Portrait Innovations
reviews and complaints

I got a gift certificate from Portrait Innovations in Normal, Illinois. I have had two appointments set only to be cancelled because of not enough staff.
Two days later the store was closing for good! I would like to get my gift certificate money back so we can get the pictures taken elsewhere! I am so frustrated because this has gone on for months. When they told me the store was closing they acted like they had just found out. The gift certificate was bought in good faith. We wanted to get summer pictures and summer is over!

I just had the worst experience I've ever had at the Collierville, TN location. I've been there many times for pictures and never had a problem. Today I had a 10:30 appointment. Our photographer didn't show up til 10:45. I have three children 2, 9, 11. I told her I was mainly interested in group shots and she said corporate makes them take individual photos too. I said that's fine but I won't probably buy them. Finally, she got us started almost at 11. She just told them to go sit on the bench and then she started snapping pictures. No attempt to get them to look at her, talk to them, position them or smile. When I questioned her about it got very ugly and after a few minutes of discussion with her about that and the fact that she didn't seem to even be trying to get good pictures, she handed us the customer service number and we left. She was also arguing with me that her schedule was to come in at 10:45 and she wasn't late. My appointment was at 10:30 and someone had called days before to verify. She had terrible customer service and she had no interest in taking my children's pictures. I think her name is Tori. I will NEVER go back after today.

On Sunday September 10th 2017 at 11:20 my son took pictures at the portrait innovations location in Waldorf, Maryland. This was our 7th visit to this location and don't have any complaints. However on this visit my portraits would not and currently still won't show up in my album on my phone app. Normally directly after I pay for my prints at the studio the photos immediately pop up in the app. I called the studio Monday and expressed my concerns and I was told it takes 24 to 48 hours for the pictures to upload. I called back today (Tuesday) and was told i needed a link to reach my photos (Which i have never needed since i downloaded the app). I uninstalled the app, redownloaded it and submitted the code to no avail. I still do not have my current session in my app nor can i receive much help from the studio. Can someone please retrieve my portraits?

Dominique Owens
d.[protected]@yahoo.com

We were at the huntersville studio today Aug 12, 2017. Ian waited on us. He did all the different poses. We got to where we viewed and placed our order. We came in for the special package of 33 prints for 23.99. I then ordered 3 more sheets. He kept showing more pics and kept telling us the prices. I told him I wasn't there to buy all the portraits. He then preceded to ask why not amd told me that I was just going to discard all the other pics. I told him I didn't need that many pics. This is pics of my grandbabies and he knew I loved all the pics. But I wasn't going to spend 400 on them. He then asked my son was he not going to buy any of his own kids. I told him I was buying them as a gift. He made us feel bad for not getting all of them and I didn't appreciate that at all.

Wow! I feel sorry for the people who have to deal with complaints through this company because there aren't any good reviews that I have seen. Seems like the CEO/Suits would want to stand up and take notice.

I have an appointment scheduled for next week at Portrait Innovations in Fairfax, Virginia next week. I'm trying to decide if I will keep it or cancel it. I have been taking my daughter for yearly updates for the past five? years after I was disenchanted with Picture People. I choose these types of organizations because I am a fan of the plain, unencumbered background. The first one or two years at your establishment, the photographers humored me and only used the white background because that is what I requested. Recently though, (possibly new management) they have been sticking hard to the different background policy and I'm forced to watch them take pictures that I know I will not buy. Last year was extremely disappointing to me because an outfit that I truly loved on my daughter and wanted a picture of was used in a background that did not meet my taste or standard. What happened to "The customer is always right"? Last week when I called to schedule my appointment I asked up front for a waiver from the manager to only use a white background. I was informed that I was speaking to the manager and she would not yield on the policy because they are a "full service studio". Apparently they are the opposite of a full service studio if I can't get the service that I want. I understand that many customers come through the door without a notion of what they are looking for in a picture and the multiple options are helpful to them. But when a customer is adamant about what they want, I can't understand the unwillingness to accommodate.

