ComplaintsforKent Smith Photography

• Initial Complaint

  03/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This business charged my Mother in Law and claims I fraudulently approved of this, which was not the case. They owe my mother in law money back, and I did not like the product I received and do not use them at all.

  Customer response

  03/06/2024

  The photography session was for me, and they did not charge my card when they were supposed to. My mother in law will file a complaint as soon as she hears back from her bank. I am filing one because I am also effected in this situation. They are saying I committed fraud by saying I told them to charge my mother in law's card, when I never even picked up the phone or spoke with them.

  Business response

  03/19/2024

  ******** ********** (**********) scheduled a boudoir session with my studio for 12/14/23 and placed an order on 12/19/23 with her husband ******.  They made a partial payment on that date and completed a payment plan form to charge the balance of 1045.00 to his credit card a few days later.  When we attempted to process the payment it was declined and ***** ********** from my studio called and talked to ****** about the declined payment and he said to use the card on file that was used to pay the 100.00 reservation deposit when ******** scheduled her session.  You can see from the text messages that the card used was her mother-in-law's and she had permission to use it the first time and there is no reason to believe that she wouldn't give them permission again.  Her SON told us to use the card on file and this is a family dispute.  Attached are the text messages verifying that her mother in law called the studio to provide us with the payment, the Happiness Guarantee stating that we do not do refunds, the invoice showing that ******** liked everything enough to order every image from her session.  On a later date the mother in law contacted the studio asking about the charge, saying she had never been to our studio.  We didn't know the connection between her and ******** until I did some research.  I called her back and told her that we were given permission from ****** to use the card that was used for the initial reservation deposit and she should talk to him about that.  We tried to contact them several times about sessions and payments and could never reach them.  She said they were hard to get in touch with and were having a hard time.  I advised that if they used the card without permission they were stealing from her and it's a family matter between them.  I provided the service and applied the payments as told by my client and if they are now saying that they didn't give us permission to charge the card I will file a police report.

  Customer response

  03/21/2024

  I am using their paperwork against them. They were to charge OUR card, not my mother in laws. Attached is the paperwork showing that it was to use my husbands card. My husband NEVER talked to an *****, and he doesn't even know my mother in laws last four of her card information. That bit is false. We did not know my mother in law got charged until late January. I can not answer calls very often during the week due to many doctor's appointments for my sick children, so when they called me ONE time, I could not pick up. They do NOT have my husband's phone number on file, they only have mine. I would like to see the proof that they even tried to contact him. Why would they not have contacted the person who had their name on the card? Charging a card that doesn't belong to the person they are charging is fraud. I inquired about the $99 session MULTIPLE times over the phone before my session, and even at my actual session. The manager refused to speak with me about it until I went to the billing session. My husband's words were 'Why does your face look so terrible?' Why would I want to purchase something if he didn't like them? Yes, I signed the paperwork, but I didn't feel like I had a choice. I am mentally disabled, and I feel extremely overwhelmed when it comes to things of that nature. I have not even opened the pictures I looked at since we got them through email. We saved up that much to pay for the pictures, and then we were NEVER charged. They never even tried to fix it. They are trying to cover up their tracks by creating a he said she said because it was their mistake to begin with. I did pay for a session, and I received a session. The communication between the office's staff is astoundingly awful. I have never seen so many people trying to cover up a big mistake by blaming the customer for doing something they know damn well never happened. If they had charged the card when we said to charge the card, we would not be in this predicament. We had the money on pay day, and that was told to the finance person. She was told to charge it Thursday, if that didn't work, then Friday because we had the payment through CashApp, and it  had to transfer from the app to our bank which takes 3-5 business days. It was right before Christmas. We would have known we got a call to 'charge a different card' around that time. We did not as I showed in my call logs previously. They are claiming something that never happened, and are trying to pin us against the wall for their mess up. I have the evidence to back me up with call logs and text messages. If they do try to go after me, I will explain the situation. Again, I paid for a session, contacted the office multiple times to see if I could use the $99 session for this and was left with absolutely no answers. I thought I would be able to do that based on the people I talked to over the phone. They told me to ask the photographer. She said she would talk to the manager and give me a call. That never happened. The deposit was paid 11/14/23. The deal went on for Black Friday. I called to see if my $100 could be used for that since I booked for the timeline the required. All I got back was 'I will see what I can do'. It never got escalated, I was never informed of a decision. This mistake is on them, not my husband and me. We signed the paperwork, and we explicitly said NOT to charge the initial card that was used for the one time down payment. We told them not to even keep that card on file which they clearly did without anyone in this scenario's permission, and there in no legal documentation signed by the card holder in question. Who knows how many other people's secure, person information they are keeping on file without their knowledge. They took it upon themselves to charge a card that they were never given permission to charge. The card holder also told the person taking the card information to NOT keep her card on file so she didn't accidentally get charged, like what has happened. They were NEVER given permission to charge a card that was not our own. They tried to fix it a month later, but they also only contacted us ONCE to say that our card was declined. They didn't say, we apologize, but we got the card information wrong and have to charge you guys. They also did not say anything about who was charged instead, we learned that from my mother in law the next day. This is not family drama at this point. My mother in law also tried to contact them many times about this situation, and her phone calls were ignored for WEEKS. She used someone else's phone to call, and got to someone immediately. The business knows what they did was their fault, and they are trying to pin this on us. This was not our doing. We never would have agreed to take money out of my mother in laws account. We would have made it work. To hear a MONTH later they were trying to charge our card was them with their tail between their legs. I will be contacting the police if this continues. I am tired of being accused of something my husband and I never did. The fact is, they charged a card they did not have permission to charge, and they are trying to cover it up by saying we committed fraud. I refuse to talk to a business that doesn't communicate with one another. We have been scammed by photographers in the past, and quite frankly, this business is no better.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** **********

