PHOTOGRAPHY SCAM WASHINGTON & OREGON

[selein]

Note to all brides in Washington and Oregon ---- Do not hire Nicholas Culesmith. He is a wedding photographer. He took $3,000 of our money & did the same to at least three other brides. He came to the wedding, took the pictures, showed us proofs (and we stupidly ordered prints & paid him more in advance) and was never heard from again.
He was in the Seattle area in 2002, later moved to Rainier, Washington, which is just over the border from Oregon. In Rainier, he attempted to first get a job at a local photography studio and later tried to sell his photography equipment. He was a regular at one particular bar in Rainier.
He is British & was very charming. What a snake!!!

 

[Jelly]

That''s horrible! What a nightmare. Good luck in finding the creep and getting every cent back!

 

[Lorelei]

That is DISGUSTING

What an evil , EVIL piece of rubbish he is

I am so sorry this happened to you and I hope the authorities put a stop to his terrible scheme ASAP. Unfotunately many con artists seem to have " the gift of the gab" and an incredible amount of charm - I suppose it helps with their MO.

As Jelly says good luck again with finding the creep and I hope you get every cent back, I am so sorry about the pictures, I hope you get them back.

 

[HOUMedGal]

Grrrrrr...what a creep!!! I hope you find his slimy butt and get your money AND your wedding pics!!!

 

[glaucomflecken]

OMG! How awful, I am so sorry to hear this, I cant believe someone would be so heartless to do something like that knowing how special wedding photos are. Please do let us know what happens!

 

[twon9767]

he also did this to my wife and i a couple of years ago. i do have a small claims judgement on him. no good because he has nothing in his name. if anyone knows where he is or if we can get him on fraud we will happily join in. thanks

 

[selein]

Hi-
Are you sure it is the same name??? I think we might be able to push the fraud angle, but I don't want to discuss it in an open forum. I'm sure you can understand why...

Thanks-
Selein

 

[Hamster]

http://www.wednet.com/vendors/comp.aspx?id=4516

Don''t know if this info is old though (just did a Yahoo! search for the name).

Would suggest that you lodge formal complaints with the proper authorities. Sometimes these scammers rely on people not making formal complaints to continue their scams.

 

[Layne]

What a jerk!
I would also make sure to file with the BBB, my guess is that you won''t be the first but the more warnings out there for future couples the better.

 

[Angry Groom]

Sorry to hear that Nicholas strikes again.

To make a long story short, everything that has been said is true. My wife and I were conned out of $1900 during the spring and summer of 2002 by Nicholas Culesmith. The major warning came when after he took our "engagement photos" in February of 2002, he did not deliver them until August 2002, three weeks prior to our wedding. I smelled a rat, fired him, and was lucky enough to find another photographer.

I had many conversations with Nicholas after our wedding date, and he promised to return the money. Ha ha. We filed a small claims case against him in his home town outside of Portland, Oregon. We won be default since he never responded to the summons. But due to "budgetary contraints" at that time, we were regretfully informed that the county holding jurisdiction could do nothing further. Crime does pay.

Anyway, I have already emailed the starter of this thread and am waiting a response. Just wanted to add another case to let you all know that this is indeed very real.

Sincerely,

Angry Groom (but happily married)

 

[selein]

Hello again -

It is clear that there are more cases out there, so I will ask that anyone with a potential claim, who is reading these email threads for the first time, please contact me directly with information, rather than posting any sensitive information to this site. We need to work together and retain an element of surprise.


I am very encouraged by the responses so far, and today I see that my posting has actually put Nicholas Culesmith''s name in Google and Yahoo search engines for something other than his wedding site. Hopefully our united work will save some nice couple in the future from losing photographs of their special day and thousands of dollars. If we have a happy ending, or at least some outcome worth reporting, I will be sure to put it on this site.

Thanks to all

 

[selein]

Hello to all-

The list is growing - this guy really did a number on a lot of couples. Thanks to all who have contacted me. It''s worse than I thought.

Be sure to warn your engaged friends not to hire NICHOLAS CULESMITH .