Coverlook Studios

wannagobacktogreece

oh my goodness, i have just had a call from this monik person asking why i havent responded to the email she sent me last night..... so i didnt let on i had sent the above email today and asked her to resend it to me, she claims it could be sat im my junk mail.. i said my it department have checked the filters and its not there...... apparently she is resending it now. it will be interesting to see what this email says, when i receive it i will post it on here.
obviously she has not read my nasty email earlier in the day lol.
will advise when i hear anymore. have also put it on my facebook not to touch this company with a barge pole.

sweetalison2009

Hi

I got tricked out of £30 a few weeks ago from covergirl-cover look. I managed to stop my credit card, so only lost £30. After when i gave my card details over fone, i googled the number given found i was in same boat as other people. When U entered the competition, some people have entered & some people havent, but if you go back to source & inform them of this situation. It may help other people. When i got a call from cover girl i remembered clearly i did enter the comp, thats perhaps why i gave my details. I enter a lot of competitions which on some cases a deposit is given but very rare.

More people who talk, to friends about this companies, more chance of them closing there doors, i may be dreaming, well its a thought anyway. I have also reported them to ASA.

I asked the woman on the fone, was this a prize, she said it was, but it wasnt on the congratulations form that she sent me by email, which was very silent. Quite easy to copy & paste the form & put the name of person in from previous email. The woman made it out special to me, when in fact its probably gone to other people. Congratulations you won, is the captive name to draw in people into there business, when its said to anyone, if told they've won a prize, we or I believe its a prize i or we've won. Luckily i was just out a bit of inconvience of my card not being availavle to use, but with that, i was glad as the company didnt get anymore of my money, so in a way they did me favour.

Have informed them i know of there stunt, have asked for my money to be returned, i perhaps am dreaming if i expect them 2 return my money. Last person who refused to reimburse me, did, so am hopeful. If not they have had £30 of my money, which could have paid my fone bill. Have heard of other people wh've lost more, but am lucky. I have read about other people who've lost more than what i did, my heart goes out to them.

You've heard of COVERGIRL & COVERLOOK? Have U heard of Coverlook London, 34 Mortimer Street London - Beauty Consultants & Specialists - The Wedding Binder.
www.theweddingbinder.co.uk/listings

How can 1 company have so many connections of different companies? Have had no dealings with the above company, but its fishy how many connections 1 company have, also they are not listed with Companies House, have made contact with them & also i have had it confirmed. I worked for a voluntary firm involved high up, we were with companies house as we were a LTD company.

I have only found the details out a few hours after i posted the info above. I am doing as much research about this company. I guess they were various companies before coverlook, cover girl & the above company. I guess more are aware of the treatment of covergirl & cover look, they will change the name to another company.

Following link is a way of to win a covergirl-coverlook prize of £500, still up & running, also its there address. .
http://coverlook-studios1.moonfruit.com/

Regards,

chelzhung

i got the call from coverlook 1 month ago too saying i've won myself a photo shoot and have to pay 30quid deposit per person and can bring a few friends along. makeup and hair done for free and also they promised 30frames per person and a free A4 printed photo of our choice to take home per person at the end of the session even if we do not want to buy any others. i was also promised 4 VIP tickets to enter any one of the top clubs in London.

I did so thinking it was a great deal, and on the day they gave me my appointment, i went along with another friend to coverlook studios in london.

yes, it does exist.

