Our family spent approximately 7 hours on the Glamour Shots rip-off. When we scheduled the appointment, we asked about the pricing and were told, There are various packages available, the more you buy, the more you save!
We had hair and makeup done by makeup artists who are unlicensed in the State of NJ, according to the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. The make up used was handed back and forth between workers, the hair brushes were used from customer to customer, and the entire situation was very unsanitary.
Fast forward to the proof session... Read that as hard sell time. We asked for the pricing again when we sat down. We were told they'd give it to us after we picked out pictures. The pictures of my spouse and I were bad. Just really awful. I was close to tears about how long we had just spent to get our first family portrait, and how all of that time and energy had been wasted, when 3-4 of their workers came up to loudly proclaim how wonderful the pictures were. (Note: They did this with each customer who sat down to view proofs; it's part of the sales process). We did want some of the pictures of the children so the event wouldn't be a total waste. We picked 8 that we liked, and were then quoted a price of $2000. No, there are not too many zeros there.
After going thru the roof and eliminating 5 pictures, we got numbers down to around $450. (NOTE: The numbers don't jive. If the initial price was $2000 for 8 pictures, and we took out 5 pictures, should the price have then been $750?) Still too much money. The children were pushing for a picture of us, so we now added that one back in, telling ourselves that maybe with the touch up it wouldn't be too bad. Guess what??? BASIC touch up costs and additional $75 per person, per picture! I'm sorry... Isn't the touch up why we came to Glamour Shots in the first place??? Oh, and by the way, if you want anything more done than a few wrinkles removed and your teeth whitened, that's called an EXTENSIVE touch up, and that's an ADDITIONAL $75 per person, per picture... One more time, NO ONE would tell us ANY OF THIS until they were trying to close us.
At this point, frustrated, hungry, angry and tired, we said we wanted to sleep on it and come back tomorrow to make a decision. We were then advised, all pictures are deleted at the end of the night. More hard sell tactics. Oddly, when I called the store today with a fictitious story about wanting to buy photos for a friend who had been in a week prior but hadn't bought anything, they said it would be no problem; the proofs would be on their computer! Therefore, they LIED because they wanted to close us right then.
Exhausted and confused, we somehow wound up purchasing an extremely expensive group of pictures which aren't even the ones we wanted. That was yesterday. Today, after researching Glamour Shots on the web, I realized that thier makeup artists are unlicensed and thier refusal to provide pricing could be illegal - I'm looking into it. I went back in to demand a refund and was told I couldn't get one.
I will be reporting them to the Division of Consumer Affairs, the State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling, the Better Business Bureau, the Morris County Board of Health, and anyone else I can think of along the way. I advise anyone with a similar experience to do the same.
By the way, price lists do exist... They just refuse to give them to you until the sale has been made. They are kept behind the counter. If you're foolish enough to go to Glamour Shots, demand one before the process begins so you know what you're in for. Better yet, just go to a private photo studio. They are less costly, more honest, and can do everything for you Glamour Shots can... And you don't want Glamour Shots doing the hair or makeup anyway. You'll be lucky not to catch lice from the brushes going from customer to customer.
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