Venture Scam - Help! What can I do?

RadoJo

Venture are a nationwide chain who regularly feature special offers etc and provide photo sessions for free or discounted heavily. The reason they are able to do this is because the full price of their products makes up the short-fall left by the freebies and they rely on the fact that the photos they take are so good people will want to spend more on photos once they see the results of their freebie.
None of this is a 'scam' - it works because they know that people will like what they do, which presumably is why you ordered these photos. As much as I sympathise with your change of heart, I would agree that calling this a scam is harsh. How did you think they could afford to offer you £165 worth of photos for £35?

I would try contacting them to see if the order can be cancelled, but don't go in all guns blazing as they would be well within their rights not to, and the only way you might succeed is if they sympathise with you.

sarahlouise210

Sadly you have fallen for the sales techniques. When you allowed so many pictures to be taken you were obviously going to make it hard for yourself to not buy more pictures. It is a very hard decision to leave a photographic sitting with only the one photo ..by you have to be strong! I have done this ..yes it breaks your heart not to have tehse wonderful images.. but now you are worrying about the costs involved. When it happened to me I was adamant that Iwould only have the one photo (not venture) ..after a great deal of hopeless persuasion the salesman said I was either very poor or very stubborn !! I agreed I was indeed both !! I left with my one beautiful picture and safe in the knowledge that I had actually received a good deal! You cannot say you were scammed - you were tempted and gave into temptation.

ivavoucher

From what I have read on other forums there seems to be a mix of hard and not so hard selling going on with Venture.

I am sorry you had the bad luck to get the hard sell treatment.


What are the terms?

What happens if you consider the final product is not up to the standard you expected?

I see they offer a guarantee for the first session.

“Plus with our '100% happy or 100% back' guarantee, if you're not completely delighted with your session or portrait, we'll refund your £25 in full. And that's a promise”

Sare
Quote “Salespeople are very good at their job”

Have you read the original post, it is stated that they were subjected to a hard sell routine; do you think the OP is lying?

I personally hate the hard sell; it’s bullying, offensive and should entitle a victim to cancel once they have escaped the ordeal.

I would contact them ASAP and ask them nicely if you can cancel.
If they refuse then I would have a rant, give them the truth about how you were bullied into the order.

Good luck
Ivadeal.

ellives

What's the latest?

vickyj

Most local photographers like me (bristol) now shoot high key (white background) to, so use a nice local photographer. we dont hard sell and we are certainly better value for money.

But in answer to the post i would be really suprised but very very pleased for you if you could somehow adjust your order. I would read through the Ts & Cs really closely and see what you can come up with. I wish you the very bes of luck.
Vicky J

Photonix Photography

ekkygirl

I have looked at venture to have some pic's of my family but they are more expensive than I would want to pay and even, with the offer I would HAVE to buy more. I have to say that they are not just photographs but works of art and so much more than a photo.
I wish I could think of the ideas they have every time I walk past their studio. Im interested to know how much you are paying and the pix must be good if you were prepated to pay £2000 even if you later changed your mind. My advise would be if you cant cancel, Enjoy

pinkshoes

£2000 for 5 photos? well that makes them £400 each, so how come the initial one is only worth £165? were the other ones extra special or something?

I sympathise with you, because i detest sales people who pressure you into buying something you can't afford. They put you in a situation where you feel dreadful when you say "no", using any sort of bullying they can i.e. telling you to bring the kids along, because you don't want to look stupid infront of your kids etc...

Can you just tell them you're not happy with the quality of the photos? Because for £2000, i'd want something pretty special, otherwise I'd reject them if they weren't up to scratch.

lab-lover

Two years ago we took our daughter to Venture and I must say the photos were beautiful. At the viewing I was hard pushed to choose but decided on 3. I didnt find the salesman pushy at all he didnt need to be, the photos sold themselves. We choose 3, paid half the balace, then the rest of the balance paid in full when collected the photos. Cant remember signing anything at time of order.

Two years on I am fed up with ringing with "special offers" and sending brochures out twice in one month. My 3 photos were "only" £425 by the way.!

PeteMc

I'm another Venture satisfied customer. Used them about 4 years ago and the quality was outstanding. Paid about £1000 for 4 of the smaller pictures and 1 large one all in quality frames. No pressure whatsoever and will use them again in the future.

eco123

My 3 photos were "only" £425 by the way.!

WHAT!!, are you bonkers?
How can you say "ONLY" £425

Am I missing something here? are they printed on platinum sheets!

This is supposed to be a money saving site... as opposed to people bragging about how gullible they are.