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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to tell Venture to bugger off ???????

33 replies

mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:11

dh bought an audi a few weeks ago and he got given a bottle of wine and a free session at venture including one free 7x5 photo.

Normally wouldnt entertain venture but thought as it was free, we'd go, have the free pic and thats it.

However when the woman phoned today she said she needed a card number to hold the booking, I lies and said dh had the cards on him. She assured me it was only in case we didnt turn up for session.

So now I just wanna say 'stuff it up your arse' but I want the free photo so should I just ask her why she needs a card to book when its free??

OP posts:
pucca · 13/11/2008 14:13

Venture nag you to death, i cannot stand them. Why do they need to pressure people if they are so fantastic?

I would not want to give them my card no, no way. It is a freebie so why do they need it?

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:18

Should I ring them and ask that???

OP posts:
Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:22

Just re-read the voucher it states

'entitles you to a venture studio session, a preview of your images and a framed 10x8 midi potrait'

Nothing in the terms and conditions about giving card details

OP posts:
pucca · 13/11/2008 14:23

I would phone them and ask why they need the details, what a load of rubbish saying they need to reserve yada yada. No way would i let them have them.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:26

nah me neither youre right . Will now have to phone the woman with the most annoying marketing voice in the world

OP posts:
wilbur · 13/11/2008 14:27

TBH, I'd bin it entirely. Venture are a total rip off. You have the session and then it's such a hard sell afterwards - they insist that both of you come to the showing of your pics (so you can't use the "I'll have to talk to dh" excuse to get out of there), it takes hours and the cost of any extra prints are unbelievable - £75 for a (poorly) framed 5x7. They take nice, fun pics, but not THAT nice and I know very few people who have got out of there without spending several hundred pounds.

pucca · 13/11/2008 14:28

Good luck lol

shitehawk · 13/11/2008 14:28

If you don't turn up for your booking, they will charge you £125 for it - even if it was a "free" session. That's why they want the card details.

That and the fact they are relying on you not being able to stick with just one photograph.

They will ring you dozens of times a day until you book your slot - but they won't book your slot without your card details. It's a bit like leaving a deposit.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:29

yes Ive heard that too. Think I'll just stick to my free 10x8 which according to the literature is £115

dh hates hard selling, he'll end up walking out in a strop

OP posts:
willthisdo · 13/11/2008 14:30

As a word of warning - we got a "free" venture portrait when we joined a gym. They are the most frustrating company going to deal with. They will engineer it so that the only available photo you could take as your free one will not be the nicest photo in your selection and be completely unmoving about changing it. I came away frustrated about all the lovely photos we couldn't get and wholly unhappy about out free one.

Not worth the stress! We also got offered another session with our new Audi and have politely declined

stealthsquiggle · 13/11/2008 14:31

I did - got out with just the free picture. Shoot was just me and DS as a present for DH, so sales session was just me, and yes it was hard work saying no for so long but it is a nice picture.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:35

lol have just phoned and asked why i had to give details. She stated that its a gesture of goodwill on our part that we wont pull out of a session.

So I told her that given Venture's reputation I wasnt happy about that. At which point she had a huge strop asking what I meant so I told her that we'd had friends who had been badgered into buying hundreds of pounds worth of photos and been almost bullied.
I said I wouldnt have touched them with a barge pole without the voucher.

She said 'well I'll cancel the voucher then, thank you bye'

Thank you too love what a bunch of arses

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 13/11/2008 14:47

Blimey

I have to say I think Venture seems like an originally good, innovative business which has tried to expand too fast and too aggressively for their own good.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 14:58

