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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to feel like a fool for accepting this prize.

132 replies

lill72 · 23/05/2016 13:39

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!!

OP posts:

Italiangreyhound · 23/05/2016 15:53

Just get one photo which is free. She is yoiur child you can photograph her all you like. The people who donated the prize you won should not be expecting to get trade out of this.

IF you love another photo and want to get it and can afford it, then do.

Where is the ...to feel like a fool... in your opening post. You are not a fool for winning a prize. You said I won a photo shoot at a fair last year. I won a shoot and a framed photo so get your prize and go home and you will not be the fool, you will be the winner!

ScrambledSmegs · 23/05/2016 15:55

I think I know exactly who this guy is, OP, because we got caught out too, and so did my SIL! We might have gone to the same fair as you, it is very popular. Company name starts with an 'N'? There's a lot of people online complaining about feeling conned by them, I wish I'd googled before accepting the 'prize'. Am much more savvy now.

I think the thing that annoyed me most of all was at the viewing, the assistant woman was so bloody bored looking. If you're trying to con me out of several hundred pounds at least try to look vaguely interested .

sharknad0 · 23/05/2016 15:57

good grief, how is that a con?

You won one photoshoot, they gave you 2. You won 1 free print - no idea what size print they mean, but I am sure you can ask before the shoot - you can have your free print. Then, just don't buy anymore? How hard is that?

They offer you goods, which you are free to buy or not. If you are a grown-up, and a parent!, surely you must be able to say "no thanks" and leave when offered to buy an expensive item? Of course they will try to sell you something, these companies give free shoots to everybody. How do you think they make money?

Ilovetorrentialrain · 23/05/2016 15:58

OP don't go - everyone always 'wins' then you're into paying them money. It's a low trick but a well known one for photo companies unfortunately.

Nan0second · 23/05/2016 15:59

We got a groupon voucher as a Christmas present. It included a minuscule free print.

We went to the shoot, sat through the cheesy slideshow and then chose the free photo. I ignored every attempt to sell us anything. For me it helps when the prices are totally ridiculous - they'd have persuaded me at £30 a photo but not at £100 for a 6x4!

I would much rather pay proper money for a shoot then a reasonable price for photos. (However, this was a gift so not an option)

ScrambledSmegs · 23/05/2016 16:00

And yes, we weren't stubborn (took DH, big mistake, we're absolutely pathetic together) and we should have been. The photos are at least lovely, and DFIL was a picture framer by trade so we got several big prints done beautifully for different members of the family, and are quite happy now.

At least we know we're pushovers so don't enter these kind of 'competitions' now on principle.

WalkingBlind · 23/05/2016 16:05

I'm not polite enough to be forced to buy anything lol, you should see me with any kind of "hard sale", ignorance is bliss Take a leaf out of my book and be an arsehole for the viewing, take your free photo and walk right out the door! Good luck

Italiangreyhound · 23/05/2016 16:10

If you get a photo i am not sure it is exactly a con. The con one is maybe where you get no photo at all and end up having to buy something.

Our local photographer gave a prize to a school and we won, we got the shoot and a photo and no pressure to buy more. We did go back there for a significant event and so became a paying customer by choice.

blackbirdmilkshake · 23/05/2016 16:10

It's not a scam/con

origamiwarrior · 23/05/2016 16:12

I think the fact you won it in a prize puts you in a better bargaining (and moral) position - it's not as though you signed up to any small printwhen they tendered and you accepted their offer, so you're not wasting their time - they offered a free prize and you (through luck if the draw) won it, no strings attached. You just go there and say 'I won this in a raffle, I didn't realise there would be any more involved in this prize than attending your studio and collecting my free print. There is no way I would have otherwise visited as there is simply no way I can afford/I would intend to spend money on photos"

Go back there, and have in your mind that you are a Mumsnet Investigative Journalist, and report back to us on what the experience was like. That'll get you through it!

DailyMailFodder · 23/05/2016 16:15

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

Err, well that's your answer isn't it?

I wouldn't bother going back but if you do do t take any money if you think you will cave. Even if I liked the photos I wouldn't ant o give them my business.

SitsOnFence · 23/05/2016 16:17

Shortly after DS was born friends bought us a voucher for a photo shoot and print. They weren't to know, but another friend, a professional photographer, had already given us a photo shoot as her gift and let us print as many photos as we liked through her trade account at cost price. Anyway, to be polite I booked an appointment anyway. As soon as we got into the studio baby DS was plonked on a cushion and snapped with the camera, then they proceeded to arse about for ages getting loads more shots.

When I went back they had a full presentation lined up. I chose the one I wanted to be told it was £somethingstupid. I explained that our friends had paid for it, only to be given a 4x6" print of the first snapshot they had taken before the proper shoot. It honestly looked like something I'd snapped on my phone. I said "seriously?!" and walked out! I wish I'd said more, but I was just so shocked!

