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MsMarginalized
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30 Jul 2011, 9:54 pm

Has anyone else experienced a situation that bugged you so much that you were like the proverbial "dog with a bone"?

It seems like all I've had lately are a series of (bad) bones!

For instance: our teenage daughter (17 y/old) is going to be a senior in h.s. next year. So over the summer, we've worked on getting her senior portraits taken. AND IT HAS BEEN ONE ORDEAL AFTER ANOTHER!

It started before school even let out for the summer. A "representative" from the (only approved) photographer came to the school to tell the kids what to expect. To have a senior picture even IN they yearbook, the picture MUST be taken by this ONE company. And they charge a $25 sitting fee. No if's, and's or buts. The rep told the kids that it was perfectly acceptable to pay the sitting fee AT THE TIME OF THE SITTING.

But when I went to their website, the ONLY WAY TO SCHEDULE a sitting was to GIVE MY C.C. # for an IMMEDIATE charge. Wasn't happy about that, but decided to do it (as my daughter was giving me one of those "uh-oh, are you having an aspie moment on me now?" looks) BUT, when I went to the c.c. payment page, IT WASN'T A SSL (the secure socket layer wasn't there...so my c.c. info. wasn't, either)

Long story short; they claim c.c. are secure on their website so I just telephoned in the appointment & brought ca$h with me.

Now, the proofs are in (for $185 they can be ours!) But the order form (for the OVERPRICED packages) is VERY deceptive...giving you 5 blanks to fill in pose #'s, yet that particulare package supposedly only comes with 1 pose......(am I making ANY sense here?)

Anyway, the whole situation has me tied up in knots & my daughter thinking I'm crazier than I am....

So, does anyone else ever get like this, or am I just crazy??? :?



FearOfMusic
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30 Jul 2011, 10:44 pm

I think you got some pretty good reasons to be upset with this. I mean the school basically forces you to deal with a business that really doesn't sound all the reputable to me. You did the right thing not giving your credit card number over an insecure website, that to me is a red flag that they don't know what they are doing and do not care about their customers privacy. It sounds like you just kind of have to put up with them though. If I were you I would photocopy the order forums and either pay and cash/check and ask for a receipt. On the bright side of things, once you are done dealing with them it will be over.

I was in a situation once where a landlord claimed I hadn't been paying rent. They left a nasty message on my phone saying they were going to sue me, "f*** up" my credit, that I would never be able to find a job (he might have been right about that...), and I would end up owing him upwards of $5000. I had been paying my rent to another tenant who was then (supposedly) giving that money to the landlord. Nobody seemed to have good records of anything that was going on besides me. I really kind of ended up loosing my cool over it because the landlord was bullying me and never told me that for 4-5 months my rent wasn't getting paid... What ended up being a simple misunderstanding and record-keeping issue really made me loose my cool, get very anixous, loose sleep, etc. I ended up getting extremely frustrated and yelling at people that really didn't have anything to do with it. :?

I guess there are just times where you have to deal with incompetent and deceptive businesses/people. All I can say is just keep good records of your dealings with them and try and just focus on getting the pictures you need instead of all the hoops they try to make you jump through. Your complaints seem very reasonable though.


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SammichEater
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30 Jul 2011, 11:04 pm

I'm glad I don't care about senior pictures. That stuff definitely is a scam.


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musicislife
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31 Jul 2011, 12:16 am

What my school did was recommend a few local places and gave us a time for our yearbook photos to be in. I went to one of those places, sat for my yearbook shot, then, a few weeks later when it was less hectic, went to a different place that had the best packages to order.


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MakaylaTheAspie
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31 Jul 2011, 12:30 am

This is another reason to love Mossbargers. They're Portland-metro area exclusive, so they only serve sports teams and schools in that designated area. Even with my hair looking sh***y and covered in zits, they made my school picture for Freshman year look very nice. I can't wait for my senior pictures. :)


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MsMarginalized
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31 Jul 2011, 8:57 am

{my "quotin" skills got off skew here, so please bear with me}

FearOfMusic said: I think you got some pretty good reasons to be upset with this. I mean the school basically forces you to deal with a business that really doesn't sound all the reputable to me.

My point exactly...


FearOfMusic went on to say: On the bright side of things, once you are done dealing with them it will be over.

Nope, our son will be a senior in 2 years.


FearOfMusc also said: I guess there are just times where you have to deal with incompetent and deceptive businesses/people. All I can say is just keep good records of your dealings with them and try and just focus on getting the pictures you need instead of all the hoops they try to make you jump through. Your complaints seem very reasonable though.

I was wondering if I was being reasonable....sometimes I go overboard & loose perspective completly....my biggist problem is what you said about the incompetence (you should SEE all the typos in their own order package!) and then ESPECIALLY the deceptive business practice (that is one bone this ol' dog doesn't let go of!)

Thanks, y'all.



MsMarginalized
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31 Jul 2011, 9:02 am

SammichEater wrote:
I'm glad I don't care about senior pictures. That stuff definitely is a scam.


Yeah, it is a scam...but parents are willing to shell out (w/in reason) for it (but I remember when I was a senior back in the stone age....it didn't matter much to me, then).



FearOfMusic
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31 Jul 2011, 4:21 pm

If you want to try and do something about this before your son is a senior then I would write a letter to your school board about this company's incompetence and bad business practices. I think the haphazard handling of credit card information should be enough of a red flag for the school district to care about this. The school district should know that they are requiring everyone to deal with a company that is being deceptive and/or careless. If the school district is going to choose which company you must do business with then they have a duty to ensure that the company acts in a professional and responsible manner. That is exactly what the bulk of my argument in a letter like that would be.

It would probably be much better than just complaining to the company, as you are just one of their many clients. The school district is the appropriate channel to voice your concerns through as they would have the power to talk to the company on behalf of an entire segment of business they do, I assume this company generates quite a bit of it's revenue through senior pictures.


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