  Business response

  03/22/2024

  This is the most toxic situation and I will no longer be part of a back and forth with ****.  After she no showed for her second session on Jan 31, she did not respond to our email with the receipt or text.  We asked for her signature for the payment  we were told on the phone to use for her order. That receipt had the card info on it. If she or her husband didn't intend to use that card they would have said so at that time. No one said a word. SEE ATTACHED EMAIL

  When her mother in law contacted us questioning the charge, she was adamant that she had never her of our business at had no idea why we would be charging her card.  We also had no idea who she was.  I searched our database for her name and couldn't find her.  We have over 30,000 clients from over 35 years in business.  She said she had never been here and didn't know of us.  Yet in the end that is not true.  She did know and only acknowledged that when I asked if ****** was her son. BUT obviously it was all deceitful because in the end she said she did know ******** and let her use our card for the studio.  When we process payment plan payments we don't know if they've ever used another card.  When a payment is declined, as it was on the Thursday we ran it, we call and ask the client if they want to use another card.  We ran the card he told us to.  They've ignored every contact attempt where we've been up front and included card information.  Why not?  It's the end of March and the card was charged in DECEMBER and she was supposed to come back at the end of JANUARY and when she didn't we asked for a signature to be emailed to us.  So a month and a half later she's surprised by all of this. None of it adds up to the story she's telling.

  ******** downloaded all her images SEE ATTACHED.  She ordered 62.  Our orders start with THREE, with no requirement to purchase anything.  One or both of them decided they couldn't let any of them go.

  ******** was a client and placed an order at our studio.  We never pressure anyone and she loved her images, they're gorgeous, and she wanted all of them and so did her husband.  They made the decision together.  

  Our studio has been in business for over 35 years.  We take pride in our customer service and integrity.  We always attempt to do the right thing by our clients, but occasionally there are people who will try to take advantage of us or lie about a situation to benefit them.  We have a Happiness Guarantee that we go over with all our customers and we are proud to stand by that.  

  This is my last response on this.

