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Re: Wal-Mart Hurst Store Manager, Picture Me Studio Corporate Manager & Picture Me Experience Customer Service:
Due to the my recent experience, I am highly upset and agitated in regards to the treatment I received from your representative at the Picture Me Studio located in the Wal-Mart Super center store number #5080. The behavior of the Picture Me representative, Mary, was shocking, ludicrous, incomprehensible and absolutely unacceptable. On this occasion an acceptable standard has clearly not be met. I have detailed the chain of events of this terrible experience below and expect nothing short of:
- A full and formal apology from Mary and Picture Me Portrait Studio
- A full refund of all monies paid to Picture Me Studio for the photo’s of my children
-A formal apology form Wal-mart
- An explanation of how an employee such as Mary could be allowed to interface with customers in this manner
I attempted to resolve this dilemma by contacting the corporate customer service; however I am still offended by the actions of your employee. I will be reporting this experience to the Better Business Bureau, Wal-Mart’s Regional & Corporate Offices and will seek to pursue legal action as necessary. At 11:20am on October 2, 2007, I arrived at Wal-Mart on Precinct Line Road in Hurst, Texas to pick up my photo package. I patiently waited for a couple of minutes because Mary was conducting a photo session with another patron.
Once their photo shoot was finished she completed the transaction with that patron. At that time, another man and I were still in the studio. I handed my receipt to Mary. She located my pictures and pulled up the order on the computer. She did not tell me that there was a difference in the totals on her screen verses my receipt before; I gave her my credit card. The representative just swipes my card and proceeded to speak to the male patron in the studio. When the representative handed me the credit card receipt to sign, I told her this is not my ticket because the total was different. The representative said that is my total according to her screen and that my receipt is wrong. I stated that is not the case. At that point in time, I asked for a refund. Mary stated she does not give refunds in her studio and I would have to call the customer service number on my receipt for the refund. She stated what is on her computer is my total and I would have to pay for the product received.
Mary left the counter to assist the same male patron that was standing at the counter. At that time, I called the customer service number on the receipt. I was explaining the scenario to the first customer service representative on the phone. Mary is assisting the male patron. She then, starts making rude comments about the conversation I am having on my cell phone to the customer service lady. I told her I am on the phone and that she needs to stop talking to me. She starts yelling and acting belligerent. The customer service representative asked to speak to her. I advised her I was on my cell and that she had to contact her on the business phone. The representative puts me on hold twice and attempts to call the store. When she comes back on the line, she informs me that the line is busy and asked what is the representative doing? I said she is just standing there. Then, Mary starts yelling that she is working and that I am being rude in front of other patrons. I told her to talk to the other patrons because I am on the phone and I am not speaking to her. At that time Mary completes the transaction with the male patron in the studio and he leaves. Then she directs all of her negative energy toward me. I am still on my cell speaking with the first customer service representative. The customer service representative puts me on hold again to attempt a phone call to the studio and I am disconnected from the line.
When the line was disconnected, I called the customer service line right back and was connected to Fran. I explained my situation to Fran. Fran was asking me a series of questions and whenever I commented, Mary would comment in the background as well. I tried to continue to focus on my conversation with Fran however Mary kept interjecting rude comments in the background. I am astonished because this situation is escalating over a .77 cents refund.
Fran asked to speak to Mary and I informed her that she would have to call her on the store phone. Fran puts me on hold and calls the store. While Fran is speaking with Mary, they are going over something on her computer screen. When Fran comes back on my line, she says the representative will give me a refund of $1.37. Mary states she is not going to give me a refund that Fran would have to complete that transaction. Fran puts me on hold and calls Mary back. When Fran comes back on my line, I noticed that I did not receive all of the portraits in my package. Fran asked if I could fax my receipt to her and she proceeds to give me the number. As I am writing down the fax number, Mary starts writing the number to Amy’s store on my receipt that is sitting on top of my portraits. I asked her why is she writing on my receipt. Mary starts yelling that she is trying to be nice to me. I told Mary again I was on the phone and not to speak to me. Mary becomes theatrical and starts yelling for me to get out of her studio. I asked Fran is she hears all of this because this girl is going crazy. I continued to converse with Fran on the phone to resolve this matter. Mary threatens to get security if I do not leave her studio. I am still in the studio on the phone with Fran and Mary leaves to go get security. There was no reason for Mary to get security involved in this matter since, the corporate office was attending to the issue.
