Double Take Photo Studio Scammers

Misunderestimated
Revealing the truth about Doubletake Studios
Doubletake Studios - Don’t be fooled

For new visitors to the site:

Been offered a ‘free’ photoshoot and makeover from Doubletake Studios? READ THIS FIRST…

Doubletake get hold of numbers by bribing people to disclose their friends’ numbers by giving them gifts. They then cold-call each one on the list, often falsely claiming that you have won a competition in order to secure a booking. As well as allegedly withholding information about ‘no-show’ fees, the cold-callers can be very reluctant to let you hang up.

After the makeover and photoshoot are numerous reports of salesmen being rude, pushy, patronising, and condescending. Many people have reported feeling pressured to buy (extremely expensive) photos. Prices are not fixed. They are set according to how much they think they can get out of you. If you don’t buy anything on the day, or only buy a few photos, a few months later you will most likely be offered the entire photoshoot on CD for £60 (which they try to sell you for around £2000 on the day).

Lots of people, myself included, did not receive their deposit back within the 30 days, which is what they promise. It took two phone calls and a month (on top of the already excessive 30 days) to get my £108 back. It took three whole months after that and a lot of pressure to get an apology.

I have given Doubletake the chance to respond to our complaints. They have done so (in my opinion very poorly) and have said they will no longer comment. Co-founder and director Ray Gilbert has expressed the wish that this site be closed down. If he was happy that the complaints have been properly resolved, why does it matter to him? This is a record that things that have happened. Just because he thinks he has sorted things out (!?) doesn’t mean the records of the actions of his company should be buried!

But it gets worse. Some of the comments I have received for moderation have been very suspect. Let’s just say they originate from the London area and include lines like this:

“Are you saying that no shops should try and sell you something in case you decide you don’t really want it after you have left? I know that sometimes sales people can be very persuasive, but you must have at least liked the photos to even consider parting with your cash for them - if you decided afterwards that they weren’t worth it, then you can’t blame the studios!”

“I think that the legitimate complaints about the company are being over shadowed by those who have just made an error of judgement - although it is annoying and you may feel as though the employees of the studios contributed to your mistake in ordering something you actually didn’t want. I understand your frustration, but that doesn’t make it a scam…”

“I agree that it seems as though the cancellation policy needed more clarification, and I can see why people who had to wait for the return of their deposits were annoyed and I think that is clearly something which needed addressing - from what people have posted here, this seems to be in the rpocess of resolution by Doubletake.”

This list of complaints is by no means extensive. For the full picture of what this company is about I suggest you read through the comments.

Here is my personal contribution:

Marketed as a “pampering experience”, I found the treatment from Doubletake Studios to be far from luxurious.

It all started out attractively, with a well-spoken woman from Doubletake Studios phoning me up to congratulate me on ‘winning a competition’ (but hold on - I never entered one!). Now I was brought up to be extremely sceptical of such offers and am not easily duped, so do not be surprised to find the telemarketer extremely convincingly; they are very smooth talkers. Free champagne reception, facial and hand massage, professional make-up and styling, voucher to spend on photos… they really make it sound like a proper prize. Then she asks for a booking fee. Mine was £69, but others have been asked to pay over £100. She tells you that it is necessary because Doubletake have to book specialist staff for you and to make sure you don’t waste a spot that could be taken by ‘paying customers’. She assures you that the fee is completely refundable if you do not spend it on photos on the day. That was enough to convince me it was worth trying out, if only to escape the woman jabbering down the phone at a mile a minute, urging me to find my card quickly before the booking slot was snapped up(!). Then she tells me I can bring a friend, so of course I agree. Only after taking my card details she tells me that the booking fee just doubled. Once I’m off the phone I immediately email the friend who ‘entered me into the prize draw’ to find out how much she’d paid for the pretty pictures I’d seen on Facebook. She confirmed what I had expected, that the doubletake photos were “v.v.v.v expensive” but her friend’s parents had paid for some of it.

As you would expect, the welcoming party at Doubletake Studios is very friendly. They give you a glass of bucks fizz (or “cocktail”) and sit you on a sofa to fill out a form. Then they sit you in a chair, do a quick bit of hand massage/facial/whatever, pile on the concealer, pencil over your spots and send you to the photographer who discusses nothing with you, telling you to just “choose your favourite outfits” and “stand over there and pose like this”. After the shoot they sit you back down on the sofa and give you a booklet with about 75 (no that’s not a typo) spaces to fill up with your friends contact details. They offer a free drink or some other small gift for every 15 or so people you choose to become the next victims of their merry little referral scheme. Needless to say I handed it back empty.

It is rather convenient that they ask you to refer your friends at this point - just after you’ve been made to feel like a model, and just before they send in the big hitter. The form is whisked away and the view of a smiling receptionist is suddenly replaced with a rather large man called Nicholas. He leads you into a small viewing room and puts on a slide-show of the photos. They’re nothing special. No better than the average hobbyist could do with a white background and a quality camera. When it’s finished he says it’s time to discuss prices. Maintaining the image of the ‘professional’ studio he starts listing the package prices, starting from £2000 (again, not a typo) and going down to about £400. I try to stifle a laugh. He spots my amusement and says he will go and get the ’student deals’. He comes back with a slightly lower but still laughably extortionate price list. One single 4″ x 6″ print costs £77 including delivery (taking up to six weeks I might add). You only get a copyright certificate if you buy the image on CD (think maybe triple the cost), so you are not legally allowed to reproduce or scan this image. When I said we were only interested in buying possibly one Nicholas became quite grumpy. He said that he didn’t want us to leave with one poxy photo, and so he walked out to speak to ‘the manager’, remarking that a print that small was pointless. “It would fit in your wallet” he said disdainfully. “Maybe yours” I thought to myself.

After inviting us for a free experience Nicholas seemed quite taken aback that we weren’t going to pay him £2000 for the privilege. He tailored his final offer to something like 4 photos on CD with the contact sheet (tiny thumbnails of the entire shoot - apparently costing £100 by itself!), for £138; basically he just wanted our deposit. I gave him no such pleasure. In the end we bought one of myself and my girlfriend, just as a momento. Thanks to the voucher we paid £15 each.

The promised refund of the rest of our £101 booking fees still hasn’t been returned to me 43 days after the appointment. I was told countless times that it would be paid back within 30 days (which is still rather excessive in my view). I gave them until 35 and then phoned customer services. A man called Rowan would not explain why it hadn’t been paid as promised but said he would make the payment today so I relented. Today, a week and a half later it still hasn’t arrived. Fed up, this morning I phoned the number listed on their website as “Head Office”… and found myself speaking to Rowan.

To me, this is a dishonest practice, and I think it just about sums Doubletake up.

What I want is to see it appear on the first page of Google results whenever anyone types the word “doubletake”. On that note, I apologise for the rather imposing number of references to Doubletake Studios. In fact, no I don’t. Doubletake Studios, Doubletake Studios, Doubletake Studios. Oh yes, screw the first page, I want this to be number one, to overtake even their fancy flashy website with all the bold writing in important places. Link to this page (http://www.misunderestimated.co.uk/?p=6). It doesn’t have to be prominent, just add it at the bottom of a blog or post it on a forum or something - every link, no matter how small or discreet, helps to make this information rise to the top of the search engines.

I want Doubletake Studios to get the bad reputation that I think they deserve.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
303 Responses to “Doubletake Studios - Don’t be fooled”

1. James Bagley Says:
June 13th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

I have had exactly the same experience at the studio. I paid 2 £50 deposits the they have still not returned the money 2 months later. Has anyone got any advice on how I can actually get the money back, or is they will eventually relent?? I am planned to go through the citizens advice bureau to see what they say.

any advice would be greatly appreciated. James
2. admin Says:
June 14th, 2007 at 6:39 pm

If you keep on their case they will eventually relent. Phone them up and don´t accept them saying they will do it today because they won´t - ask him to do it while you´re on the phone. I am confident that if you do this you won´t have any trouble, but if you don´t have any luck a threat of taking the matter to the Small Claims Court should do the job - they won´t like that and will cough up sharpish. Good luck!
3. James Bagley Says:
June 15th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Thanks for your advice, I am following that up now.
4. admin Says:
June 18th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Good luck, let me know how you get on! 24th in Google and rising….
5. mark yeates Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am

We’ve just been to Doubletake in Manchester… your blog describes our day exactly!

It’s just a real shame that they have to be such penny pinchers, as up until the viewing time we were having a great time with our “prize”.

We managed to get 4 prints and 4 photos on CD for 180 (-£40 that came with the so-called prize) - I think that was a pretty good deal compared to what some people got. But, we did feel a little bit held to ransom as the photos looked too good not to buy some - and the day would have been a complete waste.

Some advice for those not getting their deposits back, if you payed with a ‘Visa’ card - go to your bank a raise a Visa dispute - you may be able to get your money back that way.
6. James Bagley Says:
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:54 pm

Cheers for the advice, Double Take eventually returned the deposit 81 days after the photo day. I just hate to think how many deposits the simply fail to return because people dont hound them continually!

I went to the Manchester studio and am inclined to advise Manchester’s student direct about this company in the hope they can at least same a few other students from the same pit-fall!
7. Laura Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 5:39 pm

I am unable to find a phone number to speak to a human (lots of answering machines …) is anyone able to advise a phone number I can call. I’m also getting nowhere trying to get my deposit returned.
8. vickie Says:
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I am about to write a letter to double take studios as my friend has been waiting for a refund for 2 months!!! Can anyone tell me how they got their refund in the end? Was it just by hounding them everyday?
9. Doubletake Studios Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 3:45 pm

We’re very sorry to hear about your experiences at Doubletake. We see many clients each month, the majority of whom leave very happy and satisfied with our product.

We take our clients very seriously and we would like to help and solve issues as and when they arise. If anyone does have a serious issue, please email us at marketing@doubletake-uk.com and we will deal with your query.

In addition, we understand how important it is for clients to be able to contact us, which is why all clients have the facility to contact us directly through their personal online account.

Kind regards

The Doubletake Team
10. Ardel Says:
July 31st, 2007 at 11:56 am

Yeah I need to know as well. What number did you call. I went to the southhampton branch. Unfortunetly i filled out the form with 75 names. Over a month has passed for me already.
11. Ardel Says:
July 31st, 2007 at 1:33 pm

Post a letter to their home address and keep a copy of the letter.

Double Take Portraits Ltd.
Registered office:
19 Bakers Row
Farringdon
London
EC1R 3DG
12. admin Says:
August 4th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

To the poster from Doubletake Studios above; There are five people here who have not had their deposits returned as promised. This is a serious issue. Why haven’t these people been given their money back?

I also have two other questions which I would like addressed -

1. Why are the people that are recommended by friends told they have won a prize draw when this is doesn’t appear to be the case?

2. Why did the ‘Head Office’ phone number that was on your website connect to the same switchboard as the number for ‘Customer Services’? The ‘Head Office’ number has now been wisely removed, but click here to see the page as it looked on 27th April 2007:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070427131103/http://www.doubletake-uk.com/usefullnumbers.aspx
Perhaps you like to address these issues here?

I would guess that you don’t, but strongly urge you to consider doing so - a lot of people have been viewing this page.

I think Trading Standards and Watchdog would be very interested in this.
13. Lara Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 9:04 am

We visited Doubletake Studios for a makeover for our 16 year old niece. As our friends had visited in March they had ‘warned’ us of the cost of Photo’s, and gave us a copy of the packages available. Starting at £399 for a silver deal upto £2000 for the top deal.

We had received a call offering us the opportunity to pay an amount beforehand which would count as double, we therefore paid £200 and was duly told this would count as £400 on the day.(We had paid 99 deposit already which we have been told is refundable, but could not use that as ‘double’).

We decided that we were going to spend no more than the £400 and make sure we got our deposit back.

So came the viewings, and a card was handed to us with the package prices on - mysteriously the £400 package had vanished, the cheapest package now showing was £699.

We said we do not want to spend more than £400, so the guy said he would go and see what ’student deals’ where available. He came back with an offer of £549.00.

We stated again we did not want to spend more than the £400 and asked about the ’silver package’ our friends had been offered. He abrubtly said ‘hmm thats no longer available, if it ever was!’ - If it ever was ? suggesting we were lying.

We said again - we are not paying more than £400, at this point his attitude changed and became quite frosty. Clearly they are out to get as much money out of you as possible, and the packages are used as a tool to make people spend more. As we had already commited to spending £400 from our doubled up amount we feel we where not offered the silver package on this basis.

We dont mind the fact they want to sell you as much as they can, but feel ripped off because had we not rang and pre-paid an amount, it seems we would have been offered lower value packages, but were not as we had already spent this amount!!!

Also - they refused to give us the contact sheet, which is a sheet with thumbnails of the photos on, yet our friends who visted where given this as they upgraded on the day and purchased a now non existant package at £299.00.

If someone from doubletake reads this can you please comment on the packages and confirm exaclty when you withdrew the silver and gold packages?
14. Heather Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 10:59 am

I was phoned to say I had been “recommended” by my friend, who it turns out didn’t think it was worth it anyway. I agreed but then changed my mind almost immediately and tried to cancel. I am still trying because they say you can’t cancel. I am arguing that I can because until I received the confirmation email I did not have the full details and am entitled to a “cooling off” period. After reading this blog I definitely want to cancel. The address above will be useful.
15. admin Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

To Heather: I also tried to cancel after I had asked my friend about it. I sent them an email but they didn’t have the decency to respond. I considered pushing the matter and mentioning Distance Selling Regulations but I think they can justify (legally, not morally) keeping your deposit, as they claim they have to book in stylists and photographers specially. Much as I would like to see them prove this I realised that it would be too much hassle to take it further, so I decided to go along with it and just waste their time.

If you kick up enough fuss you might be successful, but if not don’t worry too much about it. Just go along and go through the motions, making sure you don’t give them a penny. Then add up the wage bill to work out the cost of their attempt to take your money cost them. And smile. But then realise that you’ve only manage to shave a tiny bit off their profits and join the fight to get this company to explain its actions.

In any case, please post here again and let us know how you get on.
16. admin Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Lara, thankyou for posting your experience. I think what they did to you is awful, perhaps even worse than not returning deposits. You were already a paying customer and instead of making sure you leave “very happy and satisfied” like “the majority” of customers (I would very much like to see evidence of this claim - I have yet to speak to someone who is satisfied with their treatment at Doubletake) it seems that they tailored their offer to give you as little as possible for your money. I don’t think the prices are fixed at all - it seems that the prices are almost entirely at the manager’s discretion.
17. admin Says:
August 5th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

By the way, if anyone knows anything about search-engine optimisation so I can get this page higher in google please get in touch.

Even if you don’t you can still help by sending this site to a friend or linking to it on a forum or website.

Let’s make sure people know the truth about the service that Doubletake Studios offers so they can make an informed decision before agreeing to take part (and save a lot of money and hassle).

The link is:

http://www.misunderestimated.co.uk/?p=6
18. Ardel Says:
August 7th, 2007 at 10:22 am

Ok, I’ve posted a letter on Thursday to let them know I have not been paid. I am giving them till this thursday to respond before I attempt to take legal actions. The good news about that is if I do win, then by case law (thank you England) everyone would be entitled to their money back as well. Hopefully I have enough evidence. Have my bank statement showing the money taken, a copy of their T’s and C’s, a copy of the letter sent, witness that i fulfilled all the requirements stated in the T’s and C’s and giving them sufficient time to deal with this issue.
19. Ardel Says:
August 7th, 2007 at 10:44 am

YEah!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just got a call after i sent off another email to the address the doule take ppl posted aove. They said they processed my money yesterday and I should receive it within three to four working days so i’m looking at Friday or monday latest. Will let you guy’s know if I get it. I recommend to everyone who is having problems to send off a letter, call, and email them to ensure they have heard you. If anyone would like to see a copy of the letter i’ve sent, email me at arichardson21@hotmail.com
20. admin Says:
August 7th, 2007 at 11:12 am

Congratulations Ardel, I’m glad to hear they finally paid up. I just can’t believe that their policy seems to be not bothering to pay back deposits until you kick up a fuss - it is quite frankly disgraceful.
21. Ardel Says:
August 8th, 2007 at 12:59 pm

It is really bad. Just confirmed with my bank. I am now 138 closer to getting out of my overdraft hehehe. Hope everyone else who is having troubles get through as well.
22. Dan Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

I have had the exact same experience, and 2 months later have still not received my refundable booking fee. I sent a letter today demanding payment before I go to Trading Standards. I only managed to wangle 2 pictures on a CD-ROM for £137 (shame I couldn’t get another two like they offered you for £138). I’m still owed £81 from them.

When trying to phone to enquire about my refundable booking fee I found their telephone system very confusing, and some of the options would direct me to the wrong place (or disconnect me from the line) when I pressed the corresponding number. It took attempt, after attempt, after attempt to find my way around the telephone system just to speak to someone in the Manchester studio, which probably built up a cost on my telephone line.

If anyone reads this and has an appointment for a photo shoot, I highly recommend cancelling your appointment and getting your booking fee back asap.

Dan x
23. admin Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

Dan, thanks for sharing your story. I’d really appreciate it if you’d link to this page from your blog. It is essential that we get this page higher in the search engine rankings if we are to…

In the short term, warn people to stay away from Doubletake…

and in the long term, force Doubletake to clean up their act.
24. Jenny Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

Thanks for this guys, I had a call from a very charming sounding man who promised that I would only pay a £1 booking fee. When I asked what was the catch, he said simply that I would have such a good day and the photos would be so good that we wouldn’t be able to resist buying the photos. I asked whether the photo’s were hideously expensive, and he replied that a CD of photos was only £90 (and then added that he would give me a £75 voucher off)… too good to be true eh?!

Well having half a brain cell, I said I would think about it, and went on trusty Google and you will be glad to know your site is now 9th in the list! After reading your comments I will definately not be booking with them, and if he rings again I will lay into him about all the stuff you have mentioned on this blog!!

Thank you for saving me and lots of others a lot of money!

PS: If you want to get your site higher up in the search engines, try adding tags into the section of your html code (search for it on Google - apologies if you’ve already thought of this!)
25. Jenny Says:
August 10th, 2007 at 9:22 pm

That last comment was wiped as I put “META” in brackets!!

PS: If you want to get your site higher up in the search engines, try adding META tags into the HEAD section of your html code (search for it on Google - apologies if you’ve already thought of this!)
26. admin Says:
August 11th, 2007 at 12:22 am

Hi Jenny, thanks for posting - I’m glad that you found the site. Thanks for your advice regarding the meta tags, I shall get to work on it
27. admin Says:
August 11th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

I just found this link, further evidence of Doubletake’s dishonest practices:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=515308
The poster says that, according to Consumer Direct, Doubletake’s stipulation that the appointment cannot be cancelled is NOT LEGAL.
28. Ben Says:
August 13th, 2007 at 9:42 pm

After two weeks of calling and emailing, I’ve finally received confirmation that my £161 deposit is on its way to my bank account. I certainly won’t forget Doubletake in a hurry.

The makeover and photo shoot themselves were quite fun. After my friend and I had watched the slideshow of our photos, a man came back in the room to take our order. I politely said that we would just get one photo each. He went out of the room and came back in again with revised prices, to ‘help our cause’, as he put it, but we didn’t budge. He started filling out an order form for my friend, and when it came to the handling fee, I said (perhaps a bit cheekily) that he didn’t need to charge it twice, as my friend’s photo would be delivered to my address.

At this, he totally flipped out. His actual rant was longer, but here are the edited highlights: ‘You can just take your deposit and leave right now, I’ve never met anyone as rude as you in the ten years it’s taken me to build up this business. All you’ve done is complain how expensive everything is. Do you know how patronising it is to hear this from a twenty-year old BOY?!! Has anyone ever told you how patronising you are?

Needless to say, I was seething with rage, but I kept my cool and simply said that no one had ever told me that before. ‘Well that I can’t believe’ was the answer. I calmly said that we were students, and not made of money, and simply could not afford more than one photo each. He continued with the order, and as we left (by way of apology I suppose) he gave us the contact sheets for free.

Just thinking about Doubletake makes my blood boil. I’m linking this blog to my facebook page so everyone I know will be warned off.
29. Doubletake Studios Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pm

Dear Bloggers,

Judging by the experiences detailed by the contributors to this blog, it is more than apparent that we have fallen considerably short in our standards of customer service and we completely understand why they are so upset and frustrated by our failings.
It’s not hard to see why other ‘potential’ customers are more than sceptical about using our services either, and given that we are a business that runs almost entirely on ‘reputation’, it’s not something we take lightly.
We’re not going to promise that everything will suddenly be made perfect overnight, but we hope you appreciate after reading the following that we are actually doing something about it – and not just because of this blog.
Perhaps the best way to allay concerns and to assure you all that we are doing our best to ‘make things right!’ is to address the key points you have raised ‘in turn’:

1) Students – our new policy for all photo shoot experiences is that they are for over 21’s only and we assume that the majority of students are therefore ‘excluded’ by this. Not that students don’t sometimes need photographs, but we appreciate the constraints on the student purse strings and while we are not saying that our photographs are ‘cheap’, there is no hiding the fact that they are a ‘luxury’ item which should be financed from ‘disposable income’ and not as a substitute for basic necessities. Terms and conditions are being amended accordingly.
2) Refundable Booking deposits – There are two reasons why we use refundable booking deposits and more recently, no show charges (now applicable to the majority of sessions): 1) Is commercial, in that we need to ‘cover our losses’ from spaces which could have been filled by other customers. 2) Having a no show charge or a refundable booking deposit is the only way a business such as this can avoid having to overbook their diaries which in turn would mean giving customers a compromised service in the event that EVERYONE turned up. Other similar businesses overbook to compensate.
3) Refunds of the refundable bookings deposits – as you are all aware, there have been issues with the refund dates of customers’ booking deposits and we sincerely apologise for this. We are not going to make excuses, and we admit that there has been a backlog to clear – however, we are well on the way to clearing it, while more importantly, we are developing a new payment system which will process ALL refunds automatically within our stated terms of 28 days. These terms and conditions have recently been reviewed by Trading Standards and are compliant with their recommendations. If anyone reading this is due a refund of a booking deposit, please call Fabian on 020 7843 1178 who will make sure that it is processed immediately.
4) Double Take Phones never answered – some of you have pointed out that they had been calling our Head Office / Customer Service numbers and had no joy getting through to a ‘human’. As one of the bloggers you’d be hard pressed to believe that we pride ourselves on customer service, but we do, and to this end, we have recently created a new Customer Care Centre which is targeted with making these issues a thing of the past. In order to make sure that customer issues / requests are dealt with as quickly as possible, they are now able to contact us in two ways. The first is via their personal ‘client account’ on our website, and if this is not an option, then by leaving a message for the customer care team. Either way, we are trying to resolve customer issues by the end of the next working day, and certainly to make contact with them within this timeframe. Furthermore, all our main numbers have been switched to 0845 (from 0870) which has reduced the cost of contacting us to a local call rate.
5) Cancellation Policy – if a customer purchases a voucher for a photo shoot experience, we offer (as required by law) a 7 day cooling off period. Once a booking has been made, having consulted with our legal advisers, our policy is, in line with theatre / concert / sporting event type bookings, that the experience becomes non-cancellable. However, we are trying to be as flexible as possible when it comes to changing appointments, but given that we have to hire professional makeup artists and photographers we do unfortunately have to maintain some sort of cancellation policy. If anyone has any current cancellation issues, please call Guerlaine on 020 7843 1197.
6) Photo / image prices – we’re not going to pretend that our photographs are cheap, but then again, we have invested far more in the quality of studios and staffing than similar businesses. What we do try to ensure are two things: a) they are competitive within our market place and b) they are good value for money. This begs the question why the cost of one or two photos seems disproportionately high. The principal reason for this is that the average cost of the actual experience to the customer is far less than the cost to the business and there is therefore the requirement to cover, in so far as is possible, the incremental costs of the professional studio staff. In actual fact, the average price at which the business sells each photograph is just under £20, which we hope would seem like good value to any potential customer.
So why does one customer sometimes get a seemingly better ‘deal’ than another? As with almost any product, two ‘givens’ apply. One – you will likely be able to find the same product either cheaper or more expensive from a different supplier, although we are hopeful that the ‘quality’ of the images we create are of a consistently higher standard than our competitors. Two – sod’s law is that you will likely find that you are sitting next to someone who has seemingly paid more (or less) for what on the face of it appears to be precisely the same thing, in exactly the same way that you could fly with any airline and find that the person sitting next to you paid half as much for their seat. Dig deeper and you will inevitably discover that there are a range of reasons to explain the discrepancy, not least of which is that, of all products, a photographic image is not something that you can compare on a like for like basis. It’s not the ‘paper’ the image is printed on that dictates the cost, as everyone is aware that the cost of this is negligible in comparison to the ‘price’. It’s the time and effort that go into creating the image that is the true cost and this is different for every single shoot we do, while we also take a number of other factors into consideration including the personal circumstances of the customer and retouching requirements.
7) Our policy on ‘selling’ - Our viewing sales team are under strict instructions NEVER to pressure sell, although inevitably, there are instances where one person’s ‘banter’ or ‘haggling’ is another person’s ‘pressure’.

We hope that the above will at the very least assure you that we really are taking action on all the points raised in this blog. That’s not to say that we’ll suddenly ‘get it right’ every time, which no business, especially one this size, can ever hope to do. But we will certainly try to get it right every time.

One final thing – The author of the blog has mentioned that he has yet to find a customer who was happy with their experience with us. It’s the nature of these things that it is the ‘unhappy’ customers that seek out such forums in order to find redress - or confirmation that they’re ‘not the only one’. There are happy customers out there, we promise – and lots of them. If you’re curious as to what a happy customer might say about us, then here’s a link:

www.myspace.com/doubletakestudios

If any customer would like to discuss the issues raised further with one of the company directors, (or to shout at him), please feel free to call Ray Gilbert on 020 7843 1199.

The Directors
30. Anna Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 4:29 pm

Thankyou very much for this information! I have just had a phone call from Doubletake Studios, telling me that my ‘friend’ had entered me into a prize draw and I had won a ‘free’ makeover and photoshoot! Like many others I am usually very sceptical about things like this, as nothing ever comes for free, but they are extremely persistent and so convincing - mentioning your ‘friend’s’ name that recommended you is a very clever trick, as it naturally makes you trust them more. They almost had me convinced to sign up there and then!

Thankfully I asked them to phone me back later and Googled ‘Doubletake’ to see what came up, before making a decision…and after reading this lot, I am so glad I did! Needless to say I will not be taking up their offer. The photoshoot and makeover itself may be ‘free’ but it seems the photos are where they make their money, and I do not like some of these stories about the pressure to buy photos at all. I am also a student (and under 21, I might add, yet they are still phoning me!) and certainly would not have had £400 to spare for some photos, so thankyou for saving me a lot of time and money :)
31. admin Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Brilliant, well done Anna :) I’m glad you weren’t took in and this blog is doing it’s job!
32. admin Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 6:00 pm

FAO: The Directors

Thankyou for your response, I am glad to see that you are now taking this seriously. Perhaps you would like to explain why Anna was telephoned, after what you promised about under-21s? I strongly believe that the people that read this blog are not going to trust your company until the issues I mention below are tackled.

1. The “prize draw”. Telling people in your cold-calls that they have won a “competition” is completely dishonest. It is obvious staff are told that they must procure a deposit there and then (”be quick or the slot will be taken!”), before they can get the full picture from the friend who unwittingly gave away their phone number. Whether or not you agree with the word ‘pressure’ is irrelevant (although it looks like you are alone on this one). One thing is clear. This is not the behaviour of an honest company with nothing to hide.

2. The non-payment of deposits. You say that you are developing “a new payment system which will process ALL refunds automatically within our stated terms of 28 days”. You expect customers to abide by your rules, punishing them with non-appearance fees, but you seem to have no intention of sticking to your own rules. The system you mention should have been in place FROM DAY ONE. It seems that there is no system in place whatsoever to pay deposits back, and therefore no intention (until threatened). This is inexcusable.

3. The cancellation policy. It may be legal not to offer a cancellation period (or it may not, I’m no lawyer), but whatever the case it is not an honest practice. If you allow people to CHANGE their appointment, thereby leaving the slot empty, why can they not CANCEL it - which has the same effect? The answer is, of course, obvious - because you don’t want them to have the option to cancel once they have been given the full picture.

4. I, and I’m sure everyone else who has read this blog, would still like an answer to the other question that I have previously asked, namely: please could you explain the presence of a ‘Head Office’ phone number that was exactly the same as ‘Customer Services’?

5. You claim that you believe that your photographs are value for money. If this was true there would be need for the “prize draw” tactics or the pressure to “snap up” the slot quickly.

One last thing: the “happy customers” on your myspace page. There are six. One of them, Elaine, says this:

“I had the best pampering day ever!
I looked and felt gorgeous! Thanks Doubletake!”

A quick click on her page reveals that she is a graphic designer who has been working for you.

A coincidence, I’m sure, but like the rest of your methods - it doesn’t really inspire confidence does it?
33. Mike Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 9:47 am

Hi Everyone, Just thought I’d add to this as i’m going through a similar problem. A friend of my girlfriends asked her to go along to Doubletake the Monday just gone. She felt that she had a good time, though like most of you who have been, felt pressured towards the end when its time for photos. She felt that some of the staff were rude and at a few points the women plainly asked for ‘cards’, when no agreement on what they were paying for.

Unfortunately not being familiar with the cruel world, she and her friend bought an expensive package, with all the photos. An now two days on she’s regretting it and it’s stressing her out. She has paid out £200 and now has monthly installments for 12 months. Don’t get me wrong, I know she was stupid for doing this but after their ‘bubbly’ bucks fizz and a bit of under confidence about your appearance, it’s easy to get dragged in.

I’m going to be sending off an email today asking them to cancel the direct debit and that she no longer wants the photos.

Any advice will be more then welcome and I’ll let you know how I get on.
34. Sue Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

Re unpaid deposits: HOW TO SUE SOMEONE

1. Warn them once only in writing that you will take legal action. Stipulate a date by which you will do so if they have not refunded by then. This must be a reasonable time to respond in law. Two weeks is easily long enough.

2. Go here and just fill in the online county court form:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp

3. The county court online website adds your court fees to the amount sued for. If Doubletake wish to settle at this point ensure they pay this ~£50 fee on top as well in recompense for their original tardiness in settling. (Suing is always free if you are in the right).

Er… That’s it.

Suing people who owe a monetary amount is so easy I’m surprised more people don’t do it. …Maybe they think it’s hard or specialised or something.

Take it from me who has sued a high street electrical retailer and a mobile phone vendor so far - it’s a walk in the park. Don’t complain. Don’t call or contact more than is reasonable to establish you gave them a reasonable chance to settle. Just sue. Both my suppliers settled out of court. If Doubletake have any sense they will too before teh court forces them to.

I hope this helps you all.

Sue of Messrs. Sue, Grabbit & Run
35. Doubletake Studios Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

Dear Admin and others,

Again, for clarity’s sake, we’ll address each point in turn.

1) Over 21’s – this is a new policy. When customers recommend their friends, they are now asked for ‘over 21’s’ only and a new form, currently at the printers, makes this very clear. There are many ‘over 18’s’ in the database, and as we do not have the dates of birth of customers’ friends, there is no way to avoid their being called. We are also reliant on customers making recommendations within the correct age ranges, and inevitably there are some who either choose to ignore the policy, or do not know the ages of all their friends.
2) The ‘Prize Draw’ – The new recommendation form states very clearly that a customer’s friends will be called and ‘given the chance to try’ a photo shoot experience. The database automatically selects numbers for the bookings agents to call and in this process a significant percentage of the leads are excluded, including any ‘students’, as long as they have been highlighted as such by their friends (again this is clear on the forms used). We have worked closely with trading standards on the ‘script’ the call centre uses and we are installing call monitoring equipment to ensure that staff do not deviate from the agreed script. The words ‘prize draw’, ‘competition’ and ‘won’ DO NOT appear in the script . Clearly it is in our interest to secure a booking in the first call – however, a significant percentage of customers need time to choose dates / view the website etc. and book in at a later date, while 15% of all clients book online. There is no ‘trick’ here – a business built almost entirely on recommendations where, on average, every customer knows at least 3 friends who have used our services (and we make it abundantly clear to those we call which of their friends recommended them), would crumble if it were in any way dishonest, or if the service provided was systematically substandard. Yes, some customers make their booking before speaking to their friends, and yes, they are encouraged to take the slots that suit them (if they don’t, current availability is such that they may wait over two months for some premium slots) but every single customer has the opportunity to speak to their friends about precisely what the experience entails before they attend. If your theories were correct, the business model would be as follows: a group of random customers would attend their experience, recommend their friends, view and purchase some images (or not as the case may be) and then when their friends call them (as they invariably do, to find out ALL about the experience, including details on photo prices, whether we employ ‘hard sell’ tactics etc), they would persuade their friends either not to attend, or at the very least, not to make any further recommendations and not to purchase any images. At this point the business would fail.
Strange then that quite the opposite is what happens. Of all appointment made, 80% are made through recommendation, 90% attend, and of these approximately 75% recommend further friends.
To illustrate our point, let us give you a (very recent) example. Yesterday, (the 14th August ), 50 customers attended the London studios. Of these, 36 recommended friends, 10 chose not to and 4 were unable to due to our new ‘age’ policies. All but one customer placed an order for at least one photograph.

