to feel like a fool for accepting this prize.

[lill72]

I won a photo shoot at a fair last year. I won a shoot and a framed photo. I guess the idea is that you then purchased some more. Fine - that is until we got the price list. We had to do two shoots as my DD who is one cried the first time. Each digital photo is over £200!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!! The cheapest thing we can get is a small framed photo for £180!!!!

I had a professional photographer late last year who was nothing like this.

We are under no obligation however we have to attend a viewing and decide on the spot else they delete the photos.

They did not tell us any of this before the shoot which I find a bit cheeky. I should have asked but I never thought it would be this much.

What to do if I then love the photos!??? Help!!

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

Oh my, Sara, I've just had a memory of a hoover/carpet shampooer thingy salesman getting into my home. Years ago I had a call saying that they needed "testers' for their new hoover - we would have a free carpet shampoo and would provide feedback on the product.

Foolishly, I agreed, and DH and I were then subjected to the hardest sell for this thing (which cost over £1000) for over 2 hours. He wouldn't leave. Told us we must be stupid not to buy the best hoover in the world, he went upstairs without asking because he 'needed to see what our carpets were like', gave us a sob story about his gran, told us that we must think he was a crap salesman, told us we were time-wasters and then refused to do the promised carpet clean because we wouldn't buy the thing

In the end I just went off to make toddler ds1's lunch - and left dh to escort him out. I could hear him moaning and growling about time-wasters all the way to the front door - and DH saying there is no way we were ever going to buy a £1000 hoover, and this was not what the woman on the phone told us to expect, etc.

Never again!

[Sara107]

BillSykes, I think the reason these cons, or hard selling set-ups, or whatever they are manage to keep on going is that you don't get wise to them until you get stung by them.
I reckon I am quite hard-headed and generally aware, and of course everybody in the world knows about 'double glazing' but I still managed to invite one of those monsters through my door. Only afterwards I read the company reviews on the internet, and felt like we had quite a mild experience compared to others!
I also got caught out by the 'free samples' of face creams thing, where you realise you've spent the mortgage on a not very exciting moisturiser - very obvious in hindsight that all the signs of dodginess were there, but I simply never imagined such a trick was possible, I had never heard of a CPA on a bank account for example.
And so with these photo shoots, if you've never been involved with one before you could easily take it at face value, and think 'oh, that's a bit special - prize or discount or whatever'. But once you've been had once, you won't fall for it again!

[BillSykesDog]

The first time someone tried this con on me was in 1996! Blimey, are some people still not wise to it?

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

It's similar in principle to the way timeshares have been sold, I suppose. You've 'won' a weekend at a hotel but you spend the weekend subjected to a hard sell. Some people sign up and feel fine about it, others feel conned and that it's a questionable way to fo business.

[UnderTheGreenwoodTree]

That's the difference - a true 'competition', you're handed a prize with no strings attached.

This one - you have to go in and be subjected to a hard sell - for an hour and a half apparently, to get your 'prize'. A hard sell of stuff you will be tempted by (nice photos) but had no intention of buying in the first place.

Now DH and I are masters of not succumbing to the hard-sell. We will not be moved - but some people are not - and when you hear people saying "we bought such and such for £££ just to get out of there" - then that's a scam IMO.

[EastMidsMummy]

She won a prize - a free shoot and free photo. She is under no obligation to buy. She can walk away without handing over any money. Worst con ever.

[Sara107]

I think that this really does qualify as a con. The 'prize' that people are told they have 'won' isn't actually a prize at all. it is a lure which is offered to everybody, and that surely is the very essence of a con - what you think you are being offered is actually not what it seems at all. And especially if you end up paying for something you don't really want, or it is far more expensive than you feel comfortable with, then you have been conned.
And to people saying this is 'just' high pressure sales, well that doesn't make it less of a con, IMO. Consumers are protected in law from high pressure sales in your own home by a two week cooling off period, and this recognises the fact that the line between what is legitimate sales technique and what is bullying, confusing, and lying can be hard to see.

[justalittlelemondrizzle]

I had the same experience at pixiphoto. Walking through town with DD's in their pram. Was collared by one of them where they offered me a shoot and free 10x8 photo for £10. I knew it would end with some hard sell regarding the other 3000 photos. In the end they wanted almost £1000 for a mixture of acrylic blocks, small canvas and framed photos in various sizes. I got my free print + another print that I absolutely loved. I managed to get the extra print in 8x10 for £10. They wanted £40 originally.
The free print they offer is one of the first three shots on a lame pink/black background.
I did manage to persuade them to print off the thumbnail images "to show my family as they would definately buy more" I then scanned them onto the computer and although not amazing quality. Good enough for free.

The second time DH was collared by one and booked us in for the next day. This time it was a fiver so I thought why not and just got the free 8x10 print.
They tried for ages to get me to buy the collection for £1500!!! And then said I could have the prints for £600. Not a chance.

How do they manage to keep a straight face? Who pays this?
I've since had a professional shoot done but a local photographer, £30 for shoot and prints ranging from £2 to £12 each depending on size. And they wernt taken by a teenage girl who was just pointing and shooting while dangling a flower above dd's.

