Studio session and prints

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wacom34

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Hello,

Thanks for reading my post, I will try to be as brief as possible. I am hoping somebody can help me on a law matter.

I have had a set of photos shot and printed at a well known UK Photographers for children. The shoot seemed to go well and lasted for about 15 mins.

Soon after we got to see the photos on screen so could pick what we wanted to include in our 6 photo package. the screen shots were about 20cms in size.

Today 2 weeks later we picked our prints up. out of the 6 prints 4 of them have some issue or faults for example, burnt out images, random white spots on skin, over exposure, inconsistent colour levels (children's hair is ginger as oppose to blonde?) and poorly positioned subjects. for this we had the privilege of paying £185. the size of the prints are 20x24, 16x20 and 8x10.

here is my problem and query. on our invoice that we signed it states: "portraits are a personal product and have no resale value; therefore refunds will not be possible. this does not affect your statutory rights."

and that is it. no mention of what happens if the prints are faulted etc.

so i am taking the set back tomorrow night (Tuesday 3rd april) in order to obtain a full refund.

i am wondering where the law stands on a issue like this? with goods i know that you are entitled to a full refund if they are faulted or damaged, but with this i am not sure.

i suspect when they see the prints they will offer a reshoot. however, i feel the good atmosphere wont be present after going through this. so i am not really interested. plus i am still fuming that I have been given such a poor product.

oh yes I forgot to mention when we viewed the prints in the studio when we picked them up the lights in ceiling were broken and we couldn't view them properly, so it was only when we returned home could we inspect them in detail. laughable i know!

So i am hoping somebody can give me some ammunition and info to fight my case!

Thank you in advance :),

One angry mother!
 
I'd be surprised if you have much trouble with this, especially if the quality's so poor, he'll no doubt want to bury them in case his reputation is damaged
Especially after you mention you intend to splash them on here and name n shame :-)
I'll be interested to hear the outcome of your chat whatever happens
 
Sounds like you have a good case for a full refund to me but if it's just a case of poor printing I would want to compare them to the photos on the computer screen again. If they look different to the prints then I would insist on reprints.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, my only worry is the studio is franchise and not a one person setup. So i fear it will be, we got the money, we have no problem getting other customers, so no refunds possible.

Tony, if the images on screen match my prints, its got to be a case of poor photography right? I should of mentioned, but i am graphic designer and have a lot of experience with printing. so faults like out of focus, and over exposure tend to be caused by the lighting conditions, camera setup etc. unless they have been tinkered with in photoshop?

either way i wanted to pay for a professional service and i aint got it ;)

Thanks again
 
wacom34 said:
...Today 2 weeks later we picked our prints up. out of the 6 prints 4 of them have some issue or faults for example, burnt out images, random white spots on skin, over exposure, inconsistent colour levels (children's hair is ginger as oppose to blonde?) and poorly positioned subjects.
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With the burnt out bits, random white spots and ginger hair you have my sympathy and you will probably get a re-process or refund. :thumbs:
With the positions : you chose them from a selection, you chose them yourself, in the position they were in so you shouldn't see that as a valid point of complaint.
Sorry to be not entirely supportive. :|
 
Morning,

Can anybody else help or have some advice for my problem?

Thank you
 
You might not have a problem yet?
Go talk to the fella
 
Simon photo said:
How about getting an opinion from us lot as a little back up?
I don't know what weight it would hold but would be good for an impartial and honest opinion from multiple parties
Click to expand...

Yeah, no danger there'll be any sarcy comments on here :lol:
:suspect:
 
So when you had your viewing did the shots look ok?

I think you need to give the photographer a chance to fix the problem. I can only assume you liked the images at the viewing or why did you order them?

It may be a problem in the printing and a set of reprints may be the answer. And if not is it really that much of a problem to give them the chance of a reshoot. I cant imagine there are many portrait photographers who have not shot a a resit before.
 
Hello all,

Took the photos back last night and the manager of the studio couldn't believe what we had been giving. Her face dropped when she looked at them. She checked the images on screen and the faults weren't noticeable (accept for the out of focus image), which leads me to think that their screen isn't good enough for viewing. It also seems that the errors were a mixture of camera operating skills and pre press editing. From the photographer right through to the printer, nobody picked up on the shocking results...

So she agreed a refund should be honored however she couldn't authorise it, only her regional manager could. Who will be ringing me today. Once I get a definite answer I will let you know.