These are just some of the comments that the 14 clients who DIDN’T recommend their friends made on their feedback forms:

The highlight of my day was:
‘The way in which the staff seem to effortlessly put you at ease, in every situation, throughout the day’
‘I loved it all – but especially the photo shoot and getting pampered’
‘The whole experience has been great. I loved being pampered, and the shoot was great fun’
‘Make up team were very friendly and made me feel comfortable getting glammed up even though I’m a guy and don’t usually do that sort of thing’
‘I felt very relaxed and welcome’
‘Friendly staff made me feel at ease’
‘Very friendly atmosphere’
And these are just the customers who chose NOT to recommend their friends.
(Re: the My Space page – indeed it turns out that there is a current member of staff in the commentary. Slightly biased admittedly (!), but she did have a shoot with her boyfriend. As it happened, there are many current staff who were originally clients and then applied for work here, which is not something that you would expect from unhappy customers).
We welcome all constructive feedback on the experience we provide, including from any forum which identifies failures in our systems – this is the only way we can improve our service and we are always looking to do so.
However, it is clear, by the sheer volumes of customers who have ‘voted with their feet’, that the experiences of those ‘aggrieved’ customers who feature in your blog, (Admin included), are not those of anywhere approaching the majority. In fact it is a very small minority, and while we are under no allusion that the ten or so customers who have chosen to air their opinions on our service (or to use it as a medium to speed up the return of a deposit) are the only customers who we have in some way let down in recent months, let us put the issues in perspective. Since your blog was posted, on June 1st 2007, more than 10,000 people have had one of our photo shoot experiences, and approximately 7,500 people have recommended further friends to us. One aggrieved customer is too many frankly, but, we are sure you are well aware that you can’t please everyone however hard you try. Our mission is at least to try to do so, and to that end we have given all of your co-bloggers the opportunity to contact us to resolve any outstanding issues they have, while we have also been in touch with any that we can identify from the information provided in the blog. The fact that we have been able to identify at least 4 of the bloggers simply from their first names and the detail they have shared with readers, is further proof that we have strong systems in place and that the backlog of customers with refunds due is being cleared quickly. As far as we are aware, where contact has been made, the issues have been satisfactorily resolved.
3) Refunds – we are sure you are aware that there are all sorts of new banking security procedures in place, particularly for internet and mail order bookings, to prevent identity theft and card fraud. When a refund of a booking deposit is requested, the card holder is required to sign a form detailing the relevant card details required to start this process. There are many factors which dictate that with our current payment system, the process cannot be entirely automated, and therefore numerous reasons why a refund might slip through the net. Hence our reasons for developing an expensive new system to make this ‘net’ as tight as is possible given the restraints imposed by the banking terms issued by card merchants. In the meantime, we have a team who work methodically through the queue. This queue is growing ever shorter and with the new bookings systems detailed in our previous contributions, it should be eliminated in the near future.
4) Cancellation policy – We do not want to force people to attend when they do not want to and you are entirely wrong if you believe that this is the case. The business relies on sales of photographic images and people who don’t want a photo shoot, don’t purchase photos – see 2) above. Furthermore, all the premium spaces, including weekends etc. are booked months in advance and could be sold many times over. As we detailed previously, we are, in any case, reviewing all our policies regarding cancellations and expect that new procedures will be in place for 1ST October.
5) Head Office number – as far as we are aware, there is no ‘Head Office’ number detailed on our website. We do advertise THREE 0845 numbers for customers to use to get in touch with us at the various stages of their experience – both before, during and after. These are available both on the website and in confirmation literature they are sent by post and email. Furthermore, we include an email option on the site, and EVERY customer either HAS a personal login account which connects them directly with our database, or has the opportunity to create one. In addition to this, once a customer has attended their appointment they are furnished with any additional contact numbers they might require, while once they are in dialogue with a particular member of staff they will also have access to that staff member’s email, their direct dial number and / or their extension number. We believe this gives ALL customers ample opportunity to make contact.
6) Value for Money – again, we refer to our previous contribution – we believe that, in our industry, the quality of our work and the average price that this work ‘sells’ for, is extremely good value for money. With regard to the requirement for a ‘prize draw’, we again refer you to 2) above – our current scripts do not mention the words ‘prize draw’ in relation to the experience that customers are offered ‘complimentary’. It is NOT a competition that customers’ friends have to ‘win’ to come here. Rather we are so confident in the product that we are prepared to offer a significant percentage of our customers to try it on a complimentary, ‘no obligation to purchase’ basis.
7) To ‘Mike’ – your email is being looked into as we write and Catherine will be calling you to sort the order out. We will endeavour to be as flexible as possible with this. I would point out however, that on the feedback form that your girlfriend handed in to the reception team, she rated our service a MAXIMUM score of 5out of 5 on TWENTY ONE out of the TWENTY TWO questions, and a 4 out of 5 on the remaining one, namely ‘was my makeup artist friendly and helpful?’ Your ‘blog’ states that ‘some of the staff were rude’ – why then the maximum rating ?
8) Pressure selling – as with all ‘sales’ industries, any business and any salesperson will try to maximize their revenues and in most cases the customer is ‘complicit’ in this process. Of course, there are instances when a customer can get carried away and there are instances when they may feel under pressure. When it comes to the sale of photographs, we operate a ZERO TOLERANCE policy with our viewing sales staff on ‘pressure selling’ (in the case of ‘Mike’s’ girlfriend this does not appear to be a factor), and with all staff, any rudeness to customers (as Ben mentioned in his contribution – we are in direct contact with Ben regarding this) is also considered a most serious offence. The most serious cases may be considered to represent gross misconduct and as such would result in instant dismissal. The general feedback on our 250 staff however, is that by and large they are delightful.

As we have said, at length, previously – we’re not perfect. But we are doing our best, and certainly our best to improve in any areas where we (or others) have identified that we are falling short of the standards that our customers have every right to expect from us.
In the previous contribution, we have given any aggrieved bloggers several additional numbers with which to make contact with our various teams in order to get any issues resolved speedily. Furthermore, we have tried to make contact with any bloggers we can identify from their contributions as well as giving them a hotline straight to one of the founding directors. We would particularly like the opportunity to speak to Sam (Admin), who we have called but so far failed to get through to. Sam - Ray will try again to reach you in the next day or two, but you are welcome to call him directly to air any further issues you may have.
We have also tried to answer honestly and fairly, all the questions posed by all the various bloggers.
Short of inviting the blogging ‘team’ to an open day to see precisely how the business operates (we would also point out that every one of the multitude of third party companies that sell our experiences as part of their range, send in regular mystery shoppers), or employing them to oversee our customer service teams, we don’t see that there is much more we can do.
The Directors
36. Sue Says:
August 15th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

I forgot to say you should wait the two weeks between 1. and 2. Even bad payers have that right of at least a chance to resolve.
37. Anne Gifford Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 12:57 pm

My 18 yr old daughter is another victim of Doubletake. (I’m the person Admin mentions relating to the MoneySavingExpert site.) She was told the only ‘fee’ would be a refundable £1 per person ‘attendance/booking fee. She gave her bank details on the phone after being called by one of their saleswomen, who said she’d ‘won’ the experience after her name being given by one of her friends. When we couldn’t attend due to a demonstration near their London studio on the day (we just couldn’t get near the studio as the police had closed most of the side roads off) they, about 3 days later, took a further £98 from her bank account. I phoned them only to be told there was no way any money would be refunded because we had not turned up, I explained that we had tried to get there but just couldn’t due to the protest nearby. He point blank refused. Furthermore on the actual day, when we were still trying to get to the studio, we had a phone call from them telling us that if we were more than 1/2 hour late they wouldn’t be able to do the makeover and photoshoot. Even at that point, they did not point out that any further money would be taken. I have now reported this company to ConsumerDirect and Trading Standards. I have (on their advice) written to them requesting a refund within 28 days as it is illegal for them not to offer a ‘cooling off’ period in their t&c’s. I await a response from them (it’s been about 2 weeks now). I WILL take them to court if I do not receive a refund!

I’ll keep you all posted.
Anne
38. Anne Gifford Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 7:26 pm

Further to the above - I’ve spoken to Trading Standards today and told them about all the complaints regarding Double Take studios on this website. They said to inform everyone concerned to report this company to them - they can only take action if they know about it. The more bad feedback regarding this company the more likely we are to get some action.

Please - if you have fallen foul of this company report them to Trading Standards!
39. admin Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 3:02 am

FAO: The directors.

Thankyou for posting again. I will try to respond to your comments in a logical order.

1. The over-21s policy. I commend this move. Well done.

2a. The prize draw. I am pleased you have taken it out of the ‘new’ script. But please tell me, why was it there in the first place? There are many, many people who will testify to having being told they have won a competition, mine was NOT an isolated incident.

2b. The feedback. The participants all agree that the experience was fun and the staff were friendly. But at what point are they asked for their feedback? BEFORE they were pressured to buy the photographs. I don’t think anyone would disagree that the makeover and photoshoot is fun, and the staff up to this point are very friendly. But hang on… what about the grumpy manager giving you the hard-sell? If you wanted feedback on the overall experience, wouldn’t you give them the feedback form at the end? I put it to you that the results would be a lot more negative, and you would find yourselves with much less phone numbers on your recommendation form.

3. I am glad to hear you are ‘clearing the backlog’, but I strongly believe that you should only take on as many customers as you can handle returning their deposits to ON TIME AS PROMISED. The fact that you have a backlog is just not an excuse.

4. You say that you do not want to force people to attend when they do not want to. I move that if this was true you would allow cancellations within a reasonable period. If your slots are as ‘in demand’ as you claim, this should not be a problem. I am glad you will be reviewing your policy on this.

5. The head office number. It is gone now, yes. But like I have said many times (and the link to prove it is further up the page) it WAS there when I had my ‘experience’, and I would like to know why. This is the third time you have avoided this question.

6. The price of photos. You justify your manipulation of prices by saying that “a photographic image is not something that you can compare on a like for like basis”. If this is the case, why do you initially present customers with a fixed price list?

You say that “every single customer has the opportunity to speak to their friends about precisely what the experience entails before they attend”. Yes, but can they cancel? NO. They have to go, and inevitably are plied with alcohol and pressured into sales.

The fact is that complaints are flying around here left right and centre about rude staff, pressure-selling and unpaid deposits. I think the only things that are preventing your company from ‘crumbling’ at the moment are your refusal to allow cancellations and the careful timing with which you hand over the recommendation forms.

Whilst I would bet happy to speak to you on the phone I feel that it is in both of our interests that you respond to the points I raise above in the public domain. I regret that I am no longer reachable on the number you have on file, but if I find time over the next few days I will call Mr. Gilbert.

Head Office
40. Naomi Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 12:30 pm

Hi There, Yesterday i was another victim to doubletake studios, and although myself and my sister enjoyed the make-up and photo shoot, we were left feeling stressed and anxious after the viewing took place, we knew that the photos would not be cheap, but we did not expect to have to pay £550 for 6 photos! and although the VIP experience “won” included the 75pound voucher, we were only allowed to use this if we bought a package and it could not be used on individual photographs! We were offered “better” deals after talking to the manager (we never got to speak to the manager) and then after saying to the salesman “its too expensive” in responce he said “oh come on ladies what did you expect this is a professional fashion studio” we were given 5 mins to decide….and i am ashamed to admit that i gave into this, i was extremely naive and paid 300pound for 6 photos!!!! my sister who is less nnaive than me, managed to get 2 photos for 100pounds!! if he could do that for her why couldnt he me?? all these things that you dont think of while in that room, having left there at 7ish, we went for dinner, travelled home and now after having the time we should have been given to think abiout it…i now feel extremely stupid! and i am happy to cancel the whole thing, all other similar companies offer a 7-10 day cancellation, doubletake does not! what am i to do? i am annoyed at myself more than anything for being so naive! if only i had seen this blog.
41. admin Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Naomi, I’m sorry to hear this. I’m afraid patronising and rude salesmen seem to be the norm at this company and I can see how it would be easy to give in. After deciding I would take one photograph the salesman gave me about a minute to choose which one and only reluctantly let me look through the slideshow again, saying “I’ve wasted enough time already” (if the directors are interested, the man’s name was Nicholas, at the Southampton studios). I suggest you give Mr. Gilbert a call on the number above: 020 7843 1199. If he does not want his clients to feel pressured as he claims I am sure he will be happy to see that order is cancelled. Do let us know how you get on, I wish you the best of luck.
42. admin Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

I would guess I am not alone in finding it difficult to believe many of the things that the directors have been saying.

For anyone reading who are tempted to give the directors the benefit of the doubt, you might be interested to know that I was checking the traffic stats and found that a visitor to the site, based in London and using the same service provider as the poster(s) from Doubletake Studios, accessed the site through the following link:

http://www.netdisaster.com/disaster.php?mode=blood&lang=en&url=http://www.misunderestimated.co.uk/

“We welcome all constructive feedback on the experience we provide, including from any forum which identifies failures in our systems – this is the only way we can improve our service and we are always looking to do so.”

Oops!!!
43. Doubletake Studios Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

To Sam and the other bloggers:

1) Anne Gifford’s issue – as far as we are aware, the sequence of events relating to Anne and her daughter are as follows: On the 11th of July, Anne’s daughter was called and offered a photo shoot experience (she is 18 and with our new policies, would now be excluded where possible from making a booking or appearing in our database) and a booking was made for 2 appointments on the 15th July. These were then changed (without a change of appointment fee – we allow one change without any fees, as long as 5 days notice is given) to the 22nd July. On this particular Sunday, there was a Stop the War demonstration going on in central London. This demonstration was advertised in advance on the internet, on roadside signs and on local and national TV and radio. Mrs. Gifford and her daughter were, unfortunately, delayed by this demonstration and were unable to attend their appointment. However, the average attendance rate on that day was no different from any other Sunday, suggesting that their experience was not that of other customers that day. When Anne’s daughter made the booking, she was asked for a £1 ‘refundable’ (NOT non refundable as Anne has detailed) booking deposit and told that if for any reason they did not attend their appointment on the date booked, the sessions would be subject to a ‘no show charge’ of £50 – i.e. as we had already taken £1 they would be debited a further £49 per session (hence the £98 charge made). While we are sympathetic to the Giffords (if you read our terms and conditions you will notice that if customers rebook appointments, any fees they pay for ‘no shows’ or ‘change of appointments’ can be used towards photographic packages so that they don’t actually ‘lose’ the money), we would point out that rather than it being a ‘scam’ as Mrs. Gifford has decided it is (and we take this kind of accusation extremely seriously), we actually lose money on spaces even if a no show charge is paid (there are now £75 and this still doesn’t cover the staffing cost of a space). When you take into account loss of revenue from the average attended ‘session’ our losses are even greater.
Let’s be clear here – what the Giffords were offered were TWO ‘absolutely free’ photographic sessions lasting up to four hours and if they attended the appointments they had made and subsequently decided not to purchase any images from the shoots (there is NO obligation to do so), it would have cost them no more than time and travel. These two sessions cost the business upwards of £200 in staffing and any customer (particularly one who had been recommended by a friend) would be naïve to think that we wouldn’t at some point endeavour to sell them one or more of their images. However, the bottom line is, that we are so confident in the product that we offer it for free to a % of our customers.
Mrs. Gifford chose to seek advice on the money expert site on 30th July having been told of the no show charges, which were, apparently, a surprise to both her and her daughter. That they were a surprise, is also a surprise. All call centre agents are very clear about the ‘no show charges’ and any refundable deposits paid and are heavily penalised for veering from the scripts in any way regarding this. Furthermore, even if Mrs. Gifford’s daughter did not for some reason appreciate the terms and conditions of the no show charges, we sent her an email and a written confirmation, detailing them in full.
When one reads the commentary on Mrs. Giffords issue on the Money Expert site, it soon becomes clear that other contributors are in agreement with our policy and certainly not in any way surprised by it – e.g. ‘the offer to treat (acceptance of the contract) is made when payment is offered. Failure to turn up so incurs a penalty charge. My dentist does the same!’ and ‘if you had booked any other appointment and not turned up you would expect to be charged’.
As we mention, we are sympathetic to the Giffords and they are entitled to use the fees towards packages should they decide to rebook (and we would welcome them to do so) – however, our sympathy is stretched to the limit when a person chooses publicly to state that ‘my daughter was another victim of this scam’ when 1) it clearly isn’t a scam and 2) we have given her ample opportunity to speak directly to a director to have her problem resolved, which it would have been and to her advantage.

2) Admin’s points:

a) Prize draws – One version of our recommendation form detailed a prize draw as the medium for making bookings and this was carried forward to the call centre scripts. We have tried many forms of advertising ranging from television and radio commercials to street based sales teams in the last ten years and the ‘prize draw’ system was just one of these. In any event, it is not the most effective method and this is one of the two key areas where we worked very closely with Trading Standards to come up with an acceptable alternative – which we have.
b) The feedback – you are right – there will be cases where some customers would have perhaps chosen to recommend less of their friends after their viewing, but equally, there are many customers who simply don’t have time to fill in the whole of their forms in between the photo shoot and viewing sessions and then complete the form after their viewing. Customers are absolutely entitled to withdraw recommendations after their viewing, and this does occasionally happen but extremely rarely. The reason for the timing of the forms is in reality entirely down to the timing of the various elements of the experience – the 45 minutes or so that it takes the retouching teams to create a personalised slideshow complete with a range of montages which is between the photo shoot and viewing session is the only time it is practicable to do this. As it happens, the new forms are being designed in two parts now and the feedback on the entire session will be done during and after the viewing session.
c) The backlog of refunds - We’re not making an excuse for this, we’re just doing something major about it, as we have detailed twice already. We have more customers now than ever before and do not anticipate an issue with this in the future.
d) Cancellations – the policy we end up with here will not only allow those who do not wish to attend, not to attend (there will be cancellation fees where reasonable notice is not given – bear in mind we hire staff on average four weeks in advance for these sessions). If we were forced to ‘overbook’ to compensate (as I imagine we would if we used Admin’s ‘ideal’ policy), the overall experience for ALL customers would be compromised and this is something we are simply not prepared to consider.
e) Head Office number – the old phone system had an 0870 number for Head Office which accessed all departments via a series of ‘press one for this department, two for that, three for the other etc’ – we have replaced this system to simplify the process for customers and as mentioned, we have changed the contact numbers to 0845’s to make the calls cheaper.
f) Photo prices – there are times when customers who buy images get them at a discount to the listed prices. It is true, that no two shoots are the same and the ‘worth’ of the images to each customer depends on many factors, including the quality of the shoot (this differs from customer to customer depending on their posing abilities, the photographer, the outfits they use etc), and the personal requirement for images (portfolios etc). It’s not simply a matter of ‘how many images’ were purchased that determines whether or not a customer gets ‘good value for money’. Size, retouching and ‘finish’ are other factors. On the other hand, we’re not an auction house and we couldn’t seriously consider a system of pricing based on asking the customer – ‘how much are these images worth to you’? As such, just like most retailers, we start with a fixed price list and then discount as we consider appropriate. Incidentally, Naomi’s issue detailed at 12:30pm is already in the resolution stages.
g) Complaints – in eleven years, more than 150,000 customers have experienced one of our photo shoots and between them they have made more than 2 million recommendations. As we have gone to great lengths to explain in previous contributions, we welcome the chance to improve our service and to resolve the issues of aggrieved customers. We have also documented that we have been working closely with Trading Standards for this precise purpose. For those bloggers who do not know how Trading Standards works, put simply, it’s as follows: Trading Standards’ main purpose is consumer protection. When Trading Standards receives a certain number of complaints about a particular organisation (and this number does not need to be particularly high), most especially when these complaints follow a ‘pattern’, they will contact (or visit unannounced) the organisation and investigate further. While the initial process does not take the size of the organisation into account (i.e. it doesn’t matter how big you are - when a threshold is reached, an investigation is likely to be triggered), once they visit, they will consider all relevant factors. For example – in eleven years, we have had two ‘investigations’ from the local Trading Standards officers. One when we advertised on television, and one in the last six months which focused on assisting us with agreeing watertight terms and conditions of business – this is ongoing. The total complaints registered in each of these cases were in single figures, and represent a minute fraction of the number of customers the business has processed in that period. That is not to say that there haven’t been many other customers who have taken issue with us on a range of issues over the years, but these have been resolved internally. Any of the ‘bloggers’ who we have been able to contact and who we feel have a ‘case’ have had their issues resolved already, but we have nothing to hide and if bloggers feel the need to encourage other ‘aggrieved’ to contact Trading Standards, then we are entirely comfortable with this. They will treat every complaint on its merit and if they feel the need to contact us to establish whether there are continuing issues they will do so. Indeed, if anyone would like to call Ray to discuss the matter, he would be happy to furnish them with the contact details of the Trading Standards officer who specifically deals with our business. While they will consider genuine complaints, or constructive feedback and criticism, what they will pay no attention to, is anyone who appears to be making malicious attempts to undermine a business as is the case with a number of the contributions to this ‘piece’.
We feel that we have now addressed every question asked of us at considerable length and in great detail. If anyone still feels that they would be enlightened further by speaking to Ray Gilbert, he is happy to take their calls on 020 7843 1199. If he is unavailable for any reason, please leave him a message with your contact details and he will get back to you. We really do want every customer to leave the studio satisfied with their experience. However, if anyone reading this blog feels they have a genuine outstanding grievance (we feel that the majority of the recent bloggers have been identified and had their issues sorted accordingly) they should contact us on the various numbers we have provided throughout our various contributions to this blog. If after doing so, you still don’t feel that we’ve done enough, then please call Ray and let him know personally what you would like us to do by way of reparation. We will be unable to comment any further via this blog.

For refunds and customer service issues please call Fabian or Catherine on 0207 843 1178
For bookings please call Guerlaine on 0207 843 1197

The Directors
44. admin Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

Thankyou for answering my questions. I am sure you understand the anger of people like me who:

- Were told they had won a “prize draw”
- Politely asked to cancel (within 48 hours!) but were ignored
- Were confronted by a rude and pushy salesman
- Had to phone up TWICE after the promised refund didn’t arrive

There is now enough information here for people to make their own mind up about Doubletake Studios. My personal view on the way you do business:

For the most part legal, but highly immoral.

I invite readers to continue to share their experiences here.
45. Naomi Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 10:33 am

Hi There, having left a comment yesterday, i finally had a reply back from the marketing department (NOT customer services) and i made it very clear that although the experience itself was great, it was the salesman that ruined it, i gave the name of the salesman and told the girl that rang me just how rude he was, to be fair, this woman was infact very helpful and as told me she will do her best to get me the refund i want, i have to wait to hear back about this, but as doubletake studios have claimed in above statement, i am aparantly in the “resolution stage”, so i will keep updated what happens.

I would also just like to say that before my day, when i was rang on my mobile by one of the the members of staff, when they told me i had “won” this VIP day they said that i would need to pay a £1 deposit, but as there were 2 of us it would make it £2, i was then informed if i did not show i would be charged £49, never once did she mention that i would actually be charged £98, so i agree with anne there on the lack of information given on that phone-call, i also asked about prices of photos and was told there would be something to suit my budget. i also mentioned to the lady i spoke to yesterday that before my VIP day (and before reading this blog) i emailed customer services 2 weeks before hand to get my confirmation email as it had not come through, i then rang sales to ask for it, i also emailed to ask about prices so i was aware of prices before hand, i did not receive any replies to email, and the sales team told me that i would receive that email ASAP. on the day before shoot, the confirmation email came through. I am still waiting for the other emails and a password reset email.

I feel that this companty may change the way they deal with things in the future, my friend went to a different studio which did the same thing, she came away having spent not much at all, has 2 lovely photos and a salesman that gave her an hour to choose, it is this situation that is good business.
46. admin Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

Naomi, thanks for posting again, I am glad to hear that some of the salesmen are reasonable.

If they do as they say; and that is to drop the pretence of ‘winning’, allow cancellations, sort out their CS (including the deposit fiasco), and take action against pushy and rude salesmen - I will be happy that this blog has done its job.

I look forward to receiving more positive reports in the future.

Do let us know what happens with your refund.
47. jodie Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 6:30 pm

hi ive gone through the same as every one else too!!!
won competions all that crap!!
paid just under a £1000 for a package, and moneys still coming out of my account to top it off!!
and i also didnt even recieve everythin, im just 18 and paid that amount because of the stupid pushy sales woman, who also promised me work!
hated the experience!!
hate double take
48. Angela Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

I have just booked with Doubletake studios. The booking fee with Doubletake was £1. if I cancel within 7 days of the appointment, Doubletake will withdraw £50 from my account to cover losses.

My friend recommended me. she said she was happy with her experience at Doubletake, but the photos were no better to what anyone could themselves.
49. Chris Says:
August 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

I couldn’t agree more that Doubletake Studios are at best a waste of time. I have little to add about my experience as most of it tallies with the bad experiences detailed above. Fortunately, the photographs were mostly pretty poor (my partner’s makeup was not brilliant and the photographer didn’t seem to really know what to do with us most of the time) so we didn’t even get into talking prices and just wanted out.

The salesperson didn’t make it easy to leave and their attitude was not particularly friendly, attempting to guilt us into buying when we clearly did not want to. For a fraction of the money Doubletake were attempting to extort out of us we could simply hire a professional photographer to get some decent shots.
50. Emma Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 11:24 am

My sister and I ‘won’ a Doubletake experience back in January and booked it for July in the London studio - travelling down from Aberdeen to do so.

We did enjoy our day and the photos were great HOWEVER I do have to agree with the ‘pushy salespeople’ comments. I think the worst thing is that they try to take you into small rooms - apparently ‘private viewing booths’ which are more like cells even for all their plush leather sofas - to prise the cash from your hands. Also the so-called ‘professional’ make up and hair ‘artists’ do little more than slap on the panstick and style your hair - you join the conveyor belt at one end by choosing from 1 of 4 hair styles and 1 of 4 make-up ‘looks’. I can understand this because they obviously have to get through so many people in one day BUT does this really justify the deposit…..same with the photographers - my sister and I were lucky to have good people who actually suggested outfits and helped us find poses HOWEVER it was a conveyor belt again with several people all jostling for the same ’studios’ at the same time.

We got off quite lightly compared to some because I actually have to negotiate sales for a living and therefore told them 3 times we were quite happy to walk out and not take any photos with us! We ended up with 2 people - one fairly dizzy girl who was apparently in charge and a ‘trainee’ who sat right next to the door. My sister was a little taken aback by their hard-sell techniques until, after one ’session’ I explained that they are all obviously working on commission. Originally I was supposed to be alone and my sister was supposed to be in another room so we had both been assigned different people to ‘negotiate’ with. Our lady noticed this and had to leave to go and sort it out - that tells me these guys are on commission and therefore aren’t necessarily the most ethical sellers on earth.

We were also very lucky in that it turned out someone who worked at the studios actually went to the same school as us - they were brought down from the office to verify this and suddenly lo and behold the price halved. I happened to point out that I used to be a graphic designer and could easily recreate all of the effects and airbrushing myself really quite cheaply - miraculously the price dropped again! At the very end I was dumped back in reception, the seller flounced off with my sister to get her details sorted and we were then herded sharpish from the building - probably so we couldn’t warn any of the other people who were waiting to go in.

If, as Doubletake state ‘we’re not an auction house and we couldn’t seriously consider a system of pricing based on asking the customer – ‘how much are these images worth to you’?’ then why could we bargain them down to getting EVERY image on CD with full copyright for £300 each?! And why did our friend who referred us (call it what it is - it’s not a prize draw it’s a referral scheme) get a phone call just a couple of months after her shoot offering her ALL of her shots on CD with copyright for £60?!!

My sister and I decided to pay £150 deposit each and then pay the rest by monthly payment - you’ll notice I don’t say direct debit because they don’t offer this option - therefore no Direct Debit Guarantee and no liability to make/take correct payments. Instead they take your card number and debit your card monthly which is not the same. My sister has since discovered that after her first payment came out - it has come out it shows on her bank statement - they have taken the payment AGAIN and have sent a letter to say her first payment was declined. They also do not point out the administration fee that’s tacked on for paying in this way. Normally in any card transaction you already pay a fee of 2.5% which is included in the balance and therefore doesn’t affect the total - you’ll notice this stated on credit/debit card receipts for ALL card transactions. However it appears that Doubletake ADD a further 2.5% on top of your agreed amount just for someone typing numbers into a machine and pressing send. Now she can’t contact them at all - forwarding this site to me this morning whilst searching for some sort of contact number that actually takes her through to humans.

I don’t blame anyone for complaining - it’s a very soft sell that then develops into something worse than haggling in a Morroccan street market. Some of their practices are decidedly dodgy and some people (including ourselves) come out feeling a bit shell shocked. However you can’t go anywhere these days without someone trying to sell you something - banks, insurance brokers even in Tesco and Comet they’re trying to get you to increase the amount of what you buy. This is how they make their money and by now surely we should realise that you cannot get something for nothing.

But, naivety aside they’re a decidedly shady company. If you’re going to go be prepared and stand up to the sellers, read everything very carefully - don’t be afraid to ask for clarification from the seller - if they can’t explain something in their terms REFUSE TO SIGN IT until someone can be produced that can explain it. Refuse to fill in the feedback form until the very end of your experience - again they can’t make you. And be prepared (with your new hair and make-up) to MAKE A SCENE!!
51. admin Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Emma, thankyou very much for posting. I am glad somebody else saw through the “professional studio” image for the conveyer belt that it is. The photos are only worth how much the customer is willing to pay for them. Even if you like the photos, act totally disinterested and you will most likely get them for a quarter of the price you would have done if you had shown interest from the off. Better yet, if you find the salesman pushy - just don’t buy any. If enough people followed this advice Doubletake would go broke in no time, but there are enough people who allow them to turn them upside down and shake out their pockets that they are making a killing (lets face it, they’re not exactly re-investing any of their profit in Customer Service).

Chris, completely agree with what you said, thanks for posting.
52. Rishi Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 12:29 am

I’ve been invited to the London branch on Tuesday 21/08 for the experience and after reading most of the comments by users and from Double Take Studios, I am actually looking forward to seeing if they have implemented the changes they claim to have made and testing their services.

I will post back again to let people know of my experience whether it be GOOD OR BAD. Now here’s a random person going to the studio for the experience so I will definitely be a decent ‘control’ experiment and I will certainly tell the truth!

Rishi
53. admin Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 12:43 am

Brilliant - I look forward to reading your report. I sincerely hope it is positive.
54. Amel Wehden Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 2:43 pm

i am SO SO glad i have found this blog! and v glad to hear im not alone. double take have been messing me around for months. they have owed me £158 since 22nd July, and after leaving countless messages and emails i am sending a letter threatening legal action if the money isn’t returned within 14 days, i’ll let you know! the day itself was ok, until it came to viewing the photos, the sales lady was so rude who told me id wasted everyones time because i didnt want to buy one photo on cd for £130! also i was lied to on the phone, when i was initially told id “won” the experience i was told i would receive a user name and password on the day and be able to view my photos online then make a purchase should i wish. when i explained this to the sales lady she said id been given the wrong information and so would organise a ’special’ price for me. whats special about one crap photo on CD for that much money!>?! absolutely nothing.
55. Anne Gifford Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:40 am

I have just read Doubletake’s reply to my posting. I would like to clarify a few points they raised. 1) My daughter was most definitely NOT told in the initial phone call that there would be a ‘no show’ charge of £50 - on the contrary the saleswoman’s actual words were - ‘the only money you will have to pay is a £1 booking fee and the cost of any photographs you choose on the day’. 2) I don’t know if the demonstration was advertised in advance on the internet, roadside signs or local and national TV and radio or not - the fact is that I did not know about it until we were caught up in it on the day. 3)The call centre agent was definitely NOT CLEAR about the ‘no show’ charges. Even when their agent phoned us on the day when we were late - they STILL DID NOT mention anything about a ‘no show’ charge - all they told us was that if we were more than 1/2 hour late they would not be able to go ahead with the experience. 4) Yes she did receive an email on the Friday morning (our experience was to be on the Sunday) - but being a naive 18 year old she did not even think about ‘clicking’ on the t&c’s - she was more interested in looking at their before and after photos on their website , and reading about what to wear and take with her on the day - especially as she had been specifically told that there would be no other fees to pay! As for the confirmation letter - on the front of that letter it is very bold and colourful - however, on the back (the t&c’s) the print is a very very pale grey, which on her particular copy was very scored making it very difficult and uncomfortable to read. Even when I took the letter to the Trading Standards office - they had to darken the colour on their photocopier to make it legible. 5) Regarding Doubletake’s comments about other contributors on the MoneyExpert site being in agreement with thier policy (!) Yes perhaps a few contributors did agree - but there are many more that agree with me! 6) They say that we would be welcome to rebook - we actually tried to do so only to be told that as we had already made one change to the booking we could not rebook! 7) I have been given absolutely no opportunity to speak directly with a director to have my problem resolved. In fact, when I phoned and spoke to a ‘manager’ he was actually very unhelpful and put the phone down on me! (I did call his company ‘mugs’ - but that’s not exactly the worst insult in the world is it?)

