Reyansh Ojx
map-marker Portland, Oregon

Do NOT be FOOLED by MICHELLE PEARL GEE

If you are smart, you will NOT be fooled by Michelle Pearl Gee. I hired MPG back in February, 2012 as our wedding photographer for our destination wedding to Cabo San Lucas. She origionally wanted me to pay in full so she could get her hotel and plane ticket paid for but I said how about half, $1250, and the other half after the job is done. We met at a coffee shop, discussed pictures, and i non-hesitantly handed her a check. She cashed the check the next day and I didnt hear from her again until I befriended her on facebook 3 months later, claiming she had been "sick." Basically, the battle continued; no email, no response and no plane tix or accomodations even after an ultimatum. I looked for a review online and to my uneasiness found many brides and businesses dealing with the same bull$*** i was and reached out to them to hear there story. I had to fire her 2 months before my wedding, in which she still did not respond to emails, phone calls, texts, facebook or apologize, NOTHING! It's been over a year now and i have not recieved my $1250 back after she said she would return my deposit and agreeing with me that she messed up. Just don't cause yourself the stress that myself and many other brides and businesses as well.
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Loss:
$1250
Zaira Jib

Michelle Pearl Gee MPG No.1 FRAUD

Ill keep it short and straight got my portfolio done from michelle pearl gee 3 months ago..paid my hard earned 300$ in advance cause i was *** to trust her. She told me that my pictures would be done in about a week. Months passed by and still i am waiting for my pictures..kept messaging her on facebook and on her mobile but no response. only got 1 or 2 messages from her on facebook saying that she didnt see my messages and neither my phone calls and promised me that she would upload the photos asap..that was like a month ago....i think she doesnt realize that if u play games on facebook all day it shows.... i even told her that if she didnt edit my photos, i am willing to take the unedited ones so that i can apply somewhere..but i think taking 5 minutes to upload the pictures out of her busy schedule for a person who already paid the money in advance is a waste of time. BOTTOM LINE MICHELLE PEARL GEE is totally unprofessional, unethical and a skilled cheat who will take away your money for sure. Seriously, i would have been better off if i just burnt that money instead of giving it to a fraud. NEVER PAY MONEY IN ADVANCE...lesson learnt! I am ready to take legal action against her...
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Loss:
$300
Xian Vpt
map-marker Portland, Oregon

MICHELLE PEARL GEE-FRAUD

Updated by user May 29, 2012

P.S. I don\'t know how all those punctuation errors got into my note! Sorry!

Original review May 29, 2012
We hired MPG to photograph our wedding last November. When we met up with her for the pre-wedding consultation we gave her a payment of $350. She arrived at the ceremony on time with her assistant (who she didn't tell us was coming) and on the wedding day I gave her another payment of $300. She said the photos would be ready within 5-7 weeks. I got a text from her about 2 weeks later saying that she had half of them ready for me, because she wanted me to have some photos for the upcoming holidays, and that I could pick up the second half in January. I gave her a third payment in the amount of $250 and received a disc with half of the photos. I thought most of the photos were lovely, however a lot of them were poorly edited and seemed very rushed. My theory is that she just wanted money for herself for the holidays and didn't care about the quality of the work she was producing. At the time she gave me the disc she stated that if I had any concerns about the photos, to just let her know and she would fix it. After seeing the photos, I wrote her a very polite message saying that I love her photography, but I would like a few small edits (for example: there was mud on my dress that she didn't edit out). This was December 10th 2011. I didn't hear back for weeks so I sent her a text in January asking if I could still pick up the second half of the photos. She responded almost immediately saying yes, I could pick them up soon. I asked if she received my message from December 10th and she stated that she never got it, and that she misses messages a lot when there are events going on, but would check her computer when she got home. That was the last time I heard from her. It is now almost June, I've left her a few voice mails and texts but to no avail. I still haven't received the second half of my photos, but have paid her a total of $900. The agreement was for me to give her the last payment of $200 when I picked up the second half. I would have been happy to do that had she ever gotten back to me. Overall I say she is a scam artist and is only interested in money. I just hope that she receives the same pain she has caused to others on the most important day of their lives. If you have a story like this relating to MPG, please don't be afraid to speak up!! I am honestly sorry it took me this long to come forward.
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1 comment
Guest

We used her for our engagement photos. She did a great job, but she is really poor at business, which unfortunately you need to run your own company.

