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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask your experiences (good and bad) with a company called venture photography

87 replies

therewearethen · 09/01/2013 14:43

Had a voucher for Xmas to use at venture photography. It states "your venture pack entitles you to a £245 venture experience that will bring you and your family a lifetime of pleasure" sounds ok but then there's the T&C's

The studio photo shoot is valued at £150
The complimentary framed image from your photoshoot will be a 7" x 5" worth £98
At the time of booking, you will be asked to provide debit/credit card details to secure your booking.

I'm 38wks pregnant and the expiry date on the voucher is a few wks after my due date. I know I sound really ungrateful but I'm not a fan of having my photo taken and so quickly after birth I think I'll feel even more insecure and uncomfortable than normal. It states in the T & C that the whole family have to be included otherwise I'd just get the kids done.

The part about card details unnerves me slightly and we're skint! I really don't want to turn up and be pressurised into buying more photos that we simply can't afford.

So does anyone have any experience of venture?

OP posts:

EmpressMaud · 09/01/2013 17:19

I've never used them, personally. And I'd never heard of them until reading negative threads here, and they usually are negative on the whole.

SoldeInvierno · 09/01/2013 17:20

I had a session with them about 8 years ago. When I went back to get the free print they insisted I bring DH along. They wouldn't give it to us without both of us being present and they insisted that it had to be just the 2 of us, no DS!!

Anyway, by the time I got there, I was so pissed off, I told the guy to not bother with the hard sale. I just got my free picture and left. I must have looked like I meant it because he didn't even insist.

diddl · 09/01/2013 17:21

OP-if you do go, can I suggest that you just take the voucher as "payment"?

littlewhitebag · 09/01/2013 17:23

I spent quite a lot of money on photos from venture. I really love them and still get a lot of pleasure from looking at them.

BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM · 09/01/2013 17:38

littlewhitebag the pictures we had done (it was my mum who paid) are lovely and she adores them, but she sounds like their sales person when she says the money is worth it as "it is a piece of art to be passed down to future generations...."

I understand her meaning of course, it has meaning to her therefore it was worth it.

Our session was 9 years ago (this week actually...) I remember because I was 3 weeks post C-Section and they were trying to make me climb on my brother's back

Original poster

therewearethen · 09/01/2013 18:00

You've all confirmed my fears, it says in the T & C that you have to give 5days notice if you want to cancel or a £25 charge will apply. This is why I assume they need your credit/debit card details when booking, and of course to make it oh so easy for you to spend £££! I wonder what they'll say when I tell them I only have a visa electron card! Oh wait it's my husband that has all the money isn't it what happens if your a single parent!?

OP posts:

mungojerrie · 09/01/2013 18:11

Really hard sell - full of emotional blackmail - stay well clear! If you do go - when you return for the 'viewing' make sure you don't take any wallets/cards/bags etc - and keep repeating 'i'd like the complimentary print only please'!!!

happynewmind · 09/01/2013 18:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hydrophilic · 09/01/2013 18:28

Please don't go just after giving birth. Your hormones will be all over the place and they will use this to their advantage to get you to spend £££.

I have never had a photoshoot with them but hate the idea of standing in a clinical environment posing like a twat. As someone said above, why not wait until the baby is older and get a local photographer to come and take pictures in the woods, at the local park etc.

I am about to start a photography course and would love the opportunity to practice in different environments, you could ask at your local college to see if any of the students would like a family to practice on?

AlwaysHoldingOnToStarbug · 09/01/2013 18:39

My SIL booked the whole family in for a session, so we had her family, ours, plus dh's brothers and their kids. We had a huge group one done then individual family ones. Dh's brothers actually refused to even go look at their photos so I went with SIL and we chose the whole family group pic as a present for PILs and we each bought our family ones for £75 for a 7 x 5 photo.

The pics were nice enough and we weren't given too much of a hard sell (maybe because we were the little women and hadn't bought our men with us) but I wouldn't say they were worth the money. And they're out of date now as we have DS5.

I have a friend who is a great photographer who has offered to take pics of my kids, nice outdoor natural ones.

KenLeeeeeee · 09/01/2013 18:42

Shit photos, crappily edited & photoshopped, hugely overpriced & will lay on the hard sell at you when you come to choose your "free" print.

I won a session with them too, meant to include a free 7x5 print. I ended up being talked into spending a further £600 on a block print thing of us. A week after it was delivered, we split up.

SeeYouWhenISeeYou · 09/01/2013 18:44

Nasty nasty company
Hard sale
And the photographs really aren't nice at all

gordyslovesheep · 09/01/2013 18:47

I have the hide of a rhino - I only purchased the pics I wanted and paid what I could afford ...don't do it if you are easily pressurised - plenty of places do the same stuff cheaper now anyway

foreversunny · 09/01/2013 18:48

We had a free session which included a free 6x4 print. We went just to get the freebie with NO intention of buying anything.