I have now also received an email from their Marketing manager, Astrid Harrisson, who is responding to my blog on this and MoneyExpert’s sites. She is now offering my daughter a complimentary photoshoot and 5 complimentary prints. There is no mention of me being offered this - which makes me suspicious that perhaps they don’t want me there to protect my daughter. She mentions a refund of our money - but I’m not sure if this is conditional on my daughter attending this complimentary photoshoot. After reading about other people’s experiences upon attending these photoshoots, I’m not sure that I want my daughter to face this - I would much rather just have a full refund of our money and forget all about Doubletake. I will let you all know the outcome in due course.
Anne
56. na 1987 Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:21 pm

I am quite dissappointed in reading the comments on this page, as I am due to go to the london studio with my siter this sunday (26th), and today pre-paid £125 for the “double money” promotion (being the minimum amount I was told!). I asked the cost of the cd and was told it starts at £120!!!On checking with my sister she had managed to pre-book £100!Found this site when I had a gut-feeling something wasn’t quite right and got the shock of my life when people have been paying an arm and lg for a couple shots! It’s obviously too late to cancel, as i have flight etc booked and paid a deposit. Please can I have some advice as to what to do?

many thanks!
57. Nicky Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm

22.08.07 I had the phone call today - I was “recommended by a friend” and this did go a long way to convincing me it was genuine. I was ‘lucky’ in that I only submitted to a £10 deposit and my appointment is not for a few weeks so I have time to wrangle my way out of this, if necessary.

I have rang my friend and left a message - prior to getting on the website. Since reading all the bloggs and unable to speak to my friend so far, I have contacted her father who could confirm that my friend had attended with her cousin, had a good experience and stood their ground over how much they were prepared to spend: £50 each for a photo.

I rang my bank and Double Take have taken the £10 (almost immediately in terms of timing!) but I have since cancelled my card so that they cannot take any more money. I will decide what to do when I have spoken to my friend and if I do still go, I will not go on my own!
N.B. I was told about a ‘no show charge’ and an ‘admin fee’ if I wanted any amendments to my booking after a certain date, but not told how much those charges actually were!
58. Amel Wehden Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:19 pm

hello,
me again, i didn’t send the letter as i noticed a contact number on one of the answers from double take directors 0207 (843 1178), i called up and actually managed to get through to a REAL person, his name was Pietro, after i started to complain he put me on hold then cut me off! so anyway i called straight back, and before he had chance i said :
“Your company owes me £158 for a refundable booking deposit, which has been outstanding since 22nd July 2007. If this money is not received within 14 days I will sue your company through the small claims court.”
Today i have had a call from amanda from accounts saying the money has been refunded including £5 late return fee. so hopefully it will appear there as promised.
Hope everyone else who is waiting can get sorted out too!
59. Diane Says:
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:40 pm

Wow am I glad I found this page !!
I fell for a similar thing in London in the 80’s and spent a fortune on 2 grotty photos that I have never looked at since !!
Heaven only knows why I almost fell for it again !!
I was just going to book for myself and a friend - from offers on Ebay !
There are so many opportunities on there making it sound like a ‘too good to be true’ offer.
Which of course clearly it is !!
Thank you SO much !! By the way you are now the 6th listing on Google so well done !
60. Nicky Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

The day after my previous entry above, I spoke to the Trading Standards Office and was busy composing a letter when I received a phone call from Catherine Ricard, Marketing Dept at Double Take Studios. She had read my blogg and wanted to discuss my booking and any concerns I had.

We had a very polite conversation and she did offer me some incentives to attend. However, she also admitted that I should have been informed at the time of the original telephone call how much the no show & admin charges were and also been given some indication as to the likely price of the photos. This omitted information was the crux of my argument. Trading Standards state that Terms and Conditions must be made available to the customer prior to any agreement being made.

I pointed out that all these scenarios come down to information and whether someone can afford it or not. I cannot afford £400 for photos and did not wish to be put in the situation of feeling pressured no matter how good they were. I also pointed out that if their product is as good as they say it is, then DTS can afford to be more upfront with people. There are people who can afford this, but clearly their marketing strategy is not targeting the right people at present. I remained adamant that I would rather cancel at this stage and as I was effectively giving DTS 61 days notice I did not expect to be charged the £75 no show fee either. Catherine did not have the authority to agree to this but said she would speak to someone and call me back. She rang back in about 5 mins and said she had spoken to the bookings dept and cancelled my appointment with no charge, other than the £10 I had already paid. I felt this was acceptable and thanked for her help.

Catherine also stated that all the above complaints on this site had now been resolved (?) but that people do not write bloggs once they are ‘happy’. As she was straight with me, I thought I’d return the favour!
61. admin Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 1:56 pm

Hi Nicky, thanks for posting. It seems that those who were owed money have now been paid, but I refuse to believe that everything has ‘been resolved’ while I keep receiving complaints about pressure and misinformation.

I am glad that they agreed to cancel your appointment. They pocketed your tenner, but hey, it’s a big step forward for them to allow you to cancel at all!

“If their product is as good as they say it is, then DTS can afford to be more upfront with people”

I couldn’t agree more.
62. Mike Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

Just to provide an update to everyone. I contacted DT on behalf of my girlfriend, they Catherine, who is mentioned above, said my girlfriend had to deal with it and gave me a number. I passed that on and my girlfriend and she called them up to no avail and got through to an answer phone of a different name(?).

So she decided to email customer services. They told her that her order was non-cancelable and to refer to the order form. When we had a look at the order form it says nothing about refunds as though they don’t exist in their world, as doesn’t the unhappy customer.

She has replied to customer services, who haven’t responded in two days. I then gave her Catherine’s email so she could talk to her directly.

Just to reply to what DT said, my girlfriend did rate them highly on their survey which is filled out BEFORE they are offered to buy photos, sales staff would therefore slip through this survey.

I will be replying once this is sorted out and will provide another update if it takes a long time.
63. Naomi Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Hey, further to my previous comments in which i mentioned how unhappy i was about the sales part of the day with DT, and how i felt very unhappy about how pressured i was to buy the photos, i can now confirm that having spoke to catherine Rickwood who is a part of the marketing department NOT customer services i can confirm i was able to change my order and receive a refund. It seems double take have at least one member of their team who can do their job!

In all fairness, my complaint was resolved. I still stand by what i said about the day being lovely, right up until the viewing of the photos and meeting the salesman, i have been informed that all salesmen will be spoken to regarding their sales techniques.

I hope that everyone is lucky enough to receive a quick resolution as myself.
64. Lara Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

Further to my previous post I have read the entries with some interest, including the replies from Doubletake.

I made a comment asking why different packages where offered to different people.

In our case we had sent £200.00 prior to our visit on the promise this would act as ‘Double your money’. Therefore giving us £400.00 to spend. As our friends had visited just a few weeks earlier and had been offered packages starting at £299.00 (with a Silver package at £399.00), we thought this would suffice to purchase the silver package.

We were not offered either of these packages and the cheapest was one at £699.00.

The salesman, when asked about these, stated that they didnt exist anymore ‘if they ever did!’. The way he said that seemed to suggest we were making it up.

I feel the only reason the packages are offered is to get MORE money out of you, as this was also the case with our friends who had only sent £100 (double your money £200).

Another question I have is why prices when we visited where different to the prices available on the website the following day? For example an 8*6 picture on the day was £70 and the day after £40, a cd image on the day £125.00 but only £50.00 the day after?

There seems to be no advantage in sending money beforehand under the ‘double your money’ offer as some items could be purhcased for less than half the price on the day just 1 day later…

I would have thought if i had shown commitment beforehand in sending money i would have been rewarded for this, but this doesnt seem to be the case.
65. Sharon Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

I received a call this week saying I had won the chance to go to the Southampton studio in a few weeks and have paid a £20 deposit. After reading all of the above comments Im really not looking forward to it. I have since phoned the studio and asked for confirmation that I will not have to pay for any photos if I dont want to and have been told that is correct. I was wondereing if anyone who has been, had to sign anything when they arrived as I dont want to be caught out signing for photos that I dont want. Any replies would be appreciated.
66. admin Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 9:41 pm

Hi Sharon.

I am disappointed (yet not surprised) that they are still using the pretence of a competition after what the representatives of Doubletake have said.

I went to the Southampton studios. They make you sign a form on arrival but I believe this is only to agree that Doubletake own the copyright for the photos and that they can use them for promotional purposes. Of course, it’s always advisable to read anything you are asked to sign carefully.

You are absolutely under no obligation to buy any photos. My advice is just to enjoy the makeover and photoshoot, and don’t allow the salesman at the end to guilt-trip or pressure you. After all - they are telling people they have ‘won’ the experience - so how they think they can get angry at people who don’t empty their wallets at the end is beyond me.

Just enjoy the experience anyway, the most part is good fun. My advice is to ask to fill out the feedback and recommendation form AFTER seeing the photos so you can better decide whether to recommend your friends, I’d be interested to hear what they say.

Let us know how you get on :)
67. admin Says:
August 24th, 2007 at 9:45 pm

Oh, and if anyone rings you a few days before to coax you into pre-paying, read what Lara says above.
68. Dani Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 2:16 pm

Hi everyone!
I have had almost identical experience with Doubletake studios. I bought the goddess experience for an initial payment of £20 (although I was called up about winning a competition -apparently I was the only sucker who paid this ‘experience’ cost) but i thought it would be a great birthday present for my boyfriend. We experienced everything that others have mentioned and to make it worse we were told we were not allowed to use our £40 vouchers on single photographs, only packages. I reiterated that I had been told I could walk away on the day with a photo (albeit small) at the cost of £70 minus the £40 voucher a total therefore of £30. I was astounded when the salesman actually said ‘what’s £40 at the end of the day?’…quite a substantial ammount actually as only the week before i had lost my job.
I am aware that sales people have a job to do but never in my life have i felt so patronised. I emailed a detailed complaint letter to doubletake after finally speaking to a ‘manager’. I emailed my complaint through more than 4 times with various ‘we will pass this on’ type replies. We finally got an email back but has not addressed any of my complaints. We tried to ring the contact we were given and were told she was not in but would call when she was back…we are still waiting.
I stongly urge anyone thinking of doing the Doubletake Studios experience not to! It was a disappointment and causing me no end of hassle. Luckily I’m still unemployed and have the time to continue following up my complaint.
69. admin Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

Hi Dani, I’m sorry to hear about your experience.

Perhaps Astrid or Ray or whoever has been writing the Doubletake responses would like to comment on why she was not allowed to use the voucher for an individual photograph purchase? I was allowed to, yet many others have told me they weren’t. I think perhaps Nicholas could see that I wasn’t going to let him mess me around. Hopefully Doubletake will have a better explanation to offer though.

FAO Doubletake: If you clear this up for us (I know you’ve said you will no longer comment as you have ‘resolved’ everything, but this is a new issue), it would be good if you’d put a name at the end of your reply, there seems to be an epidemic of not dodging responsability amongst your staff. Rowan’s “I asked a colleague to process the refund but they didn’t do it”… the salesman’s signature on my receipt which simply says “Nicholas” (strikes me as odd)… the lack of a name at the end of your posts… let’s see an individual take responsibility for what they say.

Sam
70. Natisha Jones Says:
August 28th, 2007 at 11:03 pm

Wel maybe i was 1 ov the lucky ones i ended up paying £100 but i got 3A4 pictures and 15 ov the otha size cant memba wat size that is. And the 6munths later they foned and offerend me the cd for £30 with all the pictures taken and the edited ones which i gladly accepted.. Oh and i recieved my deposit back-as i used a different account to pay for the pics..

And ontop of that 4ov my cuzuns and a few of thier friends have been to the same place-but ended up paying more for less pics than i did..

Wel im goin bk this munth!!!

Sorry 2 hear about all of you though..
71. Alison Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Have been just been offered an ‘experience of a lifetime’ !!

My daughter forwarded my name during her ‘experience’. My daughter did have a good time; but like all the others, was very unsure what to do when the hard sell came round. She’d just turned 18 & still at college, so how on earth was she going to find £750 for some pics.

I felt really bad as I had bought her the voucher in the first place, which included one photo. She landed up using £250 worth of her birthday money (which she was saving for her car). The photos arrived a couple of weeks later, but I didn’t think they were worth what she’d spent.

I now have another dilemma - I have two other daughters I bought vouchers for, who I imagine are going to have to go through the same thing. Why or why did I not see this blog before purchasing the vouchers ?!!!!!
72. Anne Gifford Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

Just to update everyone on my daughter’s complaint. This morning she received a full refund of £140 in her account. This was for the £100 booking fee plus a £40 bank overdraft fee incurred when the money was taken from her account unannounced. It was Astrid in their Marketing Department who sorted this out. (Thank you Astrid if you read this).
I would like to thank everyone- especially Admin on this site - who greatly assisted me with this matter. Although I’m happy that my daughter has been refunded I think it was down to pressure from this and MoneySavingExpert’s websites that did the trick. My daughter and I have also been offered a completely free experience with 5 complimentary photos each. If we take them up on this offer (I am still very sceptical) I will let you all know the outcome.
Thanks again everyone.
Anne
73. Bella Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 6:11 pm

A friend just got a call from them today, when she said she couldn’t make a decision instantly they gave her 2 hours to phone her back otherwise the ’slot’ would be lost. They asked her for £10 to secure her booking (refundable on arrival) and said there was a £75 voucher to be used towards any photographs.
They did not mention that there would be a cancellation fee (which incedentally with dentists, private doctors and within the sports and leisure industries or hospitality including restaurant bookings is usually 24 - 48 hours and they all have staff and premises aswell) or that she could be charged for a no show.

I always google suspicious sounding things, glad to have found you, thanks
74. Richard Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

The essence of a car dealer’s servicing business is servicing vehicles in exchange for payment. Hence the existence of price ‘menus’ upfront when a customer walks in.

The essence of a picture gallery’s business is the sale of prints and paintings in exchange for payment. Hence the existence of individually marked prices upfront when a customer sorts through the images on offer.

The essence of a photographic business which can seemingly devote hours and hours of time, and hundreds and hundreds of words, to coming on here to justify itself, yet remains entirely incapable of providing any prospective or actual customer with a simple pre-printed price list of its goods and services, would seem to have less to do with honest upfront commerce, rather more to do with systematic obfuscation and misrepresentation.

All that this company has to do is publish, provide, and adhere to a price list.

Anything else it says, writes, or submits for publication here or anywhere else is irrelevant.
75. admin Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Anne, I’m really glad to hear that your daughter got her money back, and pleased that I could be of assistance.

Cross-post from MSE (by codger), for information:

—————

Well, they hadn’t a leg to stand on, Annie.

In a case where everything hinged on the promise freely extended to your daughter by the company, viz: “you have nothing to pay other than a £2 fee which will be forfeited for non-attendance” — which promise then voided anything else the company might deliberately have buried in small-print exclusions / small-print clauses to which it took great care NOT to draw to anyone’s attention — then in any subsequent civil action or legal proceedings, a decision would had to have been made as to whether that was the actual truth of what happened. . . or whether your daughter had made it up.

Doubtless the selling pitch for a company such as this will be amended so that in future the cold-call sales message incorporates the phrase “there may be other additional charges arising from cancellation if we have to re-allocate studio time — but of course, you wouldn’t dream of cancelling anyway, would you?”

Actually, what you would never dream of is taking up any offer, of any nature, and at any time, that’s contained in a cold-call sales pitch.

—————
76. admin Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

I spoke to Mr. Gilbert on the phone yesterday. Unsurprisingly, he is quite keen that this blog should be taken down (I think he would be even more keen if he could see how much traffic it is getting). The word libel was mentioned, as I thought it might be, and I told him that I was happy to remove any comments that were libellous. I am fairly sure that no offending content remains on this page, and therefore I see no reason that this blog should be taken down.

As the “instigator” he has invited me to visit the Farringdon Studios in October. I accepted his offer, because I would very much like to speak to him face to face.

He said to me in a way that I found very patronising something along the lines of ‘when you go out into business you will see that it is a tough world’, and then to illustrate in great detail that happy customers don’t publicly express their happiness (which is not entirely true, as a single example maybe he would like to look at the 49 pages of posts made at MSE *specifically* to praise businesses at which customers have had good experiences: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=56). At the end of the day, I don’t wish to contend that some people are happy with the service that Doubletake provide, and therefore I have no idea how this is relevant to my complaints and those of the other contributors.

As the “instigator” he has invited me to visit the Farringdon Studios in October. I accepted his offer, because I would very much like to speak to him face to face.

The final thing I said to him was that I was very disappointed not to have received a single apology from anyone at this company for the treatment I was given.

It seems I will have to wait until October though as, astoundingly, he declined to give me one.

Nobody at Doubletake, not even the co-founder and director, is able to hold their hands up and make an apology. For a company that deems it moral to tell referred friends that they have won a competition, I guess it was naive of me to expect one.

The blog stays. Long live freedom of speech.
77. admin Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 2:02 pm

In an ironic twist, my girlfriend was contacted on Monday and offered our entire photoshoot on CD for £70. She told the salesman that she could not afford it, but he persisted and eventually she relented. She told me that she felt stupid and rang back to cancel but was told that a refund was “unlikely”. I contacted Mr. Gilbert this afternoon and he kindly ensured that the refund would be made.

At the end of the day, my thoughts are as follows:

If Doubletake do not want to continue dealing with complaints like the ones on this site, they have to start allowing a cooling-off period for both sales and bookings.

If they are confident of the quality of their product, and serious about their “ZERO TOLERANCE policy on pressure selling” I see no reason why they shouldn’t do this.

If this happens I may consider taking down this site, but I think that will be the only thing that would convince me that Doubletake deserve custom.
78. *Ria Says:
August 31st, 2007 at 12:14 pm

I was phoned by DoubleTake to tell me that I’d “won” a photoshoot and the guy would *not* let me off the phone, it was unbelieable. I told him I wanted to think about it, that I was in the middle of moving house and didn’t know what days I’d be free etc etc and he just wouldn’t let up. Stupidly instead of hanging up on him I booked an appointment which is on Tuesday next. Luckily I only had to pay £2 for the deposit (very strange) but I do not intend on buying more than one photo, if that. I cannot afford it and won’t let them push me into it. I have now realised that they were the same people that, a few years ago, had street sellers who frogmarched me all the way to their studio (while I was on holiday in London!!!) to book an appointment for the next day and took £20 from me - I started to cry right then and there and told them I didn’t want it and they said “oh too bad”. Grrrrr. I won’t be robbed again! I’ll let you know what happens with them.
79. admin Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 12:37 pm

Dear oh dear.

Ray Gilbert gave me his word that this rubbish about “winning” would be stopped.

Pathetic.

Thanks Ria.
80. admin Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 12:44 pm

Posted by Doubletake Studios on August 15th 2007 at 1:54 pm:

“It is NOT a competition that customers’ friends have to ‘win’ to come here.”

81. admin Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 12:53 pm

I received a letter this morning with a cheque for £5 as a gesture of goodwill. It will just about cover the money I spent calling their 0870 line so thanks Doubletake, but to be quite honest - it’s not the most sincere “gesture of goodwill” I’ve ever received.

I am still awaiting an apology for being lied to by the telesales woman about the “competition” that I “won”, and for the rude conduct of Nicholas who told me I was wasting his time by asking to look again at two photos so I could choose which one to buy.

It amuses me greatly that they keep sidestepping these issues, as every time I have to bring them up again takes this page higher in Google (the words ’shoot’ and ‘foot’ spring to mind!).

Oh, and check me! I’m the ‘instigator’ of the ‘blog’ who complained about the ‘refund situation’ and I can ‘use’ ‘inverted commas’ too. However I don’t use them unless they are necessary because that would give the impression that I wasn’t taking this seriously.

I am growing to dislike this company more and more by the day.

2nd in Google.

Score.
82. anonymous Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 6:51 pm

I am someone who use to work as an agent at doubletake studios. I would like to mention first of all, after reading through all the comments I am very surprised, however my script on calling the recommended friends NOT ‘won a prize’ (as i believe this was just an opportunity for those to get more customers) and yes explaining that yes, there friend came to our studios had the treatment which YES is worth up2 £100 and as you have been selected from the friends, you have been selected to come in and have the make over shoot done free. Now might i add, WE are doing this for people, there are professional mac make up artists in the studios that apply the make up fantasticaly..am i wrong? give you a choice to how u want it applied, glamerous, matt even with the hair style. However i can only speak the truth to say when i was working there, i was to say the above script ALSO mention that 1. YES it is a refundable booking fee unless not used towards photos 2. you are not obliged to purchase any pictures. 3. appoints are non cancelable HOWEVER give 5 days notice to re-arrange appointment NO PROBLEM 4. we would give vouchers towards any PACKAGES not photos that IF you wanted to purchase. 5. deposit would be kept if you do not turn up on your appointment

I understand all ur comments and sympethize with u all, however the agents are driven to achieve targets, and may say indirctly or change the words but do not give the wrong information.

with delays in transactions, within 30days was an on going issue but management was ontop of it, this was only due to the system data errors.

if you have anything else you would like to know, dont hesitate…

Regards
83. admin Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 7:13 pm

Dear anonymous (you obviously had the Doubletake policy drummed into you very well),

What is your personal opinion about this ‘opportunity for those to get more customers’? (I call it a lie, but I’d be interested to know what you think)

I’m most interested in your explanation of the “ongoing” refund issues. System data errors? I have a letter in front of me saying it was due to a backlog. Intriguing.

I don’t agree with what you say about the quality of the makeup artists, but that is neither here nor there.

As far as I can understand there is no new information in the rest of your post.

I wonder if you would stick up for the company as much if you had seen what went on in the viewing rooms.

EDIT: Just realised I had overlooked something completely ludicrous. “The management were on top of it”?!?!?! It took 4 weeks and 2 phone calls to get my money back. It took 3 AND A HALF MONTHS to get so much as an apology, and I ONLY got it because of this website. Seriously, “the management were on top of it”?!?!?!. Give me a break! It seems that the management couldn’t care less about the happiness of their customers as long as they get their pay packet. If you ask me, their custom is going to dry up pretty soon…
84. Rach Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 9:52 pm

Me and my friend have also had a bad ‘double take’ experience - losing £200 without even getting to the place let alone having our photos taken.

After my friend was unable to walk, following an accident and only diagnosed 4 days before our visit she phoned up to cancel. Only to be told we had left it too late to cancel and even though we were will to re-arrange ( which now I am only glad we didn’t) we would have to incur a £200 booking fee.

Despite repeated attempts to speak to someone all i could get through to was a recorded answerphone - they still haven’t returned my calls. I have now written and am waiting for a reply - though from the general sound of this thread i wonder if this will happen.

They were so rude to my friend on the phone, and their treatment so unfair considering the unforeseeable nature of our cancellation. But now I’m glad we didn’t go and be forced to spend even more money.

I only hope more people read this blog before ever accepting their ”win”.
85. admin Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:01 am

Hi Rachel, I’m really sorry to hear about this.

I know that Mr. Gilbert and his team are following the comments on this website very closely so I hope they will do something about it.

I’d advise you to give Mr. Gilbert a call on 020 7843 1199.

Let us know how you get on,

Sam
86. anonymous Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:46 pm

What i mean by ongoing is, yes it backlog hence y i say ongoing with the transactions etc.

about the make up artists, thus you have this attitude towards the studio you would say that, over 75% people are hapy with their make up by our proffestionalists..and for goodness sake it’s a business, had you had your own you would try and get as many customers thats the target, however not from cheating thats not what the company does. Its seems you have been mistaken or have misunderstood. As all our representitives say all correct information and alert the customers of booking fee deposits etc.
87. doublestitchup Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:57 pm

Ive been to doubletake, got free make up done, free gifts–good ones too, lipglosses etc, and 10 free 8 by 6 photos. i paid 7 quid for postage. I went again ova the weekend and used my 5 quid deposit to buy a contact sheet. I also got loads of free stuff. Yeah the man got a bit moody when i said i’m not buying other pix but so what? He still gave me 10 free prints. i don’t think it’s that bad. U lot jus need to recognise aggressive selling tactics.
88. admin Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:25 pm

FAO: anonymous (a first name would be nice, everyone else has managed that, apart from ‘The Directors’)

What I actually said was it’s neither here nor there what I think of the makeup artists - that means I don’t care. What I DID ask you to elaborate on was this ‘data systems error’.

And how am I in any way mistaken? Telling people they have won a competition when they haven’t is a lie.

Although obviously you don’t see that, so I can see why they employed you.

‘Cheating’ was never mentioned, that’s what happens in games. This is not a game, it is serious. I’m still waiting for someone to hold their hands up and admit that Doubletake Studio’s telesales staff are telling outright lies to secure appointments. I will wait as long as it takes.
89. admin Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:30 pm

FAO: doublestichup

Oh we recognise it alright. We just don’t like it.

You say you bought the contact sheet for a fiver? I asked Nicholas how much they were and he said £100. Haha.

You must have given them a mountain of numbers to get all of those free prints - do you think your friends are going to be pleased with you once they find out what this company is about? Did you think about that, or did you just care about getting free gifts for yourself?
90. doublestitchup Says:
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:36 am

I just thought about the free gifts for myself. And if some numbers happened to be a digit wrong here and there tis a great shame double rip offs wont be able to call them. Know what im sayin?? Fight fire with fire. Yeah i got the sheet for a fiver because they didnt want me to také my deposit so they offered me it. Im not sayin there angels, just tryna give sum hints to anyone going.
91. admin Says:
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm

Fair enough, thanks for posting.
92. that circle pic? Says:
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:53 pm

i think we should go to that watchdog programme on bbc. who agrees?
93. James Bagley Says:
September 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

**********READ THIS AND BE AMAZED!!!*****************

I am one of the many people who has written on this website in an attempt to get my deposit returned which it eventually did.

Some of you may remember that Double take offered you the deal of getting a CD with every single photo that was taken on the day of your shoot? From memory this was around £200 (at least maybe even quite a bit more). Would you believe that Double Take phoned me last week offering my the full set of photos for a mere £50, obviously in a feeble attempt to win back some money. They came up with the excuse that they were clearing out their archives, but that story was quite obviously a load of rubbish. I was flabbergasted that they had the audacity to phone me, never mind try to sell me something else.

So for those of you who read this who are planning to go to double take studio and have already paid a deposit I would advise you to buy nothing, get your deposit back (after a few months), then wait a few more months and you’r likely to get the offer of every single photo for £50.

To finish I agree with the person who left the last comment about reporting these incidents to watchdog pro gramme, they should not be aloud to get away with this anymore.
94. doublestichup Says:
September 5th, 2007 at 10:59 am

i must say at this point guys, the same person called me up and asked me if i wanted to buy the cd. they asked for £50, i said the most i could afford is £35 and they accepted.
it arrived yesterday.
you have to treat them like Morrocan market salesmen…offer them half of what theyre asking and theyll more than likely agree to it.
95. Catherine Says:
September 5th, 2007 at 6:03 pm

Dear Bloggers

Hi, my name is Catherine and I have been asked to address the problems that you have been experiencing. As you will see from this blog (see Nicky’s comments on August 24th 2007 at 12.07pm) I have resolved some of the problems and my aim is to help you address any other issues.

So far I believe that we at Doubletake have managed to address the problems raised by the following bloggers:
• Naomi
• Emma
• James
• Jemma
• Lauren
• Ardel
• Ben
• Anne

If, however, you are on the above list and believe that you still have an outstanding complaint that has not been addressed then please do call me on 0845 863 8338 and I will try to help you resolve it.

With regards to everyone else, please be assured that I will try to post specific responses, where possible, to any further problems that you experience.

The company is trying to take on board all of the comments and experiences that have been shared here (the replies have been very detailed, so I will not go over them again). To this end, we are about to launch a new website which will contain a step by step guide to the Doubletake experience including new (and improved!) terms and conditions together with our sales policies and a price guide. This site will be included as a link in our booking confirmation. I will post a link to this site as soon as it is live. Just to say that, while we continue to strive to improve our customer experience, we will not get it right every single time.

I will continue to monitor this blog and will try to address any problems raised here. Sam, your assistance with regards to this would be gratefully appreciated.

Once again, I can only express my sincere apologies that any of our clients, even if they are in the minority, have had a less than satisfactory experience here at our studios. I hope that Sam and myself, together with the aid of this blog, can address the problems identified and resolve the issues.

Kind regards

Catherine

Catherine Rickwood
Marketing and Experience Coordinator
0845 863 8338
96. admin Says:
September 6th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

Hi Catherine, thanks for posting. I look forward to seeing the link.

I noticed that you didn’t include Lara in the list of people whose concerns you have resolved. I would be interested to know whether you have contacted her. You didn’t mention Rach either, who by the sound of is pretty unhappy with the way she was treated.

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m still not happy either. I quote from my post of 1st September:

I am still awaiting an apology for being lied to by the telesales woman about the “competition” that I “won”, and for the rude conduct of Nicholas who told me I was wasting his time by asking to look again at two photos so I could choose which one to buy.

As I have pretty much lost any hope of getting an apology for the above, I have instead one small request.

Although it is me who has spent all this time trying to get answers (believe it or not I do have better things to do) it was my girlfriend who went without a much-needed £100 for a month. She is having a hard time right now and I know that she would appreciate our pictures on CD. I’m not bothered about any re-touching or effects, just asking that you might find a few minutes and a spare CDR in order to burn and send them. I would greatly appreciate it if you would do this for me. If nothing else, it would go some way to proving that my assistance is, as you say, appreciated, and would save me feeling like I am being treated like a nuisance as I have done up to now.

Sam
97. samantha Says:
September 7th, 2007 at 1:03 pm

i attended the doubletake studios for a goddess experience. this was in may and i still have not had my refund and no replies to my phone calls and messages i have left. how can i get through to someone???? again they tried to charge me some ridiculous price and i took my 10 free photos instead.
someone help please
98. admin Says:
September 7th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

Hi Samantha. If you give Catherine a call on 0845 863 8338 I am sure she will sort it out for you.

All the best,

Sam
99. Catherine Says:
September 7th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

Hi Samantha, Rach and Lara…you can call me on the number detailed above if you are having any problems :)

Catherine
100. Jay from Liverpool Says:
September 9th, 2007 at 10:21 pm

God seriously how bad can this get?!

Again with the majority of people here, Doubletake Studio is another one of them companies you see being advertised on Watchdog.

Sadly though my session is booked for tomorrow at 2pm and have departed with my deposit of £158 - Your fella (who’s names i cant remember) suggested that bring another person for the EXPERIENCE and costing me another full booking price totally my excessive deposit.

After reading these comments is bad to see everyone getting jooped about so much, so i plan to stop before this snowball effects gets even bigger i.e Photos prices and trains etc

Just a quick question, even though my session is booked in tomorrow at 2pm. is it possible to get any of the deposit back, because now i dont think it will be worth it all travelling up and down??

and i plan to go into the Bank aswell to make sure they cant take anymore money out of my account, just incase they do for not showing up…… is this something to make sure of to??

Cheers for the heads up on the company (”,)

DONT BE FOOLED BY THE DOUBLE TAKE STUDIOS

AND IF YOU DO, REMEMBER THE 7-DAY COOLING OFF PERIOD TO CANCEL
101. admin Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 12:35 am

Jay, if you want to see your deposit again you must attend the appointment. Even if you empty your account they are within their rights to persue you for the money. As long as you stick to your guns when it comes to sales time you’ll be fine.
102. Jay from Liverpool Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 11:42 am

Thanks for replyin:-

Seriously? is there any way around this, i wont be attending today and really cant afford to pay anymore to this company, is there anyway to say to my bank that i dont want anymore charges going to them?
103. admin Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

Jay, you won’t be forced to pay any money whatsoever. There is no need to tell your bank anything. If you go, you potentially waste a couple of hours and get your £158 back (there will be no further charges unless you agree to them). If you don’t, you lose the £158. You agreed to attend and paid a deposit so they have the right to keep it if you don’t turn up. It’s up to you, I know what I’d do!
104. Jay from Liverpool Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

haha same here get the £158 back and be wery next time - but yeah that £158 was for 2 people attending, so between mates working and broke from the weekend - nevermind mate, been a life lesson and i plan to get in on some of this sinshine today - but again thanks and good luck with the blog
105. Catherine Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

Hi Jay,

Sorry you didn’t make it in today…as i’m sure you’ll appreciate we booked a whole team of people for your appointment and so (as per our terms and conditions) your booking deposit is non-refundable. However, you will not have to pay a ‘no-show’ charge so don’t worry about any more money coming out of your account.