so we went in, and was faced with a room full of people waiting for their turn. we were served juice and wine and sat in the waiting area in the meantime. my appointment was booked at 4pm. however, i only got called to the make up chair at 5.15pm and 10 minutes was spent doing my face. i just got a base, lip gloss (NO LIP LINER or LIPSTICK!!) a splash of eyeliner and a bit of shimmer on the eyes. my eyebrows were drawn in IMPERFECTLY, no toning/shading/sculpting of the face nor highlighting of the appropriate areas were done - heck, i can do a lot better job myself at home with my own stuff.
hair was another 5 minutes curl with the hair straighteners by the same make up artist and then we were sent to wait for another 2 hour before we got called in to take our photos.
the photo shoot was fun at least, the photographer told you to do stuff and also there were many sets. they also gave their 30 frames as promised.
after the shoot, we waited another 30 mins before we were called into the viewing room.
there, they offered us different packages - 500 plus for all pics down to 75pounds per picture.
showing no interest at all, the woman then quoted us her best price at 4 pictures at high quality in a CD (not printed) for our 60pounds deposit. her final words were "u are my last customers, either take the deal or leave it,i dont care because i am going home after this''
which thank you very much - just sealed my stand that i am not going to buy any whatsoever.
i then asked for the free photo and was told by her that we can only choose one and guess what - it will be the size of a passport photograph. In a CD. i also got my 60pounds deposit back.

so that's all we got. after that i enquired further about the 4 VIP passes and was told that we are to call up the studio and let them know which club we want to go and tehy will put us on the guest list by calling up the club for us.

Right. that means we still have to pay for the entrance fee.

so all in all, about 5 hours spent in the studio. yes, free makeup and hair by their so called professional makeup artists (my makeup artist was a freelancer -she doesn't work for coverlook) and also photoshoots with your own clothes (they'dont provide clothes - so bring ur own) and after that a viewing of the photos whihc in my opinion weren't FANTASTIC. it was ok. No free A4 photo per pax, no VIP tickets -

my verdict is - 5 hours of my life and yes, they promise loads but only deliver 50% what was promised at a lousy quality. go if u really have nothing to do, or if you need a photoshoot anyway and is willing to pay for it.

lisastafford

I had a call this evening from a company called Covergirl, they told me I had won 1st Prize in a competition for a makeover, hair and photo shoot worth £500 :rolleyes: they told me all about the studio, the cocktails etc etc, it sounded too good to be true, the lady then told me I would have to pay £30 to secure the booking, however this would be refunded on the day. I searched the telephone number on the internet 02076310485 and guess what I found!! IT'S A CON, just as I thought. DONT PART WITH ANY MONEY, If you have won something then it's free, they should not try and sell you products after, if it is all so legitimate why don't they just call up and ask if you would like to pay £300/400 for a photo-shoot. Companies like these should be closed down or prosecuted for FRAUD. I will be calling BT and adding the number 0207 631 0485 to the rogue gallery of telephone numbers. :mad:

hollywolly_2

thankyou to everyone who has commented. cover look studios contacted me telling me i had won the prize, as soon as the lady on the phone mentioned a deposit alarm bells went off and i asked her to call me at a later date so i could do some research! i dont usually enter or win competitions so i was pretty excited to find that i had, but it seems odd to me that so many people can win this competition. the company must be getting something out of it otherwise how would they be able to give out £500 prizes every week?!
im glad i went with my instincts on this and did some research

