just had a run in with the maternity ward bounty photographer

[StateofConfusion]

And having previously defended them and loved my pictures of my eldest children todays 'rep' has made me agree they need to be removed from wards!

She arrived originally before breakfast turned on the lights and opened curtains waking me and the other Mum up, then continued to talk over the peadiatrician who was checking my dd over.

Eventually she sulked off but apparently came back when I was asleep (how dare I?) Last time she came back as I'd just settled dd and was eating lunch which had just arrived.

I said No photos at the minute thanks she got most insistant that its for security reasons?? (I'm going home today) and said she'd just lean round and take them, dd was asleep on my lap in a v pillow whilst I ate. I said again, not right now I'm eating she left brochures and went off muttering quite loudly.

I'm hormonal so ofc this has upset me, but not as much as the first time mum across they way! WHY are these people allowed to just walk around a maternity ward being so fucking rude!

[NorksAreMessy]

So proud of MN, and impressed by redtoothbrush's diligence

[glesni]

I have a vivid memory of the brusk bounty lady visiting the maternity ward when I had my son. As she left and pulled the curtain back I heard her mutter to a nurse that there was 'no point in seeing me' this was very upsetting baring in mind I had just told her that my son had been rushed over to Special Care. These are the last people that should be allowed on maternity wards and we should do all that we can to protect new mothers from them.

[OhDearNigel]

Wow, just got notified on the FB page (I admin it) about the campaign. Very excited to see that our thread hadn't just died a natural death.

My MP, Stephen Lloyd, has done a huge amount of work trying to save our local maternity unit so this campaign may be of interest to him, will point it in his direction.

[OhDearNigel]

www.facebook.com/SayNoToBounty

[NotDead]

this is terrible. Obviously aggressively targeted salespeople. . Worth trying to find an ex bounty rep to spill the beans ala foxtons etc..

[FryOneFatManic]

DontmindifIdo
So, had a c section on Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon asked the midwife if they had bounty reps and if so, could she tell them I'm not interested so they couldn't come to my room, she laughed and said "well I'll try". Wednesday, the bounty lady still came in to see me, although dh was there and told her we were not interested, so she left. When I was leaving on Thursday morning she was there, outside of visiting hours, in the midwife room, where everyone's notes are kept...

Congratulations, hope you and baby are okay.

It would be interesting to see if you do end up with junk mail after all, if the rep was in the midwives room....

[Daisy299]

Someone asked for the petition link. Here it is.

www.change.org/bountymutiny

[squeeze321]

WOW!
Your technique for removing the obsticle 'Bounty rep' from your pressence is pure genius! I believe it worked because you gave her closed answers, as it is very difficult for a bounty rep not to back away from you as your response was very direct, to the point and when I am expecting my first baby I will remember what you said........so glad you posted. :-)

[judey21]

I have seen adverts for these jobs and the reps are paid purely on a commission basis which is why they are so pushy to sell and told me offers today are only available if bought in the hospital

[brownhandbag]

Have signed petition, keep up the good work!

[marushka82]

Before I saw that thread I was blissfully unaware of this horrible practice going on. I'm days away from giving birth for the first time and I am so glad I came across the petition. I showed it to my DH who initially thought I was over exaggerating (gave him a few examples I read on this thread before he had a chance to read the petition and comments), then, after reading the comments was absolutely enraged and signed the petition straight away.
I'm definitely going to put 'No Bounty reps' in my birth plan, will come back here to let you know what my experience was (if I am approached). At least now I'm aware and ready to tell Bounty where they can shove their pitiful samples.

[PinkPanther27]

Surely this breaches the data protection act if you say you don't want your details being used

[Pawprint]

Their freebies aren't good.

The Bounty who visited me said, after I told her I'd had an emergency section, that she thought it "awful" that "so many" women have sections. I was shocked but just dismissed her as being ignorant. I don't remember her being pushy re photos etc.

[80flower80]

Has anyone who has commented on this thread made a complaint directly to Bounty? If you haven't please do.
I'm sure there is a Contact us option @ //www.bounty.com/?
OR via their Facebook page.
Their Facebook page would be best as people seem to get better outcomes from companies when they complain on the Facebook page where everyone can see. No company likes bad press especially on their own promotion pages.
Bounty says the main complaint they get is from Mums who missed out on a Bounty Pack. If people only complain on forums how will Bounty ever know the extent of the upset they are causing?