If you would like to discuss anything please call me on the number detailed above,

Catherine
106. Claire Says:
September 11th, 2007 at 6:36 am

I havent read all the comments but just wanted to mention that all the make over experience studios are very similar, it is not just DT… there are always gangsters that work in the sales departments, usually dig heads with big egos… About the prices. I dont think that £60 is too expensive for a picture taken professionally. What it is awfu,l is to see how those idiots that work in sales offer the pictures so cheap afterwards (£35 for a cd with all the pics???)…
107. alysa Says:
September 11th, 2007 at 11:44 am

I just want to say thank you for starting this page. I and my friend went through what everyone went through but during the sale stage, we stood our ground. the man who showed us our picture was VERY RUDE that we ended up having an argument with him. i got my contacts and was meant to be sent some large prints also with half of my refund money. its been two months and i heard nothing, so i called up today and asked for my FULL refund because i was told i had no record of pictures ordered. I am glad i read this because it enabled me get the number and stand my ground when talking to them. i should be getting my FULL refund by tomorrow so will let u guys know the outcome.DT has the right heart but are going at it the WRONG way, you cannot manipulate people into buying things, be honest, it goes along way.
108. admin Says:
September 11th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

Hi Alysa, I’m sorry to hear about your experience, but glad you found the site and took the time to post. I completely agree with what you say about honesty. Do you still have your receipt? If you do and it proves that you did in fact place an order I suggest you call Catherine on the number she has provided above to see if she is willing to make amends. With regards to the salesmen, as you can see you are not alone in your experience. I have been assured that salesmen have been warned about their conduct, so we shall have to wait and see if it has made a difference.
109. Catherine Says:
September 11th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

Hi Alysa,

I will try and find out what has happened with your order…if you would like to call me to discuss any aspects of your experience on 0845 863 8338 then please do!

Thank you,

Catherine
110. Bekki Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 11:11 am

I am so gutted i didnt read your site before. i went yesterday. nothing has been sorted. the company are daylight robbers. the promised me copyright but it doesnt appear on the contract i signed and although i shoudl have just walked out they make you feel like you cant and didnt give me time to read it properly and didnt tell me it was a contract. they make out like its a reciept. even my credit card company has said they get calls asking to cancel payments and they cant as we all stupidly sign this paper. and all my friends got charged half the price for more fotos and got the cd on the day. i am so angry i went and have told all my friends whose numbers i stupidly gave to them (before the horrible sales people started on me), and told them just to say ‘GO AWAY’ (IN MORE RUDE LANGUAGE) so they dont get ripped off too. funnily enough they ask for customer feedback BEFORE they sell you stuff. then the nicey nicey approach disappears. the girl huffed wen i said i didnt know what fotos i wanted and wouldnt play the slideshow again. i have complained but after your appointment there isnt a number to speak to them on, instead you just have to write a computer request for a call back. and guess what? they havent called. i know i only have myself to blame. never again will i ever be nice to marketing calls again. a lesson well learned on my part. this link is DEFINATELY going on facebook and msn. thanks
111. Bekki Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 11:17 am

and may i say there are still no published prices for fotos on the website. i asked numerous times before i went and they claimed not to know what the prices are. then in the session they said my discount wouldnt apply to single shots. only to be told by my friends that they were told the discount did apply. but of course cleverly we cant prove any of this. well done double take, you know what you’re doing!!!!!
112. alysa Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 11:58 am

Hey bekki sorry you had to go through that experience too.I guess they still haven’t changed theit sales technique. i got the same huffs and puffs from the sales guy who served i and my friend. Apparently you can call a lady called Catherine above. Although i must warn you that you will get a voicemail too because i have been calling her as suggested by admin but i get a voicemail saying laura so i don’t know whats going on. I hope you the chance to speak to her and express your dissapointments.If you need any more info, i am glad to help you.
113. admin Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

Bekki, thanks for posting. You might like to give Catherine a call to see what she says. One of the directors told me that everyone is sent a *physical* voucher with their information pack which states the terms and conditions on it. I’d be interested to know if you got one (I didn’t).

FAO: Catherine & Doubletake. It seems we have another saleswoman with a poor attitude, is anything going to happen about this? We expect aggressive sales techniques, but the attitude that often comes with it is inexcusable.
114. Bekki Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

i got a physical voucher, with NO terms and conditions. the only terms and conditions i could find and have read are regarding the cancelation policies, although you have already booked by then and there’s nothing you can do. the man on the fone only told me i couldnt cancel without a fee of 75 AFTER he had done my booking. i became quite upset at this point as he had told me i paid a refundable 10 deposit. he then said a further 75 could be deducted if i didnt turn up. thats why i went in the first place as i was scared to be charged.then they tried to sell me double your money but wouldnt say how much fotos were. then in the viewing she said my voucher wasnt valid unless i brought 5 fotos for 200 pounds. she wouldnt sell me fewer fotos than that and when i asked why she walked out of the room saying other people were waiting to see their fotos. she came back with a credit card machine.she claimed i wouldnt be able to order fotos at any future date and when i asked if i could take the contact sheets even on non-glossy paper to show my mum so she cud help choose them, she said no and that fotos get deleted if they arent used. its one thing buying the fotos in the first place, its totally something else to hear the amount of lies and the value which they themselves put on the fotos. even they act as though the fotos are worthless by flogging them for 60 quid. im so gutted. at least maintain the standards so that when people part with cash for their fotos they dont feel like complete plonkers coz everyone else got theirs for nothing and you paid a fortune. i would do anything to cancel my fotos. in fact i would rather they didnt bother sending them to me coz i wont be looking at them.
115. Catherine Says:
September 13th, 2007 at 6:08 pm

Hi Alysa,

I called you the other day regarding your refund and I informed you that it has been processed now - if there was anything else you wanted to discuss you should be able to reach me (from 10 - 6) on 0845 863 8338. You will get a voicemail if i am on the phone or if it’s out of office hours though.

Bekki, if you’d like to call me to discuss your experience then please do, i’m sorry you found your sales woman to be unpleasant and if you give me your customer account number I can look into this for you.

Catherine
116. Emma B Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 1:43 am

I had no problem with the Doubletake experience on the day, in fact I really enjoyed it, filled in a really positive feedback form and spent my £50 deposit plus my £40 voucher on two photos on CD and a print. I saw the viewing session as an inevitable part of enjoying a free experience, though it did make quite a stark contrast to my treatment beforehand, and went home with a smile on my face. My friend, who decided not to buy any photos was allowed to go without too much grief, and since I had paid her deposit I looked forward to receiving a refund of £50. Since then (18th June) neither the £50 nor the photographs themselves have materialized! A delayed refund itself in unacceptable, especially since as a student £50 is very significant sum of money, but not even having the shots to show for the day only adds insult to injury.

As I was hurried out of the Farringdon studio I mentioned that I was moving house, so I would need the photos sent to a different address. The receptionist, barely interested, assured me that she would change the delivery address on the system. I imagine this is why the photos have not yet arrived. She also assured me that she would ensure that my friend Jessica’s deposit got paid back into my account. I’ve tried ringing only to get recorded messages but now I’ve seen these numbers I’m going to see if I can get past the answer machines tomorrow.

For anyone who’s already booked an appointment, don’t worry! You can have a really fun day, you just have to be prepared for a very hard sell at the end. Just keep asking yourself if it’s really worth it, and bear in mind that you can probably be a lot more demanding than you think.

I guess all these complaints, many of which are from people who don’t have a real issue to resolve with Doubletake but just feel silly that they got carried away enough under pressure to spend hundred of pounds on photos, just proves that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. However, when you’ve paid for lunch and it fails to arrive…
117. Emma B Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 1:45 am

Oh and they spelled my name wrong consistently from booking onwards, in spite of quite a lengthy effort to correct they error originally, so if anyone from Doubletake is reading this, you’ve probably got me down as Emma V.
118. Monika Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 12:05 pm

It is just my misfortune that I gave in to their pressure on the phone this morning before reading this blog. Booked myself and my husband for a refundable deposit of 10 each. They offered me a 75 GBP voucher as well.

I will go on the day, but from all these experiences I can say one thing for sure: I will not be buying any pictures. Best thing is not to take my card at all, so there is no temptation to give in.

I shall keep you all posted
119. Catherine Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Hi Bekki,

I left you a voicemail last night i just wanted to see if you received it? Also, I have ensured that your friends will not be called as part of our recommendations scheme.

Emma - I will try and find you on the system now but if you could call me or let me know your account number that would be great. If you call my number tomorrow i’m afriad I wont be able to speak to you as I don’t work weekends but i’m in the office until 6pm :)

Catherine
120. Monika Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

For Catherine,

Since you are reading this blog, may I ask you why the email confirming the booking as :promised by Neel Sharma :London Studio not arrived yet?
121. Catherine Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 2:06 pm

Hi,

For anyone who is trying to get hold of me - I will be away next week but if you leave a message either myself or Astrid will be able to get back to you.

Also, everyone who books in with us after today will get a link to the site www.doubletake-london.co.uk which is full of information about the experience (including prices).

Catherine
122. Catherine Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Hi Monika,

Yes i’ll check why your email hasn’t gone out yet - what’s your email so I can check we have the right one on the system? Did you speak to him today?

Catherine
123. Monika Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

I spoke to him today and we had quite a lengthy conversation, sorry cannot give my email here but my reference number is 75277. The email address he confirmed with me was indeed correct
124. Catherine Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

Hi Monika,

If you spoke to him today, you should receive the email tomorrow. Your email looks correct so there should be no problems with you receiving it as long as it doesn’t go into your ‘junk mail’ folder as some company emails do!

As I said i’m away next week but if there is a problem then just post or leave a voicemail and i’ll be able to sort it out when I return…

Catherine
125. alysa Says:
September 14th, 2007 at 9:19 pm

For Catherine,
I think you’ve got the wrong person here cos i never received any voice mail from you about a refund, instead i took matters into my own hands and called up fabian as recommended by admin and got it sorted out. My whole issue is the fact that if i had not called, then DT would not have given me my 198 pounds, I waited two months which caused a big issue with my bank because i expected that money a long time ago. You guys should have the decency to follow up your customers and inform them about THEIR money rather than wait till we hound you for it. its totally out of order. I admit you treat us nice at the start but make us go home harassed for no reason. I appreciate your replies to each of us but i really think its not going to cut it.
126. Monika Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 10:11 am

Catherine,

I have not yet received any email, please can you do something about it at the earliest.

Monika
127. Iz Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 2:48 pm

Thank heavens for this site.
My friend has just been scammed by this company within the last hour. I thankfully am a model and nobody should pay to have their photos taken for a start. My friend was told that she had to pay £20 over the telephone via credit card details which she did as she was feeding her baby at the time and didn’t have time to think. She called me straight away after and said that she had contacted her credit card company who would not cancel the transaction of the £20 as she had authorized it. The sneaky person from Doubletake told her after she had given her details that if she did not turn up that they would take £75 pounds per person (total of £150 as it was booked for her and a friend) plus the original £20. I contacted our local police station who advised that she is responsible for the £20 but any money taken from the credit card after that was not authorized and so should not be taken off the card. They advised that she should contact the credit card company and stop any future transactions from taking place. The other option which in my opinion is the best idea is to pay off any outstanding money on the credit card and cancel the card that way Doubletake cannot take out any further money.
ADVICE… IF SOMETHING SEEMS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE THEN IT PROBABLY IS!!!!!!
The other option is to advise Double take that if they do not refund money taken via this scam that the consumer will contact BBC Watchdog.

A note to the Director of Doubletake. You probably think that you are extremely clever - you obviously have no self respect and how on earth can sleep at night after treating people so badly. You are running a scam and if you don’t think that you are then you are highly deluded.
128. Ra Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 3:01 pm

I have also been drawn into this.
I recieved the phone call a couple of weeks ago, telling me I had won (yes, definetly won) an experience worth £100.00.
I was incredibly cynical, and from the start said no thankyou.
I pointed out that I am a model, so have lots of proffesional pictures already…ones that i dont have to pay for.
The girl was insistent, and eventually (I dont know why) I relented.
I only paid £2.00 booking fee…but obviously have to go, cos otherwise they will charge the cancellation fee.
I had a phonecall today, reminding me that my day was on thursday, and offering me the chance to pay them a set amount, and then i would get double the amount of moneys worth of photographs.
When I politely declined, and told the bloke on the phone that I felt I had been roped into this against my will, and that I didnt intend to spend a single penny, he didnt sound too happy.
I am dreading this now!
129. Holly Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

haha, this is great, I have also just been scammed … luckily only out of £10, but still, it’s the principal of it. I shall still for that price take my free day, but be very cautious of the heftily priced photos and keep a good eye on my bank balance!!
also, don’t know if any of you have tried calling the number that is on the site now today, but magically, it won’t connect!
how wonderful!
if anything else comes of this, please could somebody contact me as I can’t even believe this is a genuine studio!
130. SS Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 7:10 pm

My ex-girlfriend has also been scammed by Double take studios (she is the first to admit that she should have not given any bank details over the phone but we all make mistakes and these people know what they are doing). She was phoned by double take who claimed she had won a competition and was being given a free photo shoot and makeover. She was told that they would take just £1 as a non refundable deposit. She was also told that if she did not turn up, she would be charged £70. However, she was never told that she could not cancel. When she tried to cancel, she was told, very rudely, that she could not cancel and if she did not turn up, she would be charged.

My suggestion for getting this site higher in Google: everyone with a Myspace account post a blog (which will display on other people’s myspace pages) with a link to this page. Also, any other social networking sites…get posting!

Do we know who the owner is of the company? Let’s name and shame him/her for the fraudsters that they are!

I would also like to say that the prices they charge for their crappy, amateur photos are absolutely crazy! Even without the problems of deposits not coming back and fake competitions, this company would still be a complete rip-off. We are speaking with Citizen’s advice at the moment about the legal side of all of this.

Thanks everyone.
131. admin Says:
September 17th, 2007 at 8:11 pm

For anyone tempted to believe the salesmen’s drivel justifying their extortianate prices by claiming to be a “professional studio”, I thought I’d post an example of the quality of the montages (for which they try to add on some silly amount like £100) from my girlfriend’s photoshoot. This is not enlarged at all, it is a section of the original jpg at 100% size.

Professional?

Value for money? Err….
132. admin Says:
September 18th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

“Everyone who books in with us after today will get a link to the site www.doubletake-london.co.uk which is full of information about the experience (including prices).”

Catherine, do you honestly think people who read the above and quite fairly expect to find information about the photo prices are going to be happy with…

“images start from £70 for an 8” by 6” print”

!!!

Seriously, is that really your idea of informing people about prices?

Wow.

I mean, fair play to you, - you’re doing a great job of making it sound like you as a company are trying to clean up your act, but it is blindingly obvious to everyone reading this that you have no intention of doing so.
133. admin Says:
September 18th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

*groan*

You are only succeeding in dragging their name further into the mud with this awful doubletake-london website. I was under the impression that you are supposed to be clearing things up and being up-front and honest about your service, not providing yet MORE incomplete and misleading information. Allow me to pick out a few highlights.

Your viewing session is the only time at which you will be able to place an initial order for prints and images.

An ‘initial’ order? Eh? What is this? A ‘more expensive’ order? Are you deliberately using strange wording to make people think that you cannot order after the viewing session, when in fact you can? Care to explain?

under no circumstances should you ever feel under pressure to purchase. We’re happy to let our images do the selling for us!

The first sentence contradicts everything that is written by your customers on this website, and the second is simply not true.

You will be able to use [‘double money’ and vouchers] towards any images / prints or packages from the ‘Elite’ range.

I sincerely hope that this is made clear by the telesales-person offering the deal.

We aim to have your images dispatched within six weeks and if we take longer than this, we will give you an additional print free of charge!

If for any reason we are late returning your deposit, we will refund an extra £5 to the card you used to make your booking!

Is this supposed to make your failure to uphold your end of the deal OK? You push your customers about with cancellation fees and the like, but it’s fine for you to illegally withold their money if you give them a fiver? This is not acceptable.

And finally…

We guarantee that you will have an amazing time!

How can you possibly say that after reading all of the complaints on this website? For Pete’s sake, get rid of this awful rhetoric.

This is nothing short of disgraceful.

I have decided to decline your invitation to visit the studios in October. It is clear to me now that it will do no good. It seems that every attempt you make to ‘make things right’ turns into either an obfuscation excercise or an outright lie. In this case it is both.

Your company relies so much on dishonesty and misleading or incomplete information that it makes me quite sick.
134. Embers Says:
September 19th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

Hi all,

Was given a double take experience by my boyfriend for my birthday (who was apparently called and told he had “won” a competition), and unfortunately we had booked it before finding this site. I am therefore going to have to go to my appointment this Friday in Manchester, though one thing’s for sure I will not even consider buying any of the photos. The advice not to take my card is good, thanks Monika. And thanks to everyone for warning me about the aggresive sales tactics I’m to expect! I’ll walk into that room with a smile on my face, knowing full well that, if/when challenged, I intend to give as good as I get!
135. Jane Says:
September 20th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

I actually googled double take thinking I would find a thread like this
I went a few weeks ago to Farringdon after being given the day as a gift for me and a friend and found the whole thing an awful experience.

The receptionists were so unbelievably rude - it states in their brochure we would get a warm welcome! it was arctic

the makeup artist was so rough with my makekup it actually hurt and spend the whole time talking to some other girl about how much she hated her little sister didnt speak to me once - the hair was even worse

the photographer was actually alright he just got on with it but when it came to purchase we were put in a little room and told that to buy all the pics would cost £2000! I have a friend who is an award winning photographer that charges under that! most of them would only be suitable for someone going for a role in an 80’s soap or soft porn - they really tried to pressure us but we were in the position to bargain - they have no use for the pictures if you dont buy them - remember that!

all in all I think it is disgusting they are still operating - the place was very busy so they are making a roaring trade ripping people off.

dont do it to yourself! you have been warned : )
136. Cara Says:
September 20th, 2007 at 3:54 pm

Hi guys,

I’m booked in for a Doubletake experience shortly. I thought I’d find something like this on the web, as I have also had a bad experience and haven’t even been on the shoot yet! I booked a slot after seeing a promotional email, paid my refundable £75, hung up, then thought the better of it and tried to cancel, but was told i couldn’t cancel. This wasn’t mentioned before I paid, obviously. The sales person was exremely rude and offhand when i tried to cancel, and even when i said ‘would you rather i wasted the studios time and turned up but didn’t buy anything than let me cancel and give the slot to someone else?’. And he said ‘yes!’ Shocking. So now I’m positively dreading what should have been a pretty cool experience.
137. Kat Says:
September 24th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

My sister and I visited the Manchester studio yesterday having been promised a free bottle of champagne and a goody bag to take home during the sales call by a man named Craig. Needless to say these never materialised. I asked for them and was told that that was not part of our package. Craig had stated on the phone that he had “authorised that for [me]” and “put it on the system right now”. What a surprise! It was not “on the system”… I was disappointed with the whole experience, the photographs were awful (emphasising my saggy baby tummy) and very overpriced, the make up and hair were rushed, we were made to wait for a long time and the compensation I was offered was a refund of my refundable deposit! What a joke! The sales person knew the photographs were so bad she didn’t really even attempt to make us buy them! Needless to say I got a free bottle of Cava out of them but really?! It was not worth the ten pound train ticket, 3 hours travelling and getting a babysitter for my children for the whole day! Double Take take note - If you promise something, you deliver. I shall be awaiting home delivery of my bottle of Champagne and free goody bag… Hopefully from Craig in person so I can give him a piece of my mind!
138. Catherine Says:
September 24th, 2007 at 5:42 pm

Hello bloggers, I’m back now and can start sorting out any problems that have arisen in my absence…

Monika – I will get the Experience Management Team to make sure another email is sent to you. You can check the details of your appointment with them directly on 0845 863 8342.

Iz – If you call me or email me and let me know your friends’ details I can cancel her appointment, or again she can call the EMT on 0845 863 8342.

Ra, Jane and Embers – If you’d like to get in touch with me, or send me some details so that I can get in touch with you, I would be interested to hear how your experiences were, you can contact me during office hours at 0870 863 8338 or email me at catheriner@doubletake-uk.com

Holly – Sorry that you could not get in touch with us, I was away last week but also the phones were down for a day so this may explain why your calls were not connecting. We can only apologise for this and we have had a formal apology from our phone company too. I can reassure you that this is a genuine studio and please don’t hesitate to look at our websites or get in touch if you would like more reassurance.

SS – I can assure you that our appointments can be cancelled, if you get your ex-girlfriend to call me, or our Experience Management Team, we can sort this out. I can also confidently say that all refunds are now made within the timeframe and that there is no mention of a ‘competition’ in the script. The recommendations form also clearly states that the friends who have been recommended will have the chance to try a photoshoot experience. We get over 75,000 recommendations each month and there are 50 agents making about 4,000 calls a day and occasionally there will be misunderstandings at both ends - however we are confident that call monitoring equipment that we have recently installed will help us get to the bottom of these misunderstandings. Here is an extract from the script that is used:
“…the reason I’m calling is that we have a promotion at the moment where clients have the chance to choose a couple of friends for a complimentary session, and the good news is that you have been chosen!”

Cara – appointments are cancellable (and if you cancel within 7 days of making the appointment it’s free of charge) so if you need to cancel your appointment for some reason, please call the Experience Management Team asap on 0845 863 8342.

Kat – I’m sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with your experience. Craig was only calling to confirm a booking that you had already made so I am not sure where the champagne and goodie bag came into the conversation but I would be happy to discuss this with you if you would like to get in touch with me.

I WOULD LIKE TO REASSURE ANYONE WHO HAS CONCERNS RELATING TO THE CONTENT OF THIS BLOG - PLEASE DON’T BE PUT OFF! WE ARE ADDRESSING ALL THESE ISSUES – judging by the recent posts, we are having success reducing the ‘pressure sales’ issues (and the new feedback forms which are completed during and after the viewing will allow customers to highlight anything like this to us straight away in future), and there are no more ‘current’ or even ‘recent’ issues regarding return of deposits in the cases of customers who choose not to purchase any images. Indeed, recent posts seem to be mainly from customers who have made a booking and then ‘researched’ the business to see if it’s genuine. We know there is ‘no such thing as a free lunch’ but you really can have an entirely complimentary experience here, decide not to purchase any images and subsequently get your refundable booking deposit back. Obviously we would prefer it if you choose to purchase images, but there is no obligation to do so, and we now have systems in place to make sure that any customer can highlight any instances where they believe they have been put under ‘pressure’. Occasionally as in Kat’s case, some customers might feel that their experience hasn’t lived up to expectations and we will always do our best to rectify this if we are informed about it. Unfortunately however, we are unable to offer to pay people’s travel expenses / babysitters etc. but the vast majority of customers do have a very enjoyable day with us and find that the experience is well worth any travel costs and the time they have allocated to the experience.

Re: Sam’s points re: refunds of booking deposits – we have already accepted that the non return of any booking deposits (where applicable) is unacceptable and we have taken the necessary steps to rectify this. As already mentioned, this is no longer a recurring issue and our new systems mean that 100% of ‘refunds’ are completed well within the timeframe agreed between ourselves and trading standards. Furthermore, the average booking deposit is now approximately £7 and in cases where we did fail to return it on time, we have promised to pay a £5 penalty – this equates to an average of 70% interest on the average deposit and we see this as being a very generous policy!
In addition to all of the above, we are constantly reviewing all our terms and conditions such that they are completely fair for our customers.

Catherine
catheriner@doubletake-uk.com
0870 863 8338
139. Bekki Says:
September 24th, 2007 at 9:26 pm

You lot a double take are unreal!

“We have prices for individual prints and CD images and CD packages. Individual prints and images start from £70 for an 8” by 6” print and the more images / prints you purchase, the cheaper the average price.”

total rubbish! wen i went the printed laminated price list said it was 90 quid for a single print. another girl who was recommeneded at the same time as me paid in advance for double money and was told a sinlge print was 120 quid. but that her money didnt even cover that! as it had to be spent on pakages. which is what they tell you about vouchers too, also rubbish.
my mates got 4 images PLUS copyright for 99 quid. i paid 2oo quid for 5 prints only. tell me then how its cheaper when you buy more images. RIP OFF STUDIOS

in addition in shops if u buy something you get a reciept and you can take it back. oh sign the reciept the lady said. what she didnt say is that its a contract. funny that. in addition yep you say initial consulatations are the only time you can buy images? unless you dont want any and they ring you up and offer them dirt cheap.

not only that but your above statement regarding pressure sales is also total lies. you obviously havent been to the studios. i went not long ago at all, and you wrote previously on the blog the pressure sales had been sorted, it hasnt happened. the feedback forms are given BEFORE the sales, in a pretend half hour wait to view fotos. even though there’s no one else waiting and even though digital fotos are downloaded in a few seconds. onto a basic powerpoint presentation.

regarding cancellations, the call centre people obviously dont know you can cancel for free in 7 days. at the end of the conversation i was categorically told that now i had booked i couldnt cancel.

reccomendations? oh please, you ask for mates telephone numbers before the sales reps get started on us. just like the feedback.

Yes catherine i would very much like to speak to you. I didnt get your message and i would prefer not to have to dial an 0870 premium rate number from a mobile. nice touch changing it to a more expensive number than the original 0845, making money on complaints now as well. perhaps you could leave a landline number i could call if i miss you.
thanks
140. Catherine Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 10:16 am

hi Bekki - sorry my mistake please call me whenever you can on 0845 863 8338, I will explain to you about the feedback forms and cancellation policy (both are new).

Thank you,

Catherine
141. Catherine Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 11:22 am

Also - the prices you are quoting are all on the same price list but are for different sized prints i.e. £70 for a 8″ x 6″ £90 for a 12″ x 8″ print and £120 for a digital image which includes copyright.
142. R B Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

My partner was also ripped off by these people. Due to a severe family problem she couldnt attend the appointment. She was unaware, and never told of, the “no show charges”. The appointment allegedly was double booked so there was absolutely no chance of any loss in terms of costs. Double take took £130, unauthorised, from her bank account and left her overdrawn. This was apparently to cover a no show charge……but what comes first….family or money? If she was made fully aware of these costs then she p wouldnt ahve booked!! The bank will be notified in writing today.
Save your money and by a top of the range camera
143. Cara Says:
September 25th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Hi,

I’d like to say that I did try to cancel within 7days, but was told that i couldn’t, as i had been given the experience free (with £79 deposit) rather than buying it, therefore it was not cancellable without forefeiting the deposit. The sales paerson was quite agressive when i tried to cancel.

Cara
144. R B Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 9:00 am

thats illegal
145. Catherine Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 2:52 pm

RB and Cara – please call me on 0845 863 8338 to sort out any problems.

The cancellation policy and the feedback form have only been very recently introduced so they may not have been in place when you booked your appointments. Here is an up-to-date step by step guide to the entire process:

1) A POTENTIAL customer is called and offered a complimentary shoot. If they decide to take advantage of the offer, they are booked in at a time, date and location of their choice.

2) They are then sent a confirmation email containing all the details of their reservation and a link to the site http://www.doubletake-london.co.uk which includes a Photoshoot Experience Guide (which details prices, terms and conditions and our new cancellation policy). If they decide to cancel within 7 days (as long as the appointment is not booked ‘last minute’) they are given a number to call and they are fully entitled to do this free of charge. If they cancel after 7 days cancellation fees apply according to how many days notice are given.

3) They are also sent a booking confirmation letter containing all their reservation details and a full set of our Terms and Conditions.

4) They are then sent a reminder about their appointment about ten days before they come in, which includes a checklist of everything they need to know in order to make the most of their day.

5) If on the day of the appointment a customer fails to attend, a no show charge applies ‘per session’ – this is taken to cover the cost of the Personal Creative Team that have been booked especially for them, which includes everyone from their makeup artist to their retouch designer.

6) If a customer attends their experience it includes: an arrival ‘cocktail’, beauty consultation, makeup and hair styling, and then a professional multi-set photoshoot. After the shoot, every customer is then given the chance to recommend friends on a form which clearly states that all their recommended friends will be offered the chance to try a similar experience. Once their ‘slideshow’ has been created (approx 45 minutes to an hour later) they will be taken to a private viewing room. At this viewing session customers are now given a form which allows them to give us feedback on all elements of the experience, including the viewing consultant, prices, value for money and the overall experience. Customers will also be given the chance to purchase images or prints (if a customer chooses only to purchase one or two images / prints, the average cost of these will seem relatively high. The reason for this is because the prices of ‘one or two’ images are designed to cover the cost of staff and overheads, and many customers only want one or two. The more images / prints purchased, the cheaper they become and the average price of all images / prints purchased is currently less than £20) but there is no obligation to do so and customers are perfectly entitled to leave without any images having enjoyed an entirely complimentary experience.

We believe that all of the above makes the entire process clear to all potential customers, gives them ample information about what to expect from their day with us, and also the opportunity to decide not to come and see us. It does however rely on customers taking the time to read the literature we send and to look at the websites and links available, and they are given all possible encouragement to do so.

We have made many improvements in recent weeks and months to the customer experience, procedures, terms and conditions and more, and we continue to do so. We’ll never be perfect, but our intention is to be as close to this as possible, and while we will never be able to please everybody, we will also endeavor to ‘make it up’ to those for whom their experience falls short of their expectations. Our current feedback does indicate that for the vast majority of our 1,000 customer per week, we are providing a very enjoyable, well organized, good value experience. Our target is to do this for 100% of our customers.

Mystery Shopper Programme:
As part of our ongoing work to improve the entire customer experience, we have also decided to implement a comprehensive ‘mystery shopper programme’ and a new website to this effect is currently under construction. We are planning to use approximately 30 ‘mystery shoppers’ each month, and they will be given the job of testing every area of the business from start to finish. All staff will be made aware that this programme is being implemented, but obviously they will never know who the mystery shoppers are!
All Mystery Shoppers will be given expenses and complimentary images as part of the programme, and they will be required to complete a comprehensive feedback form.

We have made amends with as many of the ‘bloggers’ as we have been able to contact, and will continue to do so wherever possible. However, the ‘proof is in the pudding’ and we are sure that the majority of the bloggers will want not only to have their personal issues rectified, but also to know that things really have improved. As such, we feel that the best way for us to prove it is for some of these people to ‘test us’ at our expense, on the Mystery Shopper programme.
If you are interested in participating, please email me at catheriner@doubletake-uk.com or call me on 0845 863 8338 or 0207 843 6240.
We look forward to showing you that we really aren’t the company that some of the bloggers have experienced.

Catherine
146. R B Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

hi catherine…..i. think the only way to sort out my problem is to refund the unauthorised funds taken from my partners bank account.
147. Catherine Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

Hi RB, i’m leaving the office now but I can help you if you call me tomorrow on 0845 863 8338 tomorrow or let me know your details so that I can get in touch with you or your partner.

You are both welcome to come and be mystery shoppers too, we would appreciate your feedback on our new experience.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Catherine
148. Sarah Says:
September 26th, 2007 at 7:49 pm

I wish i’d have noticed this site before i booked!!
My appointment is on Thursday and was looking forward to it until now! I didn’t realise how expensive it would all be! I mean £120 for ONE single picture on CD??? If they’re that bothered i’ll bring my own CD and copy it myself!! Think i’ll bring my camera with me and use that!
As advised by everyone else, i think i’ll just enjoy my experience and forget about the difficult sales at the end until it comes!
Would be nice if the images on CD weren’t so expensive….
Will let u all know how it goes…..
149. R B Says:
September 27th, 2007 at 7:48 am

hi catherine…..my number is 07970526987….thanks
150. Catherine Says:
September 27th, 2007 at 10:04 am

Hi RB, I’ve been trying to call but have just got through to your voicemail - I will try again later…
151. Emma B Says:
September 28th, 2007 at 12:54 am

Hello,

When I read this blog I was really scared that I had been really conned, and that I would never get back the money and the photos that I was owed. However, since ringing the numbers given by DTS on this blog I have had no trouble getting through or having my issues dealt with. Both my refund and the lost photos have found their way to me and the staff have been nothing but understanding, efficient and friendly. Catherine, I got your message on my mobile, but by then your colleagues had already put things right - which was why I didn’t call back - but I really appreciated you getting in touch. I had a really fun day at the Studios, I didn’t spend more than I wanted to, and I’m really pleased with the finished photos.

