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!!

[TwirlsInTwirlsOutAgain]

You won a free prize, so surely you can just take the free prize?
So what if they try to guilt trip you into buying other expensive stuff? You're not being forced to buy it, they're not holding a gun to your head!
Just say NO. Ad infinitum if need be....

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

God I did this as a 16 year old. After spending hours getting ready and having photos taken, they took me into a tiny room to choose photos and the pressure was immense. I kept saying I didn't have any money. In the end they frogmarched me to a bank to get some cash out for a deposit. Thankfully the cashier noticed something strange was happening and took me into a booth for "ID checking". She kept me there until they left and I ran to the train station to go home. It was horrendous.

Don't do it. Write the time off... It's already lost.

[lill72]

herecome - too true!
Rae - yes we can just take the photo but the pressure will be on. The are just eye watering prices. So much so that the viewing card has as a note - 'please ensure you are able to make spending decisions'

a large framed print is £5000!!!!!!!!

The most we would want to buy is 1-3 but even that is crazy money.

We had a lovely photographer two years in a row come to the house 350 for 40 digital shots. photos are amazing

[shovetheholly]

Venture are awful for this - my friend had something similar happen with them and she was so upset!

[MintyBojingles]

Don't go. Take your (theoretical) £180 and go to a reputable photographer who will give you a sitting and a huge bundle of prints for that cost.

My parents got taken in by similar scam - won a free sitting, £300 minimum for a print. They spent £2k and the photos are dire blown up - you can see the lame attempts at Photoshopping.

[Zucker]

Don't go! Even if those photos are the most amazing ever the shine is gone from them as you've been conned to have them.

[Liiinooo]

We have twice been given the hard sell to get us to buy over and above the free photo. Luckily on the first occasion the photo was so laughably bad that it was easy to say no. That experience gave me the strength to say a very firm 'no thank you, we only want the free photo' on the second occasion. It was tough though as the seller did push very hard - presumably her income depended on selling as much as possible.

[QueenArseClangers]

My DH is a pro photographer (25 years press experience plus weddings etc.)
He charges around £75 p/h so clients can have an hour or two of photos being taken then he charges for his time editing etc.
All in all you could get 40 fantastic pics of your family on a disc for £150-300 with no pressure if you book someone local who isn't onto a guilt scam like Venture etc.

Just leave your purse at home when you get there and book a photographer when you get home.

[jadeward89]

We "won" a venture photography experience and a free photo. We went along and did the pics (which I didn't really enjoy if I am honest I just felt a bit yuck). We booked for our viewing of the pics and I came down with tonsillitis, very ill couldn't do a thing, when we called to re-arrange they said we either went on the day we were booked or it would cost us (can't remember now how much but it was stupid money) we refused to pay to re-arrange and never got to see the photos. I am disappointed we never got our pics but I wasn't going to pay to re-arrange.
I agree with previous posters if you go "forget" your cards/bank details.

[mishmash1979]

We had one of these with venture. I went back to choose the "free" photo and didn't take my wallet; just turned up in jeans and top. It was quite obvious I didn't hVe my wallet and I made it clear when I went in that I had to pick my children up in 45 mins so couldn't hang around. They gave up the hard sell pretty quickly and I collected the photo in a similar fashion!

[2016Hopeful]

But you won it so just go and take the free framed photo. Don't feel guilty about it and if they ask you to pay for more photos just say no.

[PuppyMonkey]

'please ensure you are able to make spending decisions' - [shocked]

[PuppyMonkey]

I mean.

[herecomethepotatoes]

QueenArseClangers He doesn't have studio bills included in that though does he and isn't the OP describing framed prints as opposed to digital files? I'm not saying the shop doesn't sound extremely expensive but you aren't comparing like for like.

@OP - please go. Leave the cards / cash at home and enjoy your freebie.

[Jenny70]

Go, choose your freebie and then walk out - take what's yours and get some (small) revenge for the hundreds and people that got suckered into paying more than they can afford from their "free" prize.

[SavoyCabbage]

I did one of these in Boots once and they pretty much told me I was a terrible mother who didn't love her children as I didn't want to buy 1500 pounds worth of photos.