This is crazy I had an appointment and then the girl Erin calls and says my appointment is cancel due to not enough staff on hand . I told her I wanted to do a walk in then and she said no you can't this is crazy how can you say I can't come in for pictures and I call Corp office no answer never will go or try to go here again and will spread the word to many

I was sent a coupon several times for this 23.99 package. I scheduled through the website and scheduled an appointment. Presented coupon as soon as I walked in and was told they'd take it later.Took my 1 year old granddaughter in, lady taking pictures was sick but took good pictures.
Then came time to buy and they totally ignored the coupon, started at 600.00 package and told me I could not get the CD unless I bought a minimum package that was 300.00. NOT happy to have to pay so much more than what I wanted just to get what I was promised in the coupon.Showed the lady the coupon and showed her where it said CD and copyright release was part of package and was told no that was not the case.I would have to buy the bigger package in order to get the CD.
Here is the coupon I took in:
Free Hi-Res Digital Image to Share with Loved Ones!
Portrait Innovations to youshow details
20% Off Entire Order
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Portrait Innovations
SCHEDULE YOUR
APPOINTMENT ONLINE

Celebrate Summertime Memories
33 Portrait Package + Hi-Res CD
+ Free $100 16x20 Canvas & 20% Off Order
All for Only $23.99 With 20% Off Coupon
PLUS, 20% OFF ENTIRE ORDER
Plus Free Canvas! | Book Session
FREE $100 16x20 Gallery Canvas With 33 Portrait Package Only $23.99 Save 20% On All Purchases in Studio including the 33 Portrait Package
GET COUPONS >

TO SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT BY PHONE

CALL 678.423.0594

TO SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINE

CLICK HERE >

Ashley Park
320 Newnan Crossing Bypass
Newnan, GA 30265 | 678.423.0594
Studio Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 9 am – 6 pm

Appointments highly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome but may be limited based on availability. No subject or sitting fees. Specialty product handling fee applies. Only ONE Portrait Package Advertised Special of your favorite pose per family, group or individual session may be purchased with coupon, from Tuesday, June 20 through Sunday, July 30, 2017. Promotion is not valid for business purposes, individuals 18 or over or unaccompanied minors. Coupons Expire Sunday, July 30, 2017. The 20% off coupon cannot be combined with any other percentage off discounts. Offer is subject to change at any time.

I had prenatal photos done in feb 2017 and was to receive a free canvas its july 2017 no email or phone call about the canvas. My daughter had pics in march she still havent got her free canvas. I mean all the money u pay and you cant get what is supposed to be free? I mean really! The photographer was awesome but getting rid of portraits the same day is a pain In the [censor]! I will go to lasting impressions from now on. I delivered feb 11th 2017 still no canvas by is 5mos old now

