Lifetouch Photography

We had to have my son’s kindergarten photos retaken by this «company»
As in his first portrait they couldn’t even get him to smile.
So, had to drive to them about 2 months ago and waited for over an hour while high school seniors were ushered in right away.
Then today in the mail, they finally send us this!!! WTF is this??? A reminder to order our photos? They aren’t answering their phone either
Where are my sons photo’s ??? I paid for a service and we still haven’t received photos from these clowns.
I am fed up with your horrible service and I will be contacting my attorney…
Maybe that way you clowns will be forced to get organized and provide parents with good service. I am beyond mad right now.

I received the wrong pose for one of my daughters’ school picture packages this year. I called the office and the person was very helpful, she fixed the order and offered to send the photos to my house. I understand it is frustrating to not see the school pictures prior to ordering, but isn’t that the fun of school pictures?

Horrible all around. I remember this company as a kid going to school here in San Diego, but as a parent is a whole different story.
Ordered my child’s fall pictures in August. Got them a decent time later, minus the class picture. I call them today to see where it is only to be told it shipped out already. Told the rep that’s false since I just checked the mail and nothing from Lifetouch has came in. She then tells me «oh it won’t be available until January. Wait… what? It takes five months to receive the total package you already paid in full for?
I’ll avoid fall photos from here on out. Will opt for a different company as well if I need photos of my child taken.

Wish I had seen the reviews for this corrupt company before I made the mistake of being employed by them. Biggest crooks ever. The overwork their minimum wage paid photographers requiring them to transport all the equipment you see on picture day, with personal vehicles. Then refuse to reimburse for mileage as promised upon hiring. Waking at 4am to be the first ones at the school then worked 10+ hour shifts WITHOUT LUNCH OR REST BREAKS. I witnessed a middle age employee being scolded for taking his lunch break! The sad part is as photographers we love what we do and working with kids makes every day fun but this company’s conduct is unbearable. You wouldn’t believe the employee turnover rate. They’d rather train new hires then change their corrupt practices. I’ve had to reach out to Employee Rights Center and Dept of Labor for help in receiving my mileage reimbursement and final paycheck. I’ve gone in the hole financially after working for them only 2 months. I wish I could’ve paid them NOT to hire me and saved myself this ongoing reimbursement battle.

*CHECK YOUR BANK ACCOUNT
My kids just took their school pictures last week. Since I have 2 kids that attend the same school, I had to provide two separate checks. I checked my bank account and they overcharged me by $ 35 and was an «ACH transaction.» I immediately contacted Lifetouch to which they stated they would mail a check to refund the difference which should take up to 10 business days. They explained that the check was scanned, not deposited. It would have been nice to apologize for this mistake on their part. 2 stars rating due to the lack of apology for inconvenience, however to be fair the pictures usually come out decent. Just saying, check your bank account for human error.

If you have an appointment, be smart and pack snacks or activities. You will be here for more than a couple hours. Their photography process goes VERY slow. I’ve listened to their music playlist over and over and over. Make sure you REALLY LOVE your pictures before you leave this place. They aren’t cheap. It’s already been over 3 hours and still waiting for these people to finish.

lifetouch took the pictures for the 8^th grade promotion at my daughters school. Unfortunately we were on vacation that week of school so we had to reschedule retakes. The original pictures were taken in April. The retakes weren’t scheduled until 6÷6÷15. I mentioned to the receptionist that she has her promotion on the 19^th and I wasn’t sure her pictures would be ready in time. Could we please come in sooner? They said they weren’t doing make-​up pictures at an earlier time and not to worry because I should have them in by the 19^th. Well, her promotion came and went and finally on July 13^th, we received our pictures! I also called to check on the pictures several times and they kept reassuring me that they were going as fast as they could and I would get them just as soon as they were ready. I called on July 8^th and was told that there was a delay since they were on vacation, but that I should be receiving them in a few days since she was just now sending them out!!! remember I mentioned that they had put a «Rush» on my pictures? Well obviously my daughters pictures for her promotion were not priority! I am very upset about how long it took to receive her pictures. Beware!

