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Original poster

HAs anybody had a session with Venture photography?

173 replies

IlanaK · 01/01/2005 09:59

We won a prize draw for a session with them. It is tomorow and I am wondering if anyone else has done one.

Our voucher is for the session and for one photo (total cost supposedly £125). But I have my doubts now as to how legitimate the prize draw was as I saw them advertising these vouchers to give people at christmas for only £25. When I filled out the prize draw form I mentioned that we were interessed in a photo of the kids for a large space on our wall and I suspect they gave us the voucher as we were a good bet to buy something.

Anyway, has anyone experienced this company? Are we in for a hard sell tomorow? And how expensive are their photos to buy? I am guessing very expensive!

Thanks!

OP posts:

codswallop · 01/01/2005 10:47

agree our were ok but I regret spending the money now

codswallop · 01/01/2005 10:48

oh and htey pay rousing music to make you look like pop stars when they show you them
our was "teen spirit"

Carla · 01/01/2005 11:01

Coddy, is there any way you could make your messages .... a little easier to understand

blueteddy · 01/01/2005 12:00

I have not had the best of experiances with venture recently.
Basically, back in May I had a session with the children, which was fine.
I went to view the pictures & was undecided which to go for, as my dh was not with me (he was sleeping after a night shift) I finally settled on a £295 portrait, but asked if it would be possible to come back with my dh to see the pictures, to possibly spend a lot more.
They told me that it would cost £35 for another viewing!!
I said I would have a party, but heard nothing back from them.
Dh mentioned the party when he picked up my portrait & they eventually got back to me & arranged a date.
The picture itself was lovely & I did not have any problems there (unlike many of my friends did), but 6 days before I was due to have the party I still had not recieved any invitations, so I had to chase them up again.
I recieved the invitations 4 days before the party, so not many people could attend.
Anyway, 4 out of the 5 people who attended signed up to have a session & the woman who held the party told me that if anyone else wanted to have a session, to phone her & she would organise vouchers (you need 5 people to buy to get your voucher)
My sister (who could not be at the party) was keen to have 1 done of herself with my boys, so I contacted the woman & she told me she would send me a voucher for my sister along with my voucher.
Weeks passed & nothing came through the post.
I contacted her many times & she swore she had sent them out, but would send another.
Again, it never arrived!
Eventually, she said that she would keep my sisters voucher in their studio, along with mine & we could collect it when we arrived for the session.
Eventually they contacted my sister & arranged a date for 6 weeks later.
We planned the day carefully, as my sister lives around 20 miles away from me.
We kept the boys immaculate all day (which was quite a task) & made our way there, only to be told on arrival that they could not do the session, as it included my children & you are not allowed more than 1 experiance a year!
I told them that it was not for me, but for my sister & that nobody had said anything to us before about this.
They would not budge & insisted it was their rules & that was that.
I was very angry & my 5 year old was very disappointed that he could not play with the toys.
I have written to complain, especially as everyone from my party spent no less than £700 each on their portraits, but have had nothing back from them.
3 0f the friends who purchased their pictures had problems with their portraits too.
Sorry for rambling on, but I feel very about venture right now.

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:02

Total rip off and hard sell imo. You'd get JUST as nice photos by choosing a local photographer. There was a thread on this, will see if I can find it. Avoid them if you can is my advice. They are VERY expensive.

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:02

here you go, old thread on this

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:04

This is what my sister (ragtaggle) posted on that thread:

" subject dear to my heart this. I think Venture are a terrible example of the worst kind of pyramid selling. My mum bought me a 'free' Venture sitting at christmas which entitled to me to one photograph. That photograph cost her thirty odd pounds so seemed like a good deal to her. Little did she know that I was about to be subjected to irritating salespeople trying to get me to part with nearly two hundred pounds per small digital photo which comes in the frame already in an attempt to justify the stupid prices.(Digital photography is hideously cheap)

So me and my dh and dd went along to the sitting. Which I thought was a joke. Because it's digital photography they are looking (secretly) at the images on a screen at the back throughout. Although they tell you that their assistant is changing the lenses back there. They then make a big show of you having to go back for the presentation so you can't just choose your one photo there and then. So me and mine traipsed back to a viewing which was a hard sell on all fronts. They put your photos up on a big cinema screen, give you a cappucino and then dare you not to buy any more. We were so angry at their stupid prices that we resisted taking any one but our 'free' one. They were then at great pains to point out that they keep our photos on file for two years. (Should our resolve weaken) But should you want these you need to book for another presentation (Costs thirty pounds) For f....s sake! These are digital photos - they could email them if they really wanted to. ( I know this wouldn't make good business sense it just annoys me how cloak and dagger they are about it)

They then tell you that the photo needs to be sent to their lab to be treated in the style you want. Sniggers all round again. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the photoshop programme on a computer could do what they do and IT COSTS VIRTUALLY NOTHING to do. (Sorry but this got me realy cross as you can tell)

And then - the cheek - they can't send you the photo because they can't resist one more opportunity to do the hard sell on you. So you have to go and collect it. All in all I made three hassly trips across London with my baby in tow for them. And all because they sell to well meaning grandmothers at these dubious parties and then come on like double glazing salesman when you get there. My advice to anyone thinking of having a Venture session is DON'T DO IT. Right. Thank god I got that off my chest at last! "

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:06

I mean, THREE trips across London for ONE photo (which was already paid for), just so they could keep up the hard sell?

