Venture Scam - Help! What can I do?

Mental_Mentor

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a photo party by a friend. It was a company called Venture. The deal was good. I pay £35 and get a voucher, worth £165. This entitles me to an hour's studio time and a 10" x 8" framed photo of my family.

We were booked in for a session last Friday night and 100s of shots were taken, all different. They split the kids up and took individual ones, some of just the kids together and some of the family, as requested.

We were all asked to yesterday to "the viewing" as a whole family,as this is meant to be part of the whole experience.

We had already decided before we went in that we could not afford any more than the free photo, that they were overpriced and not worth the cost. However, when in the viewing room we were pressured into ordering - wait for it - £2,000 for 5 photographs.

I have been panicking every since, have signed a credit agreement and the order form says "Once signed below this order is legally binding and because of the custom nature, cancellation oe reduction will not be possible"

Help Money Savers! Is there anything I can do?

mark_casey

surely you have a 14 day cooling of period , If not contact your local councils office of fair trading.

Mental_Mentor

mark_casey wrote: »

surely you have a 14 day cooling of period , If not contact your local councils office of fair trading.

Thanks for this. Do you think so? Can't find this anywhere on the contract.

tunesurfer

Well Ive justed scanned the net to look for answers and found lots of praise but a lot of complaining also about the prices - but didnt find anything about how to get out of it but Im sure someone has. I see you found the other post from last year.

To me you should always be able to change your mind I would contact them ASAP before they do any more work and tell them you feel you where pressured to buy.

molerat

If the credit agreement is signed on the company premises there is no cooling off period. That is why they do not do it in your home.

liney

I hardly think Venture 'scammed' you. They have sales people who have done their job well and sold you photographs.

You were not alone with a pushy salesman, but with your family who were probably as much to blame for 'pressurising' you to buy the lovely photos as the company.

I dont mean to offend, but i think you are being unreasonably harsh to this company.

Mental_Mentor

liney wrote: »

I hardly think Venture 'scammed' you. They have sales people who have done their job well and sold you photographs.

You were not alone with a pushy salesman, but with your family who were probably as much to blame for 'pressurising' you to buy the lovely photos as the company.

I dont mean to offend, but i think you are being unreasonably harsh to this company.

I cannot argue with this but was simply asking whether, given this situation, I have or should have been offered any cooling off period. I feel now that I was the victim of a very pressured sales technique, which included bringing my family, which they expressly insisted was important.

Mental_Mentor

molerat wrote: »

If the credit agreement is signed on the company premises there is no cooling off period. That is why they do not do it in your home.

Can anyone confirm whether this is correct? If so this is very clever - surely there must be some protection here?

sare_2

I also think it's harsh for you to have the word "scam" in your title.
I know it can be hard to turn down lovely photographs when you see them, but you did have the choice.The Venture salespeople are very good at their job, but you could have said No.

I'm not sure if you would be entitled to a cooling off period as when you ordered the photo's it was at the final stage of the venture process.
They will have already started the prints, so it's unlikely you can back out now.Whilst I personally don't think Venture are in the wrong, you could contact the CAB or Trading Standards to see if you have any legal get out clause.

maninthestreet

Molerat is right - contracts signed on business premises are not subject to a cooling off period.

Freddie_Snowbits

go to a good local photographer!

www.nick4photo.co.uk