Since my concerns have been dealt with I thought I should come back and leave a more positive message - as much for people who have appointments to go to as for the staff, who helped me out. Thanks very much!

Having said that, I really don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t read this blog, with it’s useful phone numbers, good advice and sympathy! Putting pressure on the Studio as a group obviously works so much better than ringing up with a single complaint - it was only once I left a message here that I stopped getting through to answer machines! Thanks to Admin for setting this up and lobbying so relentlessly. I honestly think that it has made Doubletake think carefully about how readily they address people’s concerns.

Good Luck to anyone still waiting!

Emma
152. R B Says:
September 28th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

i hope to leave a positive message soon
153. Heather Says:
September 29th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

I wrote to this blog some time ago saying I was trying to get my deposit back. Just to let you know I succeeded. I didn’t get any reply from them to the letter I wrote (very rude!) but the money was recredited to my credit card. If they phone you and offer you the “experience” you have a right to cancel under the Distance Selling Regulations within 7 days. It applies to items and services sold over the phone and via the Internet.
154. Rosie Lewis & Mo Wills Says:
October 1st, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Hi, well it’s our turn to write about experiences. It seems ridiculous as it’s happened because of our cousin’s arrangement to attend doubletake studios. Elaine was supposed to go for a photoshoot Thurs 27th Sept. Due to personal reasons she needed to reschedule (and she had previously been told over the phone that 24hrs was acceptable notice) but was informed on top of the £20 refundable (but now non-refundable) deposit that an additional £25 per person would be required to attend at a later date (Because the correct notice period should have been 5 days). So she opted out, and accepted the deposit wouldn’t be refunded. The Friday after, doubletake decided to take a further £130 from my sister, Mo’s a/c (whom had given her details at the time of booking just so that Elaine could make a payment - however as they upped the booking price they didn’t use Mo’s card, but chose to use mine). Thus she didn’t have anything to do with the subsequent booking transaction. This didn’t stop them taking the money, something that was completely unexpected as the sales person had informed Elaine that she wasn’t liable for anything else. Now ringing to discuss reimbursement for their “mistake” and we are continually redirected to an automated line, and as of yet have had no callback. Our cards have been cancelled to stop any further fraudulant transactions, but this doesn’t refund the stolen £130!!!
155. Claire Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:36 am

Hey, I have been reading the problems that everyone had with Double-Take Studios and I have one of my own if anyone can help! Basically in March I went with my friend and we had a really nice time though the woman convinced us to spend just short of £400 on photos but this meant that I could pay some in installments so I had £120 left to pay which I agreed to pay £20 a month over 6 months. This is the 6th month and for some reason I have been paying £23 a month but I just figured it would balance out but it hasn’t. I have now paid £138…I have tried ringing a number of times but no one gets back to you when you leave a message. Its very unprofessional, I have emailed them today so I’ll have to wait for a response but has anyone had similar problems? oh and how do I resolve this?
156. SS Says:
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:55 pm

Hi again,

Catherine, in reply to what you said about appointments being able to be cancelled, this is all well and good as a policy, but as a business you need to see if your staff are allowing people to have this information. My ex-girlfriend was told in no uncertain terms that she cannot cancel her appointment and if she did not turn up, she would be charged. When I (I had a go at ringing too) told the very rude customer advisor that they could not just take money out of someone’s account without some kind of a contract or any prior warning they just treated me coldly and said that is the way it is. So, a day before my ex-girlfriend’s appointment she received a phone call checking that she was still coming. My ex-girlfriend said “no”. She was then reminded that she would be charged. My ex-girlfriend then said that she was going to go to a consumer watchdog…she was then told that there would be no need to do that and that they would cancel the appointment. So, why should people (customers) have to argue, argue and argue and eventually have to resort to third party help before they can finally cancel their appointment? Catherine, you mentioned your call monitoring. Well, I asked your customer advisor for a copy of the phone call where my ex-girlfriend had it explained to her that she could not cancel her appointment and if she didn’t turn up, she would be charged (this is what she was told)…surprise, surprise…no call monitoring this time!

This whole company is an absolute farce. Even if you manage to sort out your mountain of complaints, you will still be left with a studio full of bully photographers who have no talent.

On the ‘pushy sales people’ issue. Why not introduce a policy that people (even if they want to) cannot buy pictures at the studio and instead can buy them if they want afterwards (online perhaps where they could see a preview, zoom in and test quality etc). This would illiminate the whole pushy sales people thing because it would be entirely the persons choice without any pressure?
157. Catherine Says:
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:20 am

Hi Rosie & Mo - I have Elaine’s details but if you would like to email me/call me and let me know your numbers I can get in touch with you to discuss the charges.

Claire - If you can also let me know your account number or details I will look into where the extra charges have appeared from.

SS - as I have explained previously, the cancellation policy and the call monitoring system are both new and therefore may not have been in place when your girlfriend called. If you get her to call me, or let me know her client refence number then I will be able to help her.

Thank you,

Catherine
catheriner@doubletake-uk.com
0845 863 8338
158. Catherine Says:
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:57 pm

Hi,

These are the current Terms and Conditions which clearly state that you can change your appointment once free of charge as long as you give at least 7 days notice. If less than 7 days notice is given, a charge of £25 applies as we are less likely to be able to fill the appointment slot. Please note that these are the new Terms and Conditions and if you booked before these were in place, you would have been told that your appointment was non-cancellable. These are sent to every single client who books in with us both by post and by email as well as being available on our websites.

A) ABOUT YOUR BOOKING

– Each experience is subject to a fully refundable booking deposit, taken at the time of booking to guarantee the appointment time. This will be between £1 and £100 according to date and availability.

– At your ‘viewing’ (the big screen slideshow), this deposit will be refunded in the form of a discount off your photographic order. If no photographic order is made, the deposit will automatically be returned to the card with which it was paid, within 30 days of your appointment.

– All appointments are subject to availability.
– All our experiences are for over 18s. Strictly no under 18s unless otherwise stated. Please bring proof of age if you are lucky enough to look under 18.

– If you arrive more than 20 minutes after your ‘arrival time’ (see booking confirmation for details), your appointment can no longer be guaranteed. We reserve the right to offer either a shortened makeup session or to cancel the appointment altogether. A no show charge would apply in the event of cancellation.

– All major credit/debit cards are accepted for phone bookings and online bookings.

B) NO SHOW CHARGES

– If for any reason you fail to attend your appointment, a no show charge of £100 will apply for each appointment. This charge INCLUDES any deposit already made and it will be applied to the card used for the original deposit.

– No show charges are applicable if you do not attend your appointment at your allocated appointment time, or you do not complete the full ‘experience’ (including makeup/photography and viewing sessions) on the day of your appointment.

C) AMENDING APPOINTMENTS

– If you need to change your appointment, please call the Experience Management Team immediately on: 0845 863 8342. You are entitled to one change of appointment free of charge only if you give us at least 7 days notice. If you give us less than 7 days notice, the change will be subject to a £25 per appointment administration fee. If you change your appointment more than once, each further change will be subject to a £10 per appointment administration fee or a £25 per appointment administration fee if you do not give us at least 7 days notice. Any administration fees paid can be used towards the purchase of any “Elite Range” photographic package at your viewing session on the day of your appointment.

If you are forced to cancel your appointment, please refer to the table below regarding any cancellation fees that apply (per appointment):
Days before appointment Up to and including 7 days of making booking After 7 days of making the booking
30 days Free £10
5 days or more and less than 30 days £10 £30
3 days or more and less than 5 days £20 £60
Less than 3 days £30 £100

– Any deposit you have already made will be deducted from the cancellation fee
– If the deposit you have already made is greater than the cancellation fee, the excess will be returned to the card with which it was paid within 30 days of the cancellation.

– An appointment can be only be cancelled by contacting the Experience Management Team on 0845 863 8342.

The call monitoring equipment we have in place allows Managers to ensure that their staff are adhering to the correct procedure by dialing into their calls. It does not, as yet, record every single call made by the company and therefore cannot be used to listen to previous calls – we hope to have this equipment in place early in 2008.

Our new feedback form is now in use and allows clients to give feedback on every single aspect of their experience, including their photography and viewing sessions - and I am pleased to say that the vast majority of feedback for all elements of the experience is extremely positive.

Catherine
159. Julia Boswell Says:
October 3rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm

Hi, I’m so glad I found this site. I’m having a problem with the Southampton studios at the moment. I bought my daughter a “pampering” voucher for christmas. She’s 18 and a student and we had no idea that it was a photographic company. She ended up leaving in tears having been pressurised by a very rude salesman into buying photos she didn’t want (the voucher included one free photo). I’m in the process of trying to cancel the order and get my deposit back at the moment, on the grounds that we’ve been misled. I’m not getting very far!

Julia
160. Julia Boswell Says:
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:48 pm

Hi, sorry didn’t have much time to post earlier so wanted to give some more details of what happened to us.

As I said, I bought my 18 year old daughter a voucher for Christmas for a “pamper” day for her and a friend. It was from a gift voucher site so I had no idea who the company were and that they were infact a photographic studio. As they didn’t contact me out of the blue, I did not research them when I received the voucher, which did have their name on it (I so wish I had now).

I called to book the appointment in September. I was asked for a £100 fully refundable deposit. I was told it was only to secure the booking and I would get it back once they’d arrived. There was no mention of buying additional photos or a no show fee, or the length of time they kept hold of the deposit.

My daughter and her friend admittedly had a great time up until they were taken into the viewing studio. The salesperson was extremely complimentary until he offered them a package for £200. When my daughter said they were students and couldn’t afford that, his attitude changed completely. He said “what was the point of coming then?”. One of the managers who submitted above said that “one person’s banter is another person’s hard sell”. Well this man was downright rude and aggressive, I hardly call that banter. She explained that they had a free photo due. He had no idea about that and had to go and check. When he came back he said yes they were allowed a free photo, and he could offer them the student package of 3 photos for £50 + £7 postage & packing.

Lauren was reluctant but because of his attitude (remember she’s a naive 18 year old), felt obliged. She asked to look through the slideshow again and was told that he couldn’t show her because of data protection issues and he could be fined, she could only see the contact sheet. That sounds like rubbish to me (I know a bit about data protection but not a lot) - I believe he couldn’t be bothered, because - probably knowing he wasn’t going to get much out of them - started to hassle them to decide, telling them he was going to stay with a friend in Bournemouth that night and needed to leave.

Lauren made a choice and immediately regretted it. He refused to let her change her mind, told her she’d committed and there was no going back. There’s a bit more, but he finally held up the contact sheets of all of the photos and said “well I was going to give these to you but, seeing as you want to cancel, I’m not going to now” and threw them in the bin. Hardly banter, hardly polite, hardly professional. Needless to say she left in tears, very distressed.

I called the company the next day and got an email address to send a complaint to.

I emailed and explained what had happended. I got an apology for some of the behaviour but not all of it (e.g. hassling them to finish and no explanation for the data protection comments). I got the “our staff under under instructions not to pressurise people” party line. If I hadn’t found this site, I might have believed that.

I was offered the contact sheets and 3 free photos for each girl as compensation for the way they were treated. I mistakenly believed that that would replace the 3 photos that Lauren had been pressured into ordering on the day and I’d get my full deposit back (after all the purpose of the day was not to get photos it was a “pamper” day and a Christmas present!).

When I asked why I’d not had my deposit back I was informed that I wasn’t getting it all and the order made on the day was a legally binding contract and couldn’t be cancelled. That was the final offer.

I’ve emailed back telling them that I’m not happy with the final offer. I did not authorise any money to be taken out of my deposit. They’ve taken money by hard sell and deceptive means.

I know the offer of compensation was OK, but that was for the way Lauren and her friend were treated, and the fact that her Christmas present was ruined by an arrogant, patronising and rude salesman.

I still want my full deposit back.

Companies like DoubleTake, who prey on the naive and young, should learn that, although what they do may be legal (if only just), it’s highly immoral and people shouldn’t have to put up with their behaviour.

I have yet to have a response to my last email.

Thanks so much to this site for giving me hope!

Julia
161. Catherine Says:
October 4th, 2007 at 11:19 am

Hi, here is a clearer version of the cancellations fees as the table didn’t come out properly:

If the cancellation is made 30 days before the appointment and within 7 days of making booking it will be free, and after 7 days of making the booking it will be £10.
If the cancellation is made 5 days or more and less than 30 days before the appointment and within 7 days of making booking it will be £10, and after 7 days of making the booking it will be £30.
If the cancellation is made 3 days or more and less than 5 days before the appointment and within 7 days of making booking it will be £20, and after 7 days of making the booking it will be £60.
If the cancellation is made and less than 3 days before the appointment and within 7 days of making booking it will be £30, and after 7 days of making the booking it will be £100.

This information can also be found in a table at http://www.doubletake-london.co.uk/prepare.html

Julia - I have spoken to our Customer Care Team and I believe this was being dealt with yesterday – as far as I am aware, a full refund is being offered, together with a set of contact sheets and two prints per person. If you would like to discuss your daughters experience, please don’t hesitate to call me on 0845 863 8338 or 0207 843 6240. As you will have gathered from our earlier responses on the blog, we are treating any instance of ‘pressure sales’ very seriously, and have introduced a new feedback form at the viewing stage which gives EVERY customer the opportunity to ‘rate’ each element of their experience, as well as the chance to comment on the viewing consultant themselves. Unfortunately your daughter visited the studios before this new feedback form was in place.

Nonetheless, the viewing team have been made fully aware that any instances of ‘pressure’ sales are considered unacceptable and if found to be true, would result in either a warning, or if it were a more serious case, gross misconduct and therefore dismissal. The same applies in this case, and as such we have spoken to the person involved. Given the serious nature of the accusation, and the possible consequences, it is only fair that we allow him to give his version of events.

Catherine
162. Cara Says:
October 4th, 2007 at 1:55 pm

hi everyone,

i had an appointment last saturday, and think things may be changing…the overall experience was good, however I’d wanted to do a set with underwear/swimwear and was shocked to find that this had to be done in the main studios where everyone could see! Not much point requesting a female photographer (as i did) if you’re in the main studios anyway! i did one set in undies, but was pretty embarrassed, and didn’t like the end result as i couldn’t relax! i chose not to buy any photos as i didn’t really like the way i looked in them (not the fault of the photographer or hair & makeup), i’m just pretty unphotogenic, and some of the seated/lying poses were a bit unflattering (and i’m only a size 6/8!) Anyway, there was no pressure on me to buy anything (i felt guilty for not though). And as luck would have it, a friend send me some shots she’d taken which I like much better. Not to minimise that some people have had problems, and maybe I was just pretty lucky in my experience, but I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t gone to go with an open mind…
163. Catherine Says:
October 4th, 2007 at 6:10 pm

Hi Cara,

Would you like to come and be a Mystery Shopper at our boutique boudoir studio in London? You have complete privacy and an all-female team to take care of you so it’s perfect for more adventurous shoots.

Let me know if you are interested or would like more information,

Catherine
0845 863 8338
164. Dianne Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

Doubletake rang and persuaded my 17 yr old daughter to book a session..she said they were v persuasive and manipulative. They have taken a £2 fee from her account,and i have spent all day leaving ansaphone messages to cancel the apptmt. Do you have an email address,please?Trading standards advise the contract is not legal ,as she is a minor, but I am worried they will take a cancellation fee from her account. The postal strike means I cannot send a Letter!
165. Monika Says:
October 8th, 2007 at 8:28 am

Hi All,

I had my doubletake experience on the 5th of October. I was very wary after reading everything on the blog here and was expecting the worse, but very honestly me and my partner were pleasantly surprised. We went to the Farringdon studio in London. We were received very warmly and the lounge was quite comfortable as well -with tea/coffee etc being offered all the time - although they do make you wait a lot. My makeup was done fantastically, best ever in my life - everyone in the make room was was friendly and nice. My husband really loved all the attention he got.

Our photographer was very very nice, warm, friendly- we really enjoyed the session with her and the photos were fabulous - very very good - but honestly they are out there to rob London - it was horrendously expensive.

I am sure they could do more affordable prices. Infact I would suggest that after making their clients wait for so long, they should atleast offer them I photo free.

Catherine if you are reading this, please could you try to make the photos more affordable. BTW, there was no pressure to buy at all. We saw the photos, told the guy - who was very friendly as well - that we like most of them, but they are just beyond our spending capacities.

In short - I had a nice day - although feel very sad, I could not even get 1 photo.

BTW, Catherine, my email in your database is wrong. It should be monika.solanki@gmail.com. The Monika is with a ‘k’.

Monika
166. Julia Boswell Says:
October 8th, 2007 at 8:44 am

Catherine, thanks very much for your response. I did indeed get an email from the Loshni in Southampton offering me a full refund and some complimentary photos, which I’ve accepted. I really do appreciate you saying that you are going to speak to the salesperson involved in this, as his conduct was completely unacceptable.

By the way, something I’ve found out since originally posting is that Lauren was asked to fill out the list of names to be entered in a “prize draw”. She was completely unaware of what the consequences of this was. She’s only 18 so all of the people she put on the list were under 21. Please can you ensure that none of her friends get contacted as this would contravene your new policy of no under 21s.

Thanks for replying to this promptly!

Julia
167. Catherine Says:
October 8th, 2007 at 11:10 am

Hi Diane,

All customers are required to give date of birth when booking but some slip through the net or give false ages, and are then not allowed to view or purchase their images on the day of their shoot.If you email me at catheriner@doubletake-uk.com I will sort this out for you.

Julia, I’m sorry but I think it’s been too long since the shoot to recall your daughters recommendations. Our new form highlights 18-22 year olds, over 23s and students. It has been decdied that preventing over 18s who are working and have their own money to spend from having a photoshoot would be unfair, considering they can even join the army and risk their lives!

Monkia, thanks for the feedback and i’m pleased that you enjoyed your day. I will amend your email and call you later to discuss prices :)

Catherine
0845 863 8338
168. Monika Says:
October 8th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Thanks Catherine…would appreciate that.
169. Catherine Says:
October 8th, 2007 at 5:54 pm

Hi everyone,

here is some feedback from clients who have come in over the past 2 weeks:

“FANTASTIC! All staff were very professional & so helpful, we loved it, it was the best day of my life ever!!!” Tracey

“Brilliant! Could not be any better! Fantastic – made my day!” Harvir

“It was good but next time I would bring more money to buy photos” Louise

“I enjoyed the whole day and had loads of fun” Brogan

“It was nice, exciting and very welcoming. I liked the way the photographer made me feel very comfortable. The treatment/make-up was relaxing and great” Kaisha

“A few more relaxed, fun poses would have been better” Rianan

“Lovely team, excellent experience and helpful advice” Lucy

“Fabulous – thank you” Alice

“I had a great time, really what I needed, everyone was really friendly” Jena

“I had a lot of fun!!! Although I felt my photo shoot was very rushed but I had a fantastic time sipping champagne and choccies! I would definitely recommend this to a friend” Alex

“It was a great experience, would do it again and tell my friends about it!” Gosia

“Doubletake was more than I imagined it would be, so helpful and kind. I enjoyed myself so much” Jane

“Had a really good day, was made to feel really comfortable, only downfall was that the photoshoot went too quickly!” Amy

“I had a really good day and was really pleased with the photos. I would definitely recommend it!” Sam

“I had loads of fun through the whole session. Everyone was really nice and made me feel very comfortable. I’d definitely come back and do it again” Emily

“It was a lovely day but a bit dear for a photo” Carole

“Photos were very good and professional but very expensive” Theresa

“I have had a lovely day – it is so great to have a day, be pampered, drink champagne and feel like a star for the day!  All the staff were helpful and put me at ease – a most enjoyable day. Thank you” Annette

“I felt like I was in a movie! Thanks everyone! P.s. you are all brilliant!!” Tracey

“Made me feel like a star” Megan

“Feel the viewing and ending was very rushed but aside from that a very enjoyable day” Nicola

“The building and interior is fantastic, beautiful and we were well taken care of. I like the freebies! Prices were high but pictures were beautiful” Amber

“Had a great day: such a treat to look at photos of yourself and think you look fab! The team are all great” Gilly

“Had an amazing day! Nice to feel pampered and having the photo taken wasn’t as embarrassing as expected” Shelley

“Wicked experience” Malissa

“I loved doing the photoshoot, I felt welcomed by everyone and love almost all of the photos taken by Oli” Emily

“Had a really great day, thanks. Great work making a very unphotogenic me look great!” Rachel

“I had a great day and loved all the photos. When we were told the price though it was quite a shock!” Natalie

“Photos were not good value as were not what was expected – requested more natural BUT have to add quality was still good. Make-up was best bit” Ruby

“I was overwhelmed by the whole experience especially with the photo images” Hafsu
170. David Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 11:55 am

Hello!

I am a photographer and over the last few months I have had quite a few requests for a Boudoir shoot similar to that of Doubletake - although most of my queries have been from brides wishing to give their prospective husbands a sexy wedding gift.

I am keen to hear what everybody here feels about the charging and pricing of such services. My aim is to charge the same way I do and be upfront about prices. Instead of offering a “too good to be true!” free package and then charge for printing, the price I offer will include the consultation, shoot, make-up, viewing, stay in a 4* hotel, and a book (what I consider to be the most appropriate method of displaying these type of images) of 25 photos - as well as champagne and chocolates through the day.

..all this and I’d still come out way cheaper than their £2000 package!!

Is it the price people are angry about - or that this isn’t made clear? Venture (portrait) Studios use a very similar model to Doubletake and it does frustrate me that dubious sales practices make people pay over the odds for average pictures and give independent photographers like me a bad name.

If you like this kind of shoot, maybe a wedding co-ordinator in your area could recommend a local independent photographer for you. What’s the point of having a wonderful day if you can only afford two piddly 8×4’s and a contact sheet to remember it by?
171. Sarah Says:
October 10th, 2007 at 11:30 am

I recently went to a photoshoot in the Farringdon studios.
I was very pleased with the hair and make-up and throughly enjoyed the photoshoot.
When it came to the viewing at the end, i wasn’t extremely happy with the photo’s (i’m just not that photogenic and too critical of myself). I managed to find about 20 i didn’t look too hideous in and was pressured into buying 20 12×8 photos as well as on disc for £600 which i couldn’t really afford but was talked into a payment plan. I’m now over my overdraft and have no money for a week and am totally regretting buying any photo’s. I think the prices are way too high.
172. Catherine Says:
October 10th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

Hi Sarah, when did you come in for your appointment and did you fill in a feedback form?

Here are some comments from yesterday’s clients in London:

Charlotte - Great day, Fantastic team.
B - The experience was amazing, everyone was so lovely, would recommend you guys to anyone!
Lizzi - I have really enjoyed my day at Doubletake and wouldn’t have changed anything - would recommend this as a day out to all my friends
Ruby - My viewing consultant was great, very friendly and helpful she gave me a very great package and I’m going home very happy
Jenny - I thought I would have more photos taken with my partner
Katy - I felt rushed to change outfits and I had a mark on my face which the photographers did not mention
Annie - I have really enjoyed my day here and felt like a star. An actual model! I would definitely come back to experience more
Emma - My day was amazing, I would definitely come back again
Alice - Very good service- all staff very friendly and informative, only negative- it is expensive.
Sue - Lots of fun, bit disappointed with the photos - not many different colours and some poses looked awkward. Sorry, had fun though!
Melissa - My day at Doubletake is one to remember. The service was at a very high standard and the staff were nice
Amie - My day was very relaxing and fun. I enjoyed the pampering session and also the photoshoot. If I could do It all over again I would
A - I feel that in most of my pictures I looked like a baby
Nicola - My personal viewing consultant is a very friendly and pleasant lady, I had a great experience from start to finish, and will no doubt be back in the future. Thank you to her and all the other staff
Stephanie - I had a fantastic day and really enjoyed myself. I am happy with all the pictures and my make over

Catherine
173. Sarah Says:
October 10th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

I came in on the 4th of Oct. Yes i did fill in a feedback form but the salesman was looking over my shoulder the whole time and so i didn’t really want to put anything negative down.
174. Catherine Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

Hi Sarah,

I’ve tried callin gyou and left you a voicemail - if you could call me on 0845 863 8338 or 0207 843 6240 to discuss your expeirence and your oreder that would be great. Otherwise, I will try again later.

Thanks,

Catherine
175. Cara Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 3:18 pm

Ok, after my earlier praise, the old problems are rearing their ugly heads!

It was 10 days ago now that i went for the shoot, and due to the issue with the salesman lying about me being unable to cancel, DT have had my money since JULY. I called to ask when my money would be refunded, and was told not until the 30 WORKING day mark! So it appears they are still really in no rush to give people back the money that is ligitimately theirs! And when I asked if there was any way to speed things up (as Doubletake had had my money for so long, my bank card had expired!) the answer was a resounding NO.

So, I take back my earlier urge to people to give them a chance…honestly, the experience ain’t worth the hassle!
176. Catherine Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 5:46 pm

Hi Cara,

It would have been detailed in the information you were given by us that your refund will be processed within 30 days and we’re actually getting all refunds processed in apporoximately 24 days.

Can you remember who you spoke to regarding the 30 WORKING day policy (as it should be clear from all the information we give out that it’s simply 30 days) and I will have a word with them.

If you call me on 0207 843 6240 and let me know your account details (we can’t identify you from the details we have from the blog) I will make sure that they put you to the top of the pile.

As a gesture we can offer you a complimentary print or a chance to participate in our ‘mystery shopper’ programme?

Catherine
177. admin Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

Catherine, with all due respect, I don’t think anyone is going to waste their time with your ‘mystery shopper’ programme. Quite simply, there is no way I would ever believe that staff wouldn’t be informed. That’s how little I trust your company, and I would venture to say that the majority of people that have posted here feel the same.

Posting customer feedback is also a pointless excercise unless you are going to post the scathing ones.

The point is that after reading this page, nobody is going to trust anything your company says, and quite rightly so. Your company needs to start treating its clients honestly.

Instead, it thinks it can get away with paying you to post pointless propaganda.

Your business model is to cut your losses from people who see your charade and make it up by completely ripping off those who are pressured into buying photos by your staff.

It stinks, and I hope your company crashes and burns.
178. sianyD Says:
October 12th, 2007 at 8:07 pm

Well, unfortunately. If I had found this blog, I could have saved myself £900 !!!!

However, the make up girl was great, and so was mandy the photographer, Although no point in requesting a femalephotographer, as it is an open set, with men walking through, let alone the next victims waiting to have the mugshots done !!! ( I appologize for anyone who was inmanchester on 6th october, for my flabby bits in my naughty but nice session !!)

I felt it a bit impersonal, and was left waiting 2hours for my veiwing ,….Had already been there for 3 hours..It seemed chaos !!

I was lucky enuf to have my husband turn up to view his anniversary present, and wont take shit from anyone. We originally had 15 pics and contact snaps for £400. Sadly for them it meant that I had to pay nothing as I had paid £50 booking fee, £150 up front, which was doubled. So my £400 was covered. BUT……… My husband decided that he wanted them all, and copyright. so we had 30 prints all pics retouched .and the rest of them copyright on cd and a one print blown up to the largest size. That meant we had to pay an additional £506 . INC HANDLING CHARGE !!!!
Hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm.. think I been done !!
179. Stewart Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 8:10 am

Thought I would add my experience.

Firstly I see that Ideal World TV shopping channel are currently promoting a Pampering Day at £39.99 which is BOGOF as Pick Of The Week and sure enough Double Take are one of the places you can go. What the presenter doesn’t tell anyone listening is although you pay £39.99 to get the offer, the website states you also have to pay a booking fee of £25-£50 as well. Surely this is misleading as it is not once mentioned on TV??

Anyway, a ex-girlfriend of mine ‘won’ a pampering day back in 2005, I being the perfect boyfriend was dragged, I mean offered to go along too. As previous people have mentioned the day pans out as stated.

I being the type of person that realises nothing is free in life without some catch or buy in, knew that the photos would be expensive and had already briefed my GF to say nothing at the end when prices were mentioned. I would do all the talking (no not a bossy person, just after a deal).

So once we were in the small studio room to view the photographs on the white walls. The sales patter starts, I continued to say too expensive, can’t afford, large mortgage, etc. The girl was getting slightly fed up with my same tact, but I wasn’t going to budge. She eventually realised that we were here to get the free photo (and get it on CD, so much more you can do on CD rather than a print with no hard copy). She also ended up just giving us the contact sheet. And we left.

The CD has to be sent by post and took forever, a number of chasing phonecalls and at each call a push to sell the remaining images on CD was attempted (I think this is why they delay the sending out of CDs or Photos). Eventually the CD turned up, but calls to us continued.

At the final after a huge number of pushy phonecalls we managed to get the full photoshot images with copyright on CD for £50.

So if you stand your ground and push back at them you eventually will get them down and get your images for a low price. Our outlay was £0 for booking, £0 for the one image on CD, and £50 for the full set on CD with copyright.

One thing I will say is that the photographer did rush us, as they were running behind schedule (not our problem!), but took time to see what outfits she had brought and picked combinations, though we would have never thought would go together, but looked great. So credit to him for that one.

So I don’t think it’s a bad thing to do as long as you know what you are going to do before attending. Be firm at all times, stick to the free photograph on CD, refuse all approaches of packages, or ’special’ deals for today/this week/month only, keep accepting their phonecalls and and say I’ll buy the lot of CD for £50, can’t afford no more. Personally getting the set on CD for £50 is a lot better than £2000 (shock horror!!!)
180. Stewart Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 8:33 am

Was just thinking and thought of this slogan.

“Double Take - You have to at these prices!”
181. Bekki Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 11:31 am

ive posted before. i call doubletake, left messages. no response. i paid 200 quid for 5 awful prints. bad quality photography, flimsy paper, and no CD as i was told. im caked in stage make-up, totally unnatural, obvious now they are printed large and not on a computer screen. . im not interested in what this catherine person says cos everyone is charged wot eva they con you out of. sianyD originally paid 200£ and doubled her money and was offered 15 prints. if i paid the same for 5 and even if i doubled my money thats still not as many, and i was on a half price deal (which isnt coz the standard price it now seems is 40 for 1, not 90 as i was shown on the day, but who knows). got a printed price list through today, carefully stating each print is 40 quid. so the half price deal the sales hounder laid out for me proves that they show you daft inflated prices to con u into thinkin there is a deal.

about paying your staff, i spoke to one outside the studio last week, does makeup on something like 6 quid an hour, no expert training, and its a standing joke with staff aparently, how many people fall for it and pay out so much. she actually admitted feeling sorry for doubletake customers. and no i wont be giving you her name.

and why do you need mystery shoppers? we are real shoppers with real complaints. u hardly expect me to believe your staff wont know when they are coming. ur not an honest company, thats seems for sure. so do me a favour and listen to real customers, who you werent prepped for. and its clear, once you have our money you dont care. your only concern is getin more people in, but yeah i hope they have a better experience, coz it really really sucks getting ripped off
182. Emily Says:
October 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am

So whats the best way to cancel immediately? the number just goes through to an answer phone.
183. sianyD Says:
October 19th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

Yeah, I agree with bekki, you are made to feel likeyou are getting a deal.. But actually, youre not.. ( Although We paid an extortunate amount.. My hubbby liked the pics. ) To cancel, I would ring bookings hotline, cos you are guaranteed somebody will answer the fone as they want to take your money!! Also they have made pushy calls to friends that I recommended, asking for card details before they had even agreed to having the shoot !

Also on the fone, they will not commit to give you a price of packages..Why ?? becaause as you have read before this, If they cantget a sale, they will charge an amount to suit themselves. Any sale is better than no sale!!! To spend 4 hours or more having hair, make up and photos, etc: drinking their cocktails eating snacks they provide. They still want to get paid, so if they have no sale, its a lot for them to lose..Including their time ..
184. Jo Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 11:08 pm

I went along to manchester with a friend who had “won” a free experience, she got two £50 off vouchers which we both agreed we would use to buy one photo each..anyway the short of it is that we went along, had our make up and hair done very poorly,my eye make up was smuged down my face and my hair just looked awful, i was not able to tell the woman as i was rushed out of the seat because she was running late..The photographer was really nice but when it came to the photos i ended up getting 8 for £256, which i was to pay by direct debit..i regretted it as soon as i had got on the train, and spoke to my parents who went ballistic at me! I sent them an email as soon as i had got in that day saying i couldnt afford the photos cos im a student and i dont even have a loan so i wanted to cancel them. No reply, so i have been ringing every day this week, leaving messages and not had anyone get back to me, until i sent an email earlier formally cancelling the photos to which i got a response saying i couldnt, but i could get 6 for £53..I dont want the photos, thinking about it now, there was one photo which i actually liked!
Is there no 7/10 day cooling off period whereby i can cancel these pics, i dont want them and my parents dont want them!!
185. Jo Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 12:36 pm

What i forgot to add to the last comment was that when we got round to the viewing and had looked at our photos we found out that the £50 off vouchers were only valid for the packages which were about £2000!
186. Jen Says:
October 28th, 2007 at 11:19 pm

Hi

I’m just back from taking my 13 yr old daughter for a photo session at the Southampton branch of doubletake and wish I had read this site before.

