They steal your deposit
After purchasing a wowcher offer, although this vendor also frequently uses groupon, I tried to book my session more than 3 months before the expiry date. Despite the vendor still advertising other offers, I struggled to get a weekend date. It was only when I said that I would have to cancel the vouchers that they miraculously happened to have a cancellation and managed to produce a convenient appointment time.
At the shoot I arranged a viewing session. Unfortunately I had to call and rearrange the original date. This was fine - I rescheduled for the same time at 12.30, as I work, but on a different day. On the day of the viewing the studio called at 11am to say I was scheduled for a viewing. I confirmed this was correct and that I would be there at 12.30, as arranged, only to be told they had it booked for 10.30am, that I had missed it and that I would need to reschedule another time which I did.
I have now been to view my pictures which were disappointing (chairs cut in half, animal photographed on a rug that is missing from the top right corner of the photograph, the white box with the animal on it needs painted and shows chips etc.) I was then told that I could only choose an individual photo of each cat although I was given approximately 35 of one cat, 17 of both cats together and 8 of the other cat to choose from. None of the 8 are worth having but I had to select 1.
The icing on the cake has been that when I was considering purchasing an additional photo my £20 deposit was deducted from the price but the minute I said I didn't want any extras I have been told my £20 deposit is non-refundable as I allegedly missed a viewing. Coincidentally, the viewing is the only appointment they didn't confirm in writing. A trick perhaps to con people out their money?
I now start my 8 week wait for the photos and digital images for one photo that I like and one that I am not impressed with. It will be interesting to see if they ever arrive.