• Initial Complaint

  05/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  TLDR: I paid them over $1000 and still don't have my photos. I was notified on Tuesday, Jan 24 that I had won a noir photo shoot worth, allegedly, $500 at the Kent Smith studio. This covered professional hair and makeup, the photo session, and one free printed 8x10 photo. When I made the appointment for the photo session, I raised my eyebrows to discover that there was a $200 sitting fee, but I read the fine print and confirmed that it was refundable, or could be applied toward a photo package. Since I intended to purchase photos from the beginning, I went forward. My session was on Thursday, March 15, and it went spectacularly. ***** was my makeup artist, and she was delightful. ***** was my photographer, and she was an amazing hype person. They both helped me feel confident and very pleased. I was very startled at the front desk when the secretary, **** I believe, made some disparaging comments about one of the photographers when she disrupted my happy mood while I told her what an amazing time I had, but I shrugged it off. Maybe she was having a bad day. I returned to the studio on Thursday, March 23 and was seated in luxury in a small darkened room and shown a slideshow of my images. I was delighted, and pleased to sign a contract for over $1000 for one of their largest packages. I also readily agreed to post positive reviews for Kent Smith on Google and Facebook for a small discount on their photos. My final payment went through on Monday, May 1st. They didn't email me the promised link to my digital photo package, but I shrugged again. I had scheduled an appointment for Wednesday, May 10th, to pick up the free 8x10 I had won, and assumed at that time that I could get access to what I had paid for. No such luck. The secretary, ****?, told me that she would pass along my request. I have not received any responses to the email I sent to all of the addresses I was able to find. All I want is the **** photos.

  Business response

  05/23/2023

  Business left a message with BBB in response to a courtesy call that the consumer had not received her photos because she still had an unpaid balance. However, the issue has now been resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  02/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  On 6/1/2022 I entered into a payment agreement with Kent Smith Photography for the purchase of 24 digital images and a photo album. My invoice number is ***** and I paid the business a total of $1435.79. My only purpose for buying the 24 digital photos was for the photo album they told me I would receive once I made my final payment which was in August. I was told their quality is unmatched so even if I bought the images and went somewhere else, the quality would not be the same. This was the convincing factor for me. I sent an email on September 23rd informing them I had made my final payment in August and did not receive any proofs of my album like I had been told I would and asked for the next steps. I received no response. I sent an email on October 4th inquiring about the album again. I let them know I have not heard anything and I was supposed to receive proofs a month prior to that after my final payment was made. I asked if someone could help me with this. I received no response. I sent a third email on October 17th. It stated: Hello, This is the 3rd email I have sent because I have not received a response. I also just called and was greeted by a voice mail greeting but instead of hearing a beep to leave a message, I heard a “good bye” and the call hung up. I would like to know who I talk to to finalize my album order that was paid off weeks ago. Please let me know at your earliest convenience. Thank you, I finally received a response on October 18th apologizing for missing my emails (no apology for not having my proofs ready) and was asked what I would like to title my album. I replied later that evening and again, received no response or proofs to look at. I sent a follow-up email on November 7th asking when the design would be ready to see. After more than 24 hours of not receiving a response, I sent an email on November 8th letting them know I was extremely disappointed at how long it was taking to receive proofs of my album. I was told when making my purchase that the album would be produced about a month before my last payment so that it could be ready once my account was paid off and we are now 2 months past my last payment. I requested compensation for the amount of time I had wasted up to that point following up to try and receive my purchase that I still did not have. On November 15th, one week later, I finally received a response. I was blamed for the delay of the album due to them not knowing what I wanted the title to be. I was told by the owner when making my purchase that they would contact me a month prior to my final payment which I mentioned in my initial email, so why I was being told the delay was my fault is mind boggling to me. On November 16th, they sent me a proof of the album to approve. The album included a photo that I had requested not be included and there were other changes I requested to be made. I not only described what changes I wanted, I also sent photos with the edits that showed what I was describing to make it easier to understand. I sent my changes back on November 16th and was told on November 17th that it would take 2-3 weeks to make the changes. On February 10th, nearly 3 months later, I still have not received a final proof or my album. I sent another email requesting a refund and an additional email requesting a refund in 2 business days. It has been 2 weeks and I still have not received a response. Again, I received the digital images but my purpose for buying them was for the photo album. For that reason, and for the fact that it has been over 6 months since they received my final payment and I still have not received my album, I am requesting a full refund. I believe 6 months with no final product is more than enough reason to give the refund and avoid litigation. They say they don’t give refunds, but they say a lot of things that they don’t actually stick to, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