npw

I wanted to book a makeover & photo shoot for myself & my 2 daughters as the youngest one is turing 18 this week. I tried several studios in London as we were visiting over half term, most couldnt offer me the time I wanted. I filled in a competition form on the cover girl web site. A couple of days later I was phoned, and told I'd won the £500 makeover at one of the top LOndon studios off Oxford Street., Covergirl studios. I was delighted and told I could take my 2 daughters with me, to ensure we kept the appointment they would need £30 each (refundable on completion oof photo shoot) deposit. I duly paid as they were able to offer me an appointment that fitted into my schedule. It was also cheaper than other studios, if fact free if you want to go & get you deposit back at teh end. Other studios in London were charging £50 -£100 just for the previlage and not refundable.
The experience was worth £30 but to be honest if I'd paid £500 I would have been very disappointed & cross. I was promised unlimited refreshments. There were some glasses of ?wine on the reception desk but I was not offered anything to drink until I had waited 30 mins or so.
No one really explained the proceedure or welcomed us. A very grumpy lady who appered at the reception desk from time to time, had a go at a client who'd arrived late, despite her apology it appeared that they werent going to fit her in but in the end they did, so why were they so rude to her?
We were given a questionaire which asked us how we wanted our makeup/ hair. However when I got into the chair with the makeup artist, she asked me the same questions again! The make up artist I had was good but the one my daughter had was not that good. The makeup they used was the sort you can buy on the market/ in the £1 shop, it was all a bit of a mixed match. Our appointment was late in the day & after us the artists packed away what appeared to be their own make up boxes and left.
After makeup we moved to the hair chair where a young girl either curled or straightened your hair. My hair being quite short had a bit of gel rubbed in and that was that. (Similar studios costing £50 offer cut & blow drys as part of the experience.)
Once hair & makeup is done, it back onto the sofas to wait for teh photographer to collect you. I was rather upset during this time to witness one photograher collecting her client and then saying "oh have you had your make up & hair done?" To which the client said "yes". So if the photographer couldnt tell if teheclient had had her hair & make up done, doesnt that say something! I was alos amazed to observe the hair/ beauty artists taking moblie phone calls whilst attending to clients.
Whilst on the settees waiting we helped ourselves to wine or fruit juice. I did ask fro sparking water but they were unable to oblige. More waiting, after just 2 hours since we'd arrived our photograher came and collected us. We had been asked to bring 3 changes of clothes plus accessories, so like most clients we had a rather large suitcase. We then had to carry our case down the stairs into the basement. There were 4 changing cubicles that you can hardly move in, especially with a bag or case in them. There were hooks and a few coat hangers. The curtains are thin material that you can see through. It was rather entertaining especially as there were males & females there.(My 17 year old was not impressed)
The basement was cold and had halogen & electric heaters here & there. I did get worried when one young girl was warming herself in front of it in a very beautiful evening dress that looked like it could set on fire any moment as she jogged up & down to keep warm.
I was so glad we were late in the day as pretty soon the other clients left which meant we werent being watched when changing/ being photographed by others or having to share the heaters.
Our photographer was lovely, able to get everyone at ease and very encouraging and friendly. She did speak a little too much about herself, this was our day, our treat and at £500 one would expect to be treated like royalty!!
The sets were very tatty- backgrounds that had seen better days, chairs and settees with tears, broken items. I have seen better chairs on car boot sales. Its Ok though because they etch the tears out of the chair arm on your photos.
Another 2 hours had passed and we then had to wait 15 minutes to see our photos. It was now gone 8.15, we had arrived at 4pm had a couple of drinks to keep us going but at no point offered any food. You are not allowed drinks in the studio even though the photographers drink down there! When I was told we could have unlimited rereshments I had expected some sort of food, maybe crisps, fruit or a biscuit may have helped. After nearly 5 hours, the blood sugar is gettting low.
Anyway photos were ready, so into a small room where a technician ran though each digital photo on a PC screen. We had the option delete or keep. We deleted several but kept over 30. The £500 prize included one photo on CD. I expected we'd get one each but no just one as I was teh only 1 who'd won the prize. The photos started from £75 each. The more you buy the cheaper they become. You can buy over 12 months and pay over £2000 for the collection of 30 photos. You get them on disk & they give you the copyright so you can print as many as you like. If you buy on the day they cost you £790.
Friends who have had similar photos done have paid £700- £3000 for 3-10 photos in frames. So £790 for 30 on disc and the copyright seems Ok to me. They save them in Flicker, B&W and the colour ones. We paid the £700 as we'd paid the £90 deposit, and were given a disc each. I have been promised etched/ editted photos on 3 discs within 28 days and the 30 pictures printed on A4. I look forward to them.
Overall an Ok experience but not worth £500.
I will copy this to the owner and I hope she takes onboard my comments, especiallly those about the unprofessionalism- using mobiles etc,

