AIBU to just use the free photoshoot and not buy any prints?

[PhotoPromotion]

I have a won a photoshoot for my family which I am very grateful for, as it’s not something we can afford to pay for ourselves.

The shoot we have won gives us different scenes and one free framed photo of our choice.

I would love a professional photo of us altogether, but my family are saying it is cheeky to take them up on the prize if I am not intending to buy anymore prints.

I am aware they do these giveaways in the hopes people will then go on to spend hundreds on the photos, but unfortunately that’s not money we have, and it is a prize I won fair and square.

They are making me feel entitled and embarrassed to go ahead with it and just get the free print.

AIBU?

so children want to spend an afternoon fake laughing and posing and then their parents walk awake with a free 6x4 print?

We do that too! We take photos for every season/holiday/event.

You haven't won. They take contact details from people and say if you win you get a 'free photoshoot' but every single entrant is contacted and told they have won. They are relying on people being unable to be 'rude' and not buy anything.

My kids have a great time, they love it. They know the photographer well; he is so good with them.

That isn’t the case with this company.

so if you know this photographer we’ll and have a good relationship with him… why waste his time?

probably why you can’t afford to buy now

it's many years since I did one of these, but at least you got three "free" photos back then

Agree, though, that it's a numbers game for them and you certainly won't be the only sitters not buying more, OP
As PPs have said, just be prepared for a very hard sell

He obviously doesn’t think it’s a waste; he’s the one giving out the prizes!

He’s also had thousands off us in the past.

be careful my friend and I went on one of these, we got really badly bullied by the woman trying to sell photos for about £700. we managed to get away without buying anything but it wasnt fun

Not quite, but good try 😂 You obviously have a chip on your shoulder about this for some reason 🤔

Thank you 😊 That isn’t the case here as we know him well but I appreciate the warning from you and others.

I've never heard of these places giving you any prints digital or real if you don't pay fortunes. But if that's not how it is, just go along and enjoy the day, ignore the hard sell and so what if they would rather you bought stuff. I 'won' several of these shoots before, everyone always 'wins' I think! I never went along as I think the example photos looked appalling. But if you like doing it, just go and do it. Don't bring your wallet : )

The idea of having loads of professional photos of my family everywhere is so alien to me but if it makes you happy OP.

op you ask a question

but you have already done this in the past, a number of times

so clearly you do not think it is unreasonable

Christ, do people honestly spend thousands on these things?!

so weird

so you know the guy very well
your kids even get him with him really well

and yet you are happy to waste his time when he could be doing it for another family that is intending to spend with him. It’s his business by the sounds of it

@regenerate Would you like some salt for that chip on your shoulder?

It's still a scam!

You "WIN" the photoshoot and get your free photo, but then you see another photo you like and KACHING the photographer has made back their money from the "free" shoot.

They'll offer lots of competitions, and no doubt only need to sell one additional photo to make a profit, hence the scam.

I hired an independent photographer for an hour who did a photoshoot for my entire close family (11 of us) for £110 which including 40 digital photos. They were stunning! It was worth every penny. She actually sent us around 80 shots in the end.

@RatatouillePie There is no scam if they are giving you exactly what they state.

Of course they may give the hard sell (this guy doesn’t, though), as does any business, but it would only be a scam if they refused to give what was promised.

They're not wasting his time. They've womn a free photo shoot. There is no obligation to buy and no obligation to fold under pressure.

I thought this was something that people did years ago and had now died out. Friend of a friend was always having professional photos done of her family. She and her husband later divorced. There's a moral there somewhere.

says the person who asked whether something is unreasonable

but goes on to say they’ve already done it a few times in the past! 😂

I know! That's surprising!

That's not a scam.

It's not a scam when you can walk away with the thing they said you'd won, without paying anything. A scam, by definiiton, has to leave you out of pocket.