• Initial Complaint

  02/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My wife recently won a “free” photo shoot with this company. After paying her $150 dollar deposit she then was rushed into picking a day to come back to pay for pictures. My wife forgot to bring the list of prices which she was then faulted for. The person doing her consult only gave her two options of pricing which happened to be two of the most expensive. My wife then chose to cancel after realizing that she no longer wanted the picture. No further payment was made at this time other than the initial deposit. After she chose to cancel they still proceeded to charge my wife’s bank account for the pictures even after explicitly telling them that she did not want them to charge her card. This company is entirely wrong for how they treat their customers. Something needs to change or there will be a lawsuit.

  Business response

  03/08/2023

  **** ***** has never been to our studio to know how we operate, and it appears that there has been a lot of miscommunication between our client, *********, and ****.

  ****'s wife, *********, won our Noir session which means she won a one-hour photography session, 90 minutes of professional hair and makeup beforehand, and a print included - none of which she has to pay for because she won this for free. Upon booking we require a $150 deposit to ensure that the client is going to show up to their scheduled appointments with us. ****'s wife was given pricing information when she booked and after her session was completed, and although she did not bring it back with her the day of her appointment, she never asked me for a copy (which we have readily available.) She also did not ask any additional pricing questions. I personally discussed a few options with her, and she told me which she preferred to order and did not express any hesitation to do so. ****'s wife was charged the day of our appointment because she willingly placed an order and set up a payment plan for her balance. ****'s wife called our studio to inform us that she'd like to cancel, and she stated very clearly that she did not want a refund, but that she did not want to continue with the payment plan, which I approved for her. We do not typically offer refunds or order changes due to the custom nature of our business, however, ********* called me immediately and I was able to stop her order from moving into production so I made an exception for her.  Neither **** nor his wife were charged anything additional after this point. 

  **** was not involved in the process of booking, attending the session, nor the order appointment. We do explain very clearly that all decision-makers need to be present to order, and ********* arrived for her order alone. Attached is a copy of our price sheet that ********* was given after her session, which also states this information.

  To add: **** was incredibly rude to our staff when calling in to dispute this, when we were happy to resolve this issue immediately for our client.

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  False advertising. I won a contest that promised a free image that they did not provide. I was explicitly asking told no purchase was required for my image, but they have refused to make good on their offer. This is a scam to get you in to the studio to buy things.

  Business response

  01/08/2023

  ***** chose her digital image on 12/8/22 and we inform all clients that it can take up to two weeks at our busy time of year for images to be sent to production for retouching and come back to be sent to them.  She received hers completed with retouching on 12/19/22 which is even earlier than the two weeks.  The refund was missed by our office manager as an honest mistake and her mom contacted me by text and it was taken care of immediately.  Later this same day she apparently filed this BBB complaint which was entirely unnecessarily malicious.

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  **** ***** Photography is running a scam targeting women, disguised as a "contest." They will contact you that you won a contest for a free photoshoot, before asking for a $150 deposit for hair & makeup, and refuse to return the deposit, even months later. Further, they will not allow for any resolution to be done remotely, insisting that you must come into their physical location to reach any resolution. This is almost impossible for a full time working mother of four children who doesn't live near the physical location. I've requested that my deposit be returned via multiple methods, and have yet to receive it. My photoshoot was in April, and it is now December. I've selected the "free" image and purchased additional prints, and have had such disappointing and frustrating communications with the company. From the Facebook group they encourage you to join, I see that this is not an uncommon experience at all. It is my opinion that **** ***** should discontinue the advertisement of this "contest," as it is nothing more than a method to get your money. They are targeting women, and it is awful.

