Tonia K. Sent on 09/12/2022
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Quality of service
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Average response time
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Professionalism
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Value
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Flexibility
1.0 out of 5 rating
Horrible experience with r.a.v.e!
I will never give anyone a bad review unless I had THAT bad of an experience - which I did with Redefined Audio Video Entertainment. We had hired Redefined for Photo Booth, and Day of Coordinators for our wedding day. This recounting is a bit long and tedious, but we wanted to present all the details so any future customers can make an informed decision.
We are from a subsect of Catholicism and specifically looked for Day of Coordinator (DoC) familiar with our customs and traditions. We felt this to be important as it would help make coordination for the day smoother. Tiju and team reassured us that they were very familiar with our traditions, and even had someone from our subsect as part of their team. Future meetings to discuss wedding timeline made it clear to us that they were not nearly as versed in our traditions as they claimed. Time and time again they questioned what one tradition was or forgot about another one.
After we signed our initial contract with Redefined and made our payment, we did not hear from them again until I reached out to them. A majority of meetings and discussions after this point were initiated by us, with them consistently responding, “We were JUST about to reach out to you about this”. Believable the first time, not as convincing the fourth time.
The morning of the wedding, my husband started the day delayed due to photo/video taking too long. This forced him to cut out most of his prayers/blessings he should have received from his family. This was not the fault of the photographer, who asked multiple times if there was enough time for a few more photos. The DoC said OK every time, and when photos were over she told my husband that he’s running late and only has 15 minutes to get on the bus or the rest of the day will be delayed. This is a consistent theme throughout the day, with the DoC not properly managing the schedule when everything was extensively reviewed in prior meetings.
When the Church ceremony was over, the DoC was responsible to read out the order of photos at the Church. They started reading from a different list than what we had approved/discussed, causing a confusion and delay. We were very strict on timing here because there was a mass right after our wedding so we had to quickly take pictures and get out - no time for error! We ended up shouting out the correct groups ourselves and had a family member go up to help the DoC but instead the DoC ended up getting mad at our family member.
Once outside, we noticed half the groomsmen were missing. We found out later that the DoC had placed the cooler, food, cups, etc in the wrong party bus. When the Groomsmen alerted the DoC of the mistake, the response was for the Groomsmen to correct it themselves. This caused them to miss photos and a tradition.
At the reception hall we had a photo shoot before happy hour started. The schedule we made had time allotted for me to get pictures in my wedding dress, change, and take pictures in my saree. Here again the DoC allowed the photographers to take more time for wedding dress photos instead of putting their foot down to keep us on schedule. As a result, I had to rush to put on my saree and didn’t have time to eat or to take photos in my saree because it was time for us to start the reception. I had specifically expressed how important the saree photos were to me during our planning, so I’m very upset we didn’t get any pictures here.
After the wedding was over, the DoC started piling our decorations, traditional items, etc in a neat little pile by the front door of the venue. These were items we had requested they be responsible for during the wedding. We assumed they were gathering these items to bring back to our hotel. Instead they told us they were running late and didn’t account for a full round trip delivery of the items. We were left scrambling to ask whatever friends and family had a car to bring items back to the hotel for us. In the resulting confusion we lost a number of items that we wanted as keepsakes such as the church unity candles. We again chalk this up to mismanagement of their time and lack of professionalism to properly get the job done.
The DoC were not proactive in managing the day, instead letting the photographers and other vendors push them around. In our opinion, the main purpose of a DoC is to help keep everything on schedule. By failing their job, they cost us important scheduled events from our special day that we will never get back.
In the following days, we had a few people complaining about our photo booth. They asked us why we didn’t have it running for the whole reception. This had us confused because our contract says 4 hours. Apparently the photo booth operator was missing for about an hour at the peak time people were trying to take photos, after dinner and before/during the dance floor. A family member waiting on line started operating the booth himself just to get the line moving and keep people happy. When the booth operator finally returned, he started yelling at our cousin for touching his equipment. He then proceeded to shut down the entire booth early and pack up his equipment out of his anger and frustration.
Two weeks later, upon receiving our highlight video from our videographer, we realized that the sparklers we requested for our first dance never activated. At this point is when we decided enough is enough, we need to reach out to Redefined to discuss all of the above.
