Anyone heard of Studio 64?

AnnieH

That's really nice naughty. I couldn't even afford the train fare, so I've a;ready told them Im not interested.

black-saturn

How much was the picture you bought?

naughty_10382

black-saturn wrote:

How much was the picture you bought?

I can't remember if it was £40 or £80 - which was for an 8x10 (I think)

They also rang me back in Feb/March to say we could have all our pictures on CD for £150 as they had a promotion - we were a bit surprised as the guy showing us the pics back at the studio in Sept had said they would probably get rid of them once we had chosen the ones we wanted...

debecca

What a lovely picture!! xx

princesslizzie

My boyfriend "won" a day at Studio64 in Farringdon. Was a fun opportunity but quite pretentious for what it was. The white wine they were serving was Lambrini! The photographer didn't make us feel natural or comfortable (compared to when my mum booked for our family to have Venture portraits). The "makeover" lasted 10 minutes. We waited hours for our photos, due to computer glitches and were pressured into spendign £200 on photos. And that got us? 6 photos on a CD rom (not even printed!). I'd say a total con with very pushy sales assistants!

Can someone tell me if the deposit is refundable? The sales lady said to us it would only cover the 20% VAT on all photos. Please someone help me as I don't think this is correct!

Check this link out too http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?p=433229#post433229

lydias

We have done both Studio 64 and New ID. Of the two (new ID £40 2 for 1 @ Lastminute) was better value than the free Studio 64, as they gave my daughter and her friend a fantastic haircut and did her nails and makeup taking hours.

Studio 64 was rather quick but the photos were fine. Both were somewhat negotiable on price.

For a teenage girl treat day in London they are fun - just be prepared to walk away from buying photos or haggle.

Hilzi

Studio 64 Farringdon sell you a dream, which turns into a nightmare. It’s an experience that can leave people feeling as though they have been mugged. It operates a policy of dishonest, unscrupulous and sharp business practices based on bare faced lies. They do not provide the personal service that you are told you will get; it operates like a conveyor belt with no hurry until they want paying. Although amiable, the makeup artists, stylists and photographers are not the “top” people you are told you are scheduled to see they are jobbing artists and its all a matter of chance if you get a half decent look.

To round up your experience of 4 hours only about an hour of which consists of any real attention, you risk being subjected to an extremely unpleasant hard sell tactician whose sole aim is too pressurise you into buying every photo he liked for a total of at least £69 each. The time allowed for you to narrow down your selection to an affordable price is about 10 seconds a glance. By the time you have finished, the longest part of the whole day is trying to explain that you can’t afford to spend 3 months wages on 18 photos.

If it looks like you are wavering then they offer to throw in free photos that you didn’t want anyway. If you are still dumb enough to be sitting there at this stage…. they will try to dissuade you from having these “quality prints” and almost make it seem that they are doing you a favour by giving you a cheap CD so you can edit and print them up yourself, which incidentally costs you even more money.

The purchase order scribbled with lightening speed won’t record how many photos you agreed to pay for and how many were free. It is advisable at this stage to check the actual calculation of the payment, preferably before signing, paying, or leaving with the feeling that you are lucky to escape with the clothes you stand up in. Some people are still trying to calculate how 12 x £69 = £990.00…excluding VAT and post and packaging for the promised prints.

I doubt that many people leave happy which is probably why you are asked to recommend a friend at the start of your visit. There is no inclination to do this after “the experience”. Naturally I have since apologised to my friends and advised them if they receive a phone call from this company to explain that they have read the reviews and wont be availing themselves of the invitation to be mugged. I wonder how many potential customers from the recommended friends list they have lost. Thousands I hope!

michellearmstrong20

I "won" (no idea how) a similar one for me and a friend at Fusion Photo in Manchester. They wanted £25 over the phone, per person to book the day which would be about 3 weeks from the date of booking. This was refundable on the day. They gave me a website which had no contact details other than Dave (the fella you book with) and his mobile number, not even his surname or position in the company, and no address for the place which I thought was odd. I decided to jib it

Baby_J_2

I won one of these too about a year ago. I was really excited until she said I needed to pay a deposit....I invented a story about my debit card being stolen - to which the cheeky madam asked how I was paying for food and the cost of living etc!

VelvetGlove

princesslizzie wrote: »

The sales lady said to us it would only cover the 20% VAT on all photos. Please someone help me as I don't think this is correct!

I haven't ever heard of a 20% VAT rate when I've been training people for CeFA & CeMAP qualifications! Just nipped to the HMRC website:

What are the rates of VAT?
Currently there are three rates of VAT:
• a standard rate of 17.5%
• a reduced rate of 5%
• a zero rate.

If you want a bit more info on VAT then there is a pdf you can download at the bottom of the page too.

It sounds to me like her saying it would cover the 20% VAT on all photos was a bit of a porky pie!