Lifetouch
Reviews and Complaints

i spent way to much money to order my daughter school pictures, they came back and she was giving a dirty look. so they said they would retake them. waited another month and they were even worse then before, when i called to complain they told my that it was the teachers job to pose the child not the photographers job! really the teacher is paid to teach my child and the photographer is paid to take good pictures! what kind of business do you own? thought with those prices you were professional, guess not! learned my leasson will never use you guys again and i hope others don't as well, watch your pockets for the rip off!

Lifetouch was hired by my daughter's middle school to do the graduation photos. First, they sent home a flyer with package costs and date of the shoot. On the day the shoot was supposed to occur, my daughter brought home another flyer. I asked what happened and she told me the photographer refused to come because she wanted payment before doing the shoot. I should have known from that moment I was being set up. Ignoring my gut, I went ahead and selected a minimum package so that I could at least have something for this important milestone. A few eeks later, my daughter brought home her pictures, disappointed and sour about how they looked. Upon opening the envelope, I could understand her grief. The cap was smashed on her head, her hair hung partially over her face and the gown was 3 or 4 sizes too large. I Asked why she put her hair in her face and she told me she didn't, it happened when the photographer put the cap on and when she tried to move it back, the photographer snapped at her telling my daughter, "It looks fine. I ain't got time for this." I understand that these photographers are asked to work miracles getting a large number students photographed in a limited amount of time, however I also understand there is a thing called professionalism. You may not have time, but you don't say that or talk to anyone in such a way, especially when you are hired to PERFORM A SERVICE. I know working with people can be difficult and I can't even imagine how much stress one must go through to get a group of teenagers to cooperate and be quick about it. I attempted to contact the company for a refund because I felt I was taken advantage of in that the photographer could do whatever she pleased, as the money was already paid. Hindsight, I would have paid by credit card and filed my complaint through them to get the refund. Lifetouch replied to my complaint with an email stating a company representative would contact me. That was 3 weeks ago and I still have not heard anything. My advice to anyone who is forced to use Lifetouch for school portraits - if they ask for the money up front, pass and get the pictures elsewhere or pay by credit card so you have a course of action should things go awry. I will no longer deal with Lifetouch or Olan Mills, pay afterwards or not. I will also be filing a complaint with the school so future graduating classes will not have the experience I have had. Thanks!

The latest marketing tactic from Lifetouch Photography crosses the line. This year our school was told there would be no proofs for our spring pictures. Our school did not notify parents. I did not select a pose for my children when the Lifetouch order form came home as I do not purchase spring pictures--only the fall pictures. My children came home one day with full packets of pictures, and a hard-to-see note that unwanted pictures were to be returned. All others could be purchased online. This is sleazy marketing, using my kids to accept pictures I didn't order. I was put in the position of: 1) paying anyway ($90 for 2 kids), 2) taking away the pictures my children were drooling over and sending them back as "unwanted, " or 3) looking further and realizing I was under no obligation to purchase or send back these unsolicited photos of my children. I am going with option 3 and keeping the photos. I have registered a complaint with our school as well as here. This marketing tactic must not be allowed in our schools. It's wrong and I won't participate in it.

We had our portraits done at Lifetouch because they were at our church doing the directory.
The session was fine & some of the pictures were ok, but we ordered a picture trio for $115 framed. It looked in the sample they had like the product would have a matte & be framed. Instead there is one piece of cardboard with our photos & not a real matte, just like a printed on one. It is so cheap & not at all what was represented.
The frame is worse than one could buy at Wal Mart for $5.
Buyer beware!
This company is a rip off.

I have had the worst experiences with Lifetouch in Victoria. My first set of graduations photos were terrible and when I scheduled re-take photos at their studio they called me two hours before my appointment to inform me that they didn't have the robe or collars there that day! Pretty hard to take a Grad photo without those don't you think? I had my Mom in from out of town and I live a good hour and a half away from the studio, to cancel on me with such short notice ruined my whole day and Mom's trip. I booked with another company and will never recommend or use Lifetouch myself again.

Here is the sequence of steps taken by the Lifetouch photographer on April 30th when he did my pictures at church here in Knoxville. He took several pictures of me against the blue background, each time snapping the picture too soon (not allowing me time to smile, so each picture looked more like a grimace than a smile). When he saw that I was dissatisfied with the pictures, he said “oh, well we’ll take a few more” and changed the picture background to a black one. One of the black background pictures came out nicely and I indicated my approval of that picture. He then said that the black background pictures cannot be used for the book and that I need to choose one of the blue background poses for my complimentary 8x10 and for the book. I said I did not want one of the those pictures and declined using one of them for the book . He said that the only way I could have the black background picture used in the book is to purchase 25 wallet size of that pose for $38. By then, his attitude was very impatient and, in looking back on it, I think he was being passively aggressive – as he was smug and uncooperative. Because I liked the black background pose and did want a picture in the church book, I wrote him a check for the $38. which he immediately cashed electronically. He then said he “needed” to enter a choice in the computer for a complimentary 8x10 of one of the other (ugly) blue background poses and he very quickly and arbitrarily clicked on #1. At that point, I was disgusted and realized that the pose he had clicked on would most likely be the default pose that the computer program would put in the book. For that reason, I refused to sign the release. A week or so later, I called Lifetouch's customer service department and talked with a woman named Janet who didn’t seem surprised at what I told her; she did find that the pose the photographer had selected was indeed the one that the computer would use in the book. So he had used the other poses only with the intention of forcing me to make a purchase. Janet then mailed me a receipt for my payment (which the photographer had not given to me the day he took my check). About two weeks later, the mailman brought me an envelope containing not 25, but 9 wallet size pictures ... of the correct pose (thankfully), but not the 25 wallet size pictures that the photographer had said I would get. At this point, I am hoping that Lifetouch puts the correct picture of me in the book. I feel very dissatisfied at paying $38. and receiving only nine wallet-size pictures. I was lied to by the photographer who, clearly, only wanted to sell pictures and cared not at all about the outcome of the transaction. I would never again do business with this company.

