Anonymous
map-marker Seattle, Washington

Bad bad bad Pictage!!!

I have been a member of Pictage for almost a decade…fast forward to having this company totally drop us as photographers in the busy seasons…last xmas no ftp and this summer all my stuff is locked and I cannot access my events or my accounting or anything and they don't answer phones, I have clients needing to place orders and I am having to find a new company to trust while they are waiting….all my events this year are lost not to mention the ones I had up there to re release for clients whenever they needed. I am at a loss of how to do this…LOSING lots of money re: this and looking bad too…bad bad pictage!!!!!!!!! MAD and want to join class action lawsuit!
View full review
Anonymous
map-marker Orlando, Florida

Poor Customer Service and Apparent Thieves

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
My son graduated from Full Sail University on August 7th and we were informed that pictures could be purchased from the pictage website. I received an email, clicked on the link, and viewed the pictures. The photographer did a wonderful job and took professional and candid shots. I immediately placed an order and paid the additional $15.95 for 2 day shipping. It has now been 8 days and no pictures. On top of that, 2 business days after they took the money from my credit card, the website shut down for "scheduled maintenance" and has been down since that day. The help desk number has a message that they no longer offer phone support; email address comes back as an invalid email address; and you can no longer view ANY pictures from their website. Every day, the "scheduled maintenance" date is moved out. I plan to launch a complaint with the BBB and somebody is going to refund EVERY DIME of my money!!!!
View full review
Loss:
$84
Cons:
  • Service and quality
  • Customer service
Reason of review:
Poor customer service, problem with delivery, order processing issue

Preferred solution: Full refund

2 comments
Guest

Having same trouble, with some very upset clients!

Guest

Call your credit card company at once and cancel the charge. If it has already been done the ask for them to dispute the charge on the grounds they have not delivered the merchandise.

View more comments (1)
Anonymous
map-marker Havre, Montana

Other Product Review

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
10 years at a customer & I've lost so much business because their lack of customer service & continually having extended down time... Yet they have still been charging the same monthly fee. They are paying late as well.... Nobody cares, and nobody resolves issues
View full review
Reason of review:
Problems with payment
Anonymous

BEWARE - Customer Service Is Non-Existent

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
I tried to contact customer service immediately after ordering a 11x13 photo to add some instructions for the photo (to eliminate darkness around eyes) as no opportunity to do this was given during the ordering process. They no longer have customer service by phone even though they publish a number on everything. I filled out a help request on their site which said I would receive a case number, which I never received. After receiving the photo I went to their redo pictage site and submitted a request with instructions to have the photo redone. I got an error message which said if I got an error message to go to their Help and submit a request thru that avenue. Did as instructed and this time I got a case number and it was stated that someone would be contacting me shortly. NEVER was contacted. In reality, you would have thought they would eliminate darkness (circles) under eyes as standard procedure - my high school graduation picture eliminated them 50 years ago!!! I have found it to be IMPOSSIBLE to get service from this company.
View full review
Cons:
  • Service and quality
Reason of review:
Poor customer service
1 comment
Guest

We too are experiencing issues with them. They sent us a different photo than we ordered and insisted (by e-mail) that we ordered the wrong photo.

We also ordered an album for which they charged us $1,700. We have yet to get the album but they now tell us it takes at least 6 weeks to produce!

So why charge my card when they have yet to even produce the product? Not easy to contact them...when you call the phone number you get a message to use their site and e-mail them.

Anonymous
map-marker Houston, Texas

DO your MATH!!!

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full
I am a photographer that uses Pictage - I was told to raise my prices after inquiring about some some crazy "expenses" Raising my prices won't benefit me much as they will still charge commission on the retail prices, and then I was told to upgrade my package to the PRO for a lower commission. That's a 70% increase in monthly fees for a 8%% reduction in commissions. I will say that my volume is not high enough to justify these expenses, and raising my prices is not an option... Pictage is not that photographer friendly anymore. I was a customer of theirs in 2007 and i loved them, however this go round I'm not happy at all with them. I think their cost are high, commissions are exaggerated especially with the higher monthly fees. Don't forget that right there on their packaging list the customer support is listed and I quote: Customer Support: Plan Starter - email and chat Plan Premium - email and chat plan pro - Priority service.... does this sound totally photographer friendly? Think twice. Do your math and plan carefully to see if they are the right service for you. I will note that my customers are over all happy with their products and that part is true. Simple math: based on one month - Total sales $1000.000 Commissions -- @ 20% (Starter plan) 200.00 15%(premium plan) 150.00 12%(pro plan) 120.00 Monthly plan fees WITH taxes Starter-- 31.39 Starter -- 53.04 Premium -- 107.17 Your cost off the top for the paper (products) 200.00 REAL profit after one month starter -- 568.61 Premium -- 596.96 Pro -- 572.83 Good thing they are month to month plans and there is no contract math equation - 1000.00 is total customer sales minus the commissions (the take that off your retail price) minus the cost of product then subtract the monthly plan fee = real profit
View full review
Pros:
  • Quality of products
Cons:
  • Commissions
  • Pricing
  • Overcharge
Reason of review:
Pricing issue

