Gap Studios
Reviews and Complaints

The photo session went great however the after session was not good.
I found it very overwhelming. I was very confused nothing was explained clearly. I was talked into something that I certainly cannot afford. I'm on a pension and my kids do not work. When he asked who worked we all said none of us and we were frowned upon but told that's not a problem. Finance was mentioned and I told him none of us could get finance. He then preceded to tell me that's ok they can still make a payment plan knowing full well that we cannot afford it.
In your email it said packages start at 1650. I certainly was not shown any package for that price. I was however shown packages over 3000 which only included 9 prints. Small in size. I was then told that my 650 left from the voucher came off that price which still left approx 2300.

When I asked about my free one I was frowned upon and made to feel inferior. My anxiety then kicked I and I felt worthless.
I found I was tricked into signing something that I did not want to sign. I only wanted my free one for the moment.
I came out of there with severe anxiety and feeling gutted that the weeks that I have to pay there will be not enough food on the table for my kids.
They were happy to take my child's life savings for the deposit which I found disgusting. I did not have any money at all and one of my kids spoke up and said they had money. I felt very pressured into this.
I would like my money returned and my 75.00 deposit and just get my free one which is what I wanted in the first place.

Re: $800 gift voucher. BEWARE PLEASE AVOID
Our experience with salesman David at the Brisbane studio was highly pressurised and he displayed an extreme unwillingness to listen to us and negotiate, and he ultimately pressured us into a purchase beyond our means.

I decided to direct my complaints to GAP management. I spoke with Catherine. I told her that we did not explicitly approach GAP with the specific intention of purchasing an expensive portrait package. We were competition winners in a certain frame of mind ready to have fun and be presented with our complimentary portrait print. We were extremely unprepared and had done no research on purchasing this type of product, nor the costs of such products. David immediately treated us as if we were explicit customers ready to buy such an expensive product. We were given a completely unreasonable amount of time to consider a purchase. I told her that this was approaching an unsolicited agreement which under current Australian law you are given a 10 working day cooling off period due to the highly pressurised nature of the sale, and that this purchase should be given the same cooling off period. Catherine offered me 15% off the total and I told her that I thought that was insufficient. She then offered me 5 additional digital prints instead. I told her that I thought this was insufficient. This complaint was then directed to Leyla, the new General Manager.

I told Leyla the same information and complaints. Leyla then told me that she was aware of David's sales approach and that she believed that it had severely deteriorated. She had asked him to record one of his sales meetings with a family and listen back to it objectively, which he did, and he admitted to her that it did come across incredibly oppressive and highly pressurised. He said that he would ammend his approach considerably, but, she admitted that no change had occurred. She then informed me that the GAP Director and her would have a meeting with him to discuss his approach. She assured me that they would be asking him to take extended leave to ponder his position. She admitted to me that we received an appalling experience with David and that was not the experience that any GAP customer should have. I told her that we had won a competition that included a highly satisfying studio experience and a complimentary print of our choice. I said that we never received either of those, were not even offered the complimentary print, and indeed were not even treated like prize winners at all. Then, when we were immediately treated as full paying customers by David, we were treated appallingly with an array of very questionable sales approaches.

I asked, based on our negative experience as competition winners, for a complete refund on the total. Lelya instead offered us 20% off the invoice total and five additional digital prints. I told her that I had already been offered this over a week ago by a manager that you admitted was not equipped to handle this type of complaint, and said it was not sufficient. I asked her why would I continue to try and seek a fair resolve with upper management and then over a week later accept the same compensation from a week ago? I said that I believe a full refund is sufficient in the light of our full experience as prize winners. I told her that the email we received from GAP upon winning the competition explicitly stated: "We are here to ensure you receive the best level of customer service and enjoy your experience to the fullest." I told her that management did not ensure that we would receive the best level of customer service or ensure that we would enjoy our experience to the fullest as management was fully aware of the sales approach of David and had not remedied it before our experience with them. She said that she cannot offer more than 20% compensation. I asked her why she "cannot" as opposed to "will not" offer a full refund but received no answer.

I, and my wife, have received no further responses from Leyla after sending her multiple messages.