My thoughts for what they are worth are. It’s a nice afternoon out, my daughter loved having her hair and makeup done and she loved having her photo taken. The staff were very friendly and the place seemed hugely popular.

However as said above, it is a massive rip off. I began to feel uncomfortable as soon as I realised that there was absolutly no information regarding prices available. The staff are obviously told not to discuss prices prior to viewing time, when you’re given the hard sell. I laughed out loud when she tried to sell me a package for £550 and she then asked me how much I had expected to pay. She then went away and came back with a few more options for me. We took the cheapest one which cost £100 plus £6 handling fee. For this we got the 2 sheets of thumbnail images, 5 images on CD, full copyright and one print that was included.

I am happy - ish with this. I think I have probably paid too much, but then my daughter did enjoy herself, has learnt some make up and styling tips, the staff were very friendly and spent a lot of time looking after us and the pics are very good, can’t wait to scan them onto the pc and get them printed myself. I just feel that the whole experience was tainted by the dishonest sales tactics. I wonder if it’s backfiring for the company in anyway as it’s for this reason that I don’t feel inclined to recomend any of my friends to them.

If they sold the pictures at a sensible price and had all the packages and costs displayed up front I think people would be more likely to buy them and come away feeling that they have got someting worthwhile for their money. i can’t see many people shelling out £2,000 for a few photos.
187. Anonymous Says:
October 28th, 2007 at 11:52 pm

I wish I’d found this site before returning to doubletake for a photoshoot with my friends recently, I had been to the studio in London with my partner so had an idea how it worked but did not expect to be treated the way we were in manchester. We had two sales people, yes two trying to make us spend huge amounts of money, even though I’d told them I know how it works and that I spent two hundred pounds last time. The second sales woman was brought in half way through, as the rude, and downright aggresive woman knew she wasnt getting anywhere with us. We stuck together and gave them nothing so they decided to split us up, the second woman took me and my friend into another room and was actually very polite and reasured us we were under no obligation to buy, it was only because she was so polite and didn’t pressurise me that I decided to return to doubletake later that day to purchase my contact sheets so that my boyfriend could have a look at the couple I actually liked. When I did return the girl on the reception desk informed me the first woman, the arrogant, rude one was in fact the manager!!!!! Has anyone else had to face this woman? My friend left almost in tears because of this so called manager!
188. Anonymous Says:
October 28th, 2007 at 11:59 pm

Is it just me or does anyone else think that by replying to this blog so many times the company just looks even more guilty? I’m only anonymous as I dont want this catherine to bombard me with phonecalls or anyone else for that matter, I don’t want anything to do with this company again.
189. Anonymous Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 12:27 am

I’ve just spoken to my friend, who left the studio almost in tears because she was made to feel so bad when she told the sales ‘manager’ she didn’t like any of her photos, she said her name was Beth, we’d really like to know if anyone else has dealt with this woman who acted all nice with us but it was so totally fake and kept on adding sly comments when we wouldnt play ball or was it just us that got this treatment for being honest? I’ve just checked my receipt and the polite woman was Vicky, has anyone had the same experience with her or did I just catch her on a good day? Are they all the same? Was Vicky just trying to repair the damage made by the manager? Anyway I won’t be returning, we all said we would just to get out of there but I don’t want anything to do with them ever again.
190. Jen Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 9:01 am

After sleeping on this for the night I have some more thoughts and think perhaps it’s about time trading standards looked into this.

I am left feeling that they have tried to take me for a fool and it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. Their whole business plan seems underhanded. I’ts a shame as it could be a fantastic business if it was run honestly.

I’m so glad that I didn’t put anyone down for recomendation, it’s also interesting that you’re asked to do this before you have seen the prices and exactly how many of us could find 75 people to recomend anyway?? It just goes to show how greedy the company is.

Years ago I had this kind of thing done at Oland Mills studio and it was much better. The photo packages were a fair price, photos wer’nt quite so good but then it was before didgital photography.

It’s a great business idea, just a shame that it’s designed to rip people off.
I wonder how many other people who feel the same was as we do but don’t find this website.
191. Tameal Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

Doubletake are a doubletheif and they doubletake the piss!!!!!!
192. admin Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Hi everyone.

I’m afraid I no longer have time to contribute now the uni semester is in full swing.

I am no longer allowing posts from Doubletake - I just can’t stomach another word of their bullshit rhetoric. They’ve had their chance, and completely blown it. There are plenty of contact details on this page for those who need a problem resolved - this site is not the place for it.

Sam
193. Jen Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 3:41 pm

Well an update on my situation at the double take studios. I have been to the bank today and they have actually taken the payment that I made yesterday out from my bank account twice. I am in contact with the bank and they are currently looking into whether or not they can stop both payments but say it’s unlikely. I also can’t get through to double take at all which is another point that annoys, there is no way to speak to your local studio, it’s all centralised.

As far as I am concerned this is theft and I will have no hesitation in going to the police
194. Bob Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 12:24 am

I have been invited to one of these studios with someone who has paid a deposit after being pushed by a salesman. I can not afford their photos, and neither can they. I have agreed to go for moral support, and so that the no show/cancellation fee doesnt get charged. My first instincts were to google the company which I am delighted I did, thanks for your comments. We dont really want to go, but dont want to get charged for not going. Is the best plan to just turn up and flat refuse to buy their photos? It seems absolutely pointless for all parties. But if that saves the most money is it the best plan?
195. Sarah Says:
November 1st, 2007 at 11:41 am

The best plan would be to not take any money or cards with you to reduce temptation. That way theres no chance of them getting any money out of you!
196. Eleesha kelly Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

i bookked a photoshoot with doubletake studios. the kept on chaging my appointment and i found this website so i cancelled my appointment with them. they kept on calling me 15 times a day for over a week harrassing me to have photos done with them. they’d even call of different numbers to try and catch me out. Anyway come payday i was on my way to london with my boyfriend and thought id call up my bank to check my wage had gone in. to my suprise DOUBLE TAKE STUDIOS had completly cleand out my bank accound. i wrote them a recorderd letter to claim my money back. they called me up today 05/1107 and told me i owd them it for not turning up for my appointment. they told me wen booking the appointment that i had to pay 2pounds booking fee incase i didnt turn up. which i payed by card as it was over the phone. there f##king ars##les! the didnt want the 2pounds they just wanted my card number so the could steal from me. over 500 pounds they have stolen from me! oh but look at the bright side people il get it deducted of my photos if i heve sume done with them! yeah right. that money was 4 my xmas presents. i worked so hard for that money;…..(eleesha kelly from bedford
197. admin Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Sick. Absolutely sick.
198. Ardel Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Hi guy’s,

Some of you may remember me from my original postings way up in the beginning. Well after I got my deposit and all ummm about two weeks ago I got a call from them again and I was like “what the crap”. It turns out they gave me a special deal on the pictures they took of me and my girl in June that I was told would be deleted after a month (this is November now). Basically I will get all my pics on cd and legal rights (didn’t know I had to buy those) for £80. Thought it was a good deal and began to make up for the trouble they gave me. Sadly now i’m starting to wonder when I will get my pics because over 2 weeks have passed and i’m hoping it’s just a postal problem.
That old saying seems to come back to me ” Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me”.
199. Ardel Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

Eleesha, really feel for you. WHat surprises me the most is how fast they can take the money out of your account but how slow they will crawl to give it back to you.
200. Anonymous Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

I had exactly the same problem as one of the other people on here. The treatment that i recieved when i came in was stupid, all the done was put moisturiser on my hands and put a bit of make up on me. I then had my pictures done, and i had nicholas show me all the pictures and when i told him that i could not afford the amount that he wanted he left the room and came back 5 minutes later with two student deals (that they had just obviously written up themselves) that i could choose from and they still wanted nearly £500. In the end i chose the cheaper deal as i was on my own and felt pushed in to buying the pictures, i am still trying to pay for the pictures now. I would advise anyone now not to get their pictures taken there, the staff are so pushy and if you say no then they push even more.
201. Charlene Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

Hi,

i went to double take stuido’s yesterday in Farringdon. overall it was a good day really enjoyed having my pictures taken and the make up.

my day went as follows:
where when we got there (we were late but i did call and let them know!!) we took our bags into a room and then sat down. we were not even spoken to for around 30mins let alone offered a drink! finally we got our drink and filled out a form with how we wanted our hair and make up. then yet again more waiting!! finally went down to have our hair and make up done, big thank you to my stylist, really nice lady and explained what she was using and why. (always good to learn some new tips!!!!) then we went back up stairs and yet again more waiting!!! put took some snaps on my own camera of me and my friend all done up.

then we got taken up stairs by a photographer and had some pics taken together then i was told to go to the down stairs studio so had to pack everything away and go down stairs! (slighty annoying as got told to take it all out!!!) overall i liked my photographer she was helpfull in telling me how to pose and all that!

then once all finished had to go and wait 45mins till our pics where ready to be seen! was abit annoyed that it took this long as i know for a fact could of been done in shorter time. then we were called to look at our pics. was nice that they let us look at them alone and talk about them with out other people there!

then the hagerling started! ha, we got shown a price list and i just laughed no way was i paying £399 for 6 pics on a cd! you have got to be joking! after much debate and told them i was not spending that much money i got 3 images on a cd 1 print and the contact sheet for £99.00 and then as we were sorting the payment she said “o yes and £7 shipping charge!! what i couldnt believe it! 7 quid! thats mad. but o well. went through with it! i wish i had pushed some more for better pricing as i know they could of gone lower but o well.

overall it was a good day and enjoyed doing it, but had to wait around far to much for my liking! we ended up being there nearly 5 hours! and feel abit ripped off. but o well the joys of con artist’s i suspose it was her job!!!!
202. Nettie Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

I entered a competition in Full House magazine, 5 places to be won for you and a friend for the photo shoot, I received a call (25/9/07) a few weeks later saying I had won the competition for me and a friend to have the photo shoot for free, free drinks, make up styling, £150 voucher towards pictures on the day etc.
I paid a £10 booking fee over the phone and was told an information pack would be sent out, never received one 2 days before the appointment date they sent an e-mail to say they have taken £10 on the 19/10/07 (This was taken on the 25/09/07 not the 19/10/07) , tried to phone them never got hold of any one, the day of the photo shoot I had a phone call to ask why I had not turned up. I explained I had not received the information pack, they blamed the royal mail strike and said they would ring back, they never did, then 4 days later £70 was taken from my account by doubletake, many phone calls got me no where so phoned my bank to report an unauthorised transaction and they refused to do anything about it as I had paid the £10 booking fee nearly a month before hand.
I have been phoning doubletake nearly every day and just get told they will ring me back or the answer phone, I have called trading standards who have said you will have to write them letters, I have tried to contact full house magazine but they never ring me back after leaving messages.
Yesterday my bank charged me for going into an unauthorized overdraft even though I had plenty of money in, double take have just took another £70 and now I have been hit for £38 bank charges as they paid doubletake but rejected my direct debit payment. This can not be legal for them to keep taking money from my account I have been phoning them all day today and same old rubbish we made a mistake and will sort it in ten minutes and call you back but they never ring. Natwest still refuse to stop them from taking any further payments, I phoned the fraud department who said they can not get the money back but did phone double take with me on the phone so I could here what they say, had to keep quiet as the person was not meant to let me hear what they say. They said I had agreed for them to take the money and they would ring me to try and sort it out, it was very hard to keep quiet when they are trying to make me out to be the liar, but I did. The person at the fraud line said to see if they call you and if not to phone them back direct tomorrow and they will try pressuring them into refunding all my money whilst I am on the phone. I will post what happens, any more advice would be great, thanks
203. Anon Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

My daughter was contacted by this company a friend had recommended her. She made a booking for two people. When asked if there was any other cost the gentleman said NO but we must tell them by 9 if we could not make it. I paid using my card. We then found this website. I immediately cancelled my cards (to stop them helping themselves to even more of my money) I rang them immediately and cancelled this appointment. Not a problem the man said, and there was no mention of a fee. We have today received a bill for £198 for not turning up… or they MAY take my daughter to court. Obviously cancelling my cards was a really good decision. I no doubt feel they would have just taken the £198 from my card.

I suggest anyone else falls for this dishonest company should cancel their card immediately after visiting this site.

We will not be paying anything else to this company.

What are trading standards doing about this?
204. Michelle Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 11:52 am

I recieved the call, saying I had been offered this pampering day through a friend. I needed to pay a £50 deposit, which was refundable. I asked about changing apointments as I work freelance and can not be sure I can attend a set date 3 months in advance. I was told I could change the date as many times as I liked, just give them a call.
Trying to get through was a nightmare. But eventually I managed and re booked for another date as the 1st seemed to be a problem for me.
When I realsied I couldn’t make the next date I tried again to re arrange. I could not get through, I left messages and emails.

Finally someone contacted me reminding me that my experience was in 3 days. I explained that I had been trying to change the appointment but they refused. They said I could not change it again and that I would loose my deposit. I argued and the lady I spoke to became very rude…”do you even want this day or are you wasting my time”. Eventually she agreed to change the date but for a £25 admin fee!!!!!

I of course refused and explained how I feel I was being completely scammed. Eventually I was allowed to change the date 1 last time. I would have preferred to cancel but doubt I would see my deposit so I am going this Monday.

I will let you all know how I get on…..wish me luck!
205. chaz Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm

Two of my good friends went to double take to have their photos taken and put mine and a few of our other friends down aswell. I was contacted a week later by them with a great offer of being pappered and done up really nice for a photo shoot, not thinking much (and not hearing a bad word from my friends) i decided to go ahead and book me and my sister in. When upon telling my sister she immediately told me to cancel as it sounded completely phoney. I have since the end of last week been phoning them to cancel, but i’v had no such luck getting through, so i know have to cancel my card to prevent a no show fee. I feel it is really appaling how the handle their buissness and all the people they’ve take money from. I just hope they get shut down so it can’t happen to anyone else!
206. Gabi Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 7:21 pm

I went for a ‘free’ photoshoot in Juna at the Farringdon studios, prepared by my mum that i would probably love the photos and want to buy some, so i had taken a set amount of money that i was prepared to spend. The day itself was a nice experience, i ‘recommeded’ only a couple of friends who’s (numbers may have been slightly wrong- I’m not stupid!) and was shown my photos which i do think are gorgeous. After being offered the ridiculously expensive packages, i explained that i was only going to spend a certain amount. The advisor then went to ’speak to the manager’ to see what she could do, and came back with an offer which was much more reasonable, although still expensive. She had already deducted the amount from my free voucher from this and it was written hastily on a piece of paper, and not verbally highlighted that this amount had already been removed. Subsequently, I thought the price was much lower and agreed to it. This was naive of me, and i have no case to say that they cheated me out of money but the price breakdown definitely was not made explicitly clear. On realising my mistake and asking to cancel the photos-there and then in the studio- i was told that the order had gone through and could not be cancelled.
4 months later, surprise surprise I am clled up by a representative saying that they are clearing the archives and offering me all photos on a cd for £80. After hesitating, this was cut to £40.
Although I have got some gorgeous phtots of myself out of the experince, I wish i had never got involved in the first place and advise anyone else to think very carefully about booking.
I wish I’d come across this site before; good on everyone who has shared their experiences here for the benefit of others.
Gabi
207. Toots Says:
November 13th, 2007 at 7:34 pm

Hi everyone - can anyone help please?
My young student daughter has been set up with the same line - very pressurised phone call, booked, paid deposit by her debit card, told she couldnot cancel; had to re-book; no-show through accident couldnot get thro on telephone. Now very worried about them taking money from her account (already on overdraft). Bank said cant help stop money going out! Does she need to just cancel her current debit card or can they get money another way? Does cancel mean destroy and ask for a replacement or full closure of account which she cannot do because of overdraft. Any other advice?
208. Li Says:
November 14th, 2007 at 2:49 am

My story is very like Anna’s. I’m a student too. I got a random phone call today form Doubletake Studios. I’m usually quite paranoid about random phone calls. I was about to put the phone down when He mentioned my friend’s name. I naturally started to trust who I was talking to.

I kept thinking though why me? I haven’t spoken to this friend in ages why would she pick me out of all her friends to have this luxury day. The ‘it is too good to be true’ line came into my head.

I said I had to be somewhere, which I did and can he phone me back at the Weekend. Thankfully my phone contract runs out in the next two days!

I’m so glad I found this blog! Thankyou so much for rescuing me from more financial worry (being a student I tend to worry about money)! I will NOT be ringing Doubletake Studios back or accepting their phone call and I will not be so trusting next time and listen to my instincts!
209. Sammy Says:
November 14th, 2007 at 5:50 pm

I think that double take studios are a bunch of con - merchants. They never return your calls and when they do all they do is threaten to take money out of my account for a cancellation fee that was cancelled within 7days of making the booking! Double take studios = Unbelieveable. They shouldnt be able to do this. Looks like they give most people a £50 voucher to go towards the photos - Which is nothing really seeing how much they really are. I would never reccomend this place at all!!
210. kerry Says:
November 15th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

hi me and 5 friends have a photo shoot booked for saturday 17th nov, have just read all comments and are now very worried, we are wondering what course of action to take, we are considering not going, any ideas on what we can do please
211. Mrs CT Says:
November 15th, 2007 at 9:41 pm

I had a phone call from a nice sales rep from Double take Studios on 6th Nov. I had been recomended by a friend and she said I had been one of the lucky ones that has been offered a free shoot for myself and a friend.

I explained that I did not want to book anything as I was very unwell and unsure when I would be well enough to travel to London. The Lady said that she would book me in provisionly as I will miss out on the free offer. I ended up saying ok but just for me, not a FRIEND as i need to ask around (told her a lot of my friends have had photos taken recently) I didnt even check all this out with my friend that had the photoshoot! Silly of me, but I thought its free and PROVISIONAL so I have nothing to lose. The lady then asked for my card details for a deposit, i asked why? you told me its free? she said its just to surcure your place and it will be refunded in full when you have the photoshoot on the day or go towards the costs of the images purchased. I then asked I want a full refund also if I am not well enough to attend, she said yes u can if you give us at least 14days notice, just call the number in your confirmation pack to cancel or re-arrange it.

So I let her take £25 deposit. card payment went through and she told me she was sending my confirmation pack out today, I then asked if the price list would be in the pack and she said no! I asked how much are all the photos on a disc and she said £70. I thought thats not bad at all.

I then spoke to my friend who paid £400 for the disc! and another paid £250 for the disc and 2 prints that went a few wks before! I was annoyed as I was told by the sales women £70, so I thought I would wait for the confirmation and then phone up about the prices.

Confirmation came through on 14th Nov, 8days after the Provisonal booking was made. I was annoyed to see that the appointment date was wrong it was the wk before and I had been charged £50 and it said for 2 persons, I was charged twice and I said that It was just for myself!!
I phoned all day yesterday and it was an anwer machine and no one called me back.

Today I had hospital appointment and had been told my recovery is going to be much longer than expected, I will def not b well enough to travel to London the date provionally booked over the phone let alone the date they booked me in which was a wk earlier!

I ve called again to cancel my provisonal booking and only an answering service, so i called the studio in London direct and they said that they dont deal with cancellations and put me through to another answering machine. Still no call back from anyone!!

I then read the terms and conditions on the confirmation letter and it says that full refunds of the refundable deposit are only after 7days of the booking! The sales rep told me upto 14days before the appointment date. Not only that the date I was cold called was 6th Nov, this confirmation is dated 12th and rec’d on the 14th! how can anyone cancel in 7days anyway.

I ve emailed them to cancel as no one calls back and stated that I was advised I would get a full refund and that it was just a provisional booking.

So I was lied to, over charged upto this point- it would make anyone think they had been ripped off already. and after reading all this I know I have.

I better get my money back!! I am now off work much longer

Will keep you posted of my outcome
212. Adam Says:
November 18th, 2007 at 3:18 am

This Company also Trys to get Some of the people having “adventurus” photoshoots to sign a model release as part of there contract (some very very small print in there) for the “free” photoshoot , i wonder if they know quite what a model release give the company / photographer the right to do with the pictures? would not be suprised to find some of them on some adult websites
213. Thankful Says:
December 5th, 2007 at 9:08 pm

Thank you so much for your site! I’d like to point out before I go on that I experienced difficulties at first accessing your site without using the ‘cached’ Google hotlink…so make sure others can access your website by clicking on the direct link and access for others isn’t being blocked by these con-merchants.

A bit of good news…I received a call from ‘Paul’ at DoubleTake studios at 18.25 this evening to say that my friend had recommended me for a photoshoot and pampering ‘experience’…had I heard of DoubleTake studios?… (I would later find out why he asked!)…he mentioned I could book in Manchester and bring along a friend too…I said I would be interested and for a split second I nearly paid the £3 per person deposit he was asking for using my card ‘to secure the date’…boy am I glad I didn’t…

I have heard so much about people who have been ripped off by these ’studio’ offers and so wanted to do a bit of investigation before I said ‘yes’.

After trawling through the ‘DoubleTake are so fantastic’ websites I stumbled upon this Don’t Be Fooled blog…my heart missed a beat as I realised I’d nearly given Paul, who I’ve never spoken to before in my life, and am almost certainly now never going to speak to again, access to my card details, the only reason I didn’t initially was because I wanted to double check on the date with my friend.

Thank you so much for making sure the truth is out about these people…after a little more searching I discovered ‘Paul’ was more than likely on £20,000 per year as a salesman with this company…no wonder he was so persistant.

He phoned back at 19.30 and I had the great pleasure of informing him that I’d investigated his firm whilst waiting for him to ring back, and that under no circumstances whatsoever would I give him access to my account, as I had seen some shocking examples of how they remove money from people’s accounts without prior warning and I would certainly not be giving him my card details.

He said he would ‘check with his manager to see if postal orders could be accepted’ and whether he could send an information pack out with details of how to do so…I wonder if I’ll ever receive that pack?!

To say he spluttered would be an understatement…I then said would he like to investigate the firm he was working for and their appalling treatment of customers as I was happy to give him the link, to which he of course fumblingly replied…’uuurrg, no, I wouldn’t like to investigate the company I work for…’.

Thank you so much for forewarning and forearming me with information and hope this gives others satisfaction as I was able to subject them to just a little of the same stern treatment they have subjected others to via my stern response to Paul.

I was so close to paying that £6 deposit and am so so glad I didn’t!
214. Kerry Says:
December 20th, 2007 at 2:02 pm

Hi there,

I am the most recent victim of Double Take and am disgusted. I was called up after a friend of mine attended and had passed on my details. I was told the booking fee was £3 (not per person!) and that i would only loose the £3 should i wish to cancel at ANY TIME. I was then told there were only select dates and was booked in for the follwing week. When i decided to cancel i was told it was better to reschedule to avoid fees. I was then charge £25 per person = £50.00 on my card.

I thought i was scheduled in for mid Jan but received a call Wed 19th Dec to advise me that i was booked for Friday 21st and if i didnt attend there would be more fees. I looked up fees on their website and they are trying to charge me £100!! I am now taking this link (which i have sent Double Take) and am seeking legal action.

I have signed nothing and never even made it to the studios so they do not have a legally binding agreement. Very upset with Double Take. I even tried to call 3 times and they forwarded me to an answer machine every time !!!
215. sarah Says:
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:31 pm

well, i was called up about a month ago by an over-excited man on the phoneline saying ‘your friend has nominated you for a free makeover photoshoot and you have been chosen out of a list of 20 people’

i had heard of the studios before and knew of this old friend who nominated me so thought why not??

i had 2 pay a £6 deposit for me and a friend by card (i used my mums card and she went mad)

i knew of this cancellation fee so i MADE SURE i turned up on time with my sister (as a friend cancelled on me last minute.)

so anyway makeover and photoshoot hand massage the LOT was done in less than half an hour but then again it did look nice…

everything you lot are saying is true

after my photos were taken i was shoked at the prices…my sister didnt buy any and i brought 4 on cd with copyright for £150…this was also supposed to come with a contact sheet which suprisingly they said they couldnt give me but the whole thing would apparently come within six weeks

it hasnt been 6 weeks yet but trust me im going to be ON THERE CASE and if they dont send it in 6 weeks they owe me a free photo (which states on there website) but anyway why couldnt they send me the cd straight away? my dad wants to know…

bottom line is if i get a call a few months later offerin me the whole lot on cd i will not pay a penny more than £35!!!! and will give them the link to this website…
216. Harry Says:
December 29th, 2007 at 1:29 pm

Does anyone know how I can get through to someone so I can cancel an order. Tried to call and I kept reaching the answer machines, sent an email - no response. It seems like its only through here that they’re prepared to listen!!!!
217. admin Says:
December 29th, 2007 at 2:26 pm

You’ve hit the nail on the head there. Try Catherine on 0845 863 8338 and Ray on 020 7843 1199.
218. Harry Says:
January 1st, 2008 at 10:01 pm

Definitely, thanks for that.. i’ll give them both a go.
219. Suzette Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 3:11 am

Hi - Just wanted to point out that Double take are now offering Boudoir Photography and couples photo shoots under the name Secretly Yours. I run a Boudoir Photography studio myself and find it worrying that a company like Double take will damage the industry. There are a few well-established companies in this field and we have all worked hard to get a good reputation for being professional and giving a great service. If Secretly Yours treat their customers like Double take do, then it will tarnish people’s perceptions about Boudoir Photography. Thanks for helping to spread the word about this highly unprofessional company :)
220. Rebecca Says:
January 9th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

I was approached by double take after my friend entered me in a competition!!! I have been on the phone to double take after trying to cancel my session, I tried calling all last week and did not want to leave a message as I wanted to speak to someone to cancel my appointment. After not phoning me back I phoned them today and now I have a charge of £100 to cancel as the session is sunday….but its only because they didnt answer their phones. I changed the session to august as I have not got enough money to cancel, I was crying on the phone and they were ruthless to take money from me. I changed it and paid £50. I have since noticed I have not accepted the terms and conditions because I have not sent the registration form off, so can anyone advise me if I am able to take this further? Or if I could get my money back? I am yet to be able to cancel it which will cost me £25 accord to the T and C’s but I have not said I agree! This has upset me greatly and Trading standards will be hearing from me :(
221. s and j Says:
January 9th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

hey. thought i’d add my experience too. unfortunately i didnt come accross this site early enough. i had a call from a lady telling me i had won a competition too and that it’l be a £10 booking fee, after i agreed to bring a friend along and given my card details she had told me she actually ment £10 per person. on the day itself we ran alittle late due to public transport and we called to let them know and they assured us it was fine. when we got there we were told we missed our slot so would have to rebook (no mention of an extra charge) our other choice was that we could wait an hour, we decided to wait. in the reception we were constantly told to find another seat as they needed to seat some else in ours. we hadnt been offered drinks or snacks and we even had to keep our bags with us (maybe this had something to do with the fact we were both 18?). anyways about an hour and 30mins/ 2hours later someone told us it was finally our turn, by this time we were both getting very annoyed and hungry too! but the thing was they didnt have enough time to do our own photoshoots so we had to do it together which we were okay about. however we we rushed through makeup and hair whilst evryone around us actually looked like they were enjoying themselfs, i remember a 12yr girl who was treated like a queen compared to us, maybe because her mother was there too. our photographer was nice and that part of the day we enjoyed. then were to sit and wait for another hour or so to view our photographs, by this time it was really late and we were the last people in the building. during viewing we 1st asked about the prices which the lady replied to “we’l talk about tha later, just choose the pictures now” so we chose quite a few, i didnt really like my makeup but my friend did look nice, after choosing nearly all of them we were offered the most expensive package to which we laughed and decided it wasnt what we wanted, we surely could not afford it!! in the end we ended up buying 28 a4 pics and 2 a3 pics printed and on cd for £700 with all our vouchers/ discounts and booking fee included, we didnt want them but were bullied into buying eventhough we were happy with just 2. apparently it was a one in alife time deal and no one else would have ever payed so less, we both felt like idiots. mistake learnt though, never ever do it again… unless im one of those mystery shoppers!! btw we’re still to recieve our pics :(
s an j
222. Katie Says:
January 13th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

I visited Doubletake studios in Farringdon a few months ago with a friend, after the ‘recommendation’ that you’ve probably all experienced…and am ashamed to say that I did recommend several friends, in the hope of getting a free gift - which never materialised! However, I did make up several numbers just to reach the necessary amount of friends, so I hope they enjoyed wasting their time to ring them!

I do really wish I’d found this site earlier. I think the prices that are absolutely disgusting and are clearly not warranted, since they always ring a few months later offering you the lot for £50 - but by that point, I told them quite frankly, I wasn’t prepared to spend any more money there. At the time, I did purchase a CD with 3 photos for about £140 (using the voucher) but really wish I hadn’t - naturally I was told that this deal would NEVER be offered to anyone else, and that any friends shouldn’t expect to get it. The make-up etc was fun, but we were left sitting around for over an hour and a half after the photo shoot, waiting for our pics - I was very glad I had a friend for company, and it was freezing in their reception! Also the promised canapes never materialised.

My two major gripes with Double Take studios were:

1 - the pressure put upon you to buy photos - the salesgirl rather rudely batted away any objections we put up about the price; she kept insisting it was only £100 (or whatever other amount she was trying to get us to pay) more than we’d already paid with our deposit (about £100 per person) - ignoring the fact that the deposit was refundable, and we expected and NEEDED to get it back.

2 - the fact that you are asked to fill in a feedback form before you are told how much the photos are, and are pressured into buying them. In my opinion, this completely invalidates all the feedback stats that the management of Double Take Studios have quoted above, as they were not taken before the entire experience was completed. My feedback would have been VERY different I had been able to give it at a later stage.

I did get the deposit back; I think they told me within 3 months, and it was within this timescale.

If you want this kind of experience, there are countless other studios out there, who charge significantly less. I don’t know how the salespeople sleep at night, knowing that they spend their whole day lying to people to extort money. When you search for Double Take Studios, this now comes up in 6th place - let’s keep pushing it up!
223. Nicola W Says:
January 13th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

Great!!! I am booked in for an “experience” on the 9th Feb… Needless to say i’m not really looking forward to it now. I don’t see the point in going if I won’t be able to afford any of the photos :-( Oh well at least i found this now so I know what to expect from the hard sell…
224. chantelle Says:
January 18th, 2008 at 3:01 pm

hi ive just been aproached by doubletake studios sayin that a friend put my name forward but they can not reserve my place without a £3 deposit off my card…now im reluctant to give my details over the phone and after reading these comments i feel very reluctant to even consider it but i must say the young gentleman on the phone sounded very convincing!
225. Issy Says:
January 18th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

Hi this is a very detailed and upsetting site to read - a friend worked for Double Take for 11 months as a photographer, they were all very pressured to work to the allotted 45 mins per session and not to run over even if their client had been waiting to be photographed they were to be rushed through. All the bookings are made through London, no matter what studio you attend and they don’t appear to liaise for example a female photographer if requested, some times there were only male photographers on shift together so this could cause problems. Doubling up on shoots when the £1.00 booking fee was brought in caused major problems as inexperienced photographers were often on shift, leaving the clients none to happy, another Managerial boo boo. My friend was ‘let go’ or sacked for nothing at all - they complained directly to Director Ray Gilbert of the way the studio they worked in was being run inadequately, for health and safety reasons, for the way the staff and clients were being treated and lack of Management skills to be told that as long as the money was coming in then he wasn’t concerned. I see Beth was Mentioned in Manchester, I have heard all about her, yes very rude passive aggressive to staff so clients don’t stand a chance, you will be glad to hear she has been shipped back to London and is no longer in Manchester - Good luck to anyone when it comes to buying, I can only say my friend didn’t have a bad word to say about their colleagues in Make up & Photography however watch out for the Managers and again be aware that you are going to be pressured into buying, thats what Ray Gilbert is all about, making money not giving a good service for the price you pay. Birmingham watch out they are opening up there soon if not already. I have been reading these comments since February and to be honest, if you read them go in with the comments in mind then when it comes to the close or kill at least you have been forewarned. Good Luck.
226. Sarah Says:
January 20th, 2008 at 12:17 am

Hi, i hope someone can help me, me and my sister bought £400 worth of pictures each (10 pictures) i felt pressured to buy them and really regret it now, is there anything i can do? please please help
227. Amy Says:
January 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am

Doubletake are an underhand company and I should have expected nothing less from a cold call, and feel stupid for having anything to do with them.
They recently withdrew £148 from my bank account without my knowledge or consent for a “no-show” charge, when, as like others above have written, I had been informed I would not lose anything more than my £2 deposit.
I have written to them for my money back, to which they offered I could “put the fees towards another luxurious experience”. Needless to say I will be doing no such thing. I got straight on the internet this morning to seek advice from the CAB and Offices of Fair Trading, and also stumbled upon a link on “moneysavingexpert.com” to this web blog.
Well, I am disgusted at the whole event and very disappointed that I also got sucked in by their lies. I wish I had had the sense, as others have, to research into this abhorrent company beforehand. After many telephone calls and emails I was informed by a “consultant” that they would only deal with my complaint by post so I am writting them another letter today, demanding my money back. If anyone else has further advice for me, or knows of any other legal offices I can raise my issues with, then please let me know.
228. Sara King Says:
January 29th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

I am writing this complaint at Doubletake Studios as i am absolutely disgusted at the lack of comunication from them.
My daughter won the experience had to give her bank details foe the deposit, we then realised we couldn’t make it as we were all ill so rang the no repeatedly with no response and no call back, we emailed them also with no reply.
We now find they’ve taken 190 pound out of my daughters account as a no show charge! Has anybody got any ideas on how i go about gettin it back, i’ve tried ringing them but again no reply.
229. Sara King Says:
January 30th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Just an update everybody but after countless telephone calls and getting stupid ignorant and pushy salesmen i’ve decided to now take it to Watchdog and am awaiting a reply, I’ve also been in touch with my solicitor who is happy to take up my case and finally the police as it is an ofence to take money from an account without permission so it’s classed as theft.
Will keep you updated as reading everybodys experiences on here with Doubletake i don’t se why theyshould keep getting away with it.
230. Sabina Says:
February 1st, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Hi People,

I have just read all these upsetting strories, and now i am regretting every second of booking a shoot, which is on 7th Feb, so it is too late to cancel. Atleast now i know what i’ll be in for. Both me and my sister are going so we have decided to put our money together and then buy the photos (if we like them) this could work out cheaper for us and not get fooled. We are both very vulnerable so i am not looking forward to the buying, because i dont want to be pushed into spending loads of money. Can somebody recommend what to do with a budget of £200 between us. Please please help.