  Business response

  01/08/2023

  ****** ***** came in for a session in the spring of 2022.  After the photography session the next step is to come in for an appointment to view images and choose the free print.  We do all of this in person because it is a special experience.  ******** reservation deposit was $150.  She made several appointments to view her images and didn't show up and also gave various reasons for why she could not come in at the last minute.  During this time period she mistakenly received an offer for a last chance to purchase ALL of the digital images from her session for $199.  This offer was a one time offer for clients who had already placed orders and we made it when we were running out of space and needed to delete images before we installed a new server.  She should not have received the email but I honored the offer.  Normally this package of all the images from a session is $1695.00.  So as I mentioned, I honored the offer and ****** does understand that she received all the images for a steal and should not have received the offer.  Now she is obviously no longer interested in the free print because she basically got everything for free after she receives her $150 refund, but we do have it printed for her and she will receive that along with a check for her reservation deposit refund when she comes in to pick up her print.  It has been so long since she came in for her session that I am not able to refund her deposit in our credit card processing system.  She is not being denied a refund or her print. She knows it's not a scam because I have honored an offer she didn't actually qualify for.  

  Customer response

  01/09/2023

  [If you do not say why you are rejecting the company's response, BBB must close your complaint.] 
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  I did not repeatedly cancel appointments; the statement saying "she made several appointments ... and didn't show up" is factually incorrect. Additionally, at no point was it communicated to me that I did not qualify for the offer which I received by email. Therefore, the statement "****** does understand that she received all the images for a steal and should not have received the offer" is also factually incorrect. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** *****

  Business response

  01/19/2023

  This is not a scam.  ****** came in for the shoot, she has chosen her free print and it is here for her to pick up.  I also have a check ready for her to pick up when she picks up her free print.  She loved her images and ordered ALL of them, so she obviously wanted what we created for her, she just doesn't want to come to the studio to pick up her print and her refund.  It has been so long since she made her deposit by credit card that my credit card processing system does not have it in the history any longer to process electronically so the refund has to be made by check.  Due to the nature of ******'s complaints and her insistence to be unhappy with all my attempts to resolve her complaints, she does have to come and pick up her refund and picture so she will not come back later and say it was lost in shipping. 

• Initial Complaint

  10/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Won a "free" photo session advertised on Facebook. Went in to make my appointment on line, and of course they needed a $150.00 deposit. I regretfully paid on my debit card, which was deducted from my Huntington account that day. I had to reschedule my appointment due to health reason, (poison ivy which can be verified by my doctor). I reset for a date in October. Then hurricane IAN came. My boss left Sunday to go to Florida to take care of his ill mother caught in all the mayhem. I called Monday to reset my Tuesday appointment or cancel if they so desired. We have no other coverage at our office, and are short staffed. The lady told me I cancelled i would forfeit my money ($150.00). I told her i would like to reschedule then. She said i would get a call the next day to set appt. A lady named ***** called a couple of days later and wanted another $75.00 to reschedule. I told her to take it out of my refundable deposit and she was to check and call me back. Never have heard back from anyone, or rec'd any money back. IF in fact this was a free session as advertised no one should be required to put down a deposit. I am looking to get my full deposit back of $150.00. Thank you.

  Business response

  10/19/2022

  This client willingly entered our Facebook contest, in which it states that we have a $150 reservation DEPOSIT that is refunded, or can be applied to your order - as long as the client keeps their scheduled appointment times. We are very transparent with our clients about this deposit, due to the fact that we schedule only one client at a time with both a hair and makeup artist and a photographer. When a client can't make this time, we still pay the hair and makeup artist and photographer, and sadly a lot of clients like to "no-show" or reschedule last minute. The contest is, in fact, completely free. The deposit to hold your spot is the only financial commitment, and as long as our clients give us at least 3 days notice, we can easily reschedule them to a better date.