We reached out to Tiju Daniel, the CEO and our main point of contact. We explained our perspective, thoughts, and experience as laid out above. Tiju was defensive and combative for every objection we had. Not once did he admit fault or apologize, instead offering up excuses or blatantly telling us we were wrong. For example, we asked about the sparklers and his response was that he was already aware they didn’t work and meant to reach out and talk to us about it. His story is that the sparklers didn’t work at the venue but worked when he tried it at his house so He blamed it on the Venues electrical connection. If he was aware of this and truly meant to explain it to us, why didn’t we get contacted two weeks after the wedding? This is consistent with the DoC claiming they were “just” about to reach out to us in our first few meetings.
Next, we discussed the photobooth. Tiju claimed that he has been working with the photobooth operator for a long time and the guy would never take a break longer than 15 minutes. He then had the guy come on the phone to explain his side of the story. The guy admitted that the break might have been 45-50 minutes. Tiju came back on to insist that there was no fault to his company, and that the operator was fully justified for getting angry and packing up early. Another failed attempt and reasoning with him.
Finally we expressed our disappointment in our interactions with the DoC, as well as their performance. We explained how we had both worked with other DoC closely for family member weddings, and even suggested ways they can improve their business to be more competitive. Tiju’s response was that his coordinators went above and beyond for us by responding to all our questions and phone calls. To clarify, “all our calls” meant once a week and then every day the week of the wedding. This doesn’t seem unreasonable to us. We brought up the fact that his contract specifically states “unlimited phone calls and texts”, so we didn’t understand how they were going above and beyond. Tiju just kept repeating that they went above and beyond without further explanation.
At this point we were very frustrated. We told Tiju we do not feel we received what we paid for, and would appreciate some degree of compensation. Tiju responded that he does not give out refunds, so this is not an option. After a few more attempts to have him see reason, we told him that we are unfortunately forced to write an honest review about our experience with Redefined. He asked if we were threatening him and immediately offered to give back the money for only the sparklers after he got reimbursed form the company he bought them from. Looking back now, it should have never gotten to this point.
We heard from friends who had weddings around the same time that they also had issues with Tiju’s company. We also later learned that the photobooth operator is Tiju’s close friend, and the two DoC are their wives. Makes sense why he so adamantly defended his team even when they were clearly at fault. If we knew what we know now, we would never have signed a contract with Redefined. We urge anyone looking to hire this company to be aware that the price may be lower than other companies, but the professionalism and product delivery will match that lower price point. Even after all the things that happened at the wedding, if Tiju was more understanding and worked with us, I would have never written this review. I hope nobody ever has to experience what we did with Redefined.
I will never give anyone a bad review unless I had THAT bad of an experience - which I did with Redefined Audio Video Entertainment. We had hired Redefined for Photo Booth, and Day of Coordinators for our wedding day. This recounting is a bit long and tedious, but we wanted to present all the details so any future customers can make an informed decision.
We are from a subsect of Catholicism and specifically looked for Day of Coordinator (DoC) familiar with our customs and traditions. We felt this to be important as it would help make coordination for the day smoother. Tiju and team reassured us that they were very familiar with our traditions, and even had someone from our subsect as part of their team. Future meetings to discuss wedding timeline made it clear to us that they were not nearly as versed in our traditions as they claimed. Time and time again they questioned what one tradition was or forgot about another one.
After we signed our initial contract with Redefined and made our payment, we did not hear from them again until I reached out to them. A majority of meetings and discussions after this point were initiated by us, with them consistently responding, “We were JUST about to reach out to you about this”. Believable the first time, not as convincing the fourth time.
The morning of the wedding, my husband started the day delayed due to photo/video taking too long. This forced him to cut out most of his prayers/blessings he should have received from his family. This was not the fault of the photographer, who asked multiple times if there was enough time for a few more photos. The DoC said OK every time, and when photos were over she told my husband that he’s running late and only has 15 minutes to get on the bus or the rest of the day will be delayed. This is a consistent theme throughout the day, with the DoC not properly managing the schedule when everything was extensively reviewed in prior meetings.
When the Church ceremony was over, the DoC was responsible to read out the order of photos at the Church. They started reading from a different list than what we had approved/discussed, causing a confusion and delay. We were very strict on timing here because there was a mass right after our wedding so we had to quickly take pictures and get out - no time for error! We ended up shouting out the correct groups ourselves and had a family member go up to help the DoC but instead the DoC ended up getting mad at our family member.
Once outside, we noticed half the groomsmen were missing. We found out later that the DoC had placed the cooler, food, cups, etc in the wrong party bus. When the Groomsmen alerted the DoC of the mistake, the response was for the Groomsmen to correct it themselves. This caused them to miss photos and a tradition.
