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Original poster

Okay, so i've trawled through the archives, and it's not looking good for VENTURE... anyone got any positive stories? I really want to go!

52 replies

Bodkin · 21/03/2008 20:55

Been given a session as a gift (I think it's the £25 inc. one free 7 x 5 and I'd like to give it a shot... are they really going to take us for every penny we've got, or is it fairly easy to take the freebie and run, or better still, haggle on the more expensive offers?

OP posts:
LyraSilvertongue · 21/03/2008 20:56

Don't do it. it will cost you a fortune.
It's impossible to choose just one pic. You'll want loads and they'll charge you a fortune for them. I ended up spending £600. I'd intended to just take the freebie.
You have been warned

SirDigbyChickenCaeser · 21/03/2008 20:56

friends of ours had one - you just have to be REALLY strict & take it for granted that the massive photos will be so stunning BUT cost at least £500 so you CAN'T have them. Just don't fall for the sales pitch

LyraSilvertongue · 21/03/2008 20:57

They don't do haggling.

Flamesparrow · 21/03/2008 20:58

They made me cry.

Do you really want to go to a company that can produce that many negative threads, and make a new mother cry?

(To be fair, the crying was because they cost too much and were beautiful)

quint · 21/03/2008 20:58

They will offer to do a finance option, the photos will be stunning and you'll want every single one - just don;t take your credit card in with you!

I had a voucher through a truly madly baby party and I came away with my free photo and nothing else - though we nearly went for it!

Psychomum5 · 21/03/2008 20:59

I loved ours, oved ur photos, but it is seriously expensive!!!

if you are ok with the money side, then go....you will love it

Nappyzone · 21/03/2008 21:00

Thyet airbrush your children (i have never been but my rellys have) and the pics were all lovely but very airbrushed! I would go and stand by your guns for the freebee though.

LyraSilvertongue · 21/03/2008 21:01

Only do it if you're sure you can resist the gorgeous pics of your dc.

barbamama · 21/03/2008 21:03

Shit I've got a voucher and a session coming up. What worries me is the sales pitch - I am open to either getting the free one or maybe one other but I want to be free to think about it and make my own decision. What happens at the viewing session after the photo session - do you have to make a decision on the day?

paddingtonbear1 · 21/03/2008 21:06

we did it. the photographer bloke was good, dd had a fab time (she is a show off)! we did buy more than the freebie but didn't spend £££ - we had 1 pic and 1 cushion cover, sounds mad but we love it! they put 2 pics on it and you get a far bigger pic for less money.

WigWamBam · 21/03/2008 21:11

You don't really want to go.

Hard sell, horrendously expensive photographs which aren't really as good as they ought to be, dreadful customer service. No use haggling as every price is set in stone (and when they cost several hundred a pop, even if you could haggle they would be horrendously expensive).

The sales pitch isn't too bad - the photos do that themselves. The really horrible bit was the woman who called us every two hours to book the session once she had our phone number. We booked it to shut her up ... wish we hadn't bothered.

peasoup · 21/03/2008 21:13

I have heard that they don't let the kids come to the viewing session so they can concentrate on hard selling you with no distractions; they serve you tea and biccys and dim the lights and show the photos on a hge screen (obviously as they are huge they look great compared to just a small image so you're even more liely to fall for them) and play soppy music and hard sell you. I read on another thread that one mum picked the image she wanted for her free 5 x 7 and they said that one isn't available as a 5 x 7 which is just bollocks, but they tried to get more money out of her by sayng that (and they succeeded) And yes, I think they don't give you a chance to go away and think about it; it's now or never to order prints. I think they only sell them framed also which of course makes it even more expensive! Plus their prices for pirnts are abslotely ridiculous. Alot of other child portriat photographers can get you images just as good (including me!! I'm a child portrait and wedding photographer) I'm not trying to put you off to get myself any business I just recognise what a big rip off they are as I know what's involved in producing and printing good shots and how hugely they overcharge.

StressTeddy · 21/03/2008 21:16

There is no sales pitch. They show you the pictures in large, glorious tecnicolour with loud emotional musc on in the background and you convice yourself that these are pictures of the most important people in the world and why shouldn't you spend £800.00 on them??
You kind of sell them to yourself iyswim?

The pics are ok but the frames are rubbish. I have 2 and both have broken

WigWamBam · 21/03/2008 21:16

It isn't true that it's now or never to order prints; you can order for a couple of years after the session.

The prices are more expensive(!) if you don't order on the spot though.

Still not worth doing though ...

KerryMum · 21/03/2008 21:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

peasoup · 21/03/2008 21:21

My friends went and were very firm and insisted over and over again that they only wanted their free print. The sale person stpped the slide show, whacked the lights on, whipped the tea and biscuits away from them and was quite huffy-sounded hilarious.

barbamama · 21/03/2008 21:22

yes I have had that too. I got the voucher at a venture party when I was 3 months pregnant (organised by my friend to get one more free one) I said that I would not want to use it until the baby was around 6 months old and the venture woman doing the party quite reasonably took off the (entirely arbritary) expiry date on the voucher. When the person phoned from that branch (Purley) I had a right go and said you are not supposed to be hassling me until at least January 2008. Never phoned again.

However, we moved house so I transferred it to the nearest branch near the new place in January (Dorking) and, no exaggeration, they have been phoning and leaving messages 5 or 6 times a week ever since - even though I never, ever answered the phone or phoned them back. I only answered yesterday as dp had just got his bonus so I thought we could risk it. Shit shit shit. Was probably a mistake. Their persitence in phoning does not bode well for the hard sell. I have just looked at the baby photos on their website and even pictures of other peoples kids bought a tear to my eye. Fark!

bosch · 21/03/2008 21:23

We did the photo session as a family and then dh went back on his own to view the photos. There was no way he was going to part with the sort of money they were talking about. I do wonder sometimes at what photos I haven't seen but we honestly couldn't afford to pay several hundred pounds for a photo so it was a no-brainer really...

rosealbie · 21/03/2008 21:25

If you go for the studio photo session you will have a fab time. My dc both loved it and the session was about an hour of running around, jumping, the photographer (who was great) chasing them etc.

However, as everyone else has said, they are expensive and do a very hard sell when you go back to look at the pics. Took my dh with me to the viewing and he stood his ground and we left with just the free 7 x 5 photo which is lovely.

It actually wasn't that hard to choose one pic, despite what I had thought. The photos were all lovely but the one we chose just really stood out.

barbamama · 21/03/2008 21:27

and could you choose any print to put on the 5 x 7 freebie?

rosealbie · 21/03/2008 21:29

You can choose any print you like.

barbamama · 21/03/2008 21:29

any choice of frame?

rosealbie · 21/03/2008 21:30

Also remembered that at the photo shoot the photographer showed us a range of the prints on his pc and so we had an idea of what they were like before going back to the viewing a week or so later.

rosealbie · 21/03/2008 21:31

can't quite remember about the frame, ours is black but not sure if we had a choice.

WigWamBam · 21/03/2008 21:31

The freebie is their choice of frame - it's a desktop jobbie. The one we were offered was faux leather, but it may be a different one now.

You only get a choice of frame on the ones you pay full whack for.

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