On a trip to Richmond, Virginia to visit my aunt I decided to get family pictures done. We are from out of town and don't get to see my aunt who we are very close to very often. I am a single mom with two daughters. We mainly wanted the pictures to focus on the girls (both alone and together). However, we were hoping to get one nice family picture of the four of us including my aunt and one nice family picture of myself and the girls. My aunt had scheduled an appointment well in advance. However, when we arrived, we were immediately informed by the photographer that she was working alone that day and running about an hour behind! So we had to wait for an hour with a 12 year old and 6 year old for a pre-scheduled appointment. During our long wait, we searched high and low for some information about their pricing so we could be thinking about exactly what we wanted during all of this waiting. Unfortunately, we found nothing. There was nothing on their website and nothing at all posted/provided around the studio. It is like their pricing is some big secret! When our photographer was finally ready to begin the photographs, I told her exactly what we wanted. Both my aunt and I reenterated many times that our focus was the children with a couple of group photos and at least one mother-daughter photo for me. We also told her which backgrounds we preferred. I also explained to her specific poses that I was interested in because I knew they would the most flattering poses for me from years of experience having family photos taken. Both my aunt and I told the photographer that we were not interested in photographs being taken of each of us alone. This was mostly about the children. She did not listen to anything we said. She wasted a huge amount of time and shots photographing my aunt and me both individually. She picked the backgrounds regardless of what we said and took a number of pictures of me in the specific unflattering poses I had asked her not to do. However, as she shot the pictures I told myself it didn't matter because I didn't have to purchase any pictures I didn't like. Well, I was wrong. As soon as we were done, she took us to the computer and started in on her sales pitch. Apparently, there is no way to purchase by the sheet which is what we wanted to do. Instead, we had to go through every group of shots she took and pick a favorite. I told her right away to delete the pictures of me individually, but she refused to do this saying that it somehow messed up the "package" we could get. Every so often after deleting the few pictures she would actually allow us to delete, she would give us an outrageous price quote. I think the first one was about $800 and then we slowly went down from there. So we had all of these pictures that we didn't even want. When we got to the end, we realized we had very few of the girls (which was our focus and entire reason for coming). I was unable to find even one good family shot of my children and myself since she would not listen to me regarding the poses. She did finally agree to retake a couple of the poses. This is after we had already been there for over three hours. However, she told us the shots she had to retake could not be included in the cd, the collages, or the book (which were extras we didn't really want anyway) because it would basically be too much trouble for her since she "hadn't even been to lunch yet". My aunt and I had both planned to purchase our pictures separately since we do not live in the area and money is tight for both of us. We had both found and brought a 20% off coupon. However, we were not allowed to purchase separate packages. We had to "split" a package and then divide up the pictures instead of each of us being able to choose what we wanted. We later realized that this was done so we could not use both coupons and actually receive 40% off. We were very disappointed in the secretive nature of the pricing and high pressure sales tactics at this studio. We will definitely not be using Portrait Innovations again.

So today June 18th 2017 I went to the barker heights tx studio with my husband and 3 week old son to get some fathersday/dmpredeployment family/newborn pictures done the shoot went great ladies were patient with my cranky 3 week old we then went to review the photos and I got the fathers day 33 package w/ canvas plus a 10 photo collection that came with a book a callander and a cd well before i finished choosing the photos i asked the lady if i was able to print my selected photos in the collection on my own. She said yes you will get a print release so i chose the 10 photos this costed me 214.99 not including the price of the fathers day package she then went to print our photos and get the CD ready and when I got home to look at the photos i read the print release on the CD and she only gave me release of the 1 photo that was on the 33 portrait package not the 10 in my portrait collection that I purchased so I called to ask and the lady on the phone a different lady then the one who took our pictures and reviewed them with us. Said that in order to get the print release we needed to have 12 photos in our collection to have printing rights when I explained I was told different and asked how they would fix this problem they said there was nothing they would do if I was told I needed 12 photos I would have gotten the 12 photos but the lady working with us did not tell us of this she said I'd be able to print my photos on my own no problem so now I am screwed out of about 215 dollars because I would have not purchased that collection if I was told I couldnt go and print my own photos. Now they took my money and will not help me resolve the issue so if the issue is not fixed I will never return to another portrait innovations and I will also be putting a review on anything and everything I can about the horrible experience I have had with them.

Hi I took my granddaughter in to have her photos done for Easter in the Evansville Indiana location. I was told the printer was done after I had her photos done and they will contact me to pick up when fixed..I went to explain to them I lived in NC and won't be able to pick up so they informed me they would mail them to me.. here it is 2.5-3 months later and I still don't have all my products..I've called several times to complain and ask about it, my daughter has called and so has my husband all so many times I've lost count.. the mgr (Josh)that I've been dealing with I was told the other day has been fired and I still don't have my products..I've been told something different each time I've called from they need my address (we gave a million times), they have been mailed, they got lost in the mail, they can't find anything at the store, they have been picked up (I live in NC so they haven't been picked up)..
So I am out of my money (139.00) and my products..

