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Worst customer service ever. I had an associate book an appt for pictures I get there the employee tells me I am not in the system then proceeds to tell me she is sick of people expecting alot for the price of the pictures and she is sick of dealing with kids and for me to get out.

She told me what do I expect and I asked for my money back on the studio card I bought, she would not give me her name either.

I have had four other problems with this studio therefore I will never go back there. I also called the Walmart they are in to let them know I will no longer shop at Walmart if they rent to people like that.

Location: Wheaton, Illinois

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Guest

Complaining online is the most annoying online. If you don't like it, then I suggest you *** go out there and do something about rather than complain behind a computer screen.

Complain complain complain, thats all everybody does but do they take action about it, no. They just sit there like little *** and complain.

Cowards.

Guest

I worked for PCA for 5 years in a studio located in a Wal Mart in Maryland, and I also worked at a Sears studio in Maryland for 4 years. I absolutely loved my job at both locations.

While at the Sears location, the first 3 1/2 years were amazing! Needless to say, the other 1/2 of my 4th year was one of the most miserable times of my life. A new district manager came aboard and even though my studio was top in sales and customers, etc. this woman wanted customers in and out in 15 minutes tops.

That included the photo shoot and the sales table. My manager and I had both started at that studio from the day it opened and we took pride in the number of customers that came back to us faithfully because they received friendly service, excellent pictures and just an overall wonderful experience. Not to brag but, between my manager and myself, we were responsible for a total of 14 of the photos that were used as displays in all of the studios. When the new district manager started, she came to our studio for the first time for what we "thought" to be a get to know your associate type of meeting.

The meeting was scheduled to start immediately after the store closed on a Friday night. Now mind you, my store was in a mall that closed at 10:00 PM. She had said it was a mandatory meeting that would last approximately 1 hour and anyone that was not in attendance would get fired. This should have been our first clue about how this woman was.

All of the employees were in the studio by 9:45 that evening. By 10:15 the DM was still not there so my manager phoned her to make sure that she was still coming. The DM immediately started yelling so loudly at my manager that we could all hear her. She told my manager to never call her and question her about anything again and that if she said she was going to be there, then she would do just that.

My manager then said to her that she was calling not to question her, but to make sure that she was ok and had not had car problems etc. The call ended and the meeting finally started at 11:45. Because of a school activity that day and having no coverage, my manager and I had been at work since 9 AM that day and were scheduled to be back the following day at 9 AM as well. To spare you most of the boring details about the meeting, we were pretty much told that the only thing this DM cared about was numbers!

She never once praised us for being top in her district or for being the only studio that had never had a complaint filed, nothing! Just that we had better not have a customer in the studio for longer than 15 minutes. Needless to say, this quota brought the studio moral down, made customers unhappy and just made me dread going to a job that I used to love going to. After about 3 months my manager and I were the only 2 employees left in the studio.

And to make matters even worse, it was November, and we were just beginning Christmas portraits. We managed to make it through the holidays with just her and I. The two of us were there most of the time open to close 7 days a week, even after asking repeatedly for help. We waited till Christmas photos were all delivered and we both gave our 2 weeks notice.

The DM refused to accept our notice and fired us both on the spot. The studio remained closed for almost 3 weeks because there weren't any associates. After being out of work for about 2 months the two of us opened the Wal Mart studio. We had the same great experiences here as we did at Sears.

We had managed to get a lot of our old Sears customers back and her and I quickly made this studio #1 in the district as well. After being here for about 4 years and 10 months, we were told that PCA was now going to be PCI. We were promised that the name was the only change that was taking place. All of our commissions would be the same, studio hours the same, quotas, etc.

Well, needless to say, this was the biggest lie I've ever been told. The first paycheck that we should have received under PCI was almost 3 weeks late and of course it was incorrect! We weren't paid our commissions, the commissions that we did receive were almost 1/2 of what they were with PCA and our hourly wage had been cut by almost 3.00 per hour. When we called the DM to question all of the errors, we received a voice mail telling us to call the corporate office with any questions because he was no longer employed with the company.

We called corporate and were told that it was an error in the computer system that had occurred through the switch and were assured that we would have separate checks sent out within 3 days. We understood that this was a possibility and we continued on with our business. After 1 week no one had received a check and we still had no idea who our DM was. After waiting a little over a month, and making call after call with no resolution we again gave our 2 weeks notice.

The day after we put our notice in, the two of us showed up for work the next morning to find the studio open and someone counting the till that neither of us had ever seen before. After talking to this person, we were told that she was a DM from another district and was asked by corporate to come and fill in until we were replaced as well as being told that when we showed up, she was to tell us that we were no longer needed and our checks would be mailed to us. Needless to say, neither of us ever received all of the money that we were owed, nor did we get paid for our last month that we worked! Because all time was kept on the computer we were pretty much told by a few lawyers that we didn't have a leg to stand on because corporate had the ability to fudge all records, including our commission records.

I left there with PCI owing me close to 1400.00 in commissions 4000.00 in pay.

I can honestly say that I don't know how this company is still in business. They care nothing about their associates or their customers. They care only about numbers!

I often wondered how PCI was now but after seeing this post, I see that they haven't changed at all. I wouldn't take my kids or recommend these studios to anyone! I will say that some studios and photographers do a wonderful job and the fee that they charge is reasonable...I refuse to support a company that treats their employees like ***.

This company needs to realize that if it wasn't for their studio employees that deal with the stress (and believe me, it can be stressful,) they wouldn't have a job to go to every day where they can make 6 figures!

I apologize about the length of this post, I just want everyone to realize what the "true values" of this company are!

Guest

Picture Me has a Facebook, customers, employees and ex employees need to post all this there, corporate will see it, they won't see it here!

