My daughter received a cold call from a representitive of this company, formerly called Sapphire Studios and Studio 64, on 27 January 2012. The rep. offered my daughter a "free" photoshoot complete with make over and hair styling with professionals and a professional photographer at their studios in London. All she needed to do was make a "small" deposit to secure the shoot. No mention of the amount was made and she was told the deposit was refundable. I know this as i was in the room during that part of the conversation and she had her phone on speaker phone.
Unknown to my daughter my wife had already put plans in place for my daughter to have a photoshoot for her 21st. birthday with a family friend who is a full time photographer. When my wife informed my daughter of this, she decided to cancel the shoot and get a refund. Before she could ring them, they rang her on 1st February 2012 to arrange a session date. it was at this time she informed them she was cancelling and the reason why. The rep told her that it wasnt a problem and a refund could be arranged. On 2nd February someone else called her to inform her that she would only get her refund if she attended the session or "sold" her "ticket" to a friend, failure to do either would result in her losing her deposit for something that hadnt even had a day booked.
On the 3rd February I rang the company on the numbers my daughter had saved on her phone, after an hr. of trying I eventually got through to one of their "Diary Admin Assistants" named Joseph Celcius Verbagenga. His attitude was one of to get her refund she does it our way or not at all. He either couldnt or wouldnt see how the company policy was for all intensive purposes holding my daughters money to ransom. I told him that unless the refund was made i would be seeking legal advice and reporting them to consumeraffairs, trading standards and BBC watchdog, which i have done at the time of writing. His response was that of couldnt care less. If she wanted her money she either did a session, sold her ticket or forget getting her money back. He then informed me that one of the "customer relations" people would ring me to speak to me.
One hour later i received a phone from a number with a dialling code i didnt recognise. I now know this number to be based in the Phillipines from doing a websearch for the country code. the woman i spoke to was rude and extremely arrogant with a "do your worst" attitude. She was even worse than the "diary admin assistant", and refused to even see reason, was unreasonable and accused both my daughter and i of being liars.
these people need to be avoided by any and all young females as it seems that they tend to select them, tempt them in then rip them off. i have seen on various sites that they use badgering and haranging techniques on people into buying photos, the cheapest of which is £49 and sold to you on a cd which would cost no more than £0.99 from your local pc retail outlet
After a bit of googling it seems that the aforementioned falls under the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, I've emailed them informing them of this, but so far no joy in a refund.
Unknown to my daughter my wife had already put plans in place for my daughter to have a photoshoot for her 21st. birthday with a family friend who is a full time photographer. When my wife informed my daughter of this, she decided to cancel the shoot and get a refund. Before she could ring them, they rang her on 1st February 2012 to arrange a session date. it was at this time she informed them she was cancelling and the reason why. The rep told her that it wasnt a problem and a refund could be arranged. On 2nd February someone else called her to inform her that she would only get her refund if she attended the session or "sold" her "ticket" to a friend, failure to do either would result in her losing her deposit for something that hadnt even had a day booked.
On the 3rd February I rang the company on the numbers my daughter had saved on her phone, after an hr. of trying I eventually got through to one of their "Diary Admin Assistants" named Joseph Celcius Verbagenga. His attitude was one of to get her refund she does it our way or not at all. He either couldnt or wouldnt see how the company policy was for all intensive purposes holding my daughters money to ransom. I told him that unless the refund was made i would be seeking legal advice and reporting them to consumeraffairs, trading standards and BBC watchdog, which i have done at the time of writing. His response was that of couldnt care less. If she wanted her money she either did a session, sold her ticket or forget getting her money back. He then informed me that one of the "customer relations" people would ring me to speak to me.
One hour later i received a phone from a number with a dialling code i didnt recognise. I now know this number to be based in the Phillipines from doing a websearch for the country code. the woman i spoke to was rude and extremely arrogant with a "do your worst" attitude. She was even worse than the "diary admin assistant", and refused to even see reason, was unreasonable and accused both my daughter and i of being liars.
these people need to be avoided by any and all young females as it seems that they tend to select them, tempt them in then rip them off. i have seen on various sites that they use badgering and haranging techniques on people into buying photos, the cheapest of which is £49 and sold to you on a cd which would cost no more than £0.99 from your local pc retail outlet
After a bit of googling it seems that the aforementioned falls under the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, I've emailed them informing them of this, but so far no joy in a refund.