When the security personnel arrived, I was still standing at the counter on the phone with Fran. Mary came back in the studio, snatched my portraits, and stated I could not take the portraits because I have not paid for them. I reminded her that she had already swiped my card. I asked Fran if she could hear all of the commotion going on because Mary was acting psychotic. Mary then started running around the studio and yelling that I had not paid for the portraits. I advised Mary that she had five seconds to hand my portraits back to me. At this point, Fran said she would send me the two pictures I was missing, a $5.00 refund check. I starting looking in the portrait package for the receipts. I put a big X on the receipt and walked out.
I can not believe a simple task; such as, picking up my portrait package escalated to this extreme ordeal. This simple task which should have only taken a couple of minutes, instead it lasted almost an hour. Mary’s dramatic actions could have landed her an Oscar if she worked in Hollywood; however, she is employed at Wal-Mart Picture Me Studio. No one should have to tolerate Mary’s irate behavior. This is not the way you are suppose to treat your customers. What happened to good old- fashioned “CUSTOMER SERVICE”? I believe Picture Me Studio owes me a formal apology for this incident. Actually after all I had encountered in the studio, I should receive a full refund for my entire purchase!
I have been a patron of Wal-Mart picture studio for the past 11 year to take portraits of my children. I have previously used this particular studio twice in the pass. After the nightmare I experienced, I will never take pictures at this location or any Wal-Mart studios again. This was a very demeaning and embarrassing experience. Never in my life have I been treated in such a manner. I will become an advocate by encouraging others not to use your studios.
Regretfully a very dissatisfied customer.
You're a loser to even react about 77 cents! You're the exact reason I could never work in the service industry! You're obviously bored with your life to have time for all of this, so I suggest you find a hobby! ...and do Mary and PictureMe studio a favor and find another photographer!
I agreeee 100% with all the bad stuff said about the walmart studios, some of the people just dont deserve to be in a job like that! I got 1st birthday pics done with only a number one that was backwards in the pic and with tears, and the lady was showing frustration towards him which I did not appreciate AT ALL! She was a ###, then when I went to pick up the pics she was there again and she didn't even show me the pictures like they normally do, she handed them to me and didn't say a word. Stupid ### i wanted to punch her in her face!
Picture me studios and sears are the same company, trained the same and have the same standards to uphold.Sears bought out p.c.a. 3 years ago so its sears you are ultimatly dealing with
As a studio manager of a studio in one of the highest ranking districts in customer service for Picture Me Studios, I will make this simple:
Your experience was terrible. Regardless of any provoking from either side, Mary knows and is trained from day one to be a professional in ALL SITUATIONS. You do deserve an apology and if no one else then I APOLOGIZE. Each penny brought in is as important to us as it is to you when spending it. Therefore in the long run a .77 cent refund should have been nothing, over the loss of a loyal customer!
I have had customers call my studio asking for a "head-honcho's" number because the other studio wouldn't give it. Policy restricts us from any number other than the 800, but if I can take the time to listen, empathize, then reassure with the experience EVERY CUSTOMER DESERVES by offering compensation in my studio, and a customer go from blind anger to being peacefully re-assured - than we all can! I am ashamed to hear of such experiences. I can only hope that our 9 and 11 year patrons can find it within them to go to another Picture Me and share your experience and find out what true customer SERVICE can be. I also challenge all studios to back up your company on this promise! If you are in a situation that makes you feel like you aren't getting paid enough to take me up on this and go the extra mile, then bail out now and save yourself and all of us the trouble because you are going nowhere and THIS is the only way to climb E-F-F-O-R-T!
On behalf of all the hard working associates, who strive to go that extra mile for their customers, KUDOS!
And for all of those who have experienced the worst with an irate customer and maintained a guiding heart & professional attitude my heart and strength go out to you! You make this company and it loyal customers, KEEP YOUR CHIN UP AND THE AWESOME WORK!
And for the associates, who make it harder on the rest of us, keep sending your customers away! They'll end up in our studio some from STATES away! And we will gladly take them in. Then you'll have to question those customer service skills when sales goals aren't met and your studio looks like a ghost town.
And finally to our loyal customers who know who to call, you are the light in our life and the blood of our company. We thank you for choosing us over the competition and for coming back!
With hope for a better future,
Employee with a soul and common sense.