Guest

To Alicia,

don't let all the talk turn you away, you will love your job w/ Picture Me!

Guest

Ok so if working for CPI is soooooo bad then do us all a favor and QUIT!!!! I am trying hard to build my buisiness in my studio and you idiots out there are discouraging people from using PictureMe, I love my job, it's the BEST job I have ever had.

And creating memories for people is an awesome and gratifying experience. So please SHUT UP AND GET LOST!!

Guest

Wow, with the way you guys are all talking to each other, no wonder neither customer or employees are satisfied. Kindness starts small people, and an anonymous bulletin board is a great place to start.

I just started at the PictureMe studio, in fact tomorrow is my first day of training.

I am rather nervous now after reading all of these comments, both good and bad. I have learned in just seven hours of pre employment assessments, that they are SERIOUSLY pushing up-selling and top-down selling, so the numbers are obviously THE most important thing. However, I am not going to be a typical pushy employee, and will not take my stress out on a customer who comes in entrusting me with their family memories. Perhaps I will not last long, perhaps my numbers will suck.

But, I am going to five it my all. I have a four year degree in visual art and photography, so I know I will excel with the creative work. The company, however, does not seem all that bad. I am excited to begin, and hope that it is a good fit for me.

I also know that the economy is bad, so company expectations will not be realistic. Employees, just do your best everyday, and forget the rest.

Guest

I'm with HaveMercy.

I'm betting that the associate called in on her day off. When she got to the studio there was a nasty email from her DM telling her what a horrible associate she was because she made 53 calls instead of 55 calls the last time she worked, and that if it ever happened again she would be fired. Then she had a customer come in to pick-up pictures and yell at you because the other part-time associate didn't do as good a job as you did the last time (even though you told them that you wouldn't be working the day they made the appointment). Then a customer called for the 10th day in the row to ask if her pictures have come in, even though she just took 11 days ago and you tell her every day that she calls that they will not be in the studio until the studio due date. Then she had a customer come in 10 minutes to her mandatory conference call. So she gets the customer's pictures started, but right as she gets it started good she has to ask them to wait just a minute because if she doesn't call and say she has a customer and can't be on the call, or she'll be fired. And so on and so forth. And then after she listened to a 6 month old scream for 20 minutes because her parents didn't feed me before they came in, listened to two grown parents yell at each other because the mother wants to spend $250 and the husband only wants to spend $100, a walk-in customer fuss for 15 minutes because they didn't have the foresight to call and make an appointment and has to wait 15 minutes while you finish up with a customer. She's been spit-up on, thrown-up on, peed on, screamed at, bitched at, threatened, hit, kicked, and bit. She hasn't gotten a drink, had a cigarette, gone to the bathroom, or eaten anything in the 8 hours she's been there. And then you walk in; you made your appointment online and it hasn't transferred into our system yet, and she was about to finally go home or to lunch. (By the way, I've had all that, and more, happen in one day before.)

On the other hand, what of that is your fault. We are harassed, hassled, and bitched at, whether we do our job correctly or not (a manager was fired in my district for having a piece of paper sitting in the tray of the printer). However, thats not something that should be taken out on customers, I try not to do that, but if you're short with me, and talk about just buying the $4.99, and fussing about things that neither of us can do anything about; we're going to go round and round and round.

HaveMercy, that sounds like the start of most of my district's days, but you forgot that you weren't even suppose to work that day, and that its not even your studio that you've been threatened into covering for.

Walmart customer, pictureme and sears portrait studio associates don't work for walmart or sears. we work for CPI. so *** to Walmart or Sears won't get you anywhere. You're making yourself look pretty uneducated.

......., i'm with you. its gotten as bad as having walmart customers stopping me while i'm going to lunch, or shopping after work, and asking me where something is or to do something for them. what makes me even more mad is when they get upset when i tell them i don't work for walmart; like they want me to answer them or help them anyway. bunch of idiots!

well i think i've fussed long enough.

Guest

:x

After reading all of your reports on how the employees are treated, I have canceled my appointment with Picture Me and plan to go to Target, which I have heard recommended by numerous people! I will not reward a company for poor treatment of their employees by giving them my hard-earned money, nor will I risk my daughter's one year photos being ***. :grin

Guest

Havemercy, you hit the nail on the head! I have been working there since October 09 and I'm already to the point it took you 3 years to get.

I wish I could have worked for them when PCA owned them. For now, I will do the best photography I can until I can afford to go solo, because for now, it barely pays the bills and I surely do not want to go back to working for Choice Hotels.

Guest

Your not going to get anywhere by calling Wal-Mart...just letting you know. The studio is not owned by Wal*Mart, and I wish people would understand that! It drives me crazy when people mistake that...I DO NOT work for walmart, I work for CPI.

Guest

Wow, I really love the spelling capability of "crystal". Was she the one that was the "harbinger of joy" for the "pissed consumer"??

Just because you work at Walmart DOES NOT mean you can be rude and unprofessional. Grow up or get out of your job!!!

Oh yes, do the rest of the world a favor - get an EDUCATION! You just portayed yourself as an uneducated nincompoop.

Guest

Ok who really cares how a lot of you people feel about walmats portrit stuido. Alot of people that do go thire are kid and did not make an appontment so why go un and lie about.

That is really baby fide so grow up. Stop your crying and get over it.

HaveMercy

It sounds like that girl started her morning with the usual nasty-gram, (e-mail) followed by the early morning "You're job is in jeopardy" voice mail, with the direct call *** chewing chaser. Throw in a demon spawn who wouldn't sit, and a picky parent who won't give up, then add a snotty YOU....and you have the "Typical" day of an employee with Picture Me.

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