We went to take my granddaughter for her Valentine's photos at the same location before this and had a coupon for a special..all photos were horrible so it was very easy to pick just one pose, we didn't get the free gifts because Josh (mgr) told us we didn't qualify for them but they were listed on the coupon... anyways we did get our package with terrible poses and my daughter was in tears leaving because of the horrible experience she had with getting professional photos done for her daughter keep in mind this the first time doing photos with her baby..

I decided to give them benefit of the doubt and try them again that's why we went back for Easter photos...those photos were amazing but didn't receive what we ordered and been getting the run around ever since including not returning phone calls...I've told the store I will be contacting corporate and they tell me not to they will fix it but they haven't..

I took family photos almost two years ago. I didn't like the photos because they wee too dark. I contacted the main office as well as corporate. I took the photos back and requested a refund. They wanted me us to do another family setting and I didn't want that. I told them it was hard getting outfits for 7 people and match. They lightened the photos and they were a mess. To this day I still have no photos or a refund. This is sad!

Tried calling the store-useless and couldn't even transfer me to customer service. I couldn't find the customer service phone number on the website while trying to make the order. Got hold of customer service needs some code from the session which I could never get to come up. They said a privacy issue. I said I already have the keychains 4- in my cart. I just need a coupon code to get the free ones and continue my order. Never did get it the number so no order. I would have been so simple. Guess I will just order from Walgreens.

Hello, so very sorry to say but every single time we have an awful experience at portrait innovation. Today it is may 23 and it is Tuesday at 1:40pm. Nobody else was here. We walked in and the photographer was wanting to go ahead and told us to go to that certain room. Then the other one told her to finish up with putting up canvases... We sat again over 20 min just waiting and NOBODY else was here in the store. This could have been so quick and fast but they are always rude here. We could have been in and out .. But. No...I am sick of this. I understand its always crowded on holidays but this is Tuesday and school is in session. There was no need for wait. Customer first. The stupid canvases could have waited 20 min..unbelievable. It always happened to us this crazy behavior of your employees. So sorry to have toncomplain but I am just mad. I come with my family all the time and we have 4 kids. We r here all the time and its never ever just pleasant. Esther Harding

I got family pics done at the Brighton MI location and got a canvas and other items that I had to go back to pick up. When I went to pick them up the store is closed down. Now my items are at the Northville MI location and I have to drive way out there to pick them up. Not to mention I just drove 45 minutes to Brighton to pick my stuff up. You think they would have sent a notice that they were closing and where my items were. The only reason I new is because I called the closest store to see if they new what was going on

My most horrible experience and why I'll be telling everyone about it...I had family photos done a couple of years ago...bought the special and a couple of extra sheets, and the cd with all the photos from our session on it high res. I paid like $50.00 for the disk. When this coupon came, I called "corporate" and asked if I could use the 20% off coupon on the disk. I was assured I could and was reminded to "please let everyone know about your experience via social media"...so I made my appointment. Asked all my kids and grands to dress up nicely so we could have family portraits made like before. The place was pretty packed, but we didn't mind waiting past our appt time. The photographer, Bianca, got some very good shots. Once our session was over and we looked at photos, there were several, several that we liked, but there was glasses glare (4 of us in the photo were wearing glasses) or minor things like a big strand of hair over a face, etc. So my husband asked if they could fix that, and we were told they had no way to do that. I do, so I shrugged and said I could fix. THEN came the hit...despite what I'd been told on the phone when I spoke to "corporate" about being able to use the coupon on the disk, I was told that the minimum I'd need to spend to get the disk was $300+...um, excuse me? I might could understand if they could touch up all the photos I wanted, but when 80% need touch up and you can't, why would I spend anything on photos that can't be touched up? That's just throwing away money. I'm attaching the ONE pose we went with, and even then, there's still glass glare on two of us...I am so frustrated and upset I could cry. I will NEVER get my husband back in this store because I was so upset...I look at the photos on the disk from last time--all 70+ of them--I even showed them the disk to see their logo to know I wasn't lying, it was theirs. But then they told me they delete all the photos upon checkout. So I bought the package and then I was told I could talk to the manager. But the photos had already been deleted, so what was the point? I was so upset I had to leave the store while they printed the pictures--my daughters waited. "I'd planned to have my daughters' senior pictures made, and other photos coming up, but now I'll go elsewhere. A place that will either touchup photos (hello, even schools do that now) or let you buy the cd without the crazy "it has to be with a package costing $300+" Yeah, I'm sure to let all my followers on social media know...I mean, "corporate" asked me to do that, right?! So upset and disappointed.