I think both of you were acting in a ridiculous manner. Instead of walking away from the studio and calling customer service, you stood there and continued to escalate the situation. She was also in the wrong by talking about your conversation to another patron. I worked at Wal-Mart Portrait studio for a year and a half. I loved my job, but it was by far, the most stressful job I've ever had. 90% of kids hate getting their picture taken by anyone other than the people they are familiar with, so as the portrait studio employees, we had to work VERY HARD to build their trust in us and make them do anything in our power to sit still, smile, and still manage to get that twinkle in their eye. And just when they started doing well, and we thought we had taken an amazing photo...the parent would complain about something stupid like "there is too much space between his pinkie finger and his other fingers." And this happens ALL DAY long, every day. Sometimes we get frazzled. We had people come in late to appointments, and then they get angry when a walk-in is taken instead. This job is extremely multi-tasking work, and some handle it better than others. We deal with at least 3 customers a week telling us they want a refund for their pictures, but it's funny how they don't want to return their pictures...or they bring them in to be returned and half are missing! I am not excusing the employee's behavior. But if you are going to stand directly in front of the employee and complain about her over the phone, you need to grow up.
I've been working for picture me studios for about 3 months almost four and I've seen my manager be rude, crule and very mean to costumers, no matter what we never yell back to a costumer no matter how loud they get and also customers stop complaining about the whole studio one person doesnt mean all, if for eleven years you had good customer service, and one bad one doesnt mean all studios are bad? I'm great at my job, I'm friendly and i love kids and photography I've been doing it since I was 15. And I understand about getting bad service from one employee but if I love that place I never use the same person or I go to a different place, I dont judge the company as a whole, even mean, rude, cruel people with bad attitue get jobs in places we love and there is nothing we can do about it but to go to another location. Also the employee of this place was wrong in not giving you your .77 cents back no matter if it's a penny it's still yours. she would have not lost much is not like you asked for the whole thing back and or still wanted to keep your pictures. Ive had one complaint against me and yes that was my bad i accidently over charged m costumer and yes i was willing to give him his three dollars back even out of my pocket, I apologized to him but he never went back for him money but when and if i see him again I would deduct those three out of his total. simple as that. sincerely an employee of picture me portrait studios and a mother of four who also is a costumer of many place with bad service.
I can relate to each side here. I am a studio manager of a picture me studio. The training is laughable and much of the staff (in studio as well as market and district management) is unprofessional. The employees are pushed to take on far more responsibility than they will ever be compensated for and it is stressful. On the flip side...to have to call security over 77 cents! I mean, people don't go calling security for nothing. If they did, security would just stop coming I'm sure. It sounds to me like an ignorant employee dealing with an equally ignorant customer. Great entertainment for the rest of the store and security I'm sure.
I took my two sons, 3 and 4 years, to get their pictures done at Walmart because it was cheap... We "patiently" waited an hour and a half PAST my appointment time because the employees were too busy taking smoke breaks! ! My boys were getting upset and when they finally called our name we were told that they could take any pictures for us bc my 3 year old Autistic son was crying! She claimed that they could not take pictures of children crying... it was the "policy"! My child has Autism! That's what happens when you wait hours past your appointment because you would rather smoke! Of course he will be upset when you are screaming everything you say and throwing things around! I will NEVER go back there! They are NOT Autism friendly! It was the worst experience of my life!
I have to say that apparently this company needs to be put out of business. I took my seven year old to take pictures. Kati took all the pictures with a white and black background. I insisted that she use a different color because my son is dark and those colors do not look good. She insisted that there are no other back drops that she could use. To top it off, I was the one that was posing him cause she wanted to take all the pictures of him sitting down in the same position. I payed for the photos cause i needed some to send to family for easter. When I went in to look at the pictures it looked as if I took my digital camera and put him in front of a white sheet and took pictures. It has now been 2 1/2 weeks and I still have not recieved my number. Every time I call I get a different date as to when I should recieve it. Wal-mart should be ashamed to allow such poor customer service people rent a space. When they finish remodeling the store they need to remodel the picture me studio and find another company to rent the space
PICTURE ME and SEARS are the same company. Pay attention. WAL-MART is absolutely NOTHING to either company other than a landlord to one. Picture Me Studios has nothing to do with Wal-mart other than being LOCATED there.
About the only black and white backgrounds what would you have put him on a different background for each pose. What kind of collection can you put together with that. If you look on any other Portrait Studio website they put you on a black or white background. Why is that because this Studio is located in walmart you expect so much more for so much less. So pretty much it's only acceptable for other studios to use black or white backgrounds? Same with the wait time. If they were that busy why not ask how long your wait time was going to be. Everyone should know that when it comes to children a 1:30 appointment does not mean you start right at 1:30 any studio that does not work by appointment only cannot promise you that. They work on BABY TIME and any parent knows that with children anything can happen they spit up they get moody hungry ect... I also find it a little far fetched that employees would know you are waiting and go to take a smoke break.