Got sucked in with an ad promoting self-esteem in teen girls, a project called "Who I Am". It sounded very positive so I thought I would book it for my daughter. For all participants, there was a free print and photoshoot - seemingly a good deal, right? Wrong.
The studio is a long way from our home, so the drive was not that easy. On arrival, we were greeted and offered juice or water. We waited a bit and were invited into the studio. The photographer was ok but seemed a bit lost at times and some of the poses she wanted my daughter to take I wasn't happy with. I wanted the shoot to be fun and spontaneous but it seemed rehearsed and cliched as the woman probably puts all the clients in the same poses.
After the shoot we had to wait a bit more for the preview with the sales lady - the part this business clearly relies on to get the big bucks out of people... I liked the photos, but was shocked by the exorbitant prices they were expecting for even a basic 6-photo package. I didn't want to leave empty-handed so spent way more than I had set out to. My daughter, whose self-esteem was actually at the centre of their project, was very upset that I was agreeing to pay that much money.
But an even bigger shock was still to come, when, a few months later I received the digital files. I am a graphic artist with access to digital imaging and editing tools. This so-called 'high-end photo business' has failed to do basic editing of my daughter's images, leaving 2 skin blemishes in half the photos! This is after they have charged me over a thousand dollars for 9 images!
I emailed them, sending a composite of all the unedited bits, thinking they would be apologetic and offering compensation. What a joke! I got a reply, saying 'thanks for your email, we will work these photos'... WOW.
I wouldn't dare send unedited images to any client. I wouldn't dare call my business 'high-end' if I lacked basic editing skills and customer skills.

The date of the incident 20th august 2020, it is a massive rip off it is very expensive they said it's free, but then it was $2000, they also don't even tell the full information they tell everything after and its get so overwhelming. I was asking them to give me time to talk to my husband so I could decide on what to do, but after all, they threatened me by saying choose now, or I will delete all the pictures. I was so confused and trapped, they also made me sign an agreement if I was happy or not, but I wasn't willing to sign, but they made me do it always. I am paying it off all in instalments, and they said I wouldn't receive my delivery until I have paid everything off, such a rude behaviour everything was a rush my mind was all over the place, I couldn't even say no or yes as they didn't listen or also let me think. I dont recomend to get anything from there. It is and was terrible service.

I went for a photo shoot on the 13th September 2019... it was an amazing session and the photographer was exceptional!
When viewing the photos I did feel very pressured to purchase with comments like "can't you afford even... $$$" obviously the young man didn't understand that having a home loan, owning a car and having 3 children under 3 can be expensive ... as well as other bills. But regardless I managed to move my book work around so that I could find the money to have my first lot of professional photos of my boys!

When I spoke to everyone from day dot I was told 4-6 weeks to receive photos. I asked if I would be able to receive the digital prints as soon as they were done and was on the day of the session told that as I was paying for the product and they were my photos anything was possible and they would make it happen.
2 weeks later I call back, surely I should be receiving my digital prints soon... some other places take a week ... I was then informed that no that is not how it works and I would have to wait the 4-6 weeks to receive the photos all together.

It is almost 5 weeks from photo session date. I emailed the company asking for a rough delivery date so I could ensure I was home as I was excited to be receiving my pictures soon. I received a phone call not long after in regards to my email... I was told that my pictures are with the framing production team and I wouldn't be receiving them for another couple of weeks... when I said "hang on I was informed from the very beginning that it was a 4-6 week waiting period" the young girl informed me that no I had it wrong it's a 6-8week period.

I have had nothing but inconsistent messages. Have not seen one picture and yet have paid out ridiculous amounts of money for these photos.

I hope to see something in the next week!

Your location

Called within less than 24 hours to cancel the package I had ordered as it was $1300 for 10 prints. More than a wedding package. Was told that it cant be cancelled as its already been sent to production despite the fact I won't receive it for 6-8 weeks. There is no way less than 24 hours they would have already sent to production. I feel I signed an illegal contract due to being coerced through emotional manipulation. The Who I Am project seems like a scam. It pulls on the emotional heart strings, then they hit you with the price packages in front of your pre teen who you are trying to build confidence in. You say no to the packages & it looks like you're saying to your child 'you're not important enough'. Defeats the purpose of the whole hour spent previously building up their confidence during the shoot. So of course under that pressure, you sign away. Get a spare moment away from your child within less than 24hours of signing only to be told no you can't cancel.

My daughter had her photos taken 25/4/19 for the dance exhibition. We were very pleased with the work Jacinta did with all the photos. She made us feel very relaxed and she was very professional.

However, when the time came to view the photos I felt very pressured to purchase a pack for her portfolio. There was no mention of the exhibition until I asked about it.

When I originally booked I was advised it was a $75 deposit, which would be refunded if I didn't purchase anything. I was told we would be able to view the photos, choose 5-10 and then the final decision for the exhibition would be decided by the company. There was no mention that we had to purchase something or there would be a discussion about purchasing. If I had been told this originally I wouldn't have gone through with the photoshoot. When reading through your paperwork it states ‘you'd be given the opportunity' not ‘you'd be pressured to'.

