOGRAPHER. By the way, he has our $4200, and he still has not completed his end of the contract.
Jason H.
Brattleboro, VT
1 star rating
12/30/2009
It amazes me that the negative reviews disappear regularly while the positive reviews stay. Steven Frischling is a liar and a thief, photographing our wedding then never following through with all of the photos as he promised, or an album. He was once a close and trusted friend but proved to be nothing but a liar and cheat. If you look around I am sure you will find the "disappearing" reviews from all of the other couples he cheated-stay away from him at all costs!!!!
Jacques N.
Berkeley Heights, NJ
1 star rating
12/19/2009
I am glad that some people had good experience with Steven, but it is not my case. I paid Steven $750 for a PhotoBootCamp that he had organized last June. Because he could not get enough people to be available the same day, he eventually cancelled the shoot. He promised to reimburse us, but now 6 months later, I still have not seen my money. I see no other option but to seek legal recourse if I do not see my money in the next few weeks. How easy is it to spoil one's reputation!
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