We had an absolutely disastrous experience working with Results Imagery. It was an expensive lesson learned that we will never forget. I strongly advise anyone who is considering doing business with them to run in the opposite direction and do their research.
First of all, Results Imagery quoted us $7,000-$8,000 for a project consisting of 6 photos, a 360-degree image, and two videos, in addition to having access to all of the raw footage taken during shooting. We thought it was a steep price, but we went ahead with the deal anyway thinking that they were professionals in the space and the added premium would be worth it. We paid 60%/40% split, so around $4,300 up front.
During the detail decision making process, Results Imagery tried to change the deal and mentioned that because of increased costs they would have to charge more for the models we wanted unless we wanted to use in house models they had. The agreement was already made at this point and we felt it was disingenuous to make an offer and then rescind it so with some pressure, we were able to maintain the specifics for the models as originally agreed upon, $750 per model per day.
When the shooting process started, supposed scheduling conflicts and issues with availability occurred, resulting in a very long and dragged out process to get all of the models in to be able to shoot. We had to choose alternative models multiple times as a result of this.
We received photos as they were taken and the standalone product images looked pretty good so we were hopeful. This changed once we received the photographs of our product with models, we noticed inconsistencies in the angle of the shots taken for the three models we needed, and there was no way to retake these shots. There were also no extra shots available that were available as they said they only took the shots as instructed and nothing extraneous.
For the 2 videos, we gave Results Imagery creative freedom seeing as they were the "experts in this space", but they ended up delivering just turned out to be the bare minimum and mediocre at best. The instructional video was usable, but the promotional video was a disaster. It was directed like a high school video project, with no continuity between scenes, the models' mood and demeanor were not in line with the previously discussed emotions, and some requested scenes were not even in the final video. We were shocked by the directed quality of work and had to request a revision, with which barely anything changed due to a lack of options.
We were honestly confused when discussing the revision because when we asked what other shots were available that we could use that we assumed were left out of the original cut, we were told that there were no additional or alternative scenes at all. I'm not an expert in video production, but I'm pretty sure that in any videography project, alternative approaches to scenes or completely different scenes are taken since they might prove helpful even though they might not make it to the final cut. It took wrangling to get all of the raw footage from them because they mentioned we're supposed to pay for those and only provided them when we pointed out that it was originally agreed upon. When we did receive the footage, what they claimed to be a full day's worth of shooting only looked like an hour of actual shots at best when you added it all up.
We paid for three models for a full day of work, which was $750 per model, but we only saw about an an hour and a half of footage for both videos, which is honestly being generous. For the number of photos with models we received, and again with no extra shots available outside of the 3 requested modelled photographs, we can add maybe another 15 minutes, half an hour at best. If we include traveling time between shooting locations as well, which we will generously add an hour for, we end up with only 3 hours of the actual model's time being used that we can reasonably deduce. What happened to the other 5 hours in a full day's worth of model's time? Did the studio pay the models less because of the increased costs that they initially tried to charge us more for? Or did they even use them to shoot other projects they had to maximize their cost? There's no way to tell for us since when we asked for corroboration in the form of their contracts with the models, they would not provide them to us. But in the end, we were the ones left with subpar final results and over $4,000 in the hole with barely anything to show for it.
Despite the subpar final products and lack of extra photos/scenes/footage to work with, we tried to be charitable and asked if reshooting could be done at no additional cost. We were willing to use any availability of models and spaces, just any way that we could justify the $7,000 that we were going to be charged for this whole project.
However, Results Imagery refused and claimed they were already doing us a service by providing all the raw footage that we originally would have had to pay for. They even provided a 15% discount "which they never do" to quote them! That is, 15% off the remaining $2800 and not even the entire value of the project, which was honestly just an added insult.
For all the actual usable collateral we received, it doesn't even appear to be $1500 worth of work, which is all we have to show for our $4,300 investment. We were expected to pay another $2,000 on top of that, which is simply outrageous and now they've sent it to a collection agency because they believe they properly fulfilled their end of the agreement to the fullest extent they can provide. We would be more than willing to pay the remaining balance if we received what we felt meets the originally agreed upon quantity and quality of what was originally agreed upon. Just like any customer for any product or service, how can we expect to pay for something that just seems so poorly done and with what is obviously so little care?
We learned 2 extremely expensive but valuable things from this experience; do not give creative freedom to any studio regardless of how good they may seem, and that no one should ever work with Results Imagery. If you do, expect the highest prices to receive the barest of minimum results.
