JCPenney Portrait Studio Disappoints

Since our son was born just over 5 years ago we have visited JCPenney’s portrait studio almost yearly. It has served our needs well by providing nice portraits for a very reasonable price.

Now, when I make an appointment for something I understand “sh*t happens” and people don’t always run on time. I expect this at doctor offices, where it’s customary to overbook. I do not, however, expect to wait an hour past my appointment at a portrait studio in the mall.

My neurotic self arrived a few minutes early for our appointment the other day and waited in line behind two other ladies for over 20 minutes just to sign in. There was no one working at the front desk and the only two employees were both taking pictures for families in the back. Both of whom saw the three of us standing there and never said a word. Not even a brief, “We’ll be with you in just a minute.”

In the past, JCPenney has taken some very good pictures of our son and a couple of our family. I don’t expect each shot to be award winning, but usually I walk away with 2-3 good pictures out of the 8-10 they take. I love that I can instantly see the proofs on a computer immediately after and order from there.

Aside from waiting twenty minutes to be acknowledged and waiting another forty minutes to have photos taken our photographer was clearly in a hurry and snapped 8 pictures before our son had a chance to blink. The poses were basically all the same and she would move his hands from his knees to his lap. They apparently don’t teach creativity in their training classes.

At one point I stepped in to fix his shirt collar and was given quite the cold stare for slowing down the process. Even though it was 100 degrees outside her chill was still not appreciated.

I knew the photos were not going to be good before I viewed them. To my surprise one was acceptable and actually centered. The waiting room was packed and I wasn’t ready to return anytime soon, so I ordered a few sheets of the acceptable pose and left.

At home I contacted their customer service online to let them know of our recent experience. Although the response was very cookie-cutter they did “enjoy my comments and concern” and for the my trouble they will be mailing me a certificate for three free traditional portrait sheets upon my next visit.

So I plan to return one more time strictly to take advantage of my free prints. If the service isn’t any better I will not be back. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for and at $3.99 a sheet I guess I shouldn’t expect much, but I do. Anyone whose job it is to tell someone to “smile” should know how to smile themselves.