Preferred solution: educate others and hope that Pictage can fix the issues - there are so many other printing companies they are pricing themselves out of business. I'm finalizing my last event and all future events will be utilized with a competitor.

Anonymous
map-marker Chesapeake, Virginia

Check out reviews here and in Yelp before you do business with PICTAGE

No Surprise !!! wow the more I look around the more horrendous reviews I see about this company- my experience with them is bad as well.. this is the review I posted in YElp! everyone should check yelp for reviews - hard to believe a company can gather soo many bad reviews as Pictage has. this is my review: This company very frequently experience technological break downs - you will not be able to print your pictures on the most important dates for photographers like Christmas or mothers day, their system breaks down at the peak of the season. I had an annual account and was not even able to cancel in November as they never returned the calls or emails until today feb 1 when a gentleman was able to locate my account and refund one month as a courtesy for the breakdown in november that cost me hundreds in business. Not only I was not able to cancel my annual account which expired in November but I was billed 3 addtn months of payments $49 a month for absolutely nothing!! I was warned about these issues but given that as a customer my experience was good I wanted to extend this courtesy to my clients. Big mistake!!! if you need reliable service there are way more affordable and equally or superior products and prices at H&H, smugMugPro, and MillersLab all very reliable and outstanding customer service. There is a reason why this company has sooo many bad bad reviews - be aware and stay away from this company. Not worth trying.
View full review
Reason of review:
Poor customer service
Anonymous

Pictage is not giving me profit for a canvas order.

I had a client purchase a canvas. We never received the profit. I contacted Pictage, and was assured they were taking care of it. That was over 6 weeks ago. I've had to follow up with them numerous times. Each time I they have assured me that "it's a high priority" and "it's being taken care of". Three times they have promised the money would be in my account my a certain day. Still not there. No explanation of what happened, and what exactly there are doing to fix it. No reassurance that it won't happen again. Just empty promises that the money will be in my account ASAP. I'm not holding my breath.
View full review
Loss:
$129
Anonymous
map-marker Wilmington, North Carolina

Body Parts Cut Off of Photos

I ordered a memory book online, using the "design tool". The pictures delivered had several flaws. Body parts and whole people from the group were cut off. The representative told me that they could not redo the photos or offer a refund. He offered a 15% discount, for a $140 memory book that is virtually worthless. Shocked that Pictage would rather have upset customers and photographers, instead of replacing a few photos. I paid dearly for a photograpy shoot and messed up memory book. It was only after I mentioned contacting my attorney, that the representative said he would have a manager contact me.
View full review
Loss:
$125
Anonymous

No album... 4 months after payment

I remain extremely frustrated with the service from Pictage. I ordered (and paid for) an album in November of 2012... hoping it would be on time for Christmas. It didn't show up on its estimated due date of 23 December, and, when I returned from my Christmas holiday, I contacted Pictage. They said that due to some production issues, it hadn't even been produced yet. They told me they would contact me when it was produced. Weeks later, still no word, and I contacted them again. No answer. Eventually, I called, and they claimed they had not received my e-mail. Said they would rush the order and ship to me in Hong Kong. Shipped the album. My husband and I excitedly looked at it, but instead of happiness, I was quickly upset as I realized they had switched some of the pages around. Not a big deal, but they photos extend from one page to another, so it looked weird. Had to ship it BACK to California, and am still waiting a month later without even a word from them. I would NEVER use this service again!!
View full review
Loss:
$1600
cake l
map-marker Boca Raton, Florida