I ended up trying to go as cheap as possible, which still cost me over $1000! Whilst the photos were lovely I do feel ripped off and put under pressure to purchase.

The whole reason for my daughter to do this was for her to feature in an exhibition NOT for me to spend over $1000! I'm a single parent that's a lot of money for me to spend on photos! As I said previously the exhibition wasn't even mentioned until I asked about it.

Again, Jacinta was fantastic! But as a result of feeling pressured into purchasing I feel quite let down and sick to the stomach by the experience. I should have been stronger and just walked out.

I have emailed and will hopefully get a response.

I got a $800 voucher from Mazda dealership for a photo session in GAP studio when I bought my car. We went there for the photo session and it was fine and I booked another day for selection and the marking person was telling all his fake story to entertain and shown us the photographs and forced us to select liked ones, and ended up in 3 photos and one frame of cost 2495. They didn't give a hint about this ridiculous over price upfront. We asked for the photo which comes in the voucher and he said that you are asking for a lollipop when the full meal is ready and pushed us to buy 2000 product. and even paid 50 % of it. But after realizing the fact that I paid 2000 for such a small photograph and went there on next day to cancel the order they treated me in a different way and they didn't even gave 2 min to talk, and they said that it is not possible to cancel the order. I called my dealership to tell the story and asked them to stop this crap. I was reading the reviews everywhere and realized that there are many trapped in this scam place. I should have read the reviews before :(...

My wife and I ended up having a bitter experience at the Gap Studio (on 9 January 2019), instead of a pleasant one. We received a "$800 gift voucher"and decided to experience something different - to have our family picture taken by professionals in Australia.
Our initial experience was nice; the photographer was great and helpful! Next, we were taken to the projection room. The sales person guided us through those captured moments, helping us to choose the "best" images, while soft music playing in the background. My wife and our pre-teen daughter "really" wanted to have some of those beautiful images! Then it came as an awful shock that a set of five framed pictures would cost about $5, 700!
I would say it was an emotional blackmail. Few persons would have the ability to back away from that situation, especially in front of family members who wanted to cherish those captured moments!
When I think about the experience, it seems strange that there was no fixed rule for pricing. Initially, we were told that the studio would not provide us any soft copies other than those that we ordered as framed image. However, after we decided to order three framed images (emotional decision), they agreed to supply us four other soft copies $100 each (my pre-teen daughter liked those)! It was also disturbing that there was very little opportunity to think rationally (or compare price with other studios) as they "cannot hold the soft copies unless ordered" and you had to decide immediately!
I have since written to the company who gave us the voucher to let them know that we ended up with bitter, emotionally exhaustive experience. Just wondering how this $800 voucher scheme is going on for so long despite so many people posting similar experiences in the forums!
Gap Studio should have an itemized price list - the sales person was dodgy and did not provide us all the price options beforehand. We had to always ask for more information to make a decision! We would have been happy to get just a good family portrait; instead, we ended up spending more due to the tricky situation.
I really wish that I did a little research and saw those similar, negative comments before booking our photo session at the GAP photo studio.

Beware at all costs! Do not visit this studio if you are presented with a gift voucher!

I too am subject to this $800 gift voucher scam that Gap Studios is essentially running. After purchasing a car from Kia we were sent a Gap Studios gift voucher to the value of $800. On booking my session I enquired whether the amount ($800) would cover the photo session and actually include an image. I was told this was the case. A couple of days before the shoot I was rung by Larissa to confirm mine and my families attendance. I asked again whether the $800 voucher would cover an image. I was assured yes it was included.

Once we got to the studio we spent an hour with the photographer and then proceeded into another room with a designer to see the images. To my surprise when I asked for the price I was told a set of 3 images framed (44x16inch) would be $3000 AUD! This is outrageous. My mother who is in her late 60's and I were essentially conned into paying $3085 for 3 images in one frame plus 5 digital copies of photos from the day.

We were told we would loose the images captured if we didn't decide then and there and we felt extremely pressured. The way they rope you in is with the voucher and no mention of these ridiculous prices are mentioned via telephone or on their website purposely.

Instead of a wonderful memory that these images should have provided every time I look at them I am reminded how I was victim to a scam.

