JCPenney Portrait Studio

I made an appt. for 3 pm today. They could not find the photographer. I waited around for 30 minutes before leaving. I had left work early so that I could go to this appt. I ended up driving to the JC penneys at meadows mall as this was for business photos. I will let my employer know what a bad experience that I had.

I had an appointment for a session at this location on ¹²⁄₅ at 5:20. I was running a few minutes late (stuck in traffic) so I called to let them know. I spoke with the manager Kristy who informed me that if I were any later than 5:30 we would have to reschedule. I arrived exactly at 5:30 as I had my daughter run inside and check in while we parked the car. When I got inside my daughter was in line behind a woman that was making a stink about a coupon. By the time we got to the front I told the woman who I was and she looked at the clock (it was 5:33). She said you’ll have to reschedule because you’re 10 minutes late. I informed her that Kristy had told me as long as I was here by 5:30 she could take my pictures and I could view them later. This is when she got the attitude and told me that she was still selling these people and had to help the lady behind us and she’d see what she could do. I said okay and my family and I took a seat. We waited for 25 minutes when her 6 o’clock showed up. She then told us since my 6 o’clock is here we’ll have to reschedule. This is when I got irritated. I told her that she most certainly would not reschedule me, I was told by her manager that she’d be able to take my pictures tonight and I was getting my picture taken. She said she’d call her manager. We waited another 10 minutes before she actually did that and when she did she told her that we didn’t get there until 5:33. Not the truth! Ultimately she told me she had to take the 6 o’clock before us, which I agreed to but the dirty looks and nastiness that came from this «customer service» rep was legendary. I get pictures done every year but this is the first time I’ve ever been here or been treated like this. A modicum of professionalism would have been nice.

Don’t waste your time and money! They were over 20 min late getting us in. The lady had a bad attitude from the start. We went in to have a fun date night and snap a few pics. We had a few pose ideas that she wouldn’t entertain. We asked for a prop and she said no. Never going back we should of walked out.

This facility has terrible customer service! I booked an appointment online for a Saturday morning picture session. We have a 1 ½ year old son and needed a morning appointment to work around his nap schedule. I received a phone call two days later by an associate to confirm my appointment. The day before our appointment (less than 24 hours) I received a call telling me that our appointment time is unavailable because they are not busy enough to have two photographers on hand and they wanted to move us to 1:00, right in the middle of my son’s nap time. Obviously they were busy enough to need two photographers that morning! I was furious. We had this appointment scheduled well in advance and had scheduled the rest of our weekend events around this appointment time. There was no apology from the associate and there was nothing to indicate she was willing to work around our schedule in any way. I had to scramble at the last minute to find another studio to take us the following morning. With a toddler and another baby on the way, we are just starting to get on the family picture ball. However, we will never try to work with this facility again. Take the advice of the other reviewers and spend your money elsewhere!

My grandchildren were visiting from California and I wanted to have their pictures taken. We were on a tight schedule for their visit so made an appointment for 10:00 am when I knew they would be at their best. We arrived on time and went to the portrait studio but no one was there. I then went to find someone who told me they were closed on Tuesday! I checked with a manager and he said that they would call to see what the issue was because I had an email confirmation and had received a phone call the previous day as well. Someone finally showed up approx 10:40. They had to set up, get the computers up and running etc and we were an hour late. The kids were tired and grumpy. I got only one picture of my grandson and a few of my granddaughter. Not even an apology for being late! Meanwhile there were 2 other families that showed up for later appointments and had to wait as well. I will NEVER use them again.

I have had mostly good experiences here. We have gone 3 years in a row and bought into their membership program. The pics always come out great, and the photographers are very good with our kids.
I sometimes feel rushed by the sales people to pick our pictures, and this last time, the collages they suggested weren’t something we liked… and she ignored us until I insisted… politely…but overall, I recommend them.
My favorite is the CD. $ 100 and you get full copyright, plus the cd includes editing software you can use yourself at home. We will likely do that from now on to avoid the anxiety ridden sales process and pushy decision making situation. Last year was better, because the sales person left me alone to go through it myself, which I prefer (Im also familiar with photo editing software, so I want to take over the whole time anyway… lol).
All in all, you can get great photos here. It’s not the best you’ll ever find, but they have good deals and it beats buying the school pictures which almost always turn out awful.

I agree from Christopher B.‘s review ~ BUYER BEWARE and NEVER GO TO THIS PLACE! I have a great place that I will recommend (read my review about Portrait Innovations), however, I’ve been here twice and it got worse every visit.
The first visit was for my maternity photos because my friend recommended this place (her photos are great) however mine was not. The service was so-​so, the sales person was that wanted to sell but she did take more than 30 shots. When I received my photos they were all dark and we blended in the background but the proofs were completely the opposite.
Ok so I let it go trying to give them benefit of the doubt.
Second time was more than a year later for my son’s 1^st birthday photos. This was really bad ~ the sales person is different from the last time and she was rudest person. She rushed the pictorial and wouldn’t allow a family shot because «per company policy» can only take 12 – 15 shots. Bogus!
I bought the simplest package. She does not deserve a sale!

This wasn’t the first time I used JC Penney but it will definitely be the last. They have these alluring packages but if I knew I had to trade poor customer service and odd policies in exchange, I think I’d rather pay the higher price. Last visit, I was informed that I couldn’t have one of the kids, my niece, in my family sit because they had already sat for a photo session earlier in the day by themselves. We protested seeing that as a rigid nonsensical policy but they insisted. We offered to pay whatever extra sitting fee they wanted us to pay but they refused. We asked to speak to the manager and the same woman who had been yelling at us (yeah, we weren’t sure why she was yelling either and in front of other customers) was in fact the manager. I guess what I am unable to fathom is why you would take a customer who on their last visit bought a large sum in pictures and is now offering to pay to make amends for any perceived policy violation and you turn them away, refuse them at every turn, and basically lose the company a customer then and always. The policy of which she spoke was not on the coupon, or posted, or online which is why I say let the BUYER BEWARE. Stuff like that is just tricky and should be clear and posted. Here’s a place according to JC Penney isn’t really JC Penney at all but a private company and if you have an
issue, JC Penney is unable to help you. We had used this place before and hadn’t run into the same thing but when you feel sort of victimized you are very hesitant to return much less refer the service to anyone else. We opted to take our business elsewhere.