When it came to the viewing of the photos, I was genuinely at the photos. They were very unflattering, bland and boring. I didn't like any of them.

They tried with the hard sell but I was having none of it. I told them outright I thought the photos were awful and we were by no means going to buy any of them. We were in and out in 10 min after picking the least awful one for our freebie.

The prices were absolutely shocking.

whateveritakes · 09/01/2013 19:03

I had to have bare feet as their studio is an all white affair....nott happy as I have hideous bunions.

My mother brought 2 photos and we had the free one. I quite liked the photo shopping as they brought out my son's blue eyes and his blue hooded poncho.
However I wouldn't have done it for subsequent children and TBH baby photo's look odd when they are growing up...who wants baby photo's on the wall when they are 9 or 10 and doing interesting stuff in photo's?

PeerieMootsMum · 09/01/2013 19:07

Got talked into buying a session for £50 when I was out for first time on my own with DS1 and booked appointment. DH flat out refused to go as he'd had photos there before and said the hard sell was incredible.and he'd rather 'lose' the £50 than be pressurised into spending a fortune. We ended up using a local photographer for a fraction the cost and v happy with the results. Oh and they KEPT phoning way after the expiry date to rearrange, I'm a chicken so just dodged the calls and they have up after about 2 months!

Binkyridesagain · 09/01/2013 19:22

A couple of years ago my daughter a box set photo experience (like the red letter day thingimies) it cost her £35. Looking at the small print hidden inside the box, so you can't see it until unsealed, it stated that each person involved in the shoot would have to pay £20 each, so £100 for us, which would be deducted off the cost when a larger photo was purchased. We decided not to book our shoot and apologised to DD, thankfully she understood.

EnjoyResponsibly · 09/01/2013 19:27

Get a good local photographer to take some photos.

They will likely be better quality and more original/representative of your family than Venture styley that you can spot at 50 paces.

Then tell the relly they're the shots they paid for

Original poster

therewearethen · 09/01/2013 19:39

Well their keen ill give them that, they rang again at 6:30 tonight, right in the middle of me doing dinner!

I doubt I'd ever book anything like this myself, but it was a gift and I feel awful about lying if the person asks to see the photo

OP posts:

Jinsei · 09/01/2013 19:39

Don't go. We were given a voucher and went for the photo shoot, which was quite good fun, but we refused to go back for the hard sell viewing because we had alarm bells ringing. They insisted that both DH and I attend, but under no circumstances were we allowed to bring dd with us. I was later told by someone "in the know" that they want women there because they think we will emotionally engage with the pictures and insist on buying them whether we can afford it or not , that men have to attend too because there is an assumption that they control the purse strings and that DCs are not welcome because they might distract their parents from the sales patter.

Go to a local photographer instead. You'll get a lovely photo for a fraction of the price and none of the hassle!

Stealthfart · 09/01/2013 19:41

My mum got mislead by one of their offers a couple of years ago (she's a bit soft) and paid a lot of money for photos that have now begun to fade fairly badly.

YesIamYourSisterInLaw · 09/01/2013 22:52

Alright diddi keep your knickers on I was just mentioning the price in a roundabout way and to show how expensive it would have been I even said I would never have paid full price for them and I never said they were worth that price.
We had pictures done with a local photographer and had 4 in a block frame for around 270 so I while I have no doubt they made a profit I still feel the framed pictures we got in the end were worth what i paid.

musicposy · 09/01/2013 23:20

A friend of mine had photos done with them. They are lovely photos but obviously a bit touched up to make her daughter look perfect. She paid over £600 for 3 relatively small prints. There's no way we could run to that.

A lady from them accosted me in a shopping centre. I showed a mild interest and what a mistake! She was so pushy, insisted on finding out if I had a DH and said he would have to come, wouldn't let me go. In the end I had to be really rude and just walk off to get away. I knew from friend's experience if I gave in it would cost me £££.

A friend of ours takes photos for motor magazines so we asked if he would do the DDs. He wasn't even sure himself as portraits weren't his field of expertise. However, he borrowed a backdrop, came round and took some photos of them.

They are just the most gorgeous photos, far, far nicer than the venture shots. The girls look so happy and natural. All our relatives wanted copies and 4 years on we all still have them up. He only charged us costs but it would have been well worth paying a couple of hundred for them. They are not ostentatious or fakely posed like the venture ones, just beautiful pictures.

I'd wait until baby is older and you feel human again, and get a local photographer. Maybe just be honestvwith the voucher giver whilst making it clear you appreciate the thought behind it.

SneakyNuts · 10/01/2013 00:02

My photos are really bloody nice actually. I love them!

Porkster · 10/01/2013 00:05

The photos are the definition of naff and Venture will try very, very hard to rip you off.

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