(anything in quotes comes directly from e-mail conversations)
My fiance and I had a horrible experience with Gregory Harren of Back Bay Photography. We had a Weforia certificate for $39 for a 1 hour shoot. It took several e-mails and phonecalls to schedule the appointment, and then he forgot to write it down in his calendar. 30 minutes after our time (and 4 phone calls later) he called us back and arranged to meet us in the Public Gardens. He was very sincere about the apology, and he sent us free pictures for our hassle. We inquired about his packages, and he said he'd do our wedding for $600. When we got the pictures back we just loved them, so we thought we'd hire him. He promised that the scheduling problem would not happen again.
It did happen. Turns out he double booked that day, and we were the other appointment. We took some time to figure out how we wanted to handle the situation, and that's when things took a very wrong turn. He accused me several times of writing the other "PSA" post (you can find it here if you type in his name). That post was made 4 days before he notified us that he was going to have to back out of the contract. After consulting an attorney, we asked for our deposit back plus damages to help us recover what we would now pay for another photographer. (We did allow for a difference in experience in the request)
He then got very personal in his attacks. He wrote "I've learned my lesson about offering cheap packages as I see the kind of clients it brings in. Never again." He also seemed to think that by not signing the contract and giving us a copy he was not bound by it; he had, in fact, cashed the check, which makes it a valid contract. ("Not to mention, I never signed the review contract and it's not legally binding.") I spent an hour crying at work after this email. This was a very personal attack on my character and highly unprofessional.
About 10 minutes later he stated he would like to give us a gift certificate for a future photo shoot with him instead of the additional money for our trouble. ("In MA, you will be entitled to your initial $300 deposit back after wasting a whole bunch of time & money.")
From the time we requested our money back, it took almost a week to get it. The stress it cost me caused several health problems including hives and a flare-up of a recurring health condition that had otherwise been under control.
He does take amazingly beautiful pictures, and we had looked forward to having those pictures on our wall, but we cannot in good faith recommend him to anyone we know.