This studio took my senior portraits and they were HORRIBLE. I would never come back here, and I would advise people to seek elsewhere if they can. I had to go to a whole different studio to get my pictures redone so I could buy them. It took a whole year after I graduated for them to send me the one 8×10 of the picture they took, which did not even look good anyway. We called frequently during the entire year and each time they either didn’t answer or weren’t helpful. Unfortunately, this is the studio my high school had a contract with, so that horrible, ugly picture made it into the yearbook. Not to mention, they don’t have anybody there to help students into the drape and tuxes before the picture, so you’re stuck wriggling around trying to get it even and tight enough. Nobody fixed my hair when it fell into my eyes during the photo and the drape was crooked and falling off in the photo. Another thing that I hated, was that they took three or four students at a time into one big room and we all had our pictures taken at the same time. There was no privacy or comfort whatsoever. The woman at the front desk was so rude, I wanted to walk out instantly and the photographer had no personality and got me in and out like they didn’t even care how the photo turned out. I would rate this place ZERO stars if I could.

Our church contracted with this company to produce a church directory. Big mistake.
WE had to round up volunteers to check people in for their photo appointments.
They use high-​pressure tactics to get people to buy photo packages, including telling our church members that this was a fundraiser for our church — which it was NOT.
For families who were not available for photo appointments, we invited them to send in their own photos, and LifeTouch will charge us $ 10/​each for these additional photos.
We were allowed 8 additional pages for group/​club/​activity photos, and if we need additional pages, they’ll cost us $ 100/​page!
A bunch of sharks. Don’t even think of dealing with them.

JUST SAY NO to school picture day!!!
Every fall, my kids bring home the Lifetouch photo package order sheet, where you pay in advance for photos you don’t see. Every year I say no. The photos turn out poorly if you prepay (the spring photos, where you don’t prepay, always have good photos for my kids, so I know it’s possible to get a decent photo out of them).
But then, when I don’t buy fall pics, my daughter feels like a freaking pariah because she’s the only one who doesn’t buy the photos. The teachers call me. «Are you sure that you didn’t want to buy photos?» Classmates assume that we must be poor, unable to afford photos. She feels like a pitied outcast, like a Little Orphan Annie extra. In other words, there is tremendous pressure to buy the photos. I think it’s wrong to put pressure on anybody to buy anything like this at school.
Last year, Lifetouch left my daughter, the ONLY KID WHO DIDN’T BUY PHOTOS, off the school class photo. They said it was coincidence. My daughter cried for hours. They redid the class photo at the principal’s insistence.
This year, to save my daughter the psychic pain of being the only kid to not buy a school portrait, and being a gambling woman, I risked it and ordered pics for my two youngest kids.
Even with the advent of digital photography and the ability to retake awful photos, my son’s photo was once again horrible. Why don’t they just retake it until they get a good one? Because I already prepaid and they hoped I’d be too lazy to go get a retake or complain? Because they lack skill? Time? I don’t know.
We then took son in for retake day, a trek up to Via Excelencia on Saturday, Oct 18. We turned in the old pics and were promised the new ones in 3 weeks.
No pics came.
Called around Thanksgiving and they were closed until December.
Called back and spoke with a helpful lady named Diana, a beacon in a wasteland of poor customer service and endless «press one for this, two for this» messages. Diana contacted the lab. They ignored her and she called back to tell me they hadn’t called her, because Diana knew I’d be wondering.
Finally, more than a week later, the lab told her didn’t have the photos. They lost them, though they wouldn’t use that word. For what else happened? We were there. They lost the photos.
Diana put a request for a refund in, which I will receive in 10 days.
I have now called them 5 times this month alone, spent a couple hours going up to do the retake, and lost a chunk of time trying to find out what happened to the photos. When you call, it says to hold and your call will be answered in the order received; instead, it goes to voicemail.
I personally will never ever buy Lifetouch again and I will make sure to write to the school board and the school principals and plead for a new school photographer. A few parents and camera phones and we should be golden.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to flog myself for being an idiot who would try this place out again.

Lifetouch showed not the least bit of remorse for losing 250 out of 2100 students high school yearbook images. Extremely unprofessional and uncaring.
Clearly they sustain on the fact that they have very little competition in their field. I would not recommend this company. Alas parents don’t have much say. I will however inform the school principal and hope that a more qualified company will be hired for next year’s picture day.