At the reception hall we had a photo shoot before happy hour started. The schedule we made had time allotted for me to get pictures in my wedding dress, change, and take pictures in my saree. Here again the DoC allowed the photographers to take more time for wedding dress photos instead of putting their foot down to keep us on schedule. As a result, I had to rush to put on my saree and didn’t have time to eat or to take photos in my saree because it was time for us to start the reception. I had specifically expressed how important the saree photos were to me during our planning, so I’m very upset we didn’t get any pictures here.
After the wedding was over, the DoC started piling our decorations, traditional items, etc in a neat little pile by the front door of the venue. These were items we had requested they be responsible for during the wedding. We assumed they were gathering these items to bring back to our hotel. Instead they told us they were running late and didn’t account for a full round trip delivery of the items. We were left scrambling to ask whatever friends and family had a car to bring items back to the hotel for us. In the resulting confusion we lost a number of items that we wanted as keepsakes such as the church unity candles. We again chalk this up to mismanagement of their time and lack of professionalism to properly get the job done.
The DoC were not proactive in managing the day, instead letting the photographers and other vendors push them around. In our opinion, the main purpose of a DoC is to help keep everything on schedule. By failing their job, they cost us important scheduled events from our special day that we will never get back.
In the following days, we had a few people complaining about our photo booth. They asked us why we didn’t have it running for the whole reception. This had us confused because our contract says 4 hours. Apparently the photo booth operator was missing for about an hour at the peak time people were trying to take photos, after dinner and before/during the dance floor. A family member waiting on line started operating the booth himself just to get the line moving and keep people happy. When the booth operator finally returned, he started yelling at our cousin for touching his equipment. He then proceeded to shut down the entire booth early and pack up his equipment out of his anger and frustration.
Two weeks later, upon receiving our highlight video from our videographer, we realized that the sparklers we requested for our first dance never activated. At this point is when we decided enough is enough, we need to reach out to Redefined to discuss all of the above.
We reached out to Tiju Daniel, the CEO and our main point of contact. We explained our perspective, thoughts, and experience as laid out above. Tiju was defensive and combative for every objection we had. Not once did he admit fault or apologize, instead offering up excuses or blatantly telling us we were wrong. For example, we asked about the sparklers and his response was that he was already aware they didn’t work and meant to reach out and talk to us about it. His story is that the sparklers didn’t work at the venue but worked when he tried it at his house so He blamed it on the Venues electrical connection. If he was aware of this and truly meant to explain it to us, why didn’t we get contacted two weeks after the wedding? This is consistent with the DoC claiming they were “just” about to reach out to us in our first few meetings.
Next, we discussed the photobooth. Tiju claimed that he has been working with the photobooth operator for a long time and the guy would never take a break longer than 15 minutes. He then had the guy come on the phone to explain his side of the story. The guy admitted that the break might have been 45-50 minutes. Tiju came back on to insist that there was no fault to his company, and that the operator was fully justified for getting angry and packing up early. Another failed attempt and reasoning with him.
Finally we expressed our disappointment in our interactions with the DoC, as well as their performance. We explained how we had both worked with other DoC closely for family member weddings, and even suggested ways they can improve their business to be more competitive. Tiju’s response was that his coordinators went above and beyond for us by responding to all our questions and phone calls. To clarify, “all our calls” meant once a week and then every day the week of the wedding. This doesn’t seem unreasonable to us. We brought up the fact that his contract specifically states “unlimited phone calls and texts”, so we didn’t understand how they were going above and beyond. Tiju just kept repeating that they went above and beyond without further explanation.
At this point we were very frustrated. We told Tiju we do not feel we received what we paid for, and would appreciate some degree of compensation. Tiju responded that he does not give out refunds, so this is not an option. After a few more attempts to have him see reason, we told him that we are unfortunately forced to write an honest review about our experience with Redefined. He asked if we were threatening him and immediately offered to give back the money for only the sparklers after he got reimbursed form the company he bought them from. Looking back now, it should have never gotten to this point.
We heard from friends who had weddings around the same time that they also had issues with Tiju’s company. We also later learned that the photobooth operator is Tiju’s close friend, and the two DoC are their wives. Makes sense why he so adamantly defended his team even when they were clearly at fault. If we knew what we know now, we would never have signed a contract with Redefined. We urge anyone looking to hire this company to be aware that the price may be lower than other companies, but the professionalism and product delivery will match that lower price point. Even after all the things that happened at the wedding, if Tiju was more understanding and worked with us, I would have never written this review. I hope nobody ever has to experience what we did with Redefined.