I have unsubscribed numerous times & still getting SPAM

I was given the site to view a friends wedding pictures about 10 months ago. I keep getting SPAM emails from the site trying to sell me their photos. The subject line of the latest email says Free Shipping + The Return of GReat Deals= Cyber madness. The title says __ & ___ engagment session photos. WHY WOULD I WANT TO PURCHASE THEIR PHOTOS? I have clicked unsubscribe so many times and get the " sorry hate to see you go" . To date, I am still getting this junk email which also comes to my phone! Because of this alone, I would NEVER EVER use pictage if this is what they do to people.
View full review
1 comment
Guest

We are very sorry for the problem you are encountering while trying to unsubscribe from our emails. We recently found out there is a problem with the unsubscribe link and the email service provider we use, which could explain why you're still receiving emails from us. We apologize for this, and want to make sure you do get unsubscribed. Please email me at mcaro@***.com with your email address and I will be sure to have you removed from the system.

Sorry again for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Michael Caro

Sr. Director

Customer Care

Pictage, Inc.

zombiebaby J
map-marker Overland Park, Kansas

Pictage HORRIBLE customer service

I don't know if I can accurately express my anger at Pictage. Due to personal reasons I was forced to close my professional account with them on the 10th of August. This was 3 days into my new subscription month. When I canceled the gentleman who assisted me was very helpful and closed my account without hassle, HOWEVER today I find that they charged me my subscription fee of $99 AGAIN. When I called to ask them about it all the rep could tell me was that they charge a month in ADVANCE. Think about this. If they charge a month in ADVANCE, that means that when I paid them $99 on August 6th, that covered the period of time between August 7th - September 6th. That was my understanding when i canceled my account and I did not request a prorated refund of any kind even though I was effectively paying $99 for 3 days of a billing cycle and an account that I could no longer access or use for the remainder of that billing cycle. So for the rep to tell me they charged me $99 on September 6th because they charge a month in ADVANCE is insane! If what they charged me yesterday is truly because I canceled my account in the middle of a billing cycle it would mean they charge at the END of each month, not the beginning! And if that is the case why the *** wasn't I told that when I canceled? His response was simply that it is clearly stated in their terms and conditions (because I read those every day in my 4 years of membership, right). "It's our policy. We don't give refunds and we don't prorate. It's clearly stated in our terms." ***. They have caused me to overdraw on an account I no longer use or keep money in so now I have to pay fees ON TOP of the subscription fee for a service I DON'T HAVE!! I am going to raise *** about this until someone listens.
View full review
Loss:
$99
3 comments
Guest

so sorry that you are dealing with this... but I am glad that I found your review!

basically that "free month" they claim is bogus too!

I got my first month and I am SHOCKED with all the fees and stuff its sad

Guest

I just received a phone call from a very nice gentleman in customer service and I believe that the issue has been resolved. He was very courteous and helpful and I appreciated him giving me a call.

I wish things could have been taken care of during my initial contact.

Despite my experiences earlier today my faith in Pictage has been renewed. I can only hope that in the future the reps working the phones both better inform customers of policies during times of account changes as well as exercise circumstantial judgement in a more effective manner.

Guest

Please contact me directly about this. We don't charge on the 6th of the month, so I'm not sure what charge you were seeing on September 6. I will be glad to help you resolve this issue if you contact me with some more information, like your studio name and/or account number.

You can reach me at mcaro@***.com or directly at 310-525-****.

Sorry for the trouble and I look forward to helping you.

Sincerely,

Michael Caro

Sr. Director

Customer Care

Pictage, Inc.

View more comments (2)
Anonymous
map-marker Shallotte, North Carolina

The Worst Customer Service and Product!

Our son's photographer selected Pictage to post and sell their wedding photos. The website is difficult to use and it seems ridiculous to me to have pay them $10.99 for a picture thatI have to crop and take out the red eyes. I reviewed 682 photos and selected those I thought I would like to frame. I received the pictures today and was extremely dissatisfied with the product. One picture was completely out of focus and our son's head was cropped off, another one had their skin tone orange and another one showed the subjects looking somewhat dull in color but their lower half of their bodies were blacked out. I called Pictage to speak to a customer service representative. I was told that it was my problem regarding the blurry picture and their was nothing they could do but try to put my son's head back on. He said I should have known the picture was going to be blurry when it was enlarged. The skin tone picture; I was told they would try to redo it but I should not have relied on my computer monitor to accurately depict what the picture would look like when printed. "All computer monitors have different color accuracy in fact my two screens I am looking at have completely different colors." said my customer service representative. I was told that a "professional" had carefully altered the pictures for correct color and cropping. The pictures don't look anything like they do on the small sample we are provided. I became increasing frustrated with the representative who felt it was better to blame me for my poor selection of pictures then to accept any responsiblity for the end product. The last piece was the best, I was told that my file would contain my "tape", I asked him if our conversation had been taped without my knowledge and he said"It might have been, I don't know" Honestly I don't care if the conversation was taped or not, I am so angry over the poor pictures, the waste of money and most of all the worst customer service I have ever received!! Stay away!!!
View full review
4 comments
Guest

