Tried to pull a fast one...

Had a young Mom call and book me for a portrait session, so we went outdoors last weekend. When she booked me she said she was bringing her brother along with her and her 2 yr. old son...so...I presumed I'd be shooting a group of three, but she did say he'd want some shots by himself.

When they showed up on location, they tell me he was a Senior in high school and wanted a few shots taken...my first thought was, wt#! So I took a few, literally a few and finished the photos of the Mom and her young son.

What they were trying to do was combine the photos of the Senior with the 10 sheet package the younger Mom was purchasing. So, when the Senior's Mom (the grandmother) contacted me tonight I was upfront with her about this and told her I never allow Family & Senior sessions to combine...her response was "that was the whole reason for booking the session"....but I had to tell her that her daughter misled me when she booked and never indicated he wanted "Senior" type photos taken. She just told me to forget his photos and that she'd have someone else take them...I told her that I wanted to be honest about it and that it was her prerogative to go elsewhere.

Good job. Fools better recognize

I don't get it.

You were already on location and blew off a paying client that you could have taken photos of they would have bought?
Does it cost you more to put photos of the senior in the package they already bought or were going to buy? If the kid was a junior would that have been ok to shoot him or what if he was 23 years old?

Just trying to understand the point in blowing off a paying client like this.

glumpy wrote in post #15211864
I don't get it.

You were already on location and blew off a paying client that you could have taken photos of they would have bought?
Does it cost you more to put photos of the senior in the package they already bought or were going to buy? If the kid was a junior would that have been ok to shoot him or what if he was 23 years old?

Just trying to understand the point in blowing off a paying client like this.

Client basically wanted a 2 for 1 and tried to do so by playing stupid. Better to "lose" a client like this than let them think they beat you/scammed you.

glumpy wrote in post #15211864
I don't get it.

You were already on location and blew off a paying client that you could have taken photos of they would have bought?
Does it cost you more to put photos of the senior in the package they already bought or were going to buy? If the kid was a junior would that have been ok to shoot him or what if he was 23 years old?

Just trying to understand the point in blowing off a paying client like this.

I agree....if you were booked for a session then why not take the photos the customer wants for that session during the allotted time? What difference does it make if you take family photos or an individuals photos.....why not a little of both if that's what the client wants?

Tony_Stark wrote in post #15211965
Client basically wanted a 2 for 1 and tried to do so by playing stupid. Better to "lose" a client like this than let them think they beat you/scammed you.

How would this be a "two for one"? If you're booked for a one hour session, what difference would it make in how the family wanted the photos taken? How do you explain to the family that you'll take pictures only as long as everyone is in them but you won't photograph anyone individually? For almost every family session I do, the parents want at least a few individual photos of the kids.

You could have added his photos in a bonus package and charged a little more maybe. After explaining to her that you thought it would be just her and her daughter you'd be shooting.

Can someone please explain what a senior is, I have seen plenty of senior images here and they are invariably of people who are obviously very junior, my guess would be less that 20 years old. Is is it some sort important point in a young persons life that requires a photographic record. (Please excuse my ignorance, I'm from the bottom of the world.) Also what is the distinction between a family portrait session and a senior session. It seems to me that if a portrait session is booked and the client turns up with some subjects and wants them photographed in different combinations and singly, then surely that is what a photo session is or am I missing something?

A Senior refers to a teenager in his/her last year of High School here. Graduating High School is a pretty big event for any teenager here.

Thanks, what age is that, how many years at school.

17 and 18. It varies.

I dont see why it would matter, you only cost yourself money and possible future sessions with this customer. And senior sales tend to be higher than kid sales at least for me, so you may have cost yourself a bigger sale than what you will get with just the kid.

In the past I use to have different pricing for seniors and family then I just thought why? Then I just made standard packages for everyone. They customize what wallets/5x7's/8x10's they get and if they don't want a wall portrait that is in a bigger package they can replace it with more prints or what have you.

Do you mind if we ask what the portrait package consists of that you presold them?

I like others am a bit lost. With todays market being as tight as it is. If I was out and someone was paying me for my time already I am snapping the photos they want!
The area I am in is saturated and many have had to retool thier market/business plan just to survive. I have learned that although the customer is not always right, they are always right in as much as they have money that pays my bills.

DD974 wrote in post #15211805
Had a young Mom call and book me for a portrait session, so we went outdoors last weekend. When she booked me she said she was bringing her brother along with her and her 2 yr. old son...so...I presumed I'd be shooting a group of three, but she did say he'd want some shots by himself.

When they showed up on location, they tell me he was a Senior in high school and wanted a few shots taken...my first thought was, wt#! So I took a few, literally a few and finished the photos of the Mom and her young son.

What they were trying to do was combine the photos of the Senior with the 10 sheet package the younger Mom was purchasing. So, when the Senior's Mom (the grandmother) contacted me tonight I was upfront with her about this and told her I never allow Family & Senior sessions to combine...her response was "that was the whole reason for booking the session"....but I had to tell her that her daughter misled me when she booked and never indicated he wanted "Senior" type photos taken. She just told me to forget his photos and that she'd have someone else take them...I told her that I wanted to be honest about it and that it was her prerogative to go elsewhere.

...just looking at your packages and I'm confused as well.

http://www.propointmed​ia.com/portrait_collec​tions.html

How does this not fit into your family package?

RAW RAW RAW wrote in post #15212092
Thanks, what age is that, how many years at school.

Senior - in High School. Here we have 4 years of High School:

Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior

So that is why they are Senior pictures.