People can be stupid all that over less than a dollar and you want a formal apology from Walmart. I guess we should ask your landlord or the bank that owns your home for a formal apology for your stupidity. Makes alot of sense huh. If you acted that way for $0.77 than you are probably one of the great people that go for that package that cost less than $10 but want $100 portraits. I understand you were over charged but you could have simply acted like an adult and asked her to compare your receipt to what she had on her screen. It was an easy fix and you were more than compensated for your pocket change and your missing pictures. Sounds like somebody wants something for nothing. And after all that still not able to admit that you were wrong and probably provoked Mary because you were upset and had to wait. Not to mention you were probably rude and interupted her while she was helping someone else.If your going to blog about a person and possibly effect their livelihood be honest and tell what you did and said also. By your own admission there were other people around and you told her not to talk to you which is rude in the first place sounds like if she had to get security she felt threatened and you should have been arrested or removed from the store for just being stupid or terroristic threatening. You cant really expect anyone to believe you were acting like a model citizen.
Took my kids to the studio in round rock texas and walked outed becasue the employee was dressed like a hooker drove all the way to hutto texas and gave up employee there looked as she just stepped out of a biker bar and was prould to show all her stuff if you know what i mean. Come to find out both were managers of studios. WTH. how can they let their managers dress that way
I am a former employee of the Picture Me Portrait Studio in Redmond Oregon. CPI Corporation is THE WORST company to work for. They over charge customers AND associates for the portraits and CD's. My District Manager had me shoot her family session, then had me burn her a disk FOR FREE, AND lied to Corporate about doing so. Wendy also had a family schedule an appointment in my studio, had ME shoot the session and GIVE them FREE pictures so that SHE could get a free tattoo. I didn't mind, of course, because I ALSO got a free tattoo. But then she let me take my scheduled "Paid Vacation", then fired me the minute I got back. But get this, I got fired for... Steeling! That's right...! I also paid the company $400 for the 2 disks that I burnt upon leaving. I PURCHASED a 16x20 for a friend that had come in for pictures, which was then sent back to the company. Where is the money I paid for that picture, you ask? THE COMPANY HAS IT! Oh yeah, that "PAID VACATION" I took in order to take my 9 year old son to see the family of his recently DECEASED Father... Was not paid at all. My "BOSS" led me to believe that all was fine and well. Told me to have a good visit on my way out. Did you know that it costs the MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY 25 cents to make those precious CD'S? They charged me $400 for TWO of them. But don't worry they only charge YOU $225 for one. WORTH IT RIGHT? I am further taking legal action into my own hands. CPI Corp. STOLE from me...! My DM lied to them about HER misconducts, but fired me over the same crap.
picture me is the absolute wworst company to work for. the associates have only email to comunicate with higher ups, and with their lab. the district managers do not answer their phones to employees anymore than to customers. we are thrown inot customer situations that we have no power to fix. we are only allowed to shoot set poses with no allowance for creativity because that is not included in the accepted required posing list. we are forced to shoot seven poses minimum even if the child (ren) won't tolerate that much and are written up if we don't. we are scheduled every half hour or even every 15 minutes when the full session takes on average 45 minutes to an hour for getting the poses, then enhancing every one, which is also required, and get written up if we sell too many 7.99 collections. we get written up if we have no sessions also. we are expected to be garbage people, cleaning people, and get paid next to nothng. 5 cents above minimum wage per hour. we are expected to not get lunches and breaks for 9 (14 hour shifts during the holidays) but get written up if we dont take those breaks even though we have appointments booked all day, but if we do take the breaks we get written up for not accepting every customer. in the last all associates meeting i attending before i quit, the regional director above the district manager stood in the meeting and told us that he wanted to get rid of the experienced employees because he makes more money off the newer lower paid employee and that means he gets more bonus. this is why staff turnover is so high. the company makes more money paying the new less trained staff than keeping the experienced people. i know that in some other areas of the country the regional policies may be different but in the northeast that is what we get. i don't agree with how mary handled her customer service issue, but i think the customer handled the situation just as poorly. the cpi company is the real culprit here for treating both employees and customers so poorly.