Lifetouch service to receive photo’s are horrible. I was unable to order my daughter’s fall school pictures online because I didn’t have a picture/portrait ID#, or access code, but can order a CD from them. I ordered the picture CD in November and was supposed to receive it within 6 weeks…..never had received it. I called them and they claimed they sent it but they mailed it out again….only for me to wait another 6 weeks for it, I finally received it in March. Then for the spring photo’s, I ordered them in the beginning of March….I never received them. I called up a representative (who was very rude) and they said I should have received it by March 23rd, so then they are resending them again. I am not longer ordering my daughter's school pictures from Lifetouch – three times they screw up the orders this school year is not worth the time waiting and money, there are far better PROFESSIONAL better photography services out there for less time and money.

I completely respect every one of your opinions, but I have one of my own. I want to say that I got my pictures taken at Lifetouch in June of last year (2010) and I thought they turned out amazing! Sure, they're a little pricey, as is any senior portrait place. But just like anything else, you get back what you put into it. So if you wanna go pay $20 for the whole set of pictures, I'm sure they'll never be close to as good as if you "splurged" a little to make them worthwhile. And come on, give these people a break. You're never gonna find a company in the world that is perfect. I promise. So just relax a little. You only live life once...why spend it entirely critiquing everyone's mistakes?

In September my child had a picture day scheduled. I selected a picture package and paid in advance by credit card, which they practially FORCE you to do if you want the pictures at all. My daughter was sick on picture day, so I thought she would have per picture taken on the make-up day. She was sick on the make-up day also, so I contacted Lifetouch to ask for a refund, as my credit card had been charge $49. I have been waiting for a response since October 2010 and it is now January 2011. They are very responsive when you are ordering, but when you are due a legitimate refund, they do not respond.

Our Church had contracted with this company (vendor), and after high pressure sales pitches to buy additional photographs/frames, etc. we decided a caouple of days later to cancel the order and only accepting the Free Photo, which will also appear in the Directory. We paid them $90.90 on October 23, 2010, still waiting for the total refund. Two weeks later, no refund has arrived at our bank credit card. We have been told that they have initiated a credit, and it's up to our bank to0 credit our account. In the meantime, I also filed a dispute with the credit company. I also feel that their prices are out of line with other studios. Learned our lesson, never to deal with this company again.

After dealing with Lifetouch for 10 years, I have come to the following conclusions. This company is completely sexist and the worst managed corperation I have every known. I understand teh companies are in business to make money, but this company is doing its best to destroy itself. They constantly hire and promote men over women, no matter how much more qualified the woman is. I watched two male regional managers get complaints about sexual harassment and nothing ever happens to them and the employeea soon disappear. They can do that because the poor pay, lack of training and absolutely no support of their employees. Local management is a joke, because they never hold the managers to any quotas or standards. They just lay off employees when revenue is low. They could correct the management issues and save enough money to keep the staff with pay raises, but choose to overlook any management issues. The sales person, who is a well endowed looker, has never improved sales, but has constantly lost accounts, but has never been displined or, much less fired. However, when she threatened to quit, she was allowed to start working from home and still lost accounts. Simple scheduling is so poor, the loss of money for it alone could make the office profit! This company disgust me and look forward to it failing in the near future. I have never seen a company continue to operate very long with this kind of pathetic operations.

Back on September 3rd 2009. My daugher had her school pictures taken. She turned in the payment and proceeded with her pictures. The school gets the pictures back and my daughters pictures were not there. I spoke with her school and come to find out about 50% of the pictures never showed up. So I look on line and they never cashed the check and I have tried to get help with there customer service department with no luck. I have paid for her school pictures since she was in Kindergarden and sh is now in 10th grade and this is the first year I will not have school pictures.

Lifetouch - www.lifetouch.com

In early September I purchased school portraits for my son. The photographer screwed up and mixed up some orders. My son was to have a grey background (he picked out a dark green shirt). What arrived had a dark blue background which made th picture way too dark. I followed th instructions on how to return it-to the local Lifetouch Office. I sent it on 9-17. On 9-24, they charged my credit card the $36 for the portraits. I called the local office and wanted to know what was going on. She said my refund would be coming "any day now". I'm still waiting. Emails to the company have fell on deaf ears. They have no customer service whatsoever. I want my refund. I will be filing a dispute with the credit card company.