I really wish I hadn't entered and "won" this competition

[Quarky]

It was my birthday and I was a bit tipsy. I looked on Facebook briefly and this competition came up for a "confidence building burlesque photo shoot". At that moment in time it sounded fun, and I knew someone who had had it done so I entered.

A couple of days later I got a phone call from a woman from the photo company saying I'd won. In my sober sensible state I wasn't at all surprised because that's how they find customers, but I still thought it might be fun. The woman asked for a £50 refundable deposit to secure the booking. She said to bring about 3 sets of underwear. Ok I thought, I'll go for it and see how it is. I went out that weekend and bought a couple of nice bra sets and a corset, which are all really nice and sexy so I'm glad about that.

I went along to the shoot and a young woman did my make up. I don't usually get things like this done, my hair and make up is usually kept really natural. When she had finished and I looked in the mirror I looked like a man in drag I really didn't like it, my eyebrows were so dark and thick, it just wasn't me.

Then I went to the photo studio and to be honest I just felt awkward the whole time. The woman doing my photos called me a milf and kept making fun of my accent, which didn't really do much for my confidence. When the photo shoot was over she gave me the price list for buying photos at my viewing appointment, which is this weekend. Oh my God I could not believe the prices! I know that generally these things are expensive and I was prepared to part with about £200 for my photos on a USB perhaps. Boy was I wrong. They charge £400 just for one A3 framed photo. If I wanted an album with 30 photos it's £1295. If I wanted a USB stick with just 10 pictures it is £600! They do packages ranging from £1200 to £2100. That is crazy money and I can't afford anything like that, even with the pay monthly scheme. Christmas is coming and I have a family to buy presents for. Money isn't exactly tight, but it is still precious and I am not prepared to pay such an extortionate amount for photos of myself in my undies. Like I say, I would consider buying if they were more reasonably priced but I have better things to spend our hard earned money on, like a family holiday.

When I think about it, it's almost cruel what they do. It's like taking a child into a sweatshop and saying look at all these delicious sweeties, and here's 1p for you to spend.

I'm dreading going to the viewing as they will try to make me buy and there's just no way. I have to go along in order to get my £50 deposit back. I never envisaged anything like this when I entered the competition, and I really wish I hadn't bothered. They phoned me up today to confirm the viewing appointment and ask me what I was going to do with my photos, obviously presuming I'm going to buy. CFs.

I'll be a lot wiser in future and stay away from these so called competitions.

Are you not worried that these scammers have photos of you in your skimpies? They own the copyright, they could do anything with those photos!

The t&c's will be on the comp that you entered. All that small print no-one bothers to read.
The scam is still running because people pay for the pictures.
I 'won' this when I was 17. They tried the hard sell. I had them there for over 2 hours and gave it lots of ooooh really, aahhhh, nice. Then I burst out laughing and asked them on what planet they were on that a 17-year-old, who they had plied with booze, was able to pay hundreds for shitty pictures. I was only still there because they kept filling up my glass.

Go along and spend as much time as you can procrastinating over which photos your NOT going to buy. Pick holes in them all tell them how crap they are at photography and they should get a new career as a turkey inseminator.

We did the Venture thing years ago. Our four kids loved the photo shoot and they took some amazing photos. But we went along to claim our very nice freebie photo and stayed strong through the hard sell.

And like a couple of people up thread, the sold us the usb about six months later for about £20 anyway.

If you're taking DH, don't forget that he is a lawyer who has successfully sued people over extortion in the past. Come armed with a couple of facts of case studies from Google his past.

make sure your husband says things like OMG they made you look like a drag queen/clown why?????, if she wanted to look like a clown she would have signed up for circus school!!!! clearly show that he is shocked and horrified at what they have done to his beautiful wife

You have to be blatantly rude about yourself in the photos, regardless of whether you think they’re nice or not

OMG I look terrible, like a man in drag, that’s so embarrassing I never want to look at that again

It makes there “sales pitch” really hard

Why would I want to buy that photo to burn it it’s awful

Get your £50 and don’t be scammed again

And put cash in your handbag but leave your purse at home... then you can genuinely say, I’ve left my purse at home