I agree with you 100%. Pictureme STINKS! From the 30 minute wait for the first appointment of the day scheduled for 10am, to the idiot taking the pictures, to the 40 minutes before I could preview my pictures, to the pictures finally coming back with crappy cropping taking 1/2 of my daughters head off (really? who the heck wants a picture of their kid with half a head- AND pay for it!, come on people get a clue), to now 1 month later I still do not have my pics! You can bet your [censor] I will be going into the office next week demanding my $9.99 for the portrait sheet I paid for ! I wish I would have read reviews before going to this dump, I will NEVER go back for another session.
And to all you idiots saying the customer is overreacting over .77 cents, shut the hell up! The lady obviously works hard to earn her money and probably even has some savings because she doesn't piss it away by letting unethical retailers overcharge her. So, get off your welfare or whatever state assistance you are on or learn to love your minimum wage job while you live in your trailer and stop trying to spend the real taxpayers in this countries money. Respect your money then maybe the government could spend it on people that dont get a chance to piss it away and actually do some good.
I had taken my 19 month old in to get her pictures taken today. We had an apointment at 1 p.m. I sat my daughter on the table and the picture lady put a feather duster in my childs face, which made her cry not smile. Then the lady told me she had another apointment waiting and for us to walk around Walmart and come back in 15 minutes, or until my child calmed down. We did, and when we came back she had me wait for 50 minutes with my child sitting on the table waiting for her. When she finally came to take the pictures I had no clue she was even taking the pictures when she was. Then she told me that normally you get seven pictures but my child is only going to get three because it was not her job to make a crying baby smile. I have NEVER been treated this way before. It was extremely unprofessional, and I will never be back.
I had an issue at Cambridge Picture Me as well. Elissa the "manager" was extremely unprofessional when I called about something I felt was just a misunderstanding. Unfortunately her attitude and flippant comments created hostility instead of resolving the issue. Apparently manager training for these studios is optional.
I think that everyone who is complaining about her making a big deal over .77 cents is missing the point, she was asking her about it and then Mary started acting all crazy. So of course if someone is going to get an attitude with me she has every right to be upset and expect an apology. I have worked in customer service all my life and have dealt with complete ### all the time but if ever over stepped my bounds I would be fired and a person I do not know is not worth my job. Mary should have sucked it up and dealt with it no matter the situation. She is lucky it wasn't me she was doing that too, I think the customer was being civil with her and if she was making rude comments to me she would've gotten way worse comments coming from my mouth. I have used Picture Me studios for 5 years now since my daughter was born and I always had good service except for my visit in which it was Easter and only one employee was working we had an appointment and waited over an hour to be seen and by then my baby whose 11 months old was not having it because it was her nap time. Then not only was the employee rushing us but so were the other customers waiting, and the kids that were waiting were running around the studio like cave children. The pictures that were taken were offset and the pictures she enhanced of my 11 month old were the ones of her crying and not the ones where she wasn't. We only got 2 shots of my 5 year old and more of the baby which upset me as well. I paid a lot of money for crap pictures basically. The employee basically said she didn't care because after work she was going to Sears to apply there to work. And in today's economy .77 frickin' cents is a bfd to me.
Wow, as someone who has worked for the company, I do feel most customers take out their frustration on the one person they actually see, but I would say about 80% of the time the problem occurs in the computer system OR at the lab (in another state remind you) even then, as a customer inconveniences are bothersome, but the lab intercepts thousands of portraits per day and its amazing what a great deal you receive. Btw, I got paid minimum wage, and am an awesome photographer. I agree the company has big issues to deal with, but not even a couple bucks? Thats petty. Good luck elsewhere, I doubt they want your business again anyway, and you'll pay a lot more through another company...and for that matter, they own sears portrait studio and kiddie kandids too.