Sabina
231. Katie Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Sabina, stand your ground - they ALWAYS drop the price, they will offer you a ’special deal’ just for you, that they swear no-one else will get - then, a few months later, they will ring you out of the blue and offer you all your photos on CDfor about £50. Please please please stand your ground on the day, you have every right too, and then if you like the photos, know that you will be offered them at a later date for considerably less.
232. Sabina Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

thanks katie,

i rang Doubletake the other day and pre-paid £100 pounds for the double money offer, so i have £200 to spend on the day. When i go now i will not take any cards with me or cash and say to em i pre-paid so there was no need and i will hopefully stand my ground…… hope me and my sister get value for our money…..

Sabina
233. Jade Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

I just recieved a phone call from Doubletake, in which I was told I was recommened by a friend, and had been selected from a monthly draw to recieve their “experience” free of charge. I assumed they were some kind of scam company who charged for phone calls, so got off the phone as quickly as possible but turns out they’re actually much worse! I’m sorry to hear so many other people were not as lucky, I’m looking forward to hearing from my friend to find out what kind of treatment she recieved.
Thanks so much for creating this site! the package offered to me did sound really appealing, and I might well have wasted alot of valuble time and money.
234. Janet Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

Hello, just to say this website is much appreciated!

I had the sales cold call not long ago, and refused to commit myself to anything. Now I won’t. I really can’t believe companies can still get away with this kind of thing - good luck to all who are trying to get their money back…
235. Josslin O'Toole Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

I really wish i had seen all of your comments befor i went ahead with my booking, I was charged £130.00 for 6 pictures on a disk, a lot of my friends went as well, and they seemed to get a lot of diffrent deals. one of my friends have managed to get all 80 of her pics on a disk for just £30.00 whats all that about???? the place is one big rip off.
236. kirsty Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

haha sorry your page made me smile after reading it only because it is so true, doubletake made out i was a ‘winner’ and won this free pamper treatment and shoot….great, well me being a naieve 18yr old jumped at the thought of the shoot…forgetting it was prob 2 gd 2 be true (corse it was)…so after a lovely glass of bucks fizz, quick hair straighten and half a ton of foundation later we got a rushed photo shoot in a few different sets (which were a bit tatty and not the ones i would have chosen but we didnt seem to have much of a choice)…we then waited for about half an our while we were asked to fill out a recommendation form (which i feel sorry for my 4 mates i put on there)…we did enjoy the snacks on the table though i fancied a few ‘free’ twiglets and popcorn!!we then got whisked off to a viewing room where after looking our photos, which were lovely though very plain, you know coloured lights and plain backgrounds, and after pushing the poor girl as far as we could to get the ridiculous prices lower, we somehow crazily settled for £100 for 6 photos on cd between me and my mate!we must be mad but i wont b going back
237. Zoe Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 1:24 am

Nearly everything that has already been said, happened to me today…
and i am sooooooo angry and regretful, i am going to phone them tomoro for a refund, i hope they will do it? i spent 500 on 15photos on a disc with prints and special affected photos. My mum also paid the same price for her 15photos on a disc… I only relised what a mistake i had made when i walked out.. The woman that viewed my pictures with me, i just wanted to kill her. She wudnt even give me time to think, i kept telling her i wasnt sure and i needed time to think and talk to my mum in private and she just wouldnt go away. She just kept pushing and pushing untill in the end she convinced my mum… It was terrible, this was my second time there, the 1st time wasnt so bad but this time has made me NEVER wanna go back there again.. IM SO ANGRY and my photographer was USELESS…. I really hope i get my money back coz if they refuse my refund then i will just take my OWN action against them. Im happy that ive seen other ppl have been threw the same thing…
238. Sabina Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Hi

I was really worried to go to my photoshoot because i thought i wouldnt get treated nicely. it was yesterday however it went really well. the makeup and hair artist was really nice and i looked fab. my photographer calmed my nerves and and she was great with me. i feel sorry for those who havent been that lucky. I even came home with a great deal, 10 digtal images and 10 12*8 prints and contact sheets for £250. Cant go wrong there. I really feel for those who were unfortunate and got treated badly, but i also think it depends on who u get for your sales person.
239. Tom Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

Well what can I say. I went along with my girlfriend on 6th of January and in all honesty can say we did enjoy the day. As we are not particularly well of we had already decided not to pay anymore than our deposits for the pictures but still could not believe the prices we were quoted at the end.

My girlfriend Lucy realsied yesterday that we hadnt received the total booking deposit back yesterday despite Catherines assurance “I can also confidently say that all refunds are now made within the timeframe” on September 24th, 2007 at 5:42 pm. When she tried to ring this morning she went round and round the telephone system with the only options available to email, leave a message or log in to an account we have never heard of let alone have the details for. She eventually found a person to speak to but only on the bookings line. She asked the lady for an appropriate phone number and was simply sent back to an answering machine. This upset her quite a bit so I made the next phonecall to the same number.

Here is an approximate transcript for your humorous pleasure…

Me: Hi you spoke to my girlfriend a minute ago and gave her a duff number so can I speak to your manager

Her: I didnt speak to her Ive only just got in.

(was definitely the same person, either aus, NZ or SA!)

Me: Can I speak to your manager please?

Her: Whats it regarding?

Me: None of your business I want to speak to your manager.

Her: I cant put you through without knowing what its about.

Me: Put me through to your manager.

Her: I dont have a direct manager

Me: So who are you then

Her: Im supervisor of the bookings department

Me: So whos your manager or boss.

Her: I dont have one

Me: So you own the company?

Her: No

Me: So who tells you what to do?

Her: The directors and my manager

(im very p***ed of now!)

Me: So put me through to your manager

Her: What its regarding?

Me: None of your business just put me through

Her: Dont be rude to me

Me: Put me through to your manager

Her:I…

(couldnt here her as I shouted at her)

Me: Look are you retarded, put me through to your manager now.

She hung up

I thought I was fairly polite considering the second sentence she said was apparently a lie. When I rang back again it was her manager who answered which was a lot easier. She put me straight through to the appropriate person who I didnt ask the name of but was on the number above. She said she’ll sort it out so I look forward to receiving it and the £5 late payment fee.

As I said we enjoyed the day adn the sales women we had just seemed bored by the whole process but I can easily see how others could be caught out.

Thanks for this blog its been a great read.
240. Nicola W Says:
February 10th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

Hi,

I went to the Manchester studios yesterday with my Sister and after reading this blog over the past few weeks and it helping me to know what to expect, i thought i’d write about my experience.

Upon initial arrival at the studio, the receptionist was very helpful and friendly and we were given a drink and were asked to fill a few forms out and then we sat and waited for our hair and make-up to be done. Although it was busy we didn’t wait too long which we were very happy about. To be honest, the facial and manicure treatment left a lot to be desired and I thought it was a waste of time. During the facial the stylist kept on reminding me to relax which was pretty hard to do considering she and the rest of the stylists were reminicsing about staff nights out and getting drunk… This was only a minor problem though and overall I was very happy with my make-up and hair. I have quite long hair and I wanted it pinned up which i thought may have posed a problem. However the stylist took plenty of time over it and put it all up into barrel curls and i was really pleased with it.

After the makeover part, the experience seemed to go downhill a little bit. By this time we’d been there for almost an hour and a half and had only had one drink and no “nibbles” as promised. Apparantly you help yourself to stuff from the bar but we weren’t told that and so were reluctant to do so. We soon became fed up waiting around without being told anything such as waiting times etc but i think it started to show and the receptionist came over and offered us a drink.

We didn’t wait too much longer before being taken through for our shoot. The photographer Mandi was absolutely amazing. She took plenty of time over choosing sets, adjusting lighting and creating suitable poses and i was in two minds over whether to do a lingerie shoot but she totally put me at ease and i did it in the end. My sister and I had taken totally different outfits and so couldn’t have pics together and I was worried that our shoot would be rushed as we were having separate photos and they were so busy but this didn’t happen at all. we had three outfit changes and lots of different photos taken on lots of different sets.

The viewing was also not as bad as I expected. Before I went, I did some research and decided that i would pay no more than £200 for 10 prints. when we went into the slide show, the sales guy left the room while we viewed the pics and when he returned he showed us the price list. We were told all of the photos would cost £2000 on CD to which we instantly responded “no way”. He then showed us a list of “valentine specials” with reduced prices. These were within my price range but unfortunately not my sisters. I tried to get him to allow us to buy 20 (10 each) and split the cost. We were told we couldn’t do this though which was a shame. I argued the fact that we had the same photographer and the same shoot so we should be able to but he still insisted that they couldn’t do it.

I was deliberating over how many pics to buy and eventually I got 12 on CD and 12 prints for £200. whilst i was trying to decide the sales man wasn’t at all pushy (as I was expecting him to be) and left me and my sis to it to discuss.

Overall i’d say that this was a good day and I was really happy with the end result of the photos (especially the lingerie ones as I’ll never have these done again!!). The only downside was the fact that my sister came away empty handed. She wants to save up some money and go again in a couple of months time I’m just hoping she gets the same deal as I did.

One more thing to add is that the feedback is now done at the end of the viewing and there is a section to comment on the viewing session and the sales person. I’m not sure if this was a direct result of this blog but I’m sure it helped so well done!
241. Zoe Says:
February 18th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

Hello everyone,

For those of you who have had bad experiances with DoubleTake, i was wondering if anyone has or would like to take any ACTION against them? I am going to write to WatchDog and if there is more of us involved then i no we will get somewere.
Also to all those people that think that they got good deals with Doubletake, there are people out there that got the same deal as u but CHEAPER. At first they try and make u pay the FULL price and if u fall for it then lucky for them but if u dont they bring out a cheaper price list untill you say YES to something. What they do is WRONG and im not going to STOP until i do something about this. I HOPE SOME OF YOU ARE WITH ME??
Let me no..
242. anonymous Says:
February 20th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

i am posting as anonymous because i have recently recieved an email threatening to take legal action or bascically send baliffs round because i have not paid for my bad ‘experience’ i have informed the company many times that i did not want the photos as i couldnt afford them, being a student with no loan or really any disposable money!i dont really know where i stand on this at all as i dont have the money to give to them if they were to send baliffs or take me to court!i was not happy at all with the hair and make up and felt pressured in to buying the photos.help!
243. admin Says:
February 20th, 2008 at 6:31 pm

Doubletake Studios sinks to a new low. When will you learn to treat your customers with respect Ray? I wonder if the press would be interested in this? I would suggest seeking legal advice if they persist.
244. Hannah Says:
February 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

My sister just tried to cancel her day with double take and they said she will be charged £200 quid! she doesnt have this money nor do i think she should have to pay it when she was told she would only loose her £2 deposit fee, also she never sent off her registration form which according to THEIR terms and conditions means she was never booked in anyway, is there a way she can stop this money coming out of her account?
245. Emma Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I’m supposed to be giong with my friend who ‘won’ the pamper day tomorrow so I look forward to seeing how dodgy they are.. I’m not paying £70 for a CD of pictures F*ck that!
246. Emma Says:
February 21st, 2008 at 10:01 pm

I am going to go have a good time wait a few months and hopefuly get the pix on cd cheaper
Im going to take my digi camera and hopefully get a few snaps and maybe record sound when we go and view the pictures therefore having evidence of the pushy sales if they indeed do that, I’m not going in unprepared (I dont drink alcohol so I shall be on top form!)
247. Emma Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 am

I think it’s weird if they charge so much money for pictures and
use the excuse ‘we need to pay our staff’ you shouldn’t offer free ‘competition winner’ days if you can’t afford to pay your staff for the day. It’s a bad business model and you should scrap it and only have people who pay for the shoots who WANT pictures for special occasions.
I’ll offer £40 for a whole cd of pictures they can make £40 out of me for the day or nothing. I am training to be an accountant so I know what I’m talking about when it comes to business and money.
I’m off in a few hours I’ll write a complete report when I get back!
248. Emma Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:47 pm

I went there today.
While we waited 30mins to get our hair done my friend was not offered any free drinks but everyone else around us was given drinks.
The make up and hair studio was crowded when we came in.
The chair I sat at wouldn’t tip back there were two make-up artists and myself pushing the back of the chair to tip back to have my makeup done.
When we had finished we waited for the photographers and my friend once again got no offer of a free drink.
we had our pictures taken which was fine.
After we waited an hour to view our pictures. While we waited we were made to ‘suggest a friend’ I didn’t write a thing my friend made up numbers and names to get a free cocktail.
After we viewed I liked 9 pictures it would have cost me £399 to have them all put onto cd!!
£120 for ONE picture on CD
£70 for a 8×10 print
Or a ‘special student offer’ £99 for three pictures I said no.
I am disgusted at the prices at the studio.
249. Amy Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 12:38 am

I am now extremely worried about the day I have booked for next thursday. i tried getting through 3 weeks ago to cancel, but no luck. I have called 3 times and sent a letter, but surprise surprise, nothing. It is not just me either, but my friend. I feel so guilty for dragging her into this. Luckily its only on my credit card, not hers. Can anyone give me some advice, as we really dont want to go? SHould i cancel my card, or will that result in further action from them? i’m a student, and cant afford legal trials!
250. Anonymous Says:
March 4th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I would strongly advise everyone: DO NOT BOOK A PAMPERING DAY WITH THIS COMPANY. The company is a complete joke!

I was contacted by one of their booking officers and was told i had won a pampering day for me and a friend absolutely free!

I was reluctant to go ahead with it because everyone knows nothing is free! He then went on to tell me about the whole day except it was quite hard to understand because he was clearly just reading off a script or something! When i said i would think about it and phone back he became all pushy with me and asking me questions about why i wouldn’t want to do it. In the end i felt so harassed i just agreed. He then said have i got a credit or debit card, and i was like you just said it was free!

He then went on to say that you have to pay a £10 booking fee per person, which i would get back within 30 days. (I still have not received this back). So in the end I went ahead with it.

I couple of days later; i received all the paper work in the post with an information pack. And i was quite impressed as it looked really good, so I filled out the form and signed it and sent it back later that day.

A couple of weeks later, me and my friend found out we couldn’t make the day that we had previously booked. So i rang up Double Take Studios (London) to try and cancel the appointment, this was about 2 weeks before our appointment. I was then told i had to pay a cancellation fee of £50 per person!! I was like no way can i afford to pay such an amount just to cancel. So i said ok well i will just re-book it for another time instead. When the woman on the phone asked when i wanted to re-book i gave her a few dates a month ahead and she then turn around and said they weren’t aloud to book that far in advance! By this point i was getting quite annoyed. She also said i had to pay another booking fee of £20 per person. It was a complete joke! I had already paid £10 to book the whole thing in the first place so why should i need to pay anymore?!

In the end i put the phone down i was so angry. I logged onto their website to read the terms and conditions (which i had not previously read before, stupidly).

In the terms and conditions they state: “If 7 days notice is given, appointments can be changed and are subject to a £10 per appointment administration fee.” However this was more than 7 days in which i had contacted them.

I also went on to read: “If less than 7 days notice is given, appointments are non-cancellable and are subject to £100 per appointment no-show charge.” I could not believe they have the cheek to charge people this amounts of money just to cancel an appointment. It’s truly outrageous.

I phoned back to cancel my appointment as there was no way i was going to deal with this company any longer. I phone on a friday afternoon and couldnt get through so i left three answer phone messages, and an email. In which none of these were responded to. On the saturday morning i phoned again and there was no answer, so i left one more message.

I phoned again the following monday and managed to speak to someone at one of their offices. They informed me they would get someone to call me back, which took along time but someone called.

I explained to the woman on the phone my whole situation and she said i an cancel my appointment but there would be a charge of £25 per person. I said i would phone my other friend to make sure she was happy to pay this before going ahead. When i phoned back a couple of minutes after i got through to a different woman with an austrailian accent. She was quite rude to be honest, i then had to explain to her what had happened and that i would like to cancel my appointment, she then said there would be a charge of £50 per person! I was furious, one person is saying one thing and another is saying something totally different! How can they change a fee just like that?

I decided to put my dad on the phone as i had, had enough. He was talking to her and the woman said the fee is £50 per person. He then said can i speak to your manager and she wouldnt let him. He then said he would seek legal advice as it was getting ridiculous. She quickly turned around and said oh its £50 between two people so, £25 each. Even though i had already paid a fee of £20 so she then turned around and said it would be £30 to cancel. I could not believe what i was hearing, in the end i just decided to pay the £30 cancellation fee to get rid of her. As they had my card details i was worried they would start taking money out here and there.

I strongly advise everyone not to deal with this company. They only way they are in business is by scamming people into paying stupid fees. Which cant be legal or finalized considering they can just change the price when ever they feel like it.

I am still pretty angry now but there is not alot i can do. I have contacted Watchdog on this matter and sent them the link of this forum to make them aware im not the only one thats had problems with this stupid company.
251. Emma Moore Says:
March 5th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

get watchdog in and they can go as a ‘competition winner’ and experience the lack of choice of male or female photographer badly run studio and rediculous prices, I’d love to see them on the show!
252. Danielle Says:
March 5th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Note to doubletake and any future customers,

As many of the posts above my whole experience was misleading. I asked Angela (customer care team) the price for the whole cd two days before i was booked in at the studios in manchester. her reply was ‘ one image on cd is £50 and the whole cd is £390′ my reply ‘wow thats expensive?!’ she laughed and said ‘yes i didnt know they were that exspencive!’

After my photo shoot and my surprise at the actual cost of the photos I rang the customer care line once again. After being told the calls were recorded i gave them times, dates etc so they could find the conversation. After 5mins on hold I was told that the call had not been recorded and that I would be transfered to Angela to resolve the issue. A lengthy conversation with Angela later, (who had told me the price over the phone) she called me a liar and said she would not tell me that the cd was that much when she KNOWS that they are more expensive. (she then reeled off the actual prices!)

My question is … If she knew the prices and had a price list available, why did she quote me cheaper prices?

Also…. I was told i would also recieve a bottle of bubbly, hand, neck and back massage, skin test to make sure the make-up was ok for my skin etc. I recieved none of this, what happened to it?

Lastley…. I was given two £50 vouchers (one each for me and my friend) that i was told, after i had specifically asked, could be used towards the price of the CD. Once in the viewing room, i was rudely told i could only use these if i bought a package of ~£500 or above.

I believe that according to the laws of offer and acceptance Doubletake has fallen short. I have been offered no apology or compensation and I have made Doubletake fully aware of these issues. Considering Doubletake ‘prides itself on customer service’ my personal experience would suggest other wise.

I am currently awaiting a response from my lawer and Doubletake!
253. admin Says:
March 5th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

I think this just about sums up the double standards at Doubletake… [this is taken from their T&C]

(vii) If you breach these Terms and Conditions and DTS ignores this, DTS will still be entitled to use its rights and remedies at a later date or in any other situation where you breach the Terms and Conditions.

(viii) DTS shall not be liable for any breach of these Terms and Conditions beyond its reasonable control.
254. admin Says:
March 5th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Also note the way they promised on this very page that they would stop targeting 18-21 year olds and then quickly reneged on it.
255. Karen Says:
March 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

I got a phone call last week from Doubletake Portraits. The deal they offered me was a £100 discount voucher so I asked what the cheapest package was. The chap replied “£120 for 2 photos on a CD and either 2 or 3 A4 pages of passport photos of all the shots taken”. Fair enough I thought, with the booking fee (£10) and voucher I’d only pay £10 on the day.
So I booked my appointment and one for my mum.

My sister went a couple of weeks ago so I was telling her about my package (she didnt buy any photos by the way as they were all too expensive) and she told me to double check the prices….

I phoned up today, explained the package I’d been sold and asked them to confirm that by paying only £10 on the day I’d come away with the CD and A4 sheets. Their answer…. NO the cheapest package is £399.

Ok, I said, then I’ll cancel and I expect a full refund of the £20 booking fee. “No can do- booking fee is not refundable”. I asked to speak to someone ‘higher up’ then a minute later was told the supervisor was ‘busy’ but had said they wouldnt refund the money.

Absolutely fuming I got straight on to Trading Standards and explained it to them.

This afternoon I’ve written them a letter asking for a refund of the £20 within 14 days. If I’ve had no response I’m to go back to Trading Standards and they’ll take over the case.

Hmmmm, wish me luck!

ANYBODY THINKING OF BOOKING WITH DOUBLETAKE PORTRAITS/ STUDIOS DONT DO IT!!!
(Although I’m sure you wouldnt after reading this page!! Thanks by the way!)

Karen
256. Yvonne Says:
March 10th, 2008 at 2:49 pm

I went with a friend for moral support yesterday and as soon as i walked out of that place, It had hit me what had happened. I am so angry with myself for giving in so easily. The pushy salesman wouldn’t leave us alone for 2 minutes apart from going to her ‘boss’ to negotiate student prices. i’ve spent £349 after apparently saving £150 for 10 photos on cd. as soon as i’d done it i regretted it.

could admin tell me if anyone has managed to cancel receiving the photos and get a refund after paying them direct debit? and possibly how they’d went about it? Yvonne
257. admin Says:
March 10th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

Try either Catherine or Ray on the numbers listed above. Make sure you let them know how disgusted you are with their salesmen’s tactics. I have a feeling Doubletake are going to run out of customers/victims pretty soon… thank God for the internet.
258. Teresa Jones Says:
March 11th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

I am also very upset about my experience with Double take studios. I have logged a complaint with Trading standards - I hope you have all done the same - to stop other people having this nasty experience.
259. Wes Says:
March 11th, 2008 at 6:49 pm

awesome site - you deserve a medal or something for making this effort! In fact you deserve the sweet satisfaction of seeing DoubleCross Studios go broke :D I wish I’d done the research and seen this site before my girlfriend got ripped off by them.
260. admin Says:
March 11th, 2008 at 9:25 pm

I just had the pleasure of this ’sponsored ad’ popping up in gmail - these clowns are calling themselves

“The UKs most innovative studios Creative portraiture with a twist”.

I must admit, I can’t argue with that at all.

The telesales people certainly are innovative.

As for the twist… take your pick from the 250 above!
261. Claire Says:
March 18th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Hi im rather concerned now after reading all this, I have an appointment booked with Doubletake in Farringdon on the 25th March (only a week away). I wish I had researched and found this site earlier. But it must be too late to cancel and I cant afford the no show fee nor the cancellation fee for me and my sister. What is there that I can do on the day to avoid being ripped off or even if theres any legal cover I can get now. Im a student and really cant afford the money nor the stress. Please help me.
262. admin Says:
March 18th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

Legal cover?!

Just don’t buy the photos!
263. Annie Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

Help!!! I have one booked on April 7th… I didn’t think to research til after I came off the phone. I have paid £6 deposit…. I’m not too fussed about getting that back however I don’t want to have any more money taken out. Will it help phoning or shall I just not bother turning up? I can’t afford those prices. What can I do???
264. Emily Says:
March 24th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Hi, ive just sat and read all these complaints and now im so worried as ages ago i booked it for 28th March in farrington and just to make me even more worried it has been snowing for the past 2 days and i cant afford to pay a no show fee if, because of the snow, i cant get there! i have no idea what to do!! i feel so stupid for booking this whole thing!
265. angry Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

my experience was stressful and not pampering in any way -

their sales person was adamant and going for the hard-sell. i was still indecisive whilst she had my card in her hand. i asked her to hold on so I could just call a friend to ask for some advice, and unknown to me, the sales person was placing the order. i got off the phone and told her that i am not going to buy the photos and she said she had put it through and that she could not cancel it and left me no choice.

what a liar - I HATE DOUBLETAKE
266. Jacqui Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

I’ve just read the whole of this blog after travelling over 2 hours to get to the Farringdon DoubleTake studios for an appointment yesterday. My friend’s husband bought her the ‘Astro Ultimate Goddess’ experience as a birthday present for her and a friend. She paid the £25 booking for each of us on her card- £50 in total. I got a letter from them a few days beforehand promising a “***SPECIAL OFFER***…DOUBLE MONEY Simply pre-pay towards additional photos & you will be entitled to DOUBLE the amount on the day”….what they don’t tell you until the end of the ‘luxury photoshoot experience’ is that you can’t use the offer on individual photos- only on their photo packages- the price list we were shown started at £299 for 6 photos, and went up to over £2999 if I remember correctly! So if I’d prepaid £100 expecting £200’s worth of photos, I would still have had to pay more for 6 measley photos.

When we arrived we buzzed to be let in to the ’studio’ and were greeted by a surly faced ‘receptionist’ and had to attach brown paper labels to our clothes bags and then dump them in a tiny room between the reception desk and bar area along with everyone else’s bags. The bar area is anything but ‘luxurious’- and the ‘champagne cocktail’ promised in their literature upon arrival is a cheap and nasty Buck’s Fizz (orange juice and cheap fizzy plonk in a nasty little glass.) Or you can do like me and have a latte which doesn’t arrive and you have to ask for again and then arrives on a plate in a polysterene cup. Luxurious??!!! I think not. We were left sitting in the bar area which was busy with people at various stages of their ‘experience’ to fill out forms about the look we wanted to be created for our hair and makeup and the overall photos. We were asked to move seats a number of times during our 3-4 hours there and quite frankly I felt like I’d been through a cattle market by the time I left.

After sitting waiting a while a makeup guy collected us to go downstairs to have our hair and make up done. The photos on the glossy brochure really don’t do the area justice- yes, there are the mirrors with the lightbulbs round them…and messy surfaces everywere covered in bits of makeup etc; The pleasant make up girl swiped round my face with a bit of cotton and cleanser for 60 seconds, painted a ‘hydrating mask’ on and put cold cotton wool over my eyes, spent 60 seconds massaging each hand and forearm in turn with sticky moisturiser, stuck them under a gross pink old towel then massaged my face for 60 seconds…and that was the ’sensual hand massage’ and ‘mini facial’ !!!! She absolutely caked me in make up, covering spots/blemishes/ moles/dark circles and the whole thing took around 10 minutes. I looked better when I’d gone in with a light base on, mascara and nude lipgloss. I *do* understand that the Mac makeup needs to be thicker and applied differently for photoshoots but I scrubbed the stuff off the minute I got home. The bronzer was the worst- orange and caked on. Having said that, I am very pale and my darker haired friend did look beautiful with her hair loosely tongued and smokey eyes. I certainly didn’t feel that either of us got the ‘classic natural look’ we’d requested on our forms however. Plus nothing was done to my hair except for some product scrunched into it and then sprayed all over with hairspray. What happened to the brochure promising “Take advantage of the finest products recommended by industry specialists as your hair and makeup are perfected by our experts”? Then we were told to go back upstairs and wait…again. Once again we were told to move seats.

A male photographer came and took my friend away for her photoshoot upstairs and I was left sitting for another 6-7 minutes until a female photographer came for me and apparently she’d been waiting for me to arrive with my friend and the male photographer… who’d left me sitting there. Mmmm….so much for their brochure’s promises…”Everyone deserves a little pampering and the chance to star in front of the camera, so make the most of our red carpet treatment as we refresh your image, nourish your soul and reveal your inner Goddess.”

My photographer was friendly and did put me at ease. But the brochure material states, “Bring up to five outfits- your photographer will help you decide on the best three and team them with appropriate sets for maximum effect.” She offered no advice whatsoever and I’ll come to the ’sets’ in a minute. The changing rooms have thin old red pull across curtains and I just had to dump all my clothes on a little chair and the floor. There is no choice of sets. They’re tiny and all crammed into the top of the building and photographers scrabble about trying to find a free one that’s not in use- so much for teaming clothes with backdrop! The one set I did want my photo taken in (with a wooden swing) which I’d seen pictured on the website was ‘downstairs’ (?!) according to the photographer and that was that.

My photographer’s camera continually failed to flash thorughout the shoot and broke twice- even putting new batteries in didn’t help so she nicked a part off some one else’s camera. Very professional. She did show me how to pose and was friendly and pleasant however and I can’t blame her for mechanical failure or tacky second rate sets. But the brochure promised “unique, multi-set studios…exciting ranges of backdrops, sets and props…vintage, retro and industrial themes to experiment with.” What this amounts to is actually a metal wall, a wall covered in old style wallpaper, a black leather sofa against a brick wall, a set of fake concrete steps, a circle cut out of a white wall…you get the idea! And I was offered no props to play with despite having ticked that box on my sheet.

The photoshoot was over after 1/2-3/4 of an hour and we went back downstairs to wait 45 minutes to “view your image portfolio in a private, big-screen slideshow.” By the way, the nibbles aren’t the canapes you might be led to expect from the way the brochure projects its image- left on top of the bar and not mentioned to us-we helped ourselves to the ‘fantastic selection’ (LOL) anyway- were 2 bar kitkats, little bags of dry roasted or salted peanuts, cereal bars….. Then there was hard sell on getting us to fill in forms with room for up to 75-100+ names of friends to put forward for the ‘experience’- we were told by the girl (who incidentally appears on the front of their promotional folder holding a big blue/white fan in a Japanese styled blue/black photo) that only one person out of every ten would be chosen at random to receive a ‘free’ experience. All the younger people around us were busy going through their mobiles filling in every name they could find so they could hand their forms back and get their free gifts- the more names the more gifts apperently. My friend and I left the forms blank.

The trip to the toilets was interesting too- a notice on the wall, written as if it were the toilet speaking- tells the reader that it likes to be a clean toilet and to use the toilet brush on it after using. Gee, I felt like a star receiving the ‘red carpet’ treatment promised! I bet Naomi Campbell gets asked to clean the studio toilets whenever she gets the ‘Astro Ultimate Goddess’ treatment.

Then Scott took us to see our photos. The reason the viewing is ‘private’ is actually so that you feel under pressure in a small place. The write up makes it sound like a private movie showing - but the marketing is the only good thing about his company, it’s all a facade, the reality is very different. The viewing was very very very rushed- the slideshow of my photos on a screen took a couple of minutes and each image showed for only a few seconds. In that time I had to tick on a sheet of thumbnails of my photos whcih I liked. It was hard to do that and really look at the photos on the screen. Then my friend went through the same thing. Scott left when each slideshow was on. When he came back he gave us a 30 second mile-a-minute spiel about the ’special offers’ on the photos which he scribbled down on a blank sheet of white paper and showed us a laminated copy of prices- £70 for one tiny postcard size photo, £90 for the next size up…packages started at £299 for 6 photos (on paper and disc I think) then he left us for a minute to decide…then he was back pressuring us to make a decision through sheer speed of delivery. I asked twice to see my slideshow again. He refused both times. After I made it clear I would be leaving with my one tiny postcard sized photo which came as part of the ‘Astro Ultimate Goddess’ experience and not paying for any photos he completely ignored me and turned his attentions to my friend who bought the £299 package. He got stroppy and rude when she took her time trying to decide which 6 photos to choose and ignored me completely which was rather amusing to me. The true colours of this company began to show fast from here on! My friend was rushed through buying the photos, Scott’s explanations were rushed and utterly unclear, and then we went back to the bar area to get our bag of clothes which we’d had to unceremoniously dump in the baggage room again. We were then given feedback forms to fill in. I gave my hair and makeup girl Jenna a decent score because she was doing her best under rushed conditions not dictated by her. Ditto my photographer Tara. I gave Scott a low score for his rudeness, rushing my friend to choose, ignoring me andd becoming stroppy snd unpleasant. The form asked if I would come again. I put ‘no’ then changed my mind….by this time I could see what a scam this all was and did want to get my one photo after travelling over 2 hours to get there, and having to pay for petrol, the London congestion charge and £13 for parking in the NCP carpark opposite. In the comments section I put that the photos were outrageously expensive. Before filling in this form my friend and I decided to get a non alcoholic ‘cocktail’ each to drink while f illing in the forms. The girl was unpleasant and challenged us whether we’d filled in our ‘recommend friends’ form and clearly didn’t want to give us a drink each. It was only when another girl intervened and told her to just give us the drinks that we got them. I collected my bag with difficulty- the floor of the baggage room now being stewn with bags with nowhere to put my feet- and only handed in the feedback form as I left the building. Outside was Scott!! He ignored me completely as I walked away. Such a strange change from the guy who 30 minutes earlier had greeted us like old friends to escort us to our ‘private viewing’!