After seeing these complaints I was reluctant to attend my session, but as I'd already gone to the effort of booking it I decided to go and make my own mind up. I am honestly so glad I did because the ladies who run the place are so welcoming and friendly, made me feel instantly relaxed about the experience. They offered me coffee while I waited and photographer Shelley was so professional and lovely. Afterwards, we went to see a selection of our photos and the man David who looked after us was amazing. We loved them all but could only afford a few so we chose a set of 5 which showed us and our son. We have had many photoshoots before and I can honestly say gap studios are the best, captured us beautifully and we will be back!

We did not get a chance to read Terms and Conditions as everything was in rush on that day. They told us there is NO cooling period. We are not buying $100-200 toys.

Very hard to make contact. Leave many messages on voice mail or with their receptionist . But the Business Manager, [removed], will never call back during the day. She is only available just before 7pm, then not contactable anymore.

We don't want the pictures and will cancel our credit card. You can keep our pictures.

If you read this, please call us (my number and my partner number are in your system).

We have seek advise from Fair Trading and report this issue.

On Saturday the 14th of April 2018 we visited Gap Studio in Bella Vista to redeem our $850.00 gift voucher.
The waiting room was filthy, the white couches weren't white anymore. They were dark grey and sticky.
The curtain dividing the waiting area from another room was filthy as well. The whole room was depressing, shabby and grim.
First impression - horrible.
If it wasn't for the fact that we wanted to use our gift voucher we would have left at that point in time.

Then we proceeded to the studio as such.
Here the change room was dirty, smelly and run down.
The floor, walls, everything in the room were photos were taken was grubby and disgusting.
Yet we were asked to take our shoes off and walk barefooted, like hippies…
The plastic stool given to us for supporting our foot while photographed was awful to look at. Then the photo session got underway.

We were asked to sit on this filthy floor, use that filthy stool and sing a song.
All we ever wanted was a picture of our family of three plus a dog.
But it didn't work that way. We were submitted to over one hour of torture.
We were to pose this way and that way, we were to say some clichéd things about each other, we were supposed to smile even though I prefer to be photographed with my usual expression which is quite reserved and serious.

After the session we were taken to another room.
This one looked slightly better as that's where the big money was to exchange hands.
We were shown a selection of our pictures, we were to select the ones we liked best.
Once it had been achieved the pricing was revealed to us.
It was outrageous, $490.00 for a single picture, and we weren't given any options really.
We could get either 6 or 8 or ten photos as a package, nothing in between.
The ten-photo package in a very tacky box, the item that I would never let inside my house, was $4, 00.00 plus the voucher, so just under $5, 00.00 in total.

We wanted to buy soft copies only, but we couldn't.
After over one hour of increasingly unpleasant conversation we left without buying anything.
We are to receive, sometime in the future, the only photo that was paid for with our $850.00 gift voucher.

This whole experience was just a nightmare.
We have wasted most of our Saturday, we had to put everything we were wearing at that time straight into the washing machine, we had to have an immediate shower.
We were left stressed and disguised by the whole process.

On the 19th of August, my family and I decided to go to GAP Studios and have some professional pictures taken. We had bought a car from Tynan Honda in Sutherland and received an $800 gift voucher. We all thought that this was a bargain and we more than willing to go.
However, after paying the deposit ($75), the shoot ($150) and the Voucher ($800) we were still slugged with a whopping $3256 for a 20x40" panoramic platinum small family collection.
Yet, my complaint isn't in regards to the excessive pricing, but rather the emotional blackmail that accompanied all the smiles and handshakes. We spent half our Saturday there in the studio with the family of four and felt obliged to pay up and not leave without rewarding them somehow for all their troubles.
When I asked about the price beforehand they gave a vague sum and assured us that all the prices could be found on the GAP Studios website and would be e-mailed to me. No pricing information was found on either the website nor the internet and the e-mail stated that a single photo would be $654 and a collection would be $1645. Yet we paid much more than that. I feel ripped off by the studio as I was not previously informed of their well above average prices and I want this fact to be highlighted to everyone else so that they too will not undergo that same kind of distress as I have. These types of businesses must be more transparent in regards to their pricing to their customers.
I am highly disappointed and would not wish my own misfortunes on anyone else.

wow after reading through the comments I'm happy to say we had a great time at Gap Studios. We went to bella vista, the girl who booked us over the phone sent me an email with all of the information and booked a good time for my 2 young kids. They had a great time too when we got there our photographer sam was really laid back and the kids got along with him really well. When we sat down and looked at the photos the girl showing us them made some suggestions on what to do with them in our house & let us know our options. We're both working parents and it was just a really nice day together. I can't wait to pick up the frames!