Free Photo Shoot ? anything to be wary ?


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cimman

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Aug 27, 2004
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someone called me and told me that I was selected for a free photoshoot session, complete with makeup services. Is that too good to be true ?
This happened not once, but 5 times in the past 1 month. All from different photo studios.
Intrigue, I went down to the place one night to check up on the studio. I walked in and was told that the studio is a private studio and walk ins are not entertained.
Private Studio ? what's the difference between them calling me and a walk in customer ?
of course, I didn't tell them that they called me earlier.
something fishy here.
any bros encountered this before ? phone calls to say free photo shoot for you and family ? and has anyone been to these "free" photo shoots and then hit with the hidden costs ?
I was told everything would be free and that they are doing this as a promotion for their studio.
 

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=299052


If your 'free' shoot dun fall into the list, do update us...and dun be lazy..do a google or even do a search here ..we ve discussed these 'free' shoots for countless times.....since few years back too


and if you had done a google on those names.... keywords fall into ... 'AVOID', 'SCAM', RUDE..etc ....and of cos, if u still insist on going, do learn how to say NO


Good luck.... dun say we never warn you ...... :devil::devil:
 

They do HARD SELL...

a free photoshoot is there... but after that, they press you to sign up for a package.

Heard of this many times already.
 

don't waste your time go to those so called "Private Studio". they will spend a few hours to persuade you buy a package for few thousand bucks.

anyway, if you want free shoot, just post your photo in service offered and wanted, sure got someone want to shoot you for free. of course, if you are a girl, response will be very good.
 

http://forums.clubsnap.com/showthread.php?t=299052


If your 'free' shoot dun fall into the list, do update us...and dun be lazy..do a google or even do a search here ..we ve discussed these 'free' shoots for countless times.....since few years back too


and if you had done a google on those names.... keywords fall into ... 'AVOID', 'SCAM', RUDE..etc ....and of cos, if u still insist on going, do learn how to say NO


Good luck.... dun say we never warn you ...... :devil::devil:

thanks for the warning.....don't worry, I always heed warnings. I don't believe in free things, just wanted to know what the scam was.

Anyways, I was curious and went down to SNAPZ tonight and posed as a passer by. I walked into the store and pretended to be interested and enquired about their packages. To my surprise, they said they do not serve walk in customers, and that they are a private studio. They were quite adamant about not serving me. Very strange.... of course, that bit about the walk in is a joke, because when they called me, they don't know who I am, or what I do, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm a "phone" walk in. Wonder what they are up to ? why refuse to serve walk ins ? maybe these people are not even registered as a company ?

btw, any recommendations for a good legitimate photo studio with reasonable pricing ? do they give out the digital files or only the printed photos ? I would like to have the digital files.
 

when you partake any survey, you list down your monthly income, so some companies will collect all these data and sell it.

anyway, this type of so call "private studio", only target to those they qualify as "a Robert willing to spend" to be their victims.
 

one more thing, this is also show us that are not really interested on do photography business.

prefer to Chop Robert! Chop Robert! Chop! Chop! Chop!!
 

Been to one before out of curiosity with my family. Hard sell like dun know what. When u are firm and say no, they became very rude and will chase u out very fast. That fellow tried to impress me by saying that he had a 1D. So what, the photos sux there.
 

btw, any recommendations for a good legitimate photo studio with reasonable pricing ? do they give out the digital files or only the printed photos ? I would like to have the digital files.

You can do TFCD for the bros here at ClubSNAP..
 

Been to one before out of curiosity with my family. Hard sell like dun know what. When u are firm and say no, they became very rude and will chase u out very fast. That fellow tried to impress me by saying that he had a 1D. So what, the photos sux there.

this is what we did...we went down....first follow and do the family shoots....then at the changing room...we made a fuss about non-availability of costumes/sizes/colour etc...then requested that we be allowed to see the picts....

when they are pitching..just hear them out...then informed them that we r taking up their offer of 2 free pictures to be copied to a CD and be given to us...

then we left....
 