[restart2008]

All I can say is Don't Do It and - is it venture? We had a "gift" when we had our baby. Sounds incredibly similar, digital prints all about £200. We were virtually locked in a room and given a hard sell, all pics (which were good, the photographer was good) would be deleted if we didn't buy them then. Oh plus a special offer of x% off if we signed up for credit then and there. We were incredibly sleep deprived and my DH nearly signed up for £1000 of photos before we saw sense (luckily). Bought one pic which is nice, but think we'd have got much more from a private photographer. And they put it in the frame upside down...sorry if I'm repeating what everyone else has said. My DH has to steer me away from the company's stalls when we see them because i still want to shout at them!

[AnotherPrickInTheWall]

I thought this practice had been shelved some 20 years ago. I had a photo taken of my then baby 10 tears ago. The resulting photo was hideous, she looked like death warmed up;.a trick to make you pay for an " upgrade".

[Smooshface]

i wouldn't go, find a resonable photographer instead. One of my friends gets a local photographer to come, take a bunch of pics, and then they get all the digital files after for £50, which is crazy cheap but you could probably find something similar if you tried.

[Muddlingthroughtoo]

We too fell for this, as soon as I realised the con I never went back for the viewing. I knew the photos would be amazing and I'd never be able to walk out without at least one, having spent enough to buy a small island. Don't go back!! Don't be tempted. Everyone wins the competition!

[mummypeepee]

Just be ruthless and just pick the one free one. Just send oh if it's to hard for you that's what I did and I love the pic we have

[SlapACatFuckADuck]

Is it Venture by any chance?

they do this offer all the time!

[myshinynewusername]

I had this too, a friend gave me a voucher for a photo shoot + one photo and I basically ended up in a similar situation to you, OP.

They were really unpleasant when they rang to arrange my viewing and I told them on the phone that I didn't want to buy any other photos. I was pissed off before I even got there, so when they started the hard sell, I saw red and told her that I thought the other photos were crap and not worth my money or the time I wasted on the photo shoot (they were actually nice, but no better than I could have got elsewhere).

They couldn't get me out of there fast enough, so I suppose I 'won' in that respect, but it certainly left a sour taste. They shouldn't be offering the shoot and one photo for the price of the voucher if they can't afford to give those services for that price. Its very misleading and almost guarantees that they won't get any repeat custom.

[TheHammaconda]

Be prepare for the hard sell. A company like this did photos of DD in the hospital. A guy came round, said I had to make up my mind to buy the photos then and there or they'd be pulped. I said I wanted to talk to DH before parting with €100 per print. He said, no sorry that's not possible. So I refused to buy anything. At this point the sales person started insulting me, saying I was obviously too poor to buy the pictures, why was I wasting his time when I couldn't afford them? Swearing in French under his breath as he packed up his stuff (thinking I wouldn't understand). It's the only time I have ever physically removed someone from my home. I was surprised at how good my French swearing vocab has become too.

[Youarenotkiddingme]

I also won one of these. I for my small framed photo of DS and paid £30 for another.
This company then did parties where they sold the £25 with free photo deal.
We are a large family so decided to do it because you then got a large photo for free if they sold 5 shoots.
We went round in circles doing this through family for 2 years.
I have 3 small, one slightly bigger and 2 large photos of DS - I paid £70 in total!
This was also venture who spoffered me disk for £25 a few years later. I didn't respond and they sent it for free!

I agree go, ignore cheesy music and lighting, choose a photo that shows your DDs personalities, upset one of your children and use it as an excuse to run

[Postchildrenpregranny]

I don't think they do delete them. I had a reprint done recently of a 26 year old professional photo of our family (I love it and the original had faded a lot) It wasn't cheap but it wasn't extortionate .

[valeview]

These people swarm around shopping malls and such like. I remember a girl coming back from lunch at work one day, saying she'd posed for a photo in a shopping centre, and been entered for a comp. 10 minutes later, another girl came in with the same story.... they both got phone calls later that day saying 'congratualtions, you've won!'.. Despite warnings from us all, one of the girls went along with it, got to the prize day, had lots of photos taken, and was asked for £360 to be able to actually walk away with them. You didn't win a competition, you were just one of hundreds who were duped the same way. It's a rip off and preys on peoples vanity. Don't do it.

[MillionToOneChances]

I've done this twice, gritted my teeth and sat through the excruciating sales pitch, and taken only the included small photo. They're beautiful, I'm very glad I have them, and I don't for a minute regret letting those huge prints escape me.

[Pagwatch]

Twat.

[Pagwatch]

Oh get over yourself.

[EastMidsMummy]

I hope none of you precious flowers ever come across an actual con...

[Mistigri]

writeforfun depends what paperwork the OP was given and whether it was misleading. Companies like this target the type of consumer that is unlikely to get arsey. It would surprise me if they aren't breaching consumer or advertising law in some way, but if no one complains they will continue to get away with it.

[Pagwatch]

It doesn't sound the same TBH.

The one my friend won had no prices, didn't say you would have to stay hours and heavily implied that the experience was a genuine prize for which you would receive photos. I'd been caught by a time share company before so I figured it was dodgy but my friend genuinely believed she had won something. She was quite low at the time and this was supposed to cheer her up.
It was all quite cruel and cynical.
The 20 other 'winners' milling around were her first clue.