They do lovely pics, I just wish it wasnt so aggressive

OP posts:
leoleo · 13/11/2008 15:05

I have had really crap experiences with Venture over the last year. I would not touch them ever again.
I went once about 5 years ago with my sister and mum and it was brilliant the photo's were fab, the afternoon was fab we loved every minute even going back to choose and buy the pictures.
When I had my ds we went back me, my 2 sisters and ds (mum had passed away). The afternoon was ok - the photographer had no ideas herself and was very stagnant - hardly moved whereas the 1st visit he was moving about up ladders etc and had lots of ideas.
We looked at the pictures they were nice enough and we bought about 8.
So then last xmas I purchased 2 vouchers 1 for my partner and 1 for my sister. Part of the deal I bought a voucher for myself for only £10.
My session was AWFUL the pictures were AWFUL. The photographer was bored and couldn't cope with my son (2yo at the time). They didn't do anything funky with the pictures and we choose 1. My partner understandably thought it was pointless going for his session (with family) as our first set of were so crap.
They took 5 months to process our order and give us the picture - with turned out to be the wrong one.
My sister was asked for creditcard details to book her session - I phoned up and complained and insisted on speaking to a manager - how embarrassing to give a gift that someone has to pay to book. They booked the appointment without the card details in the end and her pictures were okay - her ds was only 3 months old so of course they are lovely but not because of anything they particularly did.
I agree with a previous poster - they have grown to fast and are now crap.
If you only take your free picture or even only upgrade that picture they treat you like a piece of crap (my sister upgraded her picture and paid £200 but still not good enough)
I did complain but to be honest it was pointless.
I have now been waiting 2 years to try to re-view the picture we had done with my mum - I even explained that she had passed away and all my sisters (5) would want to have a look and prob buy a picture - I have emailed and called and personally visited to request this on more than 1 occasion.
They are awful. Take the session, refuse to pay deposit and take the 'free' picture and RUN

squeaver · 13/11/2008 15:06

Mosschops - write to Audi/the garage and tell them what's happened. It's not a very good reflection on them.

Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 15:07

leoleo what a crap experience sorry you had to go through all that.
Im not going at all now, she showed her true colours as soon as I mentioned their reputation

OP posts:
Original poster
mosschops30 · 13/11/2008 15:08

good idea squeaver i did think of that.

OP posts:
leoleo · 13/11/2008 15:11

They are awful. Prob good that your not going. In future I think we will just go to a traditional photographer. It's really the photographer that makes the pictures special. I just wish we had the name of the first one we saw he was wonderful really brought my mum out of herself the photos are lovely. He is freelance now.

kettlechip · 13/11/2008 15:15

they've also started doing Venture parties too, where you feel obliged to spend £35 on a portrait session. neighbour invited me to one and I found a reason not to go. So did everyone else apparently, and she had to cancel it, funny that.

We had a portrait experience voucher given to us which was Venture, and were lucky that when we went for the viewing the girl was obviously a bit hungover and didn't push us to take anything more than the freebie. Our choice too..

I was truly shocked at the prices though, at least 3 or 4 times what I would have considered expensive. Such a shame, as the pictures were lovely but at £115 for a 7x5 in a nasty frame, not at all worth it. I hated the way they dictated what frames they used too, they told me that it was part of their image and presentation and I should keep the manky black frame they'd put my picture in. Needless to say, I didn't!

llareggub · 13/11/2008 15:30

Any photographer can do what Venture can do. My advice is to steer away from high street photographers and go for local, established photographers. If you like the Venture look it is very, very easy to replicate.

rookiemater · 13/11/2008 16:00

I had wonderful pictures done of DS by one of those companies that come to Boots/Woolworths for a week. We got a huge photo at £4.99 then I bought additional sets of other photos with a total cost of about £70.00 for 3 different sets.

Obviously not as polished as Venture as restricted to one area and background, but much better than I could take and good value.

glaskhamhasoneintheoven · 13/11/2008 16:10

We went to venture just after DD was born.. the session was amazing, they caught one of DD's first ever smiles (she'd smiled for the first time that morning) and the pictures at the end was amazing.....

HOWEVER.... it took us about 4 weeks to be able to go back and view all the pictures, we had decided to get an album before we went in as long as there were enough good pictures, and even after spending close to £1000 it took a good few months for them to finally arrive, and even then we had to chase them up to collect them etc.

I'd never go back!!

combustiblelemon · 13/11/2008 16:47

OMG £1,000 on pictures??? Buy a decent digital camera.

glaskhamhasoneintheoven · 13/11/2008 16:51

combustibelemon- we have a decent camera that we never use- we tend to use the camera's on our phones instead.

I'll admit once we got the photo's they were amazing, come in a leather fully bound photo album, 15 stunning photo's that captured us so well.... But it was also instead of throwing a 21st birthday party for myself!! and I asked for nothing off DH as he'd payed for the photo's!!

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