I told them that I have my own studio lights and can do it at home as and when i want. They still won't hang up and haggle on and on.

They always call after 6pm. I wonder why - are we more vulnerable then?
 

I told them that I have my own studio lights and can do it at home as and when i want. They still won't hang up and haggle on and on.

They always call after 6pm. I wonder why - are we more vulnerable then?

maybe they busy working leh

anyways this has all been discussed before, with various companies named - i had the misfortune of witnessing the proceedings of something like this before, basically they will be all smiles when you go in, take photo etc all very patient and friendly.. then when it comes to selling you their package if you say no then they will take off the mask and become monsters.

is it wrong? i can possibly understand that they have wasted a lot of their precious time in doing all these, if there is no monetary benefit at the end of the day. but personally i did get to see the process, and the equipment/photographers used for one particular company.. it really stinks to high heavens - i do have a feeling that the photographers being employed are also being exploited. the ones i saw were young, young people, doubt they have much experience.

but at the end of the day it is in some ways, a legitimate business, they just have their way of doing things, so long as nobody gets hurt or harmed or pressed unnecessarily into doing something they really don't want to (i.e. have a firm mind) and stay informed.. essentially i do not believe in badmouthing these people. everyone has their way of earning a living, and every line has something like this these days. to be fair, they do tell you what they will give you free and if you want more stuff then you have to pay etc upfront, that doesn't seem too sneaky for me. but the attitude when customers say no, is just unprofessional - i'm sure less people would complain about them if they were all smiles after the whole thing. maybe some customers end up giving in because in some sense, such behaviour can be perceived as a guilt trip.
 

Golden rule:

Anybody call you up and say you win "FREE" anything, is all bluff one.

Yes, this is a blanket assumption, but one that I will stubbornly adhere to.
 

The same is with certain yoga centres. Idiots who cannot comprehend simple English.
 

maybe they busy working leh

anyways this has all been discussed before, with various companies named - i had the misfortune of witnessing the proceedings of something like this before, basically they will be all smiles when you go in, take photo etc all very patient and friendly.. then when it comes to selling you their package if you say no then they will take off the mask and become monsters.

is it wrong?

yes, it is wrong. If the business is hiding behind false advertising, fine prints, etc... by giving a false impression, it is wrong. If it tries to be obscure about it's real objectives, it is wrong. If it is not wrong, CASE would not have so many complaints against time share companies.

if this is the US, they would have been sued many times over. In fact, someone over here should sue them. If a tape recording is done of all the conversations, I'm sure it can be proven that they had an intent to deceive.
 

thanks for the warning.....don't worry, I always heed warnings. I don't believe in free things, just wanted to know what the scam was.

Anyways, I was curious and went down to SNAPZ tonight and posed as a passer by. I walked into the store and pretended to be interested and enquired about their packages. To my surprise, they said they do not serve walk in customers, and that they are a private studio. They were quite adamant about not serving me. Very strange.... of course, that bit about the walk in is a joke, because when they called me, they don't know who I am, or what I do, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm a "phone" walk in. Wonder what they are up to ? why refuse to serve walk ins ? maybe these people are not even registered as a company ?

btw, any recommendations for a good legitimate photo studio with reasonable pricing ? do they give out the digital files or only the printed photos ? I would like to have the digital files.
interesting.. why don't they serve walk in customers.. the only point i can think of is to protect themselves against private investigators or :think: authorities? :dunno: not sure just hazarding a guess...

By serving only people they have contacted, they can control who comes to their shop. Anyway, few of my friends got the call and all of them went down to get their photos shot and took the free photo and left.. then pass the photo to me to touch up :complain: If you can resist hard sell, then just go for the experience and 1 free photo :D
 

just got a call from one of them (didn't catch the company name though). and when i told him i am not inte.rested, he still had the cheek to ask me "why not?". told him i am late for a meeting & have no time to explain to him why i am not interested.
 

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