It took almost 3 months to get out egagement photos. She also was going to do our wedding, but first said oh i have a family runion that day, then said she would do it, then came back a few weeks later stating she had double booked.

We were so pissed. Needless to say we got a new photographer and she didn't get a dime of our money.

amy.salnikov S
map-marker Petach Tikva, Hamerkaz

Michelle Pearl Gee is a joke.

Alex and I's wedding celebration was August 25th,2011. We were coming in from out of the country to see family, friends and to have a memorable occasion.We were doing most of our wedding planning from out of the country. Alex insisted that we hire a photographer so we signed a contract and negotiated a price online for an engagement photo shoot and wedding photo shoot of $1600. Michelle said that if we pay the money up front we could get a $100 discount. We sent the contract 5/31/2011 and wired her $500 shortly afterwards. We arrived in the states on August 18th and shot the engagement photos around the 23rd. The photo shoot was very random, she did some of my make up touch ups for the light, Alex and I had some kiss shots but it seemed that Michelle had us doing the same poses for the entire time we were with her. Alex and I decided to spice it up and do different poses so there would be variety. At the end of the shoot she asked for a ride...I was very put off by this, why would she not have her own car if she is constantly going to shoots? This made me question what exactly we had gotten ourselves into. We spent more time with her getting some night shots in downtown portland. Alex asked her when we should pay her and she said now if you have it. We paid her $1000 dollars that night to ensure we would receive services later. August 25th came and Michelle shows up with an assistant (that she didn't even inform me would be there). We paid for her assistant's meal anyway and at the end of the day we left with something along the lines of "you guys are truly lucky to have found one another, all of your pictures should be done in about a month." Great! A month goes past, nothing, two months, nothing, three...after several emails asking what is going on and receiving no reply other than to thank me for a thank you card I sent to her....she replies when I tell her I will be having someone represent me, so she can talk with them from now on. She explains to me that she was having hard drive issues and that she lost data, had to get it fixed and pictures should be here in about a week. She gave us a link to where she uploaded about 40 low-mid quality pictures...Pictures that my cousin could have taken and gotten better shots. I was understanding with her, even empathetic and gave her a final date that she could submit ALL of the pictures. It is now Mid April and we still havent received our wedding/engagement pictures.Memories have been lost and I am really upset over the whole ordeal because I have never been cheated before. Everyone wants to believe in the good of someone...that they will be respectful and responsible but when something like this happens it puts a stain on what could have been a very nice day and destroys the trust between a service provider and his/her clients. Michelle Pearl Gee is a sorry excuse for a photographer. She is unprofessional, she does not respond to emails or phone calls. It is now 6+ months after our wedding, we have about 40 low quality pictures and hardly any memories to show our family. She could have kept in contact with us, letting us know her issues or at least been responsible enough to refund our money. Next time we will not prepay ANYTHING! Do yourselves a favor and make sure to see how long it takes for a photographer to get back to you...it may be ok initially but make sure to call/email in between dates to make sure they are prompt. Do not make the mistake we made, especially on a day so special :(
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8 comments
Xian Vpt

NoSurprises I am so sorry to hear that! She is ridiculous and it's completely astonishing that people are still doing business with her- and even friends with her!

We have been in contact with reporters from KATU and FOX news and have some things lined up with them.

Please contact us if you would like to be a part of that or just want more info. threebrides@***.com.

Guest

Michelle Pearl Gee.....where do I start? Her YELP reviews? Her bad attitude? Her absolute lack of common courtesy?

Michelle wrote a horrible, scathing review of my business, even though she was never a customer. In fact, she spread her nastiness to everyone in my industry, and they all told me what she said. Needless to say, she is a liar and an all-around nasty person. She really should be ashamed of herself! I did absolutley nothing to her, so who knows what inspired her horrid review. She seems to just pick business owners to pick on at random.

Without going into the whole story, let's just say that Michelle desreves what she gets. Honestly, I think you all should call the police. She steals your money, never delivers on her contracts, and KEEPS DOING BUSINESS. That is FRAUD.

Call KATU news "2 on your side", and expose this *** to the world!!!!!

Guest

when not faking illnesses or returning people's money or photos she is also talking crap? that is laughable.

you want to talk more about your story?

email us at threebrides@***.com. there are many more women like you.

Guest

Michelle Pearl Gee flamed me online for absolutely no reason. She wrote a negative review of my former employer, called me out specifically, and LIED about everything and anything.