  We typically don't allow any last minute reschedules, however, due to ***** having a medical emergency and having poison ivy we were understanding of her situation and waived the rescheduling fee ($75) once for her. On the second time, due to the last minute nature of her rescheduling again, we determined that we would take $75 out of her deposit to make it easier from her. ***** from our studio tried reaching out via phone later that day, October 3rd to get ***** rescheduled. We did not hear back from *****, but we are happy to still reschedule her for a time that works for her.

  Below is the email that ***** originally received PRIOR to booking her appointment. As stated in the email sent to ***** before booking (below), the reservation deposit is returned to the client when they come in to choose their free print. She clicked on the link from this email to schedule her session. Once she does her session, she still has the option to come in and choose her free print and have the remainder of her deposit refunded ($75).

  From: "****** *****" <******@kentsmith.com>

  To: "***** *******" <************@aol.com>
  Subject: ??Congratulations from Kent Smith Photography??
  
  Hey *****...we chose you as a WINNER in the Kent Smith Photography Noir Portrait contest on Facebook!??
  
  Congratulations, and here is what your prize includes:
  
  A 60 minute photography session (3-4 outfit changes) with one of our amazing portrait photographers!
  Professional hair and makeup!
  One 10" portrait of your choice from your session!
  You will LOVE this session!  If you have a moment, please check out our web site and read through the blog posts from women who have come in for our Noir session.  They feel amazing, beautiful, and empowered!  This is the favorite session of all the women who work here and you will soon find out why!  We are so excited for you!!
  
  What you need to do next:
  Go here to schedule your session which will consist of 2 appointments.  First -- 1.5 hours for Hair and Makeup, 2nd -- 1 hour for the photo shoot.  If you schedule online please know that the time you are choosing is when photography will begin.  You will need to arrive here 90 minutes BEFORE that time for Hair and Makeup to start.  You are also welcome to text us at ###-###-####, we're happy to help you schedule!
  Remember to schedule your session within 48 hours -- you can schedule your time to come in over the next couple months but you must schedule it within 48 hours -- Continue reading below about the bonus for scheduling today!  Please be sure that the time you schedule does work for you -- we hire a hair and makeup artist to be here for your session, so to schedule and guarantee your time we ask for a refundable reservation deposit of $150.  Your deposit will be refunded back to you when you come back to choose your free portrait or can also be applied to an additional order if you would like.  The choice is yours!
  $50 KSP Kash as a BONUS for keeping both your original session date and time, and your viewing appointment (will be scheduled later)!  KSP Kash can be used toward anything you might want to order in addition to what you won! 
  To prepare for your session, collect 3-4 outfits that tell your story.  We want you to express yourself the way you want.  Props and accessories are encouraged to make it more about you.  Women have brought in roller skates, Harry Potter books and robe, boxing gloves, a bottle of bourbon, their motorcycle, etc.  Anything larger like a motorcycle you should talk to us about in advance so we can help you plan properly for it -- we will help you choose a session time for the right lighting conditions since vehicles are photographed outside.  Don't feel like you have to wear skimpy lingerie if that's not you -- showing a hint of skin or a peek of a pretty bra or lace can be just a sexy as revealing more skin.  You have the choice to reveal as much or as little as you're comfortable with.  This is about who YOU are, not forcing you to be something you're not! 
  
  Have more questions?  We're happy to answer all your questions!  Due to Covid we have a smaller staff right now, so the best way to reach us is by text and we will answer you just as soon as possible or give you a call if you prefer that!  We're so excited, you're going to love this session!
  Best Wishes,
  P.S. Check out our work on Pinterest here!
  