I agree with the earlier comment. The problem is your photographer not the printing company. The photographer took blurry pictures and chooses the coat they want to see their photos at.

Guest

I agree with the earlier comment. The problem is your photographer not the printing company. The photographer took blurry pictures and chooses the coat they want to see their photos at.

Guest

The issues mentioned above are issues with your photographer, not with Pictage! The photographers set their own pricing, do their own editing, etc.

You have the option as a consumer to chose your crop when you order and it looks exactly like it does when you add it to your cart! People just don't have much a of a clue anymore as to how it work and would rather just complain, but these issues as well explained by John above have nothing to do with Pictage as a company.

Guest

As the owner of a photo lab and digital imaging center for 17 years, I have to come to the defense of Pictage and the explanations the customer service representative gave this customer. Too often, customers will choose a photo to enlarge from something they see on the back of the screen of their digital camera or from a small (4x6) print.

Once enlarged, the imperfections surface such as focus, or out of, in this case. And, their is nothing the photo printer CAN do so customers should accept that. Another issue that digital photography brought on is, what YOU see (or your photographer) if you do not have a calibrated computer monitor is not what you may get returned. This was one of the most common complaints I got.

Customers using a laptop computer to view their photos, which are very vivid and than complaining when they come out something less than what they saw. As for the head being cut off, depending on how the photo was shot/cropped, the aspect ration may have caused this issue. However, it probably should have been noticed in printing if it could have been re-printed with the head in.

I don't think that this customer service rep was trying to blame the customer for a poor selection of pictures as much as trying to explain the headaches that digital photography caused the photofinisher that the consumer does not understand. These are issues we mostly did not have to deal with when it was a world of film.

View more comments (3)
Anonymous
map-marker Evansville, Indiana

Pictage Complaint

I am currently with Pictage and well I am saying good ridance! When I first started out, Pictage worked great. Then as I have grown, they are more of a nuisance and the problems I have keep persisting. The upload time can take literally days....then waiting for the event to be approved is a nightmare too. I have had complaints from clients about all the spam they receive. Also, my clients have problems logging in on occasion and when I call to get help they do not seem to really care. My last straw with them happened just a few days ago. I placed an order for a client that lives in Houston, Texas (me Indiana) that needed it quickly. From past experience I chose Overnight shipping and from that it took well over a week. I ended up having to submit the order to her local Sam's Club. I mean REALLY?!?!?! When I contacted Pictage again about this, they said they would reprint and send it overnight. They were already WAY too late as I had already resolved the issue. I am done with them...and they will not take anymore commission. PERIOD!
View full review
1 comment
Guest

I have far too many complaints mounting against Pictage to post. All I can say is, extremely bad customer service- in fact nasty-, Poor printing quality, no communication, long lag time, lost orders, spamming, high commissions.

I have had them for 2 years. I had to fire them.

Last week, After waiting 2 months for a print order, I am still missing 20 out of 70 photos. They're killing me!

jeffjlin L
map-marker Newark, New Jersey

Pictage keeps spamming our wedding guests.

We made the mistake of allowing our wedding photographer to use Pictage. Sharing wedding photos with guests? Sounds good! OOOPS! We now find ourselves in the position of constantly apologizing to our guests when we run into them, even a YEAR later, for almost-daily spam emails with our faces on it, badgering them to order more more more more photos. Worse, the emails they use have our names and faces on them, as if somehow we are asking our guests to buy photos. All it does is make us look bad. I hate Pictage, and rue the day we gave them a single email address. Never again.
View full review
5 comments
Guest

Clicking Unsubscribe doesn't work

Guest

Dear Tom,I'm sorry you're having trouble unsubscribing from our emails. You can email me at mcaro@***.com with your email address and I'll make sure you are removed from the system.Sincerely,Michael CaroSr. Director, Customer CarePictage, Inc.