After being confronted about it, she continued to run her mouth to others (turns out we have mutual friends).....ttrust me, it all got back. The funniest part of the whole review she wrote was how she went into detail about how shes a prominent wedding photographer, a stellar business person etc, etc.

well, Michelle..... Considering you are on ripoff report and pissed consumer, id say you are as well regarded as a dog turd on a sidewalk.

Xian Vpt

Reina- thanks for your comment! I completely agree with you, she is all of those things and deserves to get what she dishes out.

We are working on it ;-). If you want to contact us (me and two other brides who have all been robbed by her), you can email us at threebrides@***.com!

Guest

Michelle Pearl Gee is one of the rudest people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. She is bossy, arrogant, and has a foul mouth on her. I hope she is caught and prosecuted for fraud, because it would serve her right! If you want to find her, just check out her "Yelp" reviews that she is so proud of making. She seems to like to badmouth others, but for some reason she feels SHE is beyond reproach.

Ladies, just call KATU news and get them on her. She completely deserves any bad press that comes of it.

Hey Michelle- Karma is a ***

Guest

yes! i also spoke to the bbb and they tried calling and got no answer from her. she is not accreditated w them .until this day no pics !

Xian Vpt

Amy, my name is Michelle and I am also a victim of Michelle Pearl Gee's fraud. Would you be willing to chat with me and another bride regarding this?

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Aimee Mpl
map-marker Portland, Oregon

Wedding photographer kept $1500, and didn't show up on the wedding day

We hate having to spell this out, but this was a shocking lack of respect, professionalism and care by a wedding photographer. We hired Michelle to be our Wedding Photographer for our September 2011 wedding day. She gave us a generous discount off her packages if we pre-paid the entire amount for her services beforehand, which we were happy to do. She set us up with an Engagement photoshoot for a summer evening, and we were excited about it. Our first red flag was when she texted us a few hours before our shoot time and asked for a ride. What? We would have had to gone very much out of way to go pick her up, take her to the shoot location, then double back to take her home and then back to our own place. Michelle said she would rent a car instead (which made us wonder, where IS your car? How can you run a business without being able to ensure you can make it to your appointments?) She arrived an hour late to the location. And then, she said "oops! I thought this was somewhere different! Let me run around and see where I can find places for us to shoot around this park!" Major red flad number 2 - she hadn't taken the time to properly find a shoot location for us, her paying clients. It really made us feel that she didn't care about us, our time or or photoshoot to not have properly prepared for it. The shoot itself was rushed because the sun was setting and we were running out of natural light. We hoped for the best that the pictures would pull through and be fabulous. The Engagement photos arrived in our email over 3 weeks late, with no return phone calls or emails to the inquiries we sent - and only half of them were there - 75 were promised in the agreement, and only 40 came. They were mediocre at best. It showed that they had been rushed, and that they weren't her best work - which is what we paid her to do. Because of the tardiness of the photos, we were only 3 weeks away from our Wedding day and knew we had to make a decision. We couldn't trust Michelle to arrive on time, and take our Wedding day pictures with the overall lack of care and professionalism she had shown us. I finally got her on the phone, and she seemed very kind and understanding about our unhappiness with the photos. She said she would refund our payment but that she didn't have it at the time - it was spent. Another BIG red flag - a business should never spend the payments from a client until the event is complete!! Michelle said she would have the money by next week and would mail it to us. I thanked her for being so understanding. The next week, we received an email saying she would only give us a partial refund, and that it was dispresectful of us, her clients, to expect more. Apalling and rude to say the least! We knew then we were going to have to give her a list of all the facts noted above of why we expect a full refund back and that she had till the end of the month to repay it or we would have to take her to court. No replies, no emails or phone calls. Our Wedding day came and went, we went on our honeymoon, came back and still nothing. September 30th came and went and we were shocked that she was so blatantly disregarding our email response. On October 2nd, a Sunday, she sent the text "Check in mail". Why would she send that on a Sunday, mail doesn't send out on a Sunday? We knew it was fishy, but we waited the entire week to see if anything would show up. Nothing. She still wouldn't reply to our messages, so we sent her another stating that we were moving forward with court if she did not respond or we received a refund. Another week later as we were starting to file with our attorney, she sent an email saying that she had sent a money order last week, and that if we don't receive anything by this coming weekend, she would cancel it and send another. We have not seen anything, and it's obvious she's been lying about sending a refund. It does not take the postal service more than 2 days to deliver an envelope to the same city! Deceit is not a way to run a business. Overall, it's been a horrible, disappointing experience. We felt it was only fair to let others know our story, and that there are photographers out there who will run off with your money. Michelle's purposeful disregard for a customers needs, time and money was the worst we've ever seen. It's very sad that we had to have this blight on our wedding experience.
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8 comments
Guest

Can you all please email me. I am compiling a lawsuit against her and I will also report her to the attorney general and will file an injunction to shut her down permanently.

email nsdang@***.com. I am an attorney that she has defrauded as well.

