#hard sell & deposits advise please

oliversmummyx

Hi there,
im new to this forum but hope someone can offer some advise.

im a bit worried a pre-empting a situation.
on my phone network (o2) they send you 'gifts' as loyalty (money off, days out ect..)
the one that i chose was a portrait offer, this was for myself and a friend to have a portrait session at photographer of choice under the franchise 'fresh'. a £30 deposit taken and refundable after viewing (1 week after session) included is one FREE A5 print each.

so ive always fancied this and in all honesty i dont want to buy any pictures, just have a fun day and my free print.

ive had a great day and go back in a week to view the pictures, but as relaxed as they made me feel i do get the impression its going to be full on hard sell when i return back.
im not naive and i know that business's offer these on the chance you buy prints and if you dont buy any then they've worked hard for nothing but i also believe that if a business offers this service then they take the risk that a % wont buy.

ive sine googled hard sell on photos and although i know i will stand firm on not buying how to i ensure that i leave with my free print and deposit.
ive heard some places offer the print with 'proofing' on and charge to remove??

ive checked all small print and regards deposits is
"6. When booking your sessions a £30.00 refundable deposit will be taken if booking on different dates a £30 refundable deposit will apply for each individual session. This will be reimbursed in full after your viewing. 7. Deposits will be lost if you do not attend your appointment, unless cancelled or rearranged within 48 hours of the booking."

one further paperwork stated deposit knocked off purchase.....will they just re-fund credit card if i dont buy- and do they have to give me some kind of receipt back to say thats been actioned?

I may be worrying for nothing, and this photographer is part of MPA (master photographers association) so surly he's reputable?

thank you in advance

OM

Elle7

I've never been to one of these which hasn't been a complete nightmare.

They don't just try to sell you photos...it's hair products, make up, nail varnish, then sometimes clothes to be photographed in or 'exclusive' backgrounds to be photographed against...then the photos. These will be photoshopped, and they'll offer you plenty of special offers...

Once they realize that you aren't buying, their attitude might change - they stopped doing the lady next to me's hair half way through and were very rude to her when she made it clear she wanted her free photograph only.

They give these away because most people can be forced to buy one. I agree that they should be accepting that people won't want to buy, but they don't seem too, so I'd be very prepared for the hardsell and really confident you can avoid it, or I wouldn't go.

I left my card at home but the man claimed he would escort me to the bank to get money over the counter....he even locked me in the room.

garth549

These are never as they're cracked up to be. Don't waste your money.

They'll essentially try and flog you all your photos for a ridiculous sum (usually >£500) and use high-pressure sales tactics.

triticale

Agreed - it's all about pressurising you into buying expensive photos that you can't afford - the free A5 is just a lure.

A friend gave me a 'free photoshoot and A5 print' voucher from one of these places, it was all very nice until I went to collect my free A5 print.

Turned into a very stressful and relentless pressure sales session, the woman did not seem to hear me when I said I couldn't afford a £2000 'package', kept showing me all these virtual displays on the screen with my photos in the frames. I genuinely thought I would not get out unless I agreed to buy something extra, I eventually caved and agreed to an 'upgrade' on my A5 for a couple hundred quid or something.

Was so glad to get out of there, even gladder I hadn't brought my cards with me, and never returned - it just wasn't worth the stress.

It occasionally upsets me a bit that I didn't even get my free A5 print, wish I'd had the stones to not give in and ignore the sales attempts.

Later I heard that the friend who gave me the voucher had also gone there, got lumbered with a massive bill for all these photos as she couldn't say no (she was also unemployed at the time).

I would discourage anyone from ever using one of these 'free' photoshoots.