  ****** *****
  President
  Kent Smith Photography
  ###-###-#### 
  ******@kentsmith.com
  
  
  P.P.S. Excited, yet nervous about a boudoir session? So was I. But at age 54, I decided to go for it…and then I decided to document my very emotional journey. Now my wish is that every woman has the same amazing and truly special experience that I did! Schedule yours today, *****! Call ###-###-####.
  
  
  Sent to: *******crrll@aol.com
  
  Unsubscribe
  
  Kent Smith, 12923 Stonecreek Dr, Pickerington, OH 43147, United States

   

   

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  07/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My daughter ***** R took graduation photos. When I called to ask for the pictures I was told they were sent. I said on my email (puzzled) I just spent $1,300+ for pics to go to my email. I informed them (Kent photography) after numerous calls / emails that I thought I was getting a disk and prints ? I was told no the price was A special for digital. That’s not what I was told. This went back and forth. My complaint was her eyes Appear closed and on some whole inside is black. I was told it’s the lashes but not all pics showed her whole inside of eye black . It looked like a retouch. I was then told I could redo the session but she has now graduates and we spent money on hair and make up on our own. That requires more money time off work etc plus SHE ALREADY GRADUATED. Further inspection of the pictures the back ground (drop) they use some Of it is showing In the pictures as well. I spent a lot of money and only asked for half back. This is unacceptable and I couldn’t pass out the pictures cause a lot of her friends tease her about the eye in the pics. It’s the first thing people notice. I was able to use a few pics but majority I could not that’s reason why I only wanted half my money back. If you look at the pics I provided lashes didn’t cause the whole eye black — I provided some that are not black as well

  Business response

  07/24/2022

  ***** won a session as part of a Facebook Giveaway.  What she won included a 60 minute session and professional hair and makeup.  ***** elected to do her own instead of using our services at no charge.  After the session they came back for a separate appointment to view images and place their order.  They viewed images on our 72" wide screen and saw them large at more than 6 times life size.  They chose images and put the order on our layaway payment plan.  At no time during the appointment was any concern expressed about her eyes.  

  ***** did contact me in May about the images after she received them and was concerned because her eyes were dark in some of them.  I looked at the images and explained that I could see that her false eyelashes were very large and because of that the swoop and curve of the lashes extended down in front of her eyes.  Light could not get in to her eyes from every angle.  I've attached images where you can see the lashes and how far down they come in front of her eyes.  In a second image I provided you can see light in her eyes because her head is tilted back.  We cannot take photographs of her only with her head back.  ***** mentioned that she thought we retouched her eyes, but we did not.  I have attached a side by side comparison of the image straight out of the camera compared to what we retouched for her final order.

  ***** also said she thought she was getting a CD with the images and prints, not an email.  During our order appointment I explained that we send our digital images to clients in a gallery link that is emailed to them.  I explained how to download them and that they are able to print wherever they would like but they also have the option of ordering prints from within the gallery link from a professional lab that provides that service to our clients.  She may have forgotten that since she used our layaway payment plan and didn't receive her order until it was paid in full. We have never offered CDs to clients, we don't have the equipment or materials to provide that, and I never even suggest that.  She also may have been confused with another photography studio if she was calling around asking about senior pictures.  I own the studio, I definitely know what we offer and what I say to clients.

  I have offered to retake images if ***** is unhappy.  Our studio does not offer refunds, but we will reshoot at no charge and that includes hair and makeup if the client desires.  Her session was in March and she paid her order off at the end of April.  I offered to do a reshoot in May when she contacted me.  I understand she might not want to take advantage of that, but the timeline she is on is of her own choice.  The images are ultimately for her and I'm still happy to reshoot so she has what she wants.  As far as equipment being in the images we provided to her, I don't see that but I'm happy to do further retouching to correct any issues that we can if she will point it out to me.  We have a Happiness Guarantee and will redo any work we have done or reprint if necessary, but we do not offer refunds.  She has downloaded all the image files she ordered and I am going above and beyond offering to provide  her more at no charge.

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