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:09

Ilanak, armed with all that info you could go along and insist on only going once and getting your 'free' photo. Bet they won't let you though. You haven't spent any money so I'd stay away if it was me.

Carla · 01/01/2005 12:10

Thanks for the advice, WWW and glad you got that off your chest!!

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:12

Yes, sorry carla, didn't realise they'd pissed me off so much until I started posting!

codswallop · 01/01/2005 12:13

sorry carla
wgen you go to the viewing dh was pissing himself as they play music to make your photos look like a pop video

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 12:13

And I haven't even been to Venture! I suppose I'm just peed off that our mother thought she was giving ragtaggle a lovely Christmas present last year and actually what she was giving her was a lot of hassle from Venture.

blueteddy · 01/01/2005 12:23

And what gives them the right to tell us we can only have 1 experience anyway?!
When you are paying out hundreds of £'s on their pictures you should be able to have as many bogging experiences as you like

blueteddy · 01/01/2005 12:37

Oh & my friend over the road asked for a black & white picture & when she collected it, it was in colour!
Mind you they made a bigger mistake with her.
They forgot to cash her £350 cheque, so she got the picture for free!!!

charlie01 · 01/01/2005 12:45

Its strange that when they're trying to sell you the voucher they will NEVER tell you how much the photos cost! My DH goes up and asks for a price list now on purpose cos he thinks it's hilarious watching them trying to sell you the voucher without giving anything away!

We got a local digital photographer to take some digital photos of our DS, we got 100 photos on a CD (all beautiful) for much less than one venturer picture. And as many asda reprints for friends and family and we like!

charlie01 · 01/01/2005 12:45

misdee · 01/01/2005 13:00

WWW sounds awfu;. but our experience was never like that.

Original poster

IlanaK · 01/01/2005 13:01

Wow - well, a lot to think about. I talked to dh about the responses on here and we have agreed to go to the session tomorow (we would be charged a cancelation fee if we didn't anyway). It sounds like the sessions itself will be fun. We also think it is worth going to the viewing to get our free image. We will certainly be taking the children with us as 1) we have noone to look after them and 2) ds2 is still bf. As to whether we tell them to turn off the music, that will depend on how loud and aweful it is! As to buying any images, I think we have agreed to stand firm on this. Although we entered into this hoping to have a large framed one for our wall above our bed, there is noway we can pay £600+ for one. I won't comment on the scanning/repringing issue

OP posts:

misdee · 01/01/2005 13:11

Dh said venture are one of the best he has encountered. we have used venture in watford and cheshunt.

Click studios were awful imo. not very kid friendly and really tried to sell us poor badly done photos.

Venture allowed us to cancel one session on the day as the day b4 dd1 had fallen over and had stiches above her eye and had a huge shiner. we rebooked one month later for free. The phototgrapher was good with the kids, they were lobbing things at him throughout the session. Getting my dd1 to relax in a studio and smile and be herself is very hard, and each time they get her to relax and smile.

I have never been told that to book another viewing is £35, but have been told there is discount on photots purchased at 1st viewing. yes their prices are expensive, but they are very very good. I wouldnt go to a freebie Click session again, but would do for venture.

WideWebWitch · 01/01/2005 13:12

Let us know how you get on Ilanak. I'd like to see them try to enforce a cancellation fee tbh.

meea · 01/01/2005 13:16

I know I shouldn't laugh at this thread but it has taken me back to our venture experience last christmas.We took our 4 children to venture came out from the session having really enjoyed it.
Sat in the car and opened the price list which was in a sealed envelope .
We couldn't believe the prices anyway we went to the presentation a fornight before christmas and got the hard sell even had the studio manager giving us the hard sell.
He really pushed the finance he left the room when I asked him how we could justify paying for photos for 2 years or even better should I tell the kids that i had bought a framed photo of them so they weren't getting christmas presents.
He left at that point and guess what they havn't contacted us again this year.

Dreams · 01/01/2005 13:23

i also was told i had won 125.00 worth of free vouchers for ventures. the lady called me and told me this at home after they had stoped me when i was at tescos to ask me if i had ever heard of them and could they take my details! I did make an appointment but then i cancelled it as

many friends had bad experiences

2)it sounded like a total rip off

3)was not impressed that they never told you alot about themselves apart from you will have loads of FUN!!!!

To be honest if i had to pay all that money for some FUN and a rip off price for some pictures of my son when i could go and hire a photographer and have exactly the same quality pictures but more!!

Dreams · 01/01/2005 13:28

meea i am with you its absolutly ridiculous prices especially for pictures of kids ok we all love and adore our kids and all want pictures of them but come on i think the answer is if you can afford to spend 700 on pictures then well done but in my eyes its a no way!!!!! I would rather buy my son clothes toys and take him out on fun days but if i had that sort of money then.........Maybe!!!

Dreams · 01/01/2005 13:29

that was not supposes to say WELL DONE it was ment to say THEN GO FOR IT

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