Portrait Innovations Bait and switch, deceptive sales practices North Brunswick New Jersey

Yesterday my wife and I went in for the $9.95 deal and left with a $200 bill.  The photographer was extremely pushy and didnt explain much of anything.  As soon as we set down she said, this is what most people get, its 50% off, and is a great deal.  She then went through each picture, 82 total, and "helped" us narrow them down.  I say helped because there was a few times when my wife and I said, we dont like any of those and she would add ones that she liked.  We narrowed it down and were suddenly looking at a $600 bill.  Of course we laughed at this and said no way can we afford that.  So we went on narrowing it down. 

In the middle of narrowing it she asked what is the one pose that you would have to have and she selected this as our $9.95 package, but she didnt explain thats what she did.  We were under the impression that we were looking at a different type of package, the popular one as she said, and didnt think we were still looking at a $9.95 package, in addition to what we were trying to narrow down.  So she flaged the one, we narrowed down some more and were still looking at a $300 bill. 

At this point I spoke up and said maybe we should decide how much we want to spend before we move forward and she cut me off and said now wait, what about this one.  She wouldnt let me have a conversation with my wife as to what we were willing to spend.  She was very pushy. 

Finally we got down to around $200 and 12 poses and she said if we go any lower we will lose some of the free things in the package, we really wanted the CD, more on that later, and she was being so pushy and gave the impression that if we went lower we would lose the CD so my wife said ok we'll take that. 

So she started to review our order and the total was above what the previous screen said, I asked why that was and she said on thats because of your other package, the $9.95.  I said why do we still need that package, she said well thats for the one pose that you said you really liked and you get free greeting cards.  I of couse said we dont need the greeting cards, with the CD we can do that at home.  She again was very pushy and said but then youll lose that one pose that you really liked.  I said why cant we keep that with the other package and just get rid of another pose, she reluctanly agreed. 

Truthfully we should have stood our ground a little more but she was so pushy and our 6mnth old daugher was starting to get fussy.  Immidiately after we paid I was having my doubts.  I talked with my wife and she was feeling the same way.  So when we returned to pick up the pictures she asked if we could reduce our package and get less poses.  She was told that she could but that we could only get store credit, but that she couldnt do it now we would have to schedule an appointment and come back later.  She tried to make the appointment during the day in the middle of the week and my wife said well we both work so that wont work.  She reluctantly agreed to a 2pm appt the next day but said it was Sunday and Sundays are always busy.

So we arrived at 2pm the next today and low and behold our photographer wasnt there, we were told she just stepped out for lunch, how convienent.  O and of courese it wasnt busy at all.  I explained that we wanted to reduce our package and we didnt want store credit because frankly we didnt like the way we were treated and didnt want to return.  The guy that helped us was pretty nice and in the face of our complaining handled it well, but wasnt really looking to give us a refund and said that we couldnt refund our money but could give us a voucher.  I explained that wasnt acceptable.  I said your photographer was pushy, didnt really explain anything and store credit wasnt gonna cut it.  I said you have a credit card machine, run our card and credit it, its done everywhere else.  He said he couldnt do that because it would mess up there accounting, bs of course.

Luckly I went armed with some info.  I printed out the negative reviews from this site and others just to let them know what I knew what they were up to.  I told him that if we didnt get a refund after we reduced our package that I would stand outside his store and hand these flyers out to anyone and everyone that passes by, a little aggressive I suppose but it worked.  He said the voucher could be made to read as a refund and we would have to send the voucher to the corporate office and we would be sent a check.  I said if I dont get a check or there is a problem I promise you I will be back here.  So we have a voucher and we are going to send it certified mail.  According to the voucher we will be getting a check 2-3wks after they recieve the voucher.

All in all it was an unpleasent experience and we will never return.  While we were not with out fault here, we still were not treated well.  We were pushed into buying things we did not really want, they tried to ensure that we wouldnt return or if we did we would be so frustrated that we would leave, and we were lied to about getting a refund.  O and the CD does not contain high res format, another point that they glossed over.

York, Pennsylvania

Michael

I agree with the original poster 100%. My family purchased a package for ~$115 in Chesterfield, MO.

We must asked numerous questions about the CD and we were led to believe that it contained high resolution images suitable for printing at home. The belief that we could print some additional 4x6's when we needed them drove our decisions, in terms of what package we selected, and what poses we selected.

Now once we got the CD home and tried to do this, we of course found the CD absolutely useless for anything aside from maybe e-mail use.

Now at this point, they will be happy to print any additional sheets we need... for $15 per sheet, or about 3x the price we would have paid when the pictures were taken.

Deceptive sales practices indeed...

I have been going to Portrait Innovations for three years and I love them. You make it seem that your wife got the $9.95 package but was charged $65.00. If she has a disc, that means she purchased at least a three pose package; the $9.95 is a one pose package. If you find their work 'mediocre' why not return it if you are unsatisfied? I don't see where Bait and Switch is involved at all. The sales practices might I add are not deceptive at all; the price and digital images of the package your wife purchased were on the screen in plain view before she purchased them. I think this is a case of miscommunication or misunderstanding. High Res images aren't just 'given' to people and they certainly aren't charged for getting them. I have requested a copyright release from their corporate office to have pictures put in the newspaper and had no problems.