Portrait Innovations

I have used this studio in the past but I will not use them again and could not recommend them. Their sales techniques are very pushy and when I repeated for several times what I was looking for during: making the appointment, when I checked in, speaking with the photographer prior to the shoot, with the photographer will reviewing the prints, and, in the end when I complained to the manager - I was simply told, "We have a process." The process is to take about 100 photos of your child. They are not open to suggestions. There are countless people 'working' but not doing anything. After the photos they put you in high sales selections seats where you choose the photos you want and they try to convince you that you want 20 8x10 pictures (plus all the rest of their cheap freebies). If you just want the coupon deal they offer they explain that it's a better value to buy more because otherwise you pay about the same to customize to what you do want. This is partially true. They then ask for your permission to use your images in their advertising and training. I said yes. I asked for one photo to be adjusted and they said it might be blurry. I said, don't do it. The person I was working with was being trained. She made several mistakes and there were several times I had to correct her or point out to her where she needed to click to get to what I was asking... and I don't even work there. When she couldn't figure it out, a second person helped her. They came to me and said, we can edit this picture this way (which is what I asked for in the first place). I said, "She said that wouldn't work." The other staff member said, "No, we can take care of it." When it was finished and I got my collection and the extras I had ordered, the picture that was edited was blurry. I complained and the manager said it was too bad but there was nothing they could do. They said they couldn't reprint it because I didn't buy a big enough collection that included the disc and that they had already deleted my images. (Then why do I have to sign off that you can use them again? This makes no sense). I said, well, then I want my money back. He said, no, we can't do that, we told you it would be blurry and that's what you wanted. I said, no, I didn't want that, your other staff told me that they could fix it. He said he was sorry but that was not something he was willing to do. Now, this is an add-on 8x10 and the cost of this item is $20. I just wanted the $20 back or a reprint - the rest of the merchandise was fine. I told him he was losing a customer. He told me to, "Have a good one," and walked away. I asked for a corporate card so I could complain to the owners/franchise and he pointed them out on the counter, repeated, "Have a good one," and walked away again. Needless to say, I find it sad that the poorly trained staff is so rigid in their system that they could not provide good customer service or try to work with me on what I wanted. If they would have been warm, nice and accommodating and explained better their packages and benefits than I probably would have spent a lot more and made different selections. If they would have accommodated my refund or reprint request I wouldn't be contacting corporate or writing a review. It's sad that a young man is willing to lose a customer (my kid is two - there are lots of years of pictures that could have come their way); willing to let the business receive poor reviews; willing to have to hear about it again from the top down, etc. - all over ONLY $20. The quality here is not bad; the process takes forever and be prepared to be pressured to spend between $200 to $300 (even though the coupon says you can only spend $14.99). Ask questions every step of the way and be prepared to be told, "We have a process." And, most of all, be prepared for horrible customer service.