Guest

Clicking unsubscribe did NOT stop the messages from Pictage. I get just as many if not more now. Don't believe what they say.

Guest

Thanks for the prompt response, Michael, it is much appreciated.

-j.

Guest

Dear Jeff,

Sorry for the any inconvenience on this for you, your bride, and your guests. The event was re-released for the holiday season as we do for all the events from your photographer.

Anyone can remove themselves from the email marketing by simply clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send, but I can understand the issue as I see there were a lot of guests at your wedding.

I have gone ahead and expired your event and have removed it from any further marketing for the holiday season. Should you or any guest get another email please send it my way, mcaro@***.com, so I can investigate further.

Sincerely,

Michael Caro

Sr. Director, Customer Care

Pictage, Inc.

View more comments (4)
grosvenor
map-marker Butner, North Carolina

Poor customer service

Website was very user un-friendly. Got tired of having to repeatedly contact them about inability to make changes. Cover of Wedding photo book showed photo of legs only! Couldn't update or get crop changes to save. Customer assistance just told me it was my problem. Asked for my money back as they couldn't produce acceptable product, was told no dice. Professionals like this who use internet service should be more customer friendly and honor their commitment to quality...especially given the cost of the photo book product. Paying for their design was a waste of money if they can't produce the book. Rip off.
View full review
Loss:
$29
1 comment
Guest

Grosvenor; I would be more than happy to assist you with this if you care to contact me regarding this. I can assist you with the cropping issue and would be more than happy to assist you in getting this order placed if you would still like to place one. Please contact me at mward@***.com

Ricki C
map-marker Chattanooga, Tennessee

Pictage is not a consumer lab

I am a pro photographer. I use Pictage for a few things as well as several other pro labs depending on the current need. Pictage is a good lab and they get better every year. As stated by others here, the photographer sets the price you pay for a print... Not Pictage. Pictage is expensive. Very. But not out of line with any other quality professional lab that I use. Any serious pro lab that produces quality results is indeed expensive compared to a normal consumer labs and even some low quality pro labs. Consumers are accustomed to paying 15cents for a 4x6 print from there local discount store. This is similar to comparing the price of a pound of raw ground beef from walmart to a fine steak prepared for you at your favorite higher quality restaurant. Or buying a quart of oil and comparing the cost of it to having your oil changed at your car dealership's facility. Your photographer is likely charging you in part for their artistry, and time in the edit process, cost of doing business, etc., not the piece of paper your print was printed on. Professional photographers need labs that use quality printers that are perfectly and frequently calibrated to produce consistent color matching results. Pictage has skilled lab technicians that personally view EACH image and custom adjust the color and several other values of the image (according the photographers chosen print settings). There is a cost associated with this. To address some quality comments I ran across here.. If your print is washed out, blurry, yucky.. your photographer may have missed the mark or failed to cull an inferior image that looked normal on screen etc. This is not to say Pictage has never put out a washed out print that started from a nice file. They have sent me a couple that I wasn't over thrilled with but I simply requested a reprint. Which they provided quickly without any grief. I have not had to do even this in a very long time. Keep in mind, Pictage is actually servicing the clients of demanding professional photographers (they are not a direct consumer lab). This distinction is important to understand. The photographer uses Pictage to service their clients and print their professional copyrighted images. The photographer is likely paying a couple of dollars for that 4x6 plus possibly monthly membership fees on top of the before mentioned expenses they must consider. Photographers must mark up the cost of that (already rather expensive) print accordingly. Expensive is a relative term. It is only expensive when compared to a point and shoot walmart print. It is actually amazing that you can get so much professional service and custom attention for a couple of bucks.. not to mention an actual print for often less than $20. Also a side note on the cropping problems mentioned by a couple of people. As I understand it, Pictage (at this time) no longer allows consumer cropping mistakes to go out as ordered. They will correct the incorrect cropping choices made by consumers by including a free print which will accommodate the print size you ordered without cropping off heads, feet etc. (This is a frequent problem when ordering 5x7s, 8x10s, 11x14's etc.) These sizes must be cropped and if the important areas of the image are too close to the crop edges they will be lost.
View full review

Why Trust Reviews on PissedConsumer?

  • Professional auto and live moderation
  • 100% user-generated content
  • Equal opportunity and protection
  • Zero tolerance for fake reviews
  • Verified content
  • PissedConsumer is on the Inc. 5000 list

For more information read Blog article