William Komer, head of The United People of Canada, argued that the group’s eviction from St. Brigid has been illegal since the notice was served on August 17th. The church owner claims TUPOC failed to make payments to secure the deal and also breached the lease. A decision on the eviction notice will be made no later than Sept. 27, a judge said Monday. But Komer’s for-profit businesses, Campus Creative and Under The Umbrella Studios, have both been accused of taking deposits or payments for wedding photos or videos and then either not delivering or in some cases not showing up at all. Eight customers shared stories with Newstalk 580 CFRA about their experiences with the two companies. All said Komer and company representatives have been unreachable for weeks, as they have dared to get their photos and videos or their money back. The eight couples claim to have exceeded $20,000 and one has filed a police report. Voice messages left by Newstalk 580 CFRA with both companies were not returned. Komer, owner and chief executive of both London-based companies, did not respond to voicemails, text messages or emails with detailed questions about the customers’ claims and whether or not they will receive refunds. When asked about the matter outside the church of St. Brigid, moved away.

Customers describe bad experiences, fight for refund

Sam Shamblaw of Waterloo, Ont. hired Under The Umbrella (UTU) for their June 11 wedding. He said they paid a $565 deposit on March 12. Shamblaw had no trouble communicating before their big day, saying the videographer was great, and followed up by sending a draft video in late June. The couple paid their bill in full on June 29, another $565, ​​sent an email on July 5 to request minor changes to the draft and asked how to access their videos. When they didn’t find out right away, they weren’t worried, given that it’s a busy time of year for weddings, an industry that’s also still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. But communication stopped completely, and after seeing similar stories online, Shamblaw began to worry. “It all started coming to light on Facebook and I contacted a few people to see what was going on with them,” she told Newstalk 580 CFRA in a phone interview, which sent her into a “panic” and reaching out to anyone she could. contact the company. When she followed up with the videographer in person, she said she no longer worked there and gave her another contact, who was also no longer with the company. Shamblaw reached out to Komer directly via email and on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to try to get in touch. There was no response from Komer. She doesn’t think she’ll get her money back and feels she’s been “scammed,” but beyond the $1,130, she says she feels they’ve been robbed of some precious memories, including the video of their big day. “The thought that this might be lost is more important than the money,” Shamblaw said.

Couple ‘Ghosted’ for Months Before Labor Day Wedding

Megan Schmidt of Waterloo, Ont., also hired UTU for photos of her Sept. 3 wedding. She hired the company in February and paid a $1,412 down payment, but said she was “ghostly” until the night before her wedding. After not hearing from UTU for eight months, she said Komer called around 10 p.m. on Sept. 2, the night before the wedding, to say his team was available if needed. Schmidt didn’t trust the interaction and had already tried to find another videographer on short notice, but she wanted her money back. In a Sept. 4 email, Komer said someone “almost died and was in the hospital,” which had led to delays, but a refund was in the works. He did not elaborate, and Schmidt has not heard from him since. She is still seeking a refund and plans to dispute the charges with her credit card company, but is losing hope of getting her money back. “At this point, people planning weddings, people are strapped for cash, it’s horrible that they’re taking $1,400 from me and more from other people and robbing them of their memories,” she said. She also encourages wedding planners to do their due diligence to avoid these situations, even if she thought she had. “Do your research, read your Google reviews,” he said. Schmidt’s twin sister, Chrissy, also booked with UTU for her upcoming wedding in January and has been unable to contact Komer or anyone else at the company since learning of her sister’s experience two weeks ago. He would also like the $1,400 down payment back. Kayla MacLean of St. Mary’s, Ont. faced a last-minute cancellation before her wedding after booking photography and video from Campus Creative. She became concerned when she didn’t hear from the company in the weeks leading up to the August 27 date, and finally tried to make serious contact the week of the wedding. MacLean said her wedding coordinator and everyone in her wedding party called multiple times and left voicemails with the company and their previous contacts, sent messages on Instagram, but still nothing. It forced MacLean to book another photographer and videographer at the last minute. He said he still hasn’t heard from anyone at Campus Creative. Her contract has been canceled on her online portal, although she is still receiving notices to pay her bill in full, which she won’t do. MacLean would like her $1,600 deposit back, but said in an email, “Her heart goes out to the brides who were unable to find another photographer for their day.”

A fraud complaint made to the OPP by a customer

Another bride, Stephanie Steele of Ingersoll, Ont., filed a fraud complaint with the Ontario Provincial Police and is concerned if her photos exist. Steele and her husband Bobby hired UTU for their June 24 wedding. The couple say they were kept in the dark for months until representatives were able to meet the week of the wedding. The company then committed to the video call meeting it had scheduled two days before the wedding, Steele said, a call she waited on for more than an hour before realizing no one was coming. Several hours later, she received an email claiming there were technical difficulties and, increasingly nervous, agreed to meet the day before the wedding via video call with two people she had never met before. Two photographers came to the wedding and went to other locations to take pictures, including a family farm, but the customer service left a lot to be desired, Steele said. One was decked out in camouflage and had to be told to stop swearing, he said, while family members were also upset that the photographer blocked them from seeing important moments. “After the ceremony, my dad told me he would have thrown a book at the photographer if he had, which is not like my dad,” Steele told Newstalk 580 CFRA in a phone interview. Her new husband’s family also had the same problem as Steele and her father walked down the aisle. “Our guests were there to witness and nobody could see anything,” he said. Four weeks after the wedding, Steele went ahead and got a link to a preview of about 100 photos, but he says none of them were momentous and many were terrible in quality. Then daily unanswered calls began and she began receiving notices starting July 24 that her final payment was overdue. “I stopped hearing from people and no one was answering me. I was leaving messages,” she said. “I called every day, multiple times a day, and never got through. I left messages and emails and never got a response from anyone. “So then I was kind of desperate because I’m thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’ It’s been 10 weeks and no pictures or anything.” Steele contacted one of the participating photographers, who said he had between 700 and 1,000 photos, but told her they were marked as a non-paying customer, so he wasn’t going to send them. Another person at her company said they have 250 photos. To this day, she has not seen any of the photos and does not know if they exist. “I have no idea how many there really are,” he said, and hopes they haven’t been deleted or lost. Steele filed a fraud complaint with the OPP in Ingersoll and an investigator told him they would look into the matter. Steele says she was told they also had no luck contacting anyone inside the company. She was advised to take the matter to small claims court and report the incident to the Better Business Bureau, but Steele doesn’t want to continue spending money without any guarantee of a resolution or photos. She would like at least her $1,300 deposit back and hopes that if she goes public with her story, other brides can be protected. An OPP representative at the Oxford detachment in Tilsonburg, Ont. confirmed that a complaint had been filed but could not elaborate. Ann George of Etobicoke, Ont., used UTU for her June 25 wedding in Niagara on the Lake and said the company’s team showed up, but the photos were “extremely disappointing.” George said he watched several times, and about 45 days later, the couple received an email at a random link that said, “check if you can download these photos.” The quality of the images was “horrendous,” according to George. “It was like a little kid took the pictures,” she said in an email from the couple’s honeymoon in Asia. He said many were blurry, shaky and unfocused. In addition, George said there were no photos of many important moments, such as her or the wedding dress walking…