- Report: #802208
Complaint Review: Portrait Innovations - Orland Park Illinois
Reported By:
llamalluv -
Bedford Park, Illinois, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Portrait Innovations
9500 143rd St, Ste 202 Orland Park, 60462 Illinois, United States of America
Phone:
(708) 349-9838
Web:
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Portrait Innovations Very unprofessional, misleading sales tactics Orland Park, Illinois
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I wish I had read this before going out. My family's experience:
We made an appointment to have some family photos taken. Family meaning my husband and his parents and sister and our 8 month old son. We got to our appointment 20 minutes early so I could settle my son down before our photo session. It was clearly obviously that they had seriously overbooked. It took them over an hour to call us. In that time, my son had two wet diapers. The ladies restroom doubled as the dressing room. There was no changing table in the men's room. (I guess men don't change diapers in PI-land?)
When we were finally called, the photographer asked us how we were related and then proceeded to break us out into different little family groups. Brother-sister pics when you are 3 and 5? Adorable. When you are 33 and 35? Not so much. Then she did myself and my husband and I insisted on my son being in all of those. Then she added in my MIL and FIL. Finally, almost like an afterthought, she stuck my SIL in there. Later, when we reviewed the photos, we found she had left a big blank space between my FIL and SIL, like there was a missing person. I thought it was extremely insensitive of the photographer. Then the woman had the nerve to kick my son and I out of the pose and take a picture of "just the family". I was speechless.
My MIL has a problem with blinking right when the camera flashes, which is a family joke. Several times my MIL asked, "Did I blink in that one?" The photographer PRETENDED to look at the image on the back of her digital camera and said they looked fine. Again, when we reviewed the images, we found that the upper rim of her eyeglasses was cutting right across her eyes. More than half the images with her in them were unusable. Had the photographer actually reviewed the images, she would have seen that and had my MIL make an adjustment.
They kept making a trilling sound to get my son to laugh or smile. All it did was annoy him. Never once did they ask me, HIS MOTHER, how to make him laugh. Nor did they listen to me when I told him, "Stop making that sound, he doesn't like it." In fact, at least 3/4 of the images of me are unusable, because the woman kept shooting images while I was saying, "Stop making that sound. Hey! Listen to me for a second!"
We then had a 45 minute wait to even VIEW our photos. We eliminated all but 5 fairly quickly. We ordered over $100 worth of prints and were told that we would get "all of these images" on a CD (as she waved at the screen). Stupid me, I thought that THOSE images meant the ones that we were looking at, not low quality poor resolution images that look horrible even as thumbnails on facebook. It took forever to go through the images because they kept trying to convince us to get pictures with my wide open maw and pictures of my MIL with no eyes. And by then, of course, my son needed his diaper changed again, so we had to stop while I waited for the ladies' room/dressing room/baby changing station become available. See previous comment about how men DO change diapers, on occasion, just not ever at Portrait Innovations, apparently!
We made an appointment to have some family photos taken. Family meaning my husband and his parents and sister and our 8 month old son. We got to our appointment 20 minutes early so I could settle my son down before our photo session. It was clearly obviously that they had seriously overbooked. It took them over an hour to call us. In that time, my son had two wet diapers. The ladies restroom doubled as the dressing room. There was no changing table in the men's room. (I guess men don't change diapers in PI-land?)
When we were finally called, the photographer asked us how we were related and then proceeded to break us out into different little family groups. Brother-sister pics when you are 3 and 5? Adorable. When you are 33 and 35? Not so much. Then she did myself and my husband and I insisted on my son being in all of those. Then she added in my MIL and FIL. Finally, almost like an afterthought, she stuck my SIL in there. Later, when we reviewed the photos, we found she had left a big blank space between my FIL and SIL, like there was a missing person. I thought it was extremely insensitive of the photographer. Then the woman had the nerve to kick my son and I out of the pose and take a picture of "just the family". I was speechless.
My MIL has a problem with blinking right when the camera flashes, which is a family joke. Several times my MIL asked, "Did I blink in that one?" The photographer PRETENDED to look at the image on the back of her digital camera and said they looked fine. Again, when we reviewed the images, we found that the upper rim of her eyeglasses was cutting right across her eyes. More than half the images with her in them were unusable. Had the photographer actually reviewed the images, she would have seen that and had my MIL make an adjustment.
They kept making a trilling sound to get my son to laugh or smile. All it did was annoy him. Never once did they ask me, HIS MOTHER, how to make him laugh. Nor did they listen to me when I told him, "Stop making that sound, he doesn't like it." In fact, at least 3/4 of the images of me are unusable, because the woman kept shooting images while I was saying, "Stop making that sound. Hey! Listen to me for a second!"
We then had a 45 minute wait to even VIEW our photos. We eliminated all but 5 fairly quickly. We ordered over $100 worth of prints and were told that we would get "all of these images" on a CD (as she waved at the screen). Stupid me, I thought that THOSE images meant the ones that we were looking at, not low quality poor resolution images that look horrible even as thumbnails on facebook. It took forever to go through the images because they kept trying to convince us to get pictures with my wide open maw and pictures of my MIL with no eyes. And by then, of course, my son needed his diaper changed again, so we had to stop while I waited for the ladies' room/dressing room/baby changing station become available. See previous comment about how men DO change diapers, on occasion, just not ever at Portrait Innovations, apparently!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
honestyisthebestpolicy2
Illinois,United States of America
Trueth about PI
#2General Comment
Mon, December 19, 2011
I understand your frustration and I know what I'm about to say won't help but may at least help you see the whole picture. PI teaches their sales/photographers to not look at the back of their cameras for no reason- ordered and they can get into big trouble if they're caught doing it. They Have To do all breakdowns in every shot- no questions asked- even if your son was screaming and crying its shoot shoot shoot. The sales prices= their jobs. The sales person goal is to confuse you and put stress on you so when your at the sales station you can't make logical choices. They say you can't get a refund because its alread sent to the computer- partially true. They can't cancel the order :1) It will lock up their system and you could, actually , loose all of your pictures or make that terminal useless for a few hours (not something you want during a Christmas rush) 2), they're trained to tell you you have to keep that order, or they can be terminated. The workers run on thin ice so your issues isn't with the sales/photographers it's with the company and their polices. During the months of Oct, Nov, and Dec, PI's studios take on average of 100+ appointments a day. some studios have less than 10 employees trying to take in appointed double/triple on the hour,and every 20 mins, plus one appoint every 10. Do the math. This is true even if there's no staff and they have to take walk ins. So the sales/photographer has to do breakdowns, 3-4 backgrounds, close ups and full bodies, then sale all within 30 mins. I know, makes you feel like cattle. In that time they have to pressure you to buy as much as possible to keep their averages up to keep their jobs. So customers end up waiting from 20-2 hours for their sittings. In this time , the company has to follow labor laws ( even though they don't) and keep up with the demand. 1) I recommend you call corporate and demand to speak to Johnny Gross. He's the head guy. 2) Re-try the studio during the summer when it's slow to get a better idea of how it's really runned and how the staff is. 3) There's quality w/ quantity at PI at the right times and w/ the right photographer and knowing what to expect. For about 120 you can get all you want, 18 sheets plus, and a better experience just not during the holidays. Ask for the manager to do your pictures, wait for a slow day, understand that you can refuse packages and stay within your budget no matter what the sales person tells you (you spend over a 100 they can keep their jobs and you can get what you want) . I hope this helps you and others. I recommend a private photographer that's willing to work with you but if that's not possible, PI is your next best bet- at the right time.