karen_joleen

hi
my name is karen and about 4 weeks ago i went for my coverlook makeover.
i was contacted in december saying that i had won a comp worth £500. they took my details and i paid a £60 deposit, £30 for me and £30 for a guest. i ended up taking my boyfriend for the reason that i thought it was a con, and i didn't want to get pushed around, and he is quite muscley and stuff, and well i knew they wouldn't muck us around if it turned out to be true.
during the 2 months i waited until the day came for my makeover i was panicking, i honestly thought i was going to be conned, my money would be taken away and there would be nothing i could do about it.
so when the day came i was nervous, they had rung me the day before reminding me what i needed-3 changes of clothing and my guest.
my train ended up being late as i was travelling from chichester so when i rang, they were fine with me being a little late. the place wasn't hard to find although if you are looking for signs, there aren't. the way we found out is we could see canvas photos of photo shoots through the window. but the directions on the map they gave were good. when we got there we had to fill out questionnaires. there was a question if i wanted a semi naked photo and i clearly marked NO. anyway the woman who did my makeup was very good, no complaints about that, but dont expect a posh makeup studio or anything, the makeup area was very basic and nothing fancy. they offered drinks but only tea coffee, orange or appe juice or water. no fancy refreshments like on the web page. anyway when it came to doing the photo shoot, we met our photographer and we were lead to the room where they do the photos. dont expect anything fancy, it was one room with a little add on room with different backgrounds in different parts of the room. like half the room had a white wall and the other half had a black cloth dangling down to give a different background. they had limited equipment between them but the photographers each had their own camera, and there were other people havign their shoots done while we were. anyway the website says the experience lasts about 5 hrs, ours lasted two, and thats with looking at the photos. right at the end of the photo shoot, my boyfriend was asked to take his top off and undo the first button on his trousers, this i was not very happy with, but we went along with it. nothing strange was done in the photos.
the price of the photos were very expensive and we were able to look at them calmly and not in a rush. the guy who showed us our photos talked us through what he would do; if we liked them he would leave them on the comp, if we didn't he would delete them, and if we weren't sure he would put them onto one side of the screen to look at later and decide. we ended up choosing 16 photos we liked, and it turned out to be £340 for all of the with the £60 i had already paid being knocked off the price. my prize thing was that i got a photo free (A4). but when deciding if we wanted the 16 photos or not, i got quite stressy with the man who was with us as he was saying 'this is a one time opportunity and i am putting my job on the line' what i thought was how many people has he told this to? so after getting irritated with the man as he would not let us talk as a couple to decide what we wanted to do, my boyfriend put his foot down and said we were going to have one photo-the free one. this way we would still have money left in our accounts. the photos you choose go on a cd, they dont get printed out. also as part of my prize, i was going to be put on londons nightclubs guest list for me and my boyfriend, they never asked us if we were going and where. but we didnt go anyway,
please dont be put off by the phonecall, i panicked alot when i thought they were a con, its not, its just not as good as it makes it up to be on the internet. i had a reasonably good time, may do it again, but dont expect anything too fancy and remember to control your money!!! i would recommend people to do it if they want to. i did have a good time doing the shoot. and i did get my money back, and i watched them put it back on my card. it came through within 3 days. dont expect alot in the ways of being pampered, it goes to a limit, and you'll enjoy it alot more if you go in with a clear mind.

dat_tall_chick

kimmybellamy26 wrote: »

did anyone have a bad day there apart from not getting money back?

Hell Yeah!!!

mrsmiow

so what happened in the end did you get yourmoney back?

hmsmith1990

Hey
I was contacted by a Covergirl studios today who said i'd won a competiton (which i did enter on saturday) and would receive a £500 makeover and photoshoot and asked for a £35 deposit for both me and my guest so i (stupidly) handed over my debit card details. I have since looked the company up and found this thread about Coverlook studios so am now very worried.

What should i do?

Thanks