[QueenArseClangers]

herecome yes, you're very right about that.
Didn't mean to say both situations were equal, just the fact that some big studios tend to do the 'we'll burn the pics of your precious baby if you don't agree to buy them in 30 seconds' spiel.
Studio costs can be very high and good quality printing comes at a cost too.
DH has found, with the advent of digital photography, that lots of keen amateurs can undercut professional photographers and present shoddy goods as well as devaluing the profession.
Agree entirely with you re the ship engineer story (we use a similar locksmith one 😄)

[AnneTwacky]

I had something similar to this. I was sold a voucher for a shoot and photo for £25. That's a bagain thought naive old me and toddles of with Dd to get her picture taken.
Then came, well I could call ithard sell but in retrospect it was more akin to bullying.
They wanted me to spend the best part of a grand. It was really unpleasant and I felt so intimidated as they made out I'd been wasting their time/ owed it to them to buy their overpriced wares.
In the end I took the free photo plus one other basic print that set me back an extra £60 that I could ill afford. Neither came with a frame.
Take no money or any other method of payment with you, get your photo you're owed and get out of there, never to return is my advice.

[herecomethepotatoes]

DH has found, with the advent of digital photography, that lots of keen amateurs can undercut professional photographers and present shoddy goods as well as devaluing the profession.

Very true. I feel sorry for people who have spent years honing their trade (a photographers' eye as well as mastery of the equipment) for everyone with an instagram account to think they're the next Ansel Adams.

[AnneTwacky]

That's understandable. The part I have an issue with is the bait and switch.
If a company cannot afford to offer vouchers for a photo shoot and print for such a low price, then they shouldn't do so. It's not fair that the consumer walks into the studio thinking they have paid/ won a prize when all it is, is a very intimidatating marketing strategy and they will be pressurised into paying more than they can afford. Not on at all.

[Inertia]

We were given a Venture photo shoot and one free print as a gift.

They rely on you feeling too obligated/ polite/ cowed to refuse to pay for the extra photos. We went along to the grand unveiling session with the photographer and pushy salesperson Style Director (or somesuch). Being stubborn, we did just choose the free photo and resisted all of the upselling attempts, so it is possible.

[MySordidCakeSecret]

a similar thing happened to us once, we got this "amazing deal" whilst in the supermarket, i think it was about 30 quid for a shoot and a small pic.. with the idea you bought more..

anyway, fast forward to the viewing. It was horrific. A sit down, cinema style experience with cheesy music to accompany the slideshow, and i kd you not, every single photo we all looked awful. Even my son! the photos were terrible and unflattering, and we had to look at each one in a slow motion sequence.

Safe to say we weren't keen on purchasing any, but they were extremely pushy! we managed to escape on the guise of thinking it over, but in the end all i gained from the entire thing was a parking ticket. I didn't even claim the free photo!

[stealthsquiggle]

You have to be stubborn. I refused point blank to arrange the viewing for when DH could be there too (I may have given the impression that he was away even more than he was) - they obviously (and probably correctly) thought he would be more of a soft touch. I chose my favourite, which I got the free print of, and smiled and nodded as they told me 1500 times that the rest would be deleted. It can be done, especially if you know that you can't afford it. Keep a mental list of all the things which you need more than extra cute pictures of DD.

[CheesyWeez]

I hate this kind of thing. I know from experience that I would just end up crying under the pressure. So in your shoes I would just cut my losses completely and not go back, at all, and if they phone and pressure you say that you were not informed of the prices and thought it would be around £15 a photo like at school or at a wedding! As you have a budget of £30 (say) you don't want to buy anything.
Go and demand just the free picture if you REALLY feel you're up to it, but if that's going to take up another whole afternoon of you saying No I just want the free picture, No I just want the free picture, No I just want the free picture, and you come out feeling terrible then go to a studio and get your own done.
Really that's not on, it's just horrible they let people think they've won something.

[Borogoves]

We had the same thing. I went to the viewing on my own as I knew DH would cave and order extra photos. I looked at the photos, chose my favourite free one and made it absolutely clear that I wouldn't buy. any more prints. I'm really pleased with the photo we have. As long as you are firm in your resolve then you can end up with a lovely pic at the end.