Guest

Lol you must be someone she knows. To be completely honest with you , if your pictures were almost a year late, you didnt get any responses , and you have seen with your eyes that she has done this to others, and is STILL doing this to others, you would want her to be out of a BUSINESS, where it is her duty to provide a service to brides.

You have no idea about hurting anyone, it seems.The fact is she doesn't give refunds, and some of us really do have contracts (Proof) with her or have been completely ignored by her. So, while you are singing praises and protecting her, try being on the other side of the arguement...when you dont get a response from this "professional."

she is actually lucky she is not in a bigger city where people have less patience , she would be eaten alive.

Guest

A lot of you sound like you want to hurt this person. That seems really cruel. Even if she did everything you say (which I'm not sure I believe because there seems to be a huge lack of proof), why so hateful and mean? Be mature about your complaints.

"Passion is evidence of exaggeration, not truth"

Expecting a refund, or being dissatisfied with the product is fine, but deal with it like adults. Throwing a tantrum and threatening to ruin someones career is childish. Seriously, have some self control. Rallying people together to "shut someone down" or "knock her out". I'm shocked to see this kind of behavior. Have some perspective as well. Clearly Aimee, you canceled the wedding contract.... so what is the problem? Why expect her to show up if you canceled. And sorry to say most business offer a partial refund. I'm getting married this year and almost all vendors told me if I cancel I don't get my deposit back. It sucks, but that's the way it works. So if you're only issue is that you don't like the pictures, don't you think you are over reacting a little by wanting to ruin someones entire career!

Michelle did my engagement photos, and they were amazing!

I know she'd be really sad to see all of the personal bashing.

And in my opinion, its in really bad taste. No one is saying you can't be upset, but have some class in the way you deal with it.

BTW, I've never seen Michelle write a bad review of another photographer. Could you even prove that?

Xian Vpt

Sean, thank you for your comment. I am so sorry to hear that she has been slandering other people in her industry. If we can help you out please let us know, you can email us at threebrides@***.com.

Guest

Just so you all know, Michelle writes fake negative reviews of other photographers. She wrote some very volatile, untrue things about me online and I am looking into suing her for libel.

None of what she says about others is true, so take whatever she says with a grain of salt. She puts others down to make herself feel better, because as we all know- MICHELLE PEARL GEE IS THE FRAUD!!!!

Michelle is disliked by just about everyone in the bridal industry. I know photographers, cake decorators, florists, and even dress designers that can't stand her. It's not too hard to see right through her arrogance.

She's just an immature, disorganized little girl trying to play with the big dogs.

Sorry, Michelle, but you will always be a nobody. Time to put on your big girl panties, deal with the complaints, and give these people back their money.

Guest

I am for shutting her down. My wedding was at the end of august 2011.

I received only about 40 pics, some of them idiotic in how she "modified them" aka sharpened the image. contact me also amy.salnikov@***.com

Guest

Thank you for sharing this! i am trying to get michelle pearl knocked out of what she is doing.

She did the same exact thing to my best friend! Who is also a photographer and worked with michelle on shoots (not together) but saw and met her. My friend is heart broken that michelle pearl gee would back stab her and not give the pictures. I am now trying to get people together and over rule her and shut her down or else get all the photos.

jmorann89@***.com is my email. Please help me do this! This isnt fair!

another friend of mine got a hold of her and demanded michelle to give him my friends wedding pics to him to give to me and she hung up on him after trying to flirt with him. Pretty low life of her!

Guest

I'm not surprised. Michelle acts like she is the best business person in the world, in fact she writes NASTY hate-filled "reviews" about other businesses- all the while she pulls this kind of stunt?

Seriously! Michelle, I know you are obsessed with reviews---- take this home with you----- don't throw stones if you live in a glass house.

Don't understand me? Look it up.

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