I half expect not to get my ‘free’ photo form this ‘experience’ and hope my friend gets her £25 deposit back from them that I did not spend on photos.

The photos themselves were nothing special. A few coloured filters, a few black and white shots… and the close ups of me showed the horrid orange bronzer to full effect. My full body shots were better. My friend’s fullbody shots on the other hand were unflattering but her close ups looked nice. But NO WAY are these photos worth£70 for a postcard size one! Incidentally, Scott did offer me a copy of the ‘contact list’ (the laminated thumbnails of my photos) for £50 but I declined. It will be interesting to see if I get my photo, and if I do get contacted in future by them to sell me my photos at a cheaper price. On principle I won’t be giving this company a penny of my hard earned cash. One more warning- the feedback form asks if you’d go back again and one option to tick is ‘for a special occasion’ - which then asks for the date of this special occasion. Please note- company literature states they there’s a minumum spend of £200 on future visits to them! I’m sure they’re very quick to contact people who’ve put down a date of a special occasion so they can con them all over again.

I know this is long but I hope it has helped someone. Glossy brochures, beautifully worded marketing write up and hype and flattering photos of the bar area/sets…one big con. Buyer beware. These crooks deserve to be exposed.
267. admin Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Jacqui, thanks for posting. Your report perfectly describes the Doubletake experience.
268. Natasha Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

Recieved a call yesterday- unknown number… usually i don’t answer them but this time I did…… It was a man on the phone apparently my friend put my name forward for this amazing experience, the had picked my name out and I could go to london to get my hair n makeup doing for free and then have photos taken but I didn’t have to buy them. They said all it would cost is £3 booking fee to secure my place, they asked for my card details, however I do not have a debit card- they asked if anyone I knew had one I could borrow I asked them to call me back. They also said I had to be 18 or over (i’m 20) I haven’t spoken to them since yesterday….. I must admit I really thought it was a great offer…….. so do i go or not??
269. admin Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

If being bullied by a grumpy salesman into spending thousands of pounds on substandard photographs is your idea of fun… sure, why not? :)
270. Natasha Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 11:47 pm

not really, have you been yourself ? thought it sounded too goo to be true
271. natasha Says:
March 29th, 2008 at 12:29 am

im really glad i found this cuz it has really made me think … i recon watchdog should be told
272. natasha Says:
March 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am

admin please reply
273. admin Says:
March 29th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Unfortunately yes, I have been myself. My story is at the top of this page, and the hundreds of similar ones are below it.
274. natasha Says:
March 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

I have decided I am not going to go as it sounds dodgey, I think I will save alot of time and money that way too! Thanx all! ps. I called them too and only got answer phones which stated they closed at 6.00 pm but I called at 4.50 pm …….. dodgey also phoned my phone company to see how much i owe so far - luckyly I do not think I was charged!

Once again, Thanx
275. freaky Says:
March 31st, 2008 at 8:34 am

i cant believe they have been getting away with this for so long. i cant bleive people would put there friends forward if they know there gonna get screwed like they did. I entrered a prize draw for a photoshoot with another place in london and they wanted £30 deposit which i would get bakc on day but i couldnt bring myself to pay it. Lets get these websites off and stop other people getting screwed over.
276. Rachel Says:
March 31st, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I went to doble take in southampton the the 28th of this month!
Looking at this forum now i wish i looked earlier!
Like evryone else i was made to feel the part, cute shots and lots of make up and curly hair! enough to make a girl happy!
Until i went into view my photos. I wrote down my mums bank details cos i was gne get the “student” deal for £699… but then by the time i was going to do direct debit over 12 months it stater at £37 a month but little did i know i was not told about all the fees on top, which topped it to £52.50 am onth. I told him no because im a student who is paying insurance for my car and can not afford all these expenses. At the end i bought the package which is £399 for 6 photos, but when i wa sleaving he took my piece of paper with the details on saying that they keep the paper for office use, but little idd i see that the details were ont here still!… Stupid me. So now ive jsut wrote an email to the company telling them if they take nay money out of that bank what so ever then i will take further action because my mums card was not used for any purpose.
I hate double take and i am going to try my hardest to be offered some sort of offer such as my photos for free…!
277. Helen Says:
April 5th, 2008 at 2:53 am

Heya,

I am extremely worried. I “won” a competition and paid £10 to book a photo shoot on friday the 11th. I can now not attend as i have a hospital appointment. I repeatedly tried to phone them and when i finally got through was told i would be charged £50 and the same to change the date (which is not in the terms and conditions). I was informed on the phone that they would only take th £10 booking fee. I have not even confirmed my booking by email. I have cancelled my card but am worried they can take legal action against me? This seems very unfair. Can anyone help?!
278. Helen Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 11:18 pm

Just thought i’d say a very reasonable lady from double take finally responded to me today informing me that my booking had been cancelled and no further money had been taken from my account. I am relieved after reading your stories… not my idea or a fun time. Thanks.
279. Didar Says:
April 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am

So I got called this morning - you have won a competition your friend recommended you etc etc…. Now I went to my friend to something like this but I didn’t take part, she’d been scouted by an agency and they sent her to get her book done so I knew roughly how it went and how much pictures were. But I thought I’d go and then just wouldn’t buy any pictures.

Was told I’d need a £1 deposit etc…

As soon as I hung up I googled, found this site and the moneysavingexperts one, had a huge panic and called back. After 5 calls of going through to answering machines, it got picked up and I was told it was fine and my £2 deposit (they don’t tell you they double it for your friend) would be canceled. I then read a bit more of this thread and realized I may not have been told about a cancellation fee, so I called the 0207 number posted by doubletake up here and after about six dead calls got through to a nice man who confirmed for me that m appointment was indeed canceled, there was no cancellation fee and that my £2 would be refunded in 3-4 working days.

So it should be all sorted. But I would just like to point out - I am 18 so they’ve obviously changed that policy. I will be keeping a very close eye on my bank account over the next few weeks but thank you to doubletake for sorting it out (I hope) and THANK YOU THANK YOU to this blog for all the information.

Xx
280. EX DOUBLETAKE PHOTOGRAPHER Says:
April 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

I used to work at DT and the people there are horrid, it’s correct that they don’t have fixed rates and they try and get the most money out of people.

I’m a very polite person and I like to think I treat people fairly, the whole place is a scam and it’s not fair that they treat people like this!

I tried to make my customers feel comfortable and on frequent occasions I would find my client asking me for a private session within my own company.

Doubletake is a big scam! Please be careful people!
281. Annette Barnrad Says:
April 9th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

My daughter has just come back from this awful place after being pressurised into paying money for the photos. They already had her card and then completely pressurised two 18 year olds into paying £57.00 for a dics containing 3 photos. They signed a contract which was stated as non cancellable. I thought everyone had to be given a 14 day cooling off period. This place is a disgrace. They say it is free and then it is not. They want names and addresses of friends and offer gifts. They do this before the person realises how much things cost. Do not go to this place, they will con you.
282. Laura Says:
April 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Note to Danielle above

quote: “I believe that according to the laws of offer and acceptance Doubletake has fallen short”

offer and acceptance only really comes into effect once you are there and about to buy the goods, this act of handing over your card is the offer, and them taking the card is the acceptance. They are simply offering a service and displaying goods after the said service.

if you check on their website I am sure you will find in the small print “prices are subject to review and change” so you have notice

a display of goods, or your viewing, is actually an invitation to treat, not an offer.

legally, theres no come back, except maybe to trading standards about their marketing, and you would need a recording of the telephone call.

Angry: “she said she had put it through and that she could not cancel it and left me no choice.

what a liar - I HATE DOUBLETAKE”

you are quite right.

they can void the transaction even after it has gone through. all tellar machines work that way - they are the same in shops. did u put ur pin number in? if she did it without your pin number, and you were present, thats not allowed i dont think. check with citizens advice as soon as you can. she should not have put that card in the machine without you saying yes.

and if they disagree with that give them my email address…

I have a law degree… try arguing with me!

i have been waiting for 4 weeks for mine and my mates pictures…. they said “we say 4 - 6 but it never takes that long” if they dont come soon…. heads will roll….
283. Katy Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

this is a copy of a post i put on another website… its a testament to the fact that doubletake have NOT changed one bit.. i’m 19 by the way - the girls next to me were 16 and plied with about 4 “cocktails” each. I hope someone from double take looks at this website still, or else they will be shocked when I continue with legal proceedings. IMO what they are doing should be illegal and I am going to trading standards, watchdog, and small claims court (and anyone else I can find) with my story. If anyone else here wants to join me, email me on katyob2000(at) hotmail.co.uk
i just had to tell everyone about the TERRIBLE time i had at DOUBLE TAKE studios. I looked on a lot of websites for an affordable boudoir shoot for a wedding gift for H2B, and booked their “boudoir” studio in pimlico for £49. Not only did they take more money than this out of my bank account without telling me, they also changed my appointment to a different time AND place without telling me. I got a little bit annoyed when they phoned to confirm I’d be there, but I could only make it into london on one day (i’m a student) so I had to go, plus they said if they didnt they’d take another £100 out of my bank account as a no show charge. I wanted to go to pimlico because its a female only atmosphere and I wasnt really comfortable with getting naked in front of a random guy - I’m christian and only ever want my fiance to see me naked. I made them aware of this multiple times but I was last to be called to get my photographs taken and by then they only had a man left… I obviously complained but apparently rhere was “nothing they could do.” I would have accepted this if I had been late but I was the first person to turn up! This all meant that I was hugely nervous, the guy wasn’t very complimentary at all about my figure (I’m a 14/16 and he said he wanted to “hide the fat with the lighting”) but by the end of it i got up the courage to do what I’d gone there for - I dont have the money to waste!
Unfortunately after an hour waiting I got to go see my photographs. They were terrible - terrible lighting, colours, sets, everything about them was terrible.. I couldn’t understand it. I said that I’d had a terrible time and wasn’t going to buy any photos like they were pressuring me to do for £70+ a time so the guy there started processing the order for my free print, where I saw on my customer page that the booking team had written how I’d “ranted and raged” and was a “terrible customer”, they said not to “listen to anything this bitch says.”
This was a terrible experience - I’ve just been recovering from depression but on my way home I felt like throwing myself under a train.
Any ideas where else I can write this so that no-one else goes there? I got home and told my fiance and he wants to buy me a much better day somewhere else - he was really shocked that I’d wanted to get these photos done for him - but of course we now both feel really let down.
284. Lizzy Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Thank you so much for putting this up, I almost got roped into going as well but I thought I’d better do a bit of research first…you’ll be pleased to know this page comes up second on google if you search “double take studios + scam” which I did :) xx
285. Kavita Says:
April 14th, 2008 at 1:48 am

Thank you so much for this site. A bit of aging angst overtook me and I was considering booking this experience for some glamour photos but thankfully decided to do my research first! And read all your comments. I appreciate the time posters took and I will definitely never be sending any business their way. Shame on them for being so horrible to their customers! May they go the way of the dinosaur. Sigh. Sorry for all the people who got scammed. Rogue Traders should be on to them.
286. Helen Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Hi, so it seems that these cowboys are still at it.
I have just received a call from Double take, who i have never heard of until today.
She said, my friend had recommended me for a free pamper day, called Divine Goddess which includes make up and Beauty treatement, hair styled, Champas and a £50 voucher towards photos.
She said its about 3-4 hours and i could take a friend.
She was very friendly and seemed nice, so i was nearly taken in!
Well, i instantly thought hang on, a company does not offer this for free.
so i said to her, it sounds great, but whats the catch??

She laughed and said nothing, that its all too good to be true isnt it, and started to real of dates to book me in (before i had even said yes)
She said all you have to pay is a refundable deposit, of between £1 and £10. I would get this pack if i turned up, as they have to book the make up artists etc. Fair enough i thought.
But i didnt like the fact that the deposit wasnt a fixed amount, i instantly thought thats not right, in seemed situational.
Anyway, i said i needed to check with my best mate if she could make the 10th May which was the date she wanted to book, or there would be no point in booking.
She was fine with this, but is ringing me back on Thursday.
I straight away googled this company as i have been scorn before by these random companies who want your card details for so called refundable deposits!! Like Ancestry.com, they are another cowboy company!!

I am SO glad i have found this site, but its a shame that my suspicions were correct. Are there no genuine people left? Can you trust no one?
It seems so and the fact is you dont get anything for free.

When she rings me back on thursday, which im sure she will, i will be declining the offer. To be fair i am too busy for it anyway, but i would have made time for it, as i have always wanted some nice photos done!
Im disapointed that its a farce, these people give a bad name for the few good companies left.
They shouldnt be cold calling and taking money from bank accounts without permission.
I agree that watchdog need to be told if not already, so people are aware before they agree to a day with them.

I shall post again if my call back from the sales woman on Thursday is amusing!!!
287. ruth Says:
April 16th, 2008 at 2:48 am

I’ve just read this entire blog…blimey.

I am a photographer and this sort of thing is absolutely DISGUSTING. It puts doubts in people’s minds about all photographers, and isn’t fair.

I just love how the front page of their website says “Doubletake have gone all out to keep our studios at their globally renowned status of the most exciting and diverse multi-set photography studios ever!” - HAHA, well this blog (and other sites!) are no doubt keeping their imagine VERY well known around the world!!
288. amber Says:
April 16th, 2008 at 10:17 am

Hi, just to say thanks for this, am currently trying to cancel my apt alas have been ringing for over an hour with no answer (when it rings or it goes straight to answer phone if it doesn’t ring- which surely means there is somone there as i assume they are on the phone when it goes straight to answer phone)……yea real profeesional.
289. Mark Says:
April 17th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

As a small independent photographer I got an email from a recruitment company wanting to know if I would apply for a job working in the Doubletake studio in Manchester !

Needless to say I’d rather have my reputation and build my own style of honest photography. But cudos to the blog for exposing these scandalous sales practices.
290. Tenniel Says:
April 17th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

Hi in January my friend told about this phot shoot thing which i always wanted to do I agreed. They kept hounding me and my friends phone everyday untill we reached a decission which we did.

We arrived at the studio to a excellent looking reception area, we waited patiently while offered drinks,crisps and chocolate. We were then asked to go downstairs and get our mini facial,Make up and hair done. we then went down stairs to the studio,i had a foreign lady getting frustrated with because i did not know where to position myself and she started giving me attitude. There were about 5 different sessions happening at the same times with girls waiting for sets to take pictures.(By the way the sets are crap) compared to what you see on the site.

We then go upstairs to veiw the photos, i was determined not to buy them.the sales lady kept complementing me and my friend lucky for me i already thought i looked fat so when they came up i knew she was lying (lol) Then she started talking about payment we were told we could pay £300 installments a lie?(suprise suprise).She then kept changing her terms of payments

9 April sent an email no response but a call on friday which i asked for them to call back in an hour(no call). I sent another 16th April 08 email which is just below
I am more than unhappy with the service I have being receiving from you. When I was a potential customer you kept ringing my phone to enforce me to make a booking, now that I have received your so called experience I am dealt with as least priority. When I would like to speak to someone I am asked to email or leave a message on an answer phone and then a week later I eventually receive a phone call.

I went to one of your so called studios in Farringdon in January, I was not pleased with the sets I found them to look cheap. During my session the photographer I had was rushing me to get ready and was getting frustrated at telling me which position to stand in. This made me uncomfortable am I wrong in thinking it is her job to direct me what to do?

Following that I was sent into the viewing room which was presented by a lady, I know she is a sales person but there is sales and leading someone to feel intimidated. She I kept saying no to the pictures but she kept pushing me to have stating every single picture was beautiful. She then kept changing her terms of payments

She said she would need a £300 deposit today
She said she would need a £200 deposit today
She said she would need a £150 deposit today
Then she said she would take what I can afford
Then she changed it to when can I afford it?
Then she changed it to a £100 deposit at the end of the week

This took a whole of 45 minutes for her to confirm in and out the room with her finance team.

I told her I can’t afford it so she insisted someone else pay it for me; I said I was unavailable to do so. She then suggested she use my friend’s details to give confirmation of payment. I told her I was unsure and could I confirm if I was able to pay at the end of the week she said yes, I signed one copy of a direct debit mandate under my friend’s details.

I then called and left a voicemail the next day for a return call; eventually within a week and a half I received a phone call. I was stating I did no want to go through with it as I could not afford it, the gentleman I spoke to did not allow me to talk and insisted that I give him my bank details or else he would deduct money out of my friends account. I tried to tell him what was arranged previously and he threatened me if I don’t pay he will take me to court as I signed your copy of the mandate. I asked him to get a manager to call me back I have not heard a word since this is going back as far as the end of January 2008

Since this I have not received a phone call from anyone, Random payments have left my account on various dates 5, 6 and 7. Further to this different amounts have been taken when I spoke to lady on the day she said she needed details in case I go through with the payments I told her I would prefer the end of the month as that is when I get paid. She told me that was not available as it might com out earlier so I told her 5th, to my bemusement I have seen payments taken out on different dates as previously mentioned. Also she told me how much it would cost a month, this amount is not what is being deducted from my account. I also noticed there should have been a deposit taken then a monthly instalment this is not what happened more money came out that necessary. This left me unable to pay other bills which I had accounted for.

I did sign a direct debit mandate but this has not been set up as direct debit, you take money out of my account whenever you feel like and I find completely unacceptable. I want my so called account with yourselves shut down or I will be going to watchdog to inform to investigate your company and warn others not to use your service

I speak very fluent English so I fail to understand why I am paying for something that I asked to be cancelled I never agreed that I would pay, I did say I would call back tomorrow to inform you of my decision but from the look of things it was not my decision to make .

I am anxious to hear from you.

I got a phone call the next day from a rude boy telling what i said as if i dont have a memory.he then transfered me somone else she was even worse here is the email
At approximately 12:35 17TH April 2008 I received a phone call from a young man named Michael from your company. We spoke for roughly 10 minutes regarding an email that I had sent to you, we discussed a few topics and he decided to transfer me to another team member. Whilst doing this the phone got cut off, I waited for another phone as I presume it was an accident.

I then received a call from a young lady named Natasha I was explaining to her problems I have incurred with your payments systems. I asked who has made a mistake she then said sorry then changed her tone and said I never made these requests. I explained this enough times for anyone to understand, she then got frustrated and started to raise her voice. So in return I raised mine she then started talking to me as if I was a 7 year old foreigner. She then hung up the phone when I asked why she was talking to me as if I had hearing/speech difficulties. I then asked to speak with a manger she said no!!!! You are dealing with me.

I am very livid with the way in which she spoke to me for someone that is working in customer she has no clue what the role involves. I used work in customer service and I was praised for my role I know how to deal with customers and know the person specification, someone like Natasha should be disciplined or fired. I do not wish to speak with a team member I want to speak with a manager. If this matter is not dealt with I will take another route in dealing with your company.

I then got a response from this rude person
In regards to your email listed below, please note a few facts:

1. You were in fact transferred from the Customer Care Department to the Payments Team Department – the department of which I am employed.

2. You were not told that you had not originally made the request to have the first payment taken on the 31st. If you had been willing to listen in an adult fashion, you would have actually ascertained the fact that I was trying to inform you of what had previously been arranged on the account and also advise you of what changes where made to your account in January - at your own request – as I was the one who extended your plan to an eighteen month plan at the discretion of the company. You previously wanted to cancel your order and were advised by Customer Services that this was not possible.

It was at this point that you were forwarded to me and we agreed to extend your plan to make the payments more manageable as you were not able to pay the full £150 as a first installment – which was actually set this high as you were unable to leave a substantial deposit at the time of placing the order. Please note that Doubletake are not under any obligation to reinstruct payment plans – it is done out of discretion and goodwill.

3. We would have been able to rectify any problem quite quickly with no fuss (even though three successful payments have been taken on the days that you are now querying) had it not been for your extremely rude and ill mannered attitude. I was on the phone to you for over 10 minutes and was no clearer as to your actual complaint and preferred course of action by the end of the conversation.

Myself along with other staff members at Doubletake are not employed to endure abusive and offensive behavior from clients, irrespective of the nature of the complaint.

Can anyone email if they have any advice on how to stop payments please!!!
291. Jade Says:
April 17th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Hi, my friend and i got roped into this, thought it would be fun…it was a giggle! BUT, a really horrible saleswoman tried very hard to sell us photos, CD’s etc. We said no thanx as they were soo expensive, she continued to interigate us and became quite aggressive, she had lots of attitude and sarcasm! (luckily we stood our ground) She went to the ‘manager’ to get us ’student’ discount, but its just a con as i can see thats what they say to everyone. It has now been 2 weeks over the 30 days for my deposit to be returned which was £100 each…still waiting. Will inform you of what happens when i get through.
292. a.p. Says:
April 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Sorry to hear so many people got into this sort of trouble.

A much better way of getting photos (for free) is to have a Time for Prints (TFP) deal with a photographer. The only catch is that there are usually many more models interested in this, than there are photographers available… Plus the photographers are quite selective as well.

In any case, if someone is interested in FREE photo shoot, check this link http://www.wannabestar.co.uk/get-a-free-photo-shoot-1.php - there are some opportunities for fashion / portrait photo shoots available. And unlike the sad story with Doubletake, these are TFP opportunities!! Maybe it’s helpful to someone…
293. anon Says:
April 21st, 2008 at 7:31 pm

It seems DoubleTake are not the only ones playing this game.
Ironically, the day after reading this blog and posting a comment above, I got a phone call. Well, a VERY garbled quickly read message left on my answerphone…I understood it all after a couple of hearings, EXCEPT for the company name. Very quickly and ambiguously said!
I phoned the number out of interest knowing exactly what they were playing at, and spoke to the guy who was like “oh yes, I’ve been waiting for you to ring all week, you’re the last winner we need to arrange with, but I’m leaving the office in 20 minutes and today is the absolute last day you can book”. HAHAHAHA! So I told him I’d check out the website and ring back.
It was SKYLITE studios by the way, in London.
SKYLITE SCAM SKYLITE SCAM!!! There was nothing on google about it, but just having read this thread made me realise they operate in exactly the same way.
I asked him what I needed to do….pay a deposit……why do I have to pay a no-show deposit if I have won something, that you would be doing for free anyway……Oh, um, well all the London studios operate the same way.
I asked whether I got a free photo….oh yes yes, you get a free print, you put your deposit towards it. So it’s not free then? Yes it is, you get a free luxuuuurrrrious make-up and your own photographer for the day. I kept reiterating that I wasn’t actually winning anything and was getting no more than people walking in off the street.
In the end, after feeling that I’d waste quite sufficient of my time (and his, gladly!) I told him that I am a photographer and can do the photos myself. He got SO snappy and rude, and hung up!!!
They are morons.
294. Nadia Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 12:03 am

Has anyone heard of Studio 52?? My friends went their last week but were ripped off!! Treated very very badly, accused of ‘breaking rules’ etc etc. They had a very horrible day and ended up getting 2 photos on a CD for £200!! They have a poxy little website (where the word luxury is spelt luxuary :-s). What can they do??
295. Tate Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

I’ve got to go to this perffetic excuse of a company called Double Take Studios tomorrow (27th April), i tried to get out of it by counciling but they were having none it and saying no matter what i would get charged £100 to come directly out of my account. i’ve got to fly away to a funeral in the coming week and still couldn’t get out of it. Can some please let me know what i should do? If i do end up having to go up this place i’m just gonna end up messing around and getting properly in there face and telling them about them selfs.

If anyone has any objections or anything else they want me to do to them up there then let me know asap.
296. Tanya Says:
April 30th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

DOUBLE TAKE STUDIOS ARE ONE BIG RIP_OFF MERCHANTS!!
Beware! Please whatever you do, don’t ever agree to anything from them - they’ll charge your card even before you attend! They did me! I understand that they ripped off the wrong person recently and that they’re going to get sued big time - hahha I can’t wait. I’ve spoken to Watchdog and they’re interested in doing a feature.
Let’s get the conning idiots closed down for good.
297. jane Says:
May 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm

my experience was stressfull i have recently had a major operation and off work for minimum 3 months. when i recieved the phone call to book it was something i have always wanted to do and i appreciate the photos aren’t cheap. but i didnt even get to have the make over. on the day i was phoned today and £200 deposit instead of £20 was taken out of my account by mistake on day of booking. this mistake has caused me a bank charge ….if i get my money back within the 3 days i’ve been promised then i will text this site by monday 5th may..
298. Lisa Says:
May 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Unfortunately, I’m also one of Double Take’s victims. I was recommended by a friend and when I was called up, I thought…why not? I don’t HAVE to pay anything. So I booked it and agreed to paying a 30 pound deposit. When we arrived we were given a bucks fizz (not a champagne cocktail) and rushed off to have make up done. I didn’t recieve a hand-massage as promised and though the make-up and hair was quite nice, I could have done something so much better myself! I was then told to pick 3 outfits and rushed into the shoot. My photographer was nice enough and she told me how to pose, but I didn’t feel that she really cared about making me look nice. Afterwards me and my friend filled in the recommendation form, and I put down a lot of numbers to ensure to freebies- which were absolutely rubbish anyway. We wern’t offered any snacks like promised. Then we viewed our photos, which were nice because we had never seen ourselves in that way before, and the woman was full of complinents etc. Then we were given the hefty price plan. When the woman saw the look on our faces she asked if we were students and said we are entitled to discount packages (note: though we are actually students, she didn’t ask for any ID!) We were very unsure and didn’t want to pay the prices but felt like it would be a great shame to go away with nothing, as they wouldn’t even let us have the contact sheet. In the end we agreed to 3 12×8 prints and the same 3 on cd for 206 pounds. Weirdly, this meant my 30 pound deposit contributed to that so i couldn’t get it back!? The woman already had my card details and it was a quick order. My PIN was never needed during the whole process?
In addition she promised me that our prints would be delievered within 10 days. I still have not recieved them and it has now been almost 3 weeks. Looking at my contact card now, the photos are completely not worth it and i feel like I’ve been scammed. It’s really got me down because now I feel like a fool for parting with the money, which I really could not afford. I know I agreed to it, but the pressure was so intense, when your in there you feel like you must. I am very dissapointed in myself for giving in.
I have sent them an email explaining myself and have asked for a refund. I doubt they will, or at least it won’t be easy, but it’s worth a try. I really can’t afford this money. Im confident they wouldnt have actually printed the photos yet so i cant see why a refund is so out of the question? It should be the same as buying clothes etc from a shop, you have the right to refund if you havn’t used or even RECIEVED the product yet??

If they do not negotiate then I’m going to be forced to take this matter further, because it seems to be happening to too many vulnrable people and it needs to be stopped.
299. OLD PHOTOGRAPHER AT DT Says:
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm

We have to go to Watchdog with these people… the way they treat the clients is wrong and the way they treat their staff is wrong.

I worked my ass off for that place and they fired me because I was not told I was meant to be in one day and I didn’t show… well I’m sorry but they have to tell you when you’re working!

The bad thing is they have done it to several members of staff now!

Whatever you do steer away from DT.

LETS ALL GO TO WATCHDOG!
300. Caroline Tankard Says:
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm

I went to double take in May 2007; I too had an amazing time, and used the double up to set a limit on the amount I was spending.

When I looked at the pictures and prices I nearly died! I picked out the few that I liked and they said that they would do a deal, it came back at around £600 I took the deal but afterwards felt that I had been pressured into the sale. Feeling upset by the way I was coursed into spending so much money I wrote a letter of complaint. After 2 weeks worth of phone calls, numerous emails and a few stroppy letters they agreed to reduce the price to £480, this was basically the £100 that I had doubled, the £50 deposit for the day and the £230 that I paid on the day.
The ease in which they reduced the cost of the photo’s does make me wonder how low they would have been willing to go if I had carried on asking them to reduce the cost.
It is unfair the way that they push their products and don’t set out clear guidelines when you make the booking.
301. Jean Coverley Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

I purchased a ‘two for one’ package from Ideal World TV channel as a treat for my daughter and myself. After reading some of the comments from clients,there is no way we will entertain this. I will try to contact Ideal World and suggest they read this site. JC. Essex
302. Kate Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 11:51 am

I booked with double take 3 days ago as they would not let me off the phone and I thought for £5 I could just not show up to leave me alone. Boy I was wrong. There was no mention of the cancellation fee. Luckily I googled double take and came across this site. I have tried for two days to cancel it free of charge as it is within 7 days. They have ignored 2 emails (which 1 has been read), two messages and I have tried ringing all the above numbers to no reply. I even rang the bookings team who sent them an email and yet nobody has bothered to contact me. I am absolutely appalled at the way that they treat customers. I am off to the bank today to cancel my card. They can keep the £6 booking for all I care but no way are they going to take £200 off me. I am also getting in touch with citizens advice and see what they say. I have evidence of the emails that I have sent and thank god that I have a contrct mobile so that I have proof of all the numbers that they have rang.

I am a trainee solicitor so I will be finding out if what they are doing is legal. I will NEVER give my custom to doubletake and I will be recommending my friends to do the same.
303. Actress Says:
May 11th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Hi,

I just wanted to let you know about the latest scam these people are running. They are advertising on a website called uk.castingcallpro.com which is basically a networking and casting site for actors. There they offer a free makeover as well as 10 free prints. I am a member of this site and was interested in taking up their offer. Not anymore! So, Doubletake, take note, I have passed on the comments on this site to CastingCall Pro. You might think actors are desperate and will fork out 500 pounds for your services. The majority are savvy enough not to. I just want to warn those that haven’t realised yet, that some unscrupulous companies seem to think actors are fair game for all sorts of dodgy dealings.
I remember there was a company around years ago pulling the same kind of stunt. I went and some burly bloke tried to scare me into buying prints, even “offering” to walk to the cashpoint with me.
To all the people thinking about going, remember that you can go to the police if you feel harassed and intimidated, or even (as happened to me) they don’t let you leave!! Don’t be pressurised, just leave and make sure you find a reputable photographer, there are plenty out there. The better they are, the softer the sell as they have plenty of customers already!!!

Lol, xxx
304. Incazzato Proprio Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:14 pm

Here is what i decided to do. Had sent info before and mr Admin did not post it up. If you want to get back at stingy double take best way to hit em is in the pocket. It’s the only thing they understand. Below is copy of email to Ideal TV

Dear Customer ,
Thank you for your recent email.
We have made a note of your complaint. If you would like to make a formal complaint you could by writing to the address mentioned below: -
Customer Services Co-coordinator
Ideal Home House
Newark House
Peterborough
PE1 5WG
Should you have any further questions in relation to this email please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service Department on the following telephone numbers:
Ideal World - 08700 700 802
Create and Craft - 08700 700 302

Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:12 PM
To: Customer Services
Cc: HR
Subject: DoubleTake Studios http://www.misunderestimated.co.uk/?p=6

Dear Sir or Madam,
http://www.misunderestimated.co.uk/?p=6
Your Station sells DoubleTake Studios makeover experience as an item to sell. Please read the following blog at the top of the page and re-consider you business relationship with them.

Image is everything in a retail/sales environment and association With this company will tarnish your image.

People have asked for Watchdog to investigate them and for the Trading Standards Authority to investigate them. There are many Studios worth considering other than this one.

The item for sale at under £50 is false, they attempt to charge up to £2000 for a shoot if they can get away with it. Sadly the Blog is very real, Double Take have had a company Director posting on it and they had assigned a worker by the name of Catherine to reply to the onslaught of emails. They have since been banned from posting.
Can you please reconsider your business relationship with DoubleTake Studios.

Yours Truly
Rachel Anderson

Your listings
http://www.idealworld.tv/default.aspx?ProductID=510141
http://www.idealworld.tv/default.aspx?ProductID=512680

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