i too had a horrible experience with walmart picture studios. I totally blame the girl working there. I've had pictures taken there many timems before and this girl i'd never seen was working that day. My son was 3 yrs old and i was having his pictures done. Well after sitting for an hour waiting out turn my son was getting tired. It's rediculous that they schedule so many people at the same time or 15 minutes intervals knowing that these things take time with little kids. So finally at our turn my son didn't want to sit still on the table and started crying. The had taken 3 pictures and then asked um what's wrong with him? Very rudely. I was like well we had to wait over an hour and now he's tired and he's 3. She was like well i've never seen a child act like this before. I was like really? You work with kids everyday and you've never seen a child cry or get upset here. I was mad now. I told her well he's 3 and kids don't always act proper when they're 3. Then this ### had the nerve to say well i've seen autistic kids act better than him. WHAT! That was it, i lost it. I was like i am so offended right now that you would speak to me like that. You don't know me or my child and the fact you would call a child autistic in a rude manner like that is ignorant and disrepectful and unprofessional. Your not a doctor, you don't know ###. I demanded an apology but she said well i'm just telling you what i see. I was flaberghasted by what i was hearing. I couldn't believe this girl was talking to me like that. I told her i would be calling her boss and corporate and telling them what she said to me. She just said whatever. I left and called the main office and spoke with some supervisor and game her name and what walmart it was. They told me they would contact her boss and yada, yada, yada, and sent me a coupon for a free sheet of pictures. Well that was a couple years ago and haven't had any problems since. In fact i never saw her there again after that. I think they just hire the wrong people some times. I do go there still because i don't blame the company, just the individuals i happen to be in there with that day. Some are very good and some not so good. I do now though ask if they are patient because my child might get cranky. So far so good. All i have to say is if anyone is looking to work at a picture studio then you better be prepared to work with all children and their behavior. Good or bad.
why would you anyways want refund for 77 cents...so much pressure and negativity..long customer service phone call...I would not do it.
honestly, you have to look at the "big picture" of everything, i agree with the walmart employee, there are many different walmarts, and just cause you had a bad experience with one doesn't mean you should take it out on the entire business by being petty about it.
I think there was problems on both ends of this arguement over .77 cents. I think it is crazy to fight over just .77 cents but most people who go get their pictures taken at Walmart do not have a whole lot of money. I hate to break it to you but picture me studios are run by a third party company which means Walmart doesn't even have control of the service you recieve. The third party company is CPI which also runs Sears Portrait Studios. This company is mostly about dollar signs which means they just hire very little people to do everything in the studio there is no defined roles for the employees. This makes it hard on an individual employee because not only do they have to do so much all at once they only get diddlysquat hours and only get paid $7.50 an hour.
Now I do not feel it was right for the complaint to be displayed right in front of the employee on the phone it should have been talked over in a nice manner with the employee by comparing your recipt to the computer. Now about the missing portraits I work at Sears Portrait studio I am not sure if picture me studios does the same they probably do but they send back extras that you can purchase that have been put on discount if two portraits were missing you could have asked if you could take two of them for free sense you did'nt get your photos.
I felt your comment about I am not talking to you I am on the phone was very rude sense the whole confersation you were having on the phone pertained to the employee in front of you. Now the employee is at fault for not making sure you were satisfied before approaching another customer, but the problem lies in the fact that in this day and age the customer is not always right. If the employee has exausted every possible solution and he or she has given the customer tons of free stuff that is when it becomes ridiculous because this is a business. You would not go to a car place and expect to get the hot rod car for free would ya? It is the same for either picture me studios or sears portrait studios to many customers are coming in thinking they can get a whole lot for nothing.
Also I am not sure as to why you had a balance at the end when your pictures arrived I am not sure if it is different again for that too but at Sears Portrait Studio we have to make you pay up front before you recieve your portraits not at the time you pick up your pictures. Again, the only thing you would be paying for would be the extra sheets and the total the employee gives you is your subtotal before tax. Now not every employee is rude it depends on the place if you came to Sears Portrait Studio and I was working I would make sure you were satisfied and explain everything to you because I love taking pictures and love meeting new people.
But, I have had times where the customer was very rude to me even though I had apologized to them and it is not right because the customer can complain to the corporate office and the employee gets into trouble no questions asked. But, if a customer does something the employee has no one to complain to and a lot of time has no protection and is not allowed to be rude back to the customer. The employee has to keep offering free stuff and if the employee refuses then the darn corporate office goes over his or her head and gives the customer more free stuff, which doesn't stop the problem of the customers it re-inforces their behavior.
sincerly,
sears portrait studio employee
In April my sister and I had our kids photos taken at Picture Me Studio in Woodhaven, Michigan. We too were let down. After the pushy sales person wanted us to order and get out because he was closing I decided to call the next day and cancel the order because it was just was not what I wanted. That is when our "fun" really began...So, we cancelled the order in April. Come May my credit card statement didn't have a refund. So, I called to find out that although I cancelled the order I did not specifically request a refund so they did not credit my account, REALLY!? No pictures and I am going to pay you? So I asked politely for a refund. No problem she said. Another month passed, now June, and still no refund! Called customer service again told it was just posted on June 4 and takes 2 weeks. So I called the district manager to make sure this was handled and no call back! Not surprised. Amazing how they still are in business. So now, July 1, I have called again because my April order still has not been credited. Today I am calling the Better Business Bureau to file a formal complaint and possibly calling our Call for Action News Channel 7. Maybe that will get the fire lit to REFUND my money. I would NEVER go to a PICTURE ME studio again. Horrible from start to finish!