The worst thing was that when DD was born, the same friends bought us another one! I couldn't bring myself to not use it, so I booked the session, made sure the first snapshot was at least half decent, then picked up baby and asked when I could collect the print. They were not best pleased, but they did honour it!

I've always wondered how much our friends paid for the gift vouchers. Not much, I hope!

Convoysandwich · 23/05/2016 16:19

A friend of mine has been to a few photo shoots like - either freebies or Groupon offers. Each time she takes just the one free photo included and politely declines the rest. If you're sure you can do that, go along. If you think you'll allow yourself to be get pressurised into buying more, don't go. Simple as that

ScrambledSmegs · 23/05/2016 16:20

My brother tried that origami. His stinginess is legendary. Somehow he came away having bought 2 digital copies.

These people are good.

RaeSkywalker · 23/05/2016 16:25

Honestly I'd just go and get the photo. If you go with the attitude that you cannot buy more, it will help. Leave your purse in the car or something, and take control of the appointment by setting the agenda- say something like "I have a doctors appointment in had an hour, so I will be choosing my free photograph quickly".

If you are really worried, just don't go back. It's not worth the stress!

Pagwatch · 23/05/2016 16:30

They are pretty scam like. At the very best it's high pressure selling.
My friend 'won' one and we went along. They had a whole process of make up and you had to take different outfits.
My make up made me look a bit like Mrs Doubtfire and the photos were cheese-tastic. I hate having my photo done - only went as a mate.
We had to hang around in the west end while the photos were prepared. They then showed us the pictures and wanted about a grand for them.
We both just fell about laughing. I said 'I've got about £100 on me and compared to her I'm loaded'
In the end they gave us the disk for £100 and we went home.

I am a good liar but the half an hour of the sales woman's 'well don't you have a credit card' 'could you not phone your husband - we'd accept a card over the phone' was dreadful.
It's incredibly hard to just get up and walk out.

HappyNevertheless · 23/05/2016 16:36

Agree too about it been a con.
We did that, when to look at the photos, ended up buying a lot more than we though for photos that ended up not looking great once they were printed....

That's why they do it.
You've put a lot of effort into it to do the shoot. It's about your dd, you really a beautiful photo of her. You are likely to see some (They can't have done 2 pm of photos wo having managed to get some good ones). So you will feel you have to...

On their PoV, they have done 2 afternoons of work. How much do you think that's worth?

Jimjamjoos · 23/05/2016 16:42

YABU. You are going to go and you are going to be parted from your money. You've been told. I just hope you can afford it. You should not even be contemplating this. Just get them to send the free one in the post. How fucking stupid.

Bogeyface · 23/05/2016 16:45

You didnt win anything.

You "entered" the competition and they rang every single person who entered and told them all that they had won, its how they work.

CatThiefkeith · 23/05/2016 16:49

Bogey Speaking of winning, how is it going with the car?

virabhadrasana · 23/05/2016 16:53

Good idea not to take your purse with you!

In this day and age of everybody have a camera on their phone, photographers should be MORE affordable!

RebeccaCloud9 · 23/05/2016 16:54

We did this (Groupon though not a prize) and had to leave a £30 deposit which would be refunded after the viewing. At the viewing I just said we didn't want to buy any, just get the free included print. They kept trying to push sales but I was firm. In the end, they offered me a copyright free cd of 4 high Def images instead of getting the deposit back. I was happy with this and it was way less than the listed prices (and I only loved those 4 images anyway!)

AddictedtoSnickers · 23/05/2016 16:58

I would go and just be honest after you've seen the photos -that you would have perhaps purchased a few additional prints but at their price level it won't be possible - they may be prepared to negotiate the price to a sensible level. Especially if you tell them that the professional photographer you have used before was excellent and much more competitively priced. I wouldn't consider it necessarily a 'scam' myself, more a really unpleasant sales technique. Set yourself a definite limit and be strong. Good luck!

UnderTheGreenwoodTree · 23/05/2016 17:02

Just to echo everyone else, it's a con trick to get you through their door, and to hard sell you over-priced photos. You didn't win anything, you were ensnared.

Friends of mine were given a photo-shoot/free framed photo as a 'gift' by their family. Of course, the reality was they turned up, only to get the ultra-hard-sell, and it really upset them. They said it was, "here are all these beautiful photos that you can't afford, and we're going to delete them"

Bathsheba · 23/05/2016 17:05

If you ever "win" a holiday but you have to go to a presentation to collect it, where children aren't allowed - thats a "sales tactic" too.

Even if the photos are amazing, don't buy them...!!!!!

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