I entered a Viva! Life Photography competition and 2 days later I received a letter to say I won. I naturally thought I was the only winner. I rang them up to claim my prize, which was a $300 voucher towards a free photo sitting ($200 worth) and $100 worth of photos. They got me all excited on the phone saying how great it was that I had won. They asked for a $50 deposit by credit card as a holding fee for the sitting, which would be credited towards any photos that I bought on the day.
So we turned up for the photo shoot and the photographer and his assistant got us all excited that it was going to be great. A previous family were just leaving and they looked pretty happy about their experience. First the assistant showed us some great photos of other families that they had taken. Then it was our turn to do 1 hr worth of photo shoots and the photographer really got my kids excited and posing. They felt like super models by the end of it.
Then we were put into a small room with the door closed to be shown our wonderful pictures up on a huge screen. I must admit, the photos were fantastic. We were asked which ones we would like and what size. When I finally asked how much the photos cost, we were told that to buy 5 average sized photos was $1,000. I was extremely surprised, but didn't want to show it in front of my kids. Then the assistant explained about their payment plan option which seemed a better option.
Before I knew it, I had signed over 1/3 deposit, with the rest to come out of my bank account on a fortnightly basis.By the time I got home, it had hit me that I got totally scammed. I thought I had won a free prize, when it turned out that the only thing I won was the opportunity to have money taken away from me. I bet that I wasn't the only "winner" and they rely on people not asking how much the photos are until it's too late. I am never entering a free competition again or answering any surveys (another way I nearly got scammed when the surveyer told me I had "won" something).
I wonder how these people that think up these schemes sleep at night. I feel tricked, deceived, stupid, naive and embarrassed. And the photos aren't even in colour!
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