i was told my sons 5 month old pictures would be in the 2nd and they didnt recieve them that day..so i got a call saying they were in and i went to pick them up and guess what they were not in! so now they are saying they dont know when they are getting them in. Im sorry but my son cannot retake his five month old pictures when he is already 6 months.. Im so furious with picture me portrait studios. This is not the first mess up they had with my pictures. they gave me a 25 dollar voucher, but it still dont replace my pictures! i rather deal with sears than walmarts [censored]..
I think it is very funny that a Sears Portrait studio employee would not know if it is different at Portrait Me since they are both owned by the same parent company. Sorry, but a manager from the Sears Portrait studio told me that when I told her about my complaint with the Picture Me portrait studio.
Picture Me lost my daughter's Christmas portraits last year. The manager of that studio was the only person working the day I went to pick them up. I went a day later then the promised return date for the portraits and they were not there. she told me that all the other portraits were there that were taken the same day as my daughter's were. That really irked me, and I drove all the way to that studio so that I would have them in time for Christmas. She promised me she would send the pictures to me via UPS, and that she would call me when she located them. I never received a phone call from her and after four days, I decided to e-mail the corporate office. The first e-mail must have gone unnoticed, but the second e-mail must have caused the corporation to respond. I received my pictures after the New Year had passed so I never had the opportunity to hand the portraits out to family for Christmas. However, I did have to drive all the way to the store to pick them up for the employee to blame it on the UPS driver. He apparently just found them the day before despite having delivered every other set of portraits shipped that day. Funny, I thought they were delivered in sealed boxes amongst all the other portraits not individually.
Thankfully though. The manager at the Sears Portrait studio came to my rescue, and scheduled my daughter an appointment at their studio. I had to pay for that package too, but I at least had something to send to my family.
our baby pictures are not showing online .
I will never use the WalMart studio again, people who work at the one I have been going to arent very friendly, and also I can never veiw my portraits online, for some reason "computers are down" seriously every time ?
Family photos are treasures people cherish for years but the consumers seem to not realize that they are paying ridiculously low prices for something that used to be considered a craft and an art form. $10? Really? What kind of photography do you think that buys? Who could live on these kinds of wages and still want to show up for a long day cajoling cranky kids to cooperate and smile? Or wipe up vomit or boogers? Talented people will find better ways to make a living. It goes back to the old addage: You get what you pay for! Consumers are so image saturated that they think anyone can crank out an Anne Geddes infant photo in ten minutes with iphone. (Clue: it takes days to create those images). These companies treat their people like it's a sweat shop so gimme a break with the hard working employees sharing how tough it is to make numbers and kiss customer's behinds and make nothing doing it. My day rate is $1200 and I freelance for Vogue. If your family images are important to you seek out someone who makes a living shooting images and expect to pay for quality.
I will never use this studio again. The ###ers messed up my order the associate touched my breast and my bra ignored my husband took ### picture this was the 17 of December 2012 and yet still today I have not received my pictures and it is the 9th of January 2013 they are giving me the run around. So if you read this don't use these ###ed ### people.
ok so i pay for this member ship and they when out busy and now there a copy right law i cant copy or get more picture this really sucks
The last time I tried to attempt to get me and my daughters portraits taken I dolled myself up and my daughter for our pictures. We had an appointment, but was a little late due to a delay with the bus service. I apologized and asked if they would still take us. Employee A looked at me and my daughter with a disgusted look the entire time. Without saying a word to us, she went to employee B. They were willing to fit us in but employee A seemed to not like our appearance, as she kept scowling at us. I felt so ugly. She was trying to get employee B to do our portraits but the type of portraits we wanted were candid and apparently employee B doesn't know how to do them. It was another employee, C, that ended up doing our portraits.
When it came time to pay, the price of portraits was no where near the price we were told and I just declined to buy them. It was an awkward experience that I was trying to get through and I'm now questioning my looks because of the reaction of employee A upon seeing us.
