We ‘won’ a $1000 gift voucher for a maternity & newborn prize. I would never usually be able to afford something like this so I was excited when I was told I had won this prize!! Went to the maternity shoot then the newborn shoot later and I admit the service is great, they really butter you up and make it feel so special. At no point was I told about cost during this time. Until I came back to view the photos. They set the scene for the viewing, emotional music playing and big projector with almost 100 beautiful shots to look through. Up til this point I thought it was amazing and loved the professionalism and quality of everything. However, the heart sank when the lady produced a brochure of their packages on offer and explained we would now have to make a short list from all the images viewed. The packages are way way over my budget!! She’s happily pointing out their amazing $4000 package which is apparently almost $1000 for a limited time and you really feel the pressure to make a list of photos to purchase. I asked if I can just purchase digital as I can’t afford their print costs, nope! Not possible apparently, the only way to get digital is to purchase the print version. I had to cull almost 100 photos down to just 4-5 photos as even with the $1000 ‘prize’ I still had pay $600. These were for basic prints, not any fancy artwork or albums. You could say, well the photoshoot was ‘free’ and you’re not obliged to buy the prints .. but how can you not! This is what they’re praying on, people who think they’ve won something then once you see the end product you feel you have to purchase something they you never would’ve bothered with in the first place had you known the cost! I can’t believe how many people have been conned with these prizes. It’s an ongoing scam. There is no prize! They factor the $1000 off into their charges which is why it’s so expensive. They aren’t actually giving anything away. It’s heartbreaking. All those beautiful images I’ll never get back. Can’t fault the photographer just the dodgy business tactic.

Approximate cost: $2000