For the people who thought a re-shoot should be done first. Normally I would have been happy with that however, we wanted these images of our baby when he was 10 weeks old because we have a set from when our daughter was 10 weeks old. Unless the studio can turn back time it isn't an option. We are disappointed that this time has been lost and we feel that a professional service should be delivered first time around. If it had the four 15 mile round trips could have been avoided as well as the time taken off work to get the photos done and subsequently sorted out.

Thanks again to everybody who took time to help me.

Much appreciated
 
Did you ask if you could have the digital originals, seeing as they dropped the ball?
I wouldn't mind trying to sort them out for you F O C of course. Obviously the out of focus ones are a no go but it wouldn't be a problem, honestly.
It Would mean you tryin to get the originals from them, preferably the raw files but somehow i think they wouldn't have shot in that format.
Anyhow if you do manage to get them and seeing as they stuffed up its the least they can do, just pm me and I'll send you my details.
 
Glad to hear that the manager agreed to a refund - let's hope the company agree.

Possibly they may try to go for a re-shoot, but as your requirement was specific - photos of your baby aged 10 weeks - and they have not been able to provide these, I think you have a firm case for a full refund rather than a re-shoot or a credit note under consumer law. This said, I am not an expert, so do get professional advice if they don't give you what you want.

This site has a good outline of your rights. It may help to print it out and take it with you. Then point out the relevant bits if needs be.

Good luck!

Edit to add: Make sure you hang on to the bad photos until you have your refund. These are your evidence and it could be problematic if they `happened` to get inexplicably lost if you give them back so that they can `go away for head office to look at` or something. They can simply print a new set.
 
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I could ask for digital prints, however I am not hopeful. When we ordered our original prints they said the CD of the images can bought too.......for 100 pound! To be honest the refund would be great.

Unfortunately the studio now has the prints for the regional manager to view today...I can only hope they are honest.

But dont worry I do have evidence of the work ;)
 
Simonphoto, that is a very kind offer, i will definitely consider it thank you
 
before taking up simons offer i would seek permission to edit the images, there are parts of the copyright act that surrounds adaption of work.

interesting that they couldnt see the defects on screen though, even the naffest of screens should display the issues you describe.
 
neil_g said:
interesting that they couldnt see the defects on screen though, even the naffest of screens should display the issues you describe.
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Unless the faults were introduced in the stages immediately prior to printing or during printing. Without seeing samples it's guesswork.

If she can't honour a refund herself, it sounds like the title "manager" is purely honorific, and the chain photographer-manager-regional manager when the manager isn't managing no doubt makes for expensive overheads..
 
Hello again,

Got a result. The manager rang me and offered a full refund, which will be arranged asap. I am surprised but the regional manager didn't even put up a fight, in fact she couldn't be bothered to contact me directly. She did suggest a reshoot but thats all. When I said I wasn't interested she took that onboard no questions asked.

I asked what feedback was given by this regional manager, and she said she is going to investigate the printing process. It seems that the errors where a mixture of poor photography (out of focus shot) and pre press editing (attempting to clean up and add white backgrounds).

Looks like they are sweeping this one under the carpet. Just a shame that other families without any photography/printing experience might be buying the same shocking work
 
wacom34 said:
Is there a reason you are asking?
Click to expand...

Yes there is.

As a former photographer for a company that operates in this was, I can say that this is not a one off. I was disgusted with many of their practices and left after I found there was nothing valuable I could learn from them.

The only thing I learned from them was to be tough and heartless in getting customers ... in doing so, I feared I might sacrificed a part of my soul :(
 
If the digital versions look good then You could ask for a part refund and the images on disc.

for some photoshop users it will probably be quite easy to fix however I had an issue with a client that had paid for the cd and wanted to pay me to retouch them so they could print out the 1s they wanted at a far cheaper price. they were kind of sucked into a cheap session on the assumption you would buy prints fair enough they sold the cd but not really the money they were looking for as the session was only £9.99 and the Cd somehow was only £25 used in conjuction with another offer and refer a friend style thing.

The point is the shoot was with Venture photography and in there terms if you buy a cd you are not allowed to edit the images and they own the rights to them which is fair enough.

all though you were not happy with the printing it may turn out that you are not allowed to have your images reprinted and if you do you have to do it through them.
 
It may be worth an ask to get the electronic images as someone much cleverer than me could save a couple of decent shots for you. I would have thought its the least the company could do! After all you you have every right to be upset for their incompetence IMHO.

Good luck!
 
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