[mrscumberbatch]

Flower, Bounty definitely know that this exists.
This campaign was reported on in multiple news articles/papers/magazines earlier in the year.

[80flower80]

I remember seeing it on the news but that was mainly about stopping Bounty selling on maternity wards. It never mentioned Photographers mistreating Mums and being rude. If I'd been treated badly or been spoken to rudely by the Bounty lady, or any person who is speaking to me as a customer, I would have reported them to the company they work for. How many of these ladies have reported the particular photographer who was rude to them? If they are not reported Bounty can't discipline them. If a formal complaint is written they have to deal with it.
The majority of companies who deal with the public will always have a few people who weren't happy with the service they received or the ethics behind the company but unless the companies are given specific details of incidents they can't make the proper changes to help improve their services. Please report these rude Bounty ladies and we might start seeing some changes... either Bounty changing their ways or Bounty being banned from maternity wards, either would be better than things staying the same.
I disagree with Bounty selling on Mums information, that only big companies can get their products into Bounty bags, that the Bounty ladies have to go see Mums within hours of them giving birth. I also know that Bounty says its a caring company but it treats its employees badly and puts a lot of pressure on them to see as many mums as possible and sell as many photos as possible. I overheard a midwife saying to another midwife, when I was in hospital: "Bounty photographers work very hard for very little in return".

[fuzzywuzzy]

There's no 'contact us' button that I can see on the bounty site. There never has been.

Bounty are very aware of the complaints but have maintained that it's only a tiny number of mothers who object to bounty (they do not make complaining easy) and that MN has a personal vendetta against them!

[80flower80]

Yeah I agree they make it very hard to complain on their website, I tried looking for a contact us button but couldn't find it either. But they have a Facebook page where everyone can see any complaints that are written on their wall.
I think this is the best way to go about it as they can't brush it under the carpet as the comments are there in plain view for everyone to see. If they want to make it difficult for us to complain to them we should make it difficult for them to wriggle out of it.
I remember hearing about someone having a problem with a clothing shop. They wrote their complaint on the shops facebook page and got a very swift response because the company didn't want the bad press.

[laurabaabaa]

I thought I would share my point of view from where I am coming from - we have had a very finically tough year and I finished my photography degree in 2011, before which I studied a photography diploma for two years. I love taking photos, especially those that capture a child's journey from new born and beyond. I very occasionally do weddings but I am a very hands on stay at home mother and have found working freelances very stressful but we desperately need the money, so in my local area they are advertising for a Bounty photographer - personally I would love to be able to take newborn images, work in an industry and I have dedicated time towards studying and only having to work mornings is perfect for our family life as it's not viable for me to go to full-time work due to the kindergarten the little man goes to finishing at 3pm and we don't have any family who can pick him up if I was to finish somewhere are 5. Now does that make me a bad person? To want to do a job I have trained for, especially since it's a magical time and place to be on a maternity ward and personally I believe I am a lovely, friendly and respectable person, in fact I hate pushy people or people who try to sell you things, but I genuinely love photography and so few positions of any kind come up. I simply don't have money to start my own studio and as you all know it's nice to be out, meeting new people. A lot of these bounty women must be in the same boat, I'm sure it's not their dream job but we all have to pay bills and with the stress of cost of living effecting everyone we all need to do what we need to do. I don't like telesales people or even sales assistants in shops but when the bounty lady came over to our bed I simply said "no thank you" and that was that. Wether I think it's right or not to have them in the hospital is another matter but I can't balm a telco till assistant for telco's over-farming or slowly destroy small villages and towns but killing of independent stores can I?

[Mary1972]

The fact some female photographers might need money is utterly irrelevant. There is no place for them in an NHS hospital where women have just given birth. Plenty of hospitals refuse money from Bounty and others on ethical grounds and good for them.

[usuallyright]

what worries me is that these sales reps are allowed to wander freely around maternity wards, full of vulnerable women and newborns. What security checks do these reps undergo? None, I'm guessing?

[ColdCottage]

I just told them my father and sister were both professional photographers (they are) so no thanks and that I have already printed the child benefit form off the Internet. That saw her off straight away.