Another incident happened with their photo developing centre. 2 times I had these odd photos given to me instead of what was in my camera. The first time, I had, what appeared to be an aboriginal father bathing his child in a bathtub. I could just barely see my original photos underneath so it was something that was added on top after I had taken my pictures. We are not aboriginal nor do I have a son. So this baffled me and I thought it was an isolated incident. There were 2 rolls of film and the first roll came out normal. They said that they couldn't/wouldn't fix my second roll and I just paid for the first.
A few years later I went to another Walmart to develop some film and it was the same thing, except I couldn't see any indication of my original photos. It was the same type of pics of a father and his son during bath time. I was very uncomfortable with this. I wanted my pictures that I handed to them and they refused. They said I was the only one who came in that evening that those are mine. They are clearly not. I admit I was getting heated because they were accusing me of lying. If they were mine then I would claim it as mine, pay for them and leave. But they were not and I refused to pay for them. I didn't know if they had gotten film mixed up back there or what but I found it strange that the same photos kept showing up on my film at 2 different Walmarts, about 3 or 4 years apart. I felt I was getting scammed. The employee was cold and haughty towards me about it. She said to call customer service because they don't give refunds. There was no manager on or anyone I could speak to that was higher up. The employees in the back were laughing at me and I feel there was some sick joke that was played on me. I know I was getting pretty angry. Any customer would. It is there job to remain professional and, at least. act like they care. But no. No accountability on their part. I feel like I was scammed. Thinking back I should have called the police and have them investigate what was going on back there.
We were at the pharmacy in Walmart and I gave the money to the lady in the front and she took the $5 and didn't put it in the register
Ordered wife's Christmas present twice. Both times lost order.. How do you lose a 10 foot orange kayak. ? If you know let Walmart know, because they haven't got a clue. All they want to do is give refund without any explanation.
Hard to find someone to complain to when staff tells you there is nothing they can do about it... over and over again...
So I figured start here through word of technology to see what other people think of the Portrait Studio at the Orillia Walmart...?
On Thursday June 9th @ 10:50 am while I was working, I received a call from Orillia Walmart Portrait Studio telling me I won a free 10 x 13 picture, would I like to set up a time to get pictures done... I told the girl it would be 1 year ago since we had it done because my son's 2nd birthday was on June 19th, could I have an appointment for Friday June 17th at 6pm because we all work and kids are in school. The girl told me the last sitting was at 5pm. I said I would take it and work around trying to get everyone there on time since I already had a 3:15 hair appointment for that day from a month ago.
On June 16th @ 10:22 am while I was at work, I received another call confirming my appointment for Friday... I said we will be there.
I got my husband to leave work early in Borden, pick all 3 kids up, bathed, hair done, new clothes and to the appointment for 5pm... When my husband arrived, before me, he was told that our appointment was for 3pm and cancelled because we did not show up. My husband text me not to hurry because we missed our appointment. I immediately called the Orillia Portrait Studio.
The girl said, "your appointment was for 3pm and since we did not show up, they cancelled the appointment."
I was furious and said No my appointment was for 5pm, there is absolutely no way I would have made a 3pm appointment when I already had a 3:15 appointment, and it was not my fault someone on their end wrote it down wrong. She continually told me, my appointment was for 3pm.
I arrived to the store and told her she needed to honour my appointment since there was no other appointments scheduled at that time, she told me there is nothing she can do for me. They had already set up for some Fairy shoot that was taking place the next day. I told her that we went to so much trouble to make this appointment time and she really needed to do something for us. All she would say is there is nothing I can do for you. Why did I not get a call at 3pm to ask why I was late when they called me so many other times before, I would have then told her my appointment was for 5pm?
After about 1/2 hour of arguing with her, and she would not call her manager because she had left for the day, she gave me a customer service phone number that went directly into voicemail. I left a message and to this day I have never received a call back.
Never in my years of customer service have I told a customer (1) you are wrong (2) there is nothing I can do for you... (3) not called a customer back that is very unhappy with a service issue (4) refused the customer to speak with a manager
I guess they have enough people going for free pictures that my money didn't matter to them. So, my son turned 2 and no family pictures, because there was nothing she could do for us even though we purchased new clothes, hair done, time and effort just to go see them... NEVER AGAIN... I'm sure there is someone out there that can do way better pictures and much nicer to deal with then the ***** ORILLIA WALMART PORTRAIT STUDIO *****, oh and Walmart also takes no responsibility for the Portrait Studio, so if they screw up, the Walmart Management doesn't want to know about it either.
Thanks for listening, since they wouldn't!