I had an appointment made for 3:10 pm we were on time. They were prompt in getting us started.
We were having Engagement pics, mother daughter pics, my daughter an her boyfriend, an then a family pic done.
I wear glasses an there is a glare on just about every single pic taken.
I noticed there were blocks in both of the rooms we used for our shoot. I mentioned something about them an she was like u want to use them...

We did an they turned out good as I wasn't looking towards the camera.
She seemed like she was in kind of a hurry. I had a few poses in mind but didn't ask as she was not really interested trying to accommodate us.

Started out good but certainly didn't end that way. When we were done an going through our pics an we were deleting some as I wasn't spending $400 or more on pics she got a little bit of an attitude an another girl took over an she was awesome..

I will never be back there again..

Our experience was in Sterling heights..

I originally scheduled a a 10:20 appointment when called to confirm I realized I needed a much later appointment. I spoke with a lady named Corrinda (the spelling may be off) she informed me that they would be able to reschedule my appointment to the 7:00 pm appointment I thanked her and we hung up. When I arrive at my scheduled appointment they tell me that I'm nowhere in the system and basically imply that I'm lying about my appointment but will take me anyway she (the manager) rudely cuts me off from speaking and says how she feels not allowing me to speak again and or show my proof of having an appointment.

We had an appointment at 11:10 and waited 3 1/2 hours and when we were finally seen the photographer left the room twice and it made it very difficult for me because I had an infant and two children so by the time I could pick my pictures out I couldn't think because all of the kids were hungry and tired. I want one more pose but I felt rushed and decided to leave. And on top of that the office was disgusting there was dirty diapers in the changing room and the one you they had for the kids had mold on it. It was the worst experience I've ever had and I do not wish to go back but I would like to pick out 2 more pose. Is there a way I can do that online?

They messed up my package by providing me with 4 5x7s instead of 2 5x7s and 1 8x10.
Of course instead of taking my word for it they made me tell them the size of each sheet I had, which proved a little difficult because I had already started cutting. But luckily she found the mistake quickly, that they printed 4 5x7s instead of the 2 and the 8x10.
Sure, they offer to print me up that 8x10, but she requests I bring the 2 5x7s to swap.
I asked her what in the world she would need 2 5x7s of my daughter and she assured me they would be disposed of properly.
I told them that is not the point, they made the mistake, they should let the customer keep their mistake instead of throwing them away.
I'm not giving them my 5x7s for the 8x10..i took a picture on my phone to prove I have them, but I'm NOT giving them to be thrown the F away. If they do not give me my 8x10 because of the 5x7s that will be a HUGE mistake.
And if they are trained to ask for these pictures back under some kind of ###ed up policy that YOU have, then you should all be ashamed.
I couldn't believe my ears when she said that to me and I can honestly rate you a -10 just from that phone call experience. I don't know where you even get off saying something like that to a paying customer.
You should really watch on how ignorant you are, because I'm sure with that ### policy in place or ### employee, whichever, that independent photographers will take over those jobs and YOUR business.
I know portrait innovations will now be my last choice.
Beyond pissed off
Shannon murphy