I did a similar photo shoot when I was 18. My friend won it for herself and a friend so I thought, why not? We paid for a day out to London and bought a few nice clothes to wear. We were first year uni students so money was very tight but as she'd won it, we apparently got 5 free photos, we thought it would be fun. When we got there they did awful, over the top hair and make-up and the shoot was quite embarrassing. Then when we went to 'choose our free photos' we went into a room with a man who was unbelievably pushy, rude, intimidating and actually quite scary. I told him outright I couldn't afford any more so he moved onto my friend and made her cry. He kept telling her she was an awful person for allowing all these people to work so hard to take them and then not buy any. We got out eventually but we were both really shaken. We were also quite young and niave and i think this was why she was choaen to win. I would probably say go with someone, preferably big and male, to get your £50 back.amd be really clear from the beginning that you don't want any.

Write down all of the communication you had with them. Print off copies of anything you have seen.

Put it in writing that you have come to the viewing to comply with the terms of the competition win in order to get your deposit back and that you do not wish to purchase any of the photos.

Every time they ask, point them to the letter you have written and repeat that you do not wish to discuss it further.

Just a different perspective, if you plan to go and get your money back anyway why not haggle if you do want one of the pics. I think it's unlikely you will get your money back, but you may get a pic for a cheaper price.
Perhaps say, the photos are nice, but realistically how many photos of me in my underwear do I need? Im not going to use them in the family Christmas letter (pause for their fake laughter) they are lovely pics but that price is outrageous. I am willing to spend $100 on one reasonable size, no frame. No you can't change the price, that's ok sorry to waste your time. Once you get up to leave they might start haggling with you.
Just remember it cost them to do the photo shoot, and they will want to make the money back. There is no reason to pay the price they ask.

Don't go. Be honest, say you didn't enjoy the day and feel manipulated. If they are funny with you, threaten them with trading standards.

If they won’t give you your money back tell them you were told several times that you would get it back and if they don’t, you will go to Trading Standards, and Watchdog. Tell them that they are scammers and you will not give up until you get your £50.
You could also say you’ll tandmoutside thwir office telling the next customers about the experience you’ve had.
They won’t be used to people sticking up for themselves, and give you your £50.

*stand outside their office

Also I would call them and say you are returning a call about the competition, listen to the spiel and book a time. When they ask for the deposit ask them about the refund policy. If they say it's refundable if you don't buy any pics ask them to email you a copy of the refund policy, as you are worried it's a scam. Then you will know if it's worth going to the appointment, and when you do go, you can take a print out of the email. Then you don't have to look at the pics if you don't want to.

*You have to be blatantly rude about yourself in the photos, regardless of whether you think they’re nice or not

OMG I look terrible, like a man in drag, that’s so embarrassing I never want to look at that again

It makes there “sales pitch” really hard*

I think this is really good practical advice. You need to disarm them. Of course, they might start on the emotional blackmail route but it's unlikely I think, as they'll be able to see you're not vulnerable enough to fall for it and especially with two of you there.

There are some fantastic replies on this thread so thank you to everyone, you have really given me some good ideas. I think I will roll my eyes a lot and wince at the pictures and laugh. I'll say to DH, "see, I told you I'd look like a prostitute".

Also, please don't waste your time making threats about Trading Standards, Twitter and all the rest. They already know that folk fume about them like this, but it's a numbers game ... providing the targets keep coming, they simply won't care

Although scammers, most of these types certainly aren't stupid and you'll probably find most of their practices stay just this side of the law (and if the publicity gets too bad, they'll simply fold and start up again under "new management")

Not the point of the thread, I know, but I can’t imagine anything less likely to boost my confidence than having cringey photos taken in front of a room full of strangers. The trauma.

It is a well know photography studio in Leeds. Pricey but worth it to me if I like the pictures. I'm viewing next week. If they are shit I will just take the one included in the prize . Definitely won't be pressured into buying anything I don't want. Fingers crossed they are nice!

Quick update...went to the viewing today. Approx 80% of the pictures I didn't like. A few were nice but I stuck to my guns and refused to buy anything. Got my £50 deposit refunded yay! I can put this whole thing behind me now 😁

Yeah! Well done Op

Genuinely amazed you got the £50 back, but very well done anyway

And at least you'll never get drawn into anything like this again

Oh, well done!