Photos okay - disappointed in the service
After having read all of the glowing reviews of Ken Jones’ talent and services, I was quite surprised & disappointed with my experience. I was looking to get some new headshots, and found Ken’s work on his site to be just what I had in mind. I bought my appointment through Lifebooker, & was excited to get to work with Ken, after having read all of his online reviews. The package was supposed to have had included a two-hour shoot, 30-enhanced shots, as well as the customary online photo-gallery, which many photographers offer as part of their services. I also opted to use my own stylist, whom I had worked with before
From the start , when I called to book the appointment, he was rather curt and dismissive, but I took it in stride, and told myself that he was probably on the run, or busy with a client, so I let it slide.
This behavior, however, basically continued throughout my shoot (though he & his staff eventually warmed up a precious little in the end).
In addition, my shoot, instead of being the full two-hours that the Lifebooker package had stipulated, was only an hour & a half. His directional style was a little rigid, & I am used to working with Photographers who work & speak with their models the way that directors speak with their actors, so I felt very stifled and uncomfortable, which showed in the final results. This may just be his directorial style, and if that works for you, then it works for you.
At the end of the shoot, he never specified how long it would take, nor did he mention the post-session process, so I figured he'd contact me soon. After a week of not hearing from him, I sent an email following up on the shoot. Nothing. A few days later I called the studio, and was given the run-around by one of the studio-employees. After I called a second time, she said that Ken would get back to me later in the day.
Late that evening, I received an email from Ken with a link to my online photo-gallery, and informing me that if I wanted any retouching or enhancements, that each shot would be $25. I emailed him back, asking him about the 30 enhanced images that were supposed to be included in the package, what those enhancements entailed, and if he needed anything more from me. That was over a week ago, and I've not heard back from him.
In addition, the shots were just okay. Without a doubt, he knows what he is doing with color and light, but the shots of me as an actor were flat. Also, it was clear in most of the shots how uncomfortable I was.
I don’t know if I caught Ken at a bad time, or if he was upset that I did not want to use his stylist, but I was absolutely turned off by my experience at Fulton Studios. Had the service been comparable to the service I have received from other photographers in the past, it would have been fine, but I was very disappointed and insulted by the way I was treated. Needless to say, I found someone else to retouch my photos, and, though they could have a little more life in them, they do look better than when I had downloaded them from Ken Jones‘ site.
I hope this gives you, the readers out there a bit of a broader perspective of the array of possible experiences that you may have with Fulton Studios. Perhaps Ken will take a better liking to you than he did me, but the bottom line is if you are running a place of business, customer service is key, and you will not profit from picking and choosing who you treat well, and whom you treat dismissively.
Business Response
Elly,
I am sorry you seemed to have a bad experience at the studio, my normal clients are commercial clients not walk ins.
I do mostly editorial work and ad's. So yes customer service was more than likely lacking with 600 deal purchased from us. we normally have about 30 - 50 major clients a year, not a bulk style glamour service like we had last year with the deal. - we have since made changes to deal with that type of client.
but getting back to your issues; I am personally sorry you feel you where not treated well. Your 30 Enhanced where included in your web gallery already there was no extra charge for those. They where either marked with a red dot or had the word _edit next to the file-name.
Retouching is the next level and since you shot with other photographers before as you stated you know that images need that next step and it take time and skill to create that image to that level. Yes Shooting is part of it and I guess I am too used to working with commercial clients who understand that you pick the best and have it retouched. its impossible to retouch 250 pictures with my style. it takes me an average of 2-4 hour to retouch one image properly without it looking retouched. this is why we offer the $25 discount to people who wanted to go that route., I normally charge $75 per hour! and I am worth every penny of it. so you misunderstood the process in almost every step, mainly because we never really explained it to you. If I was really as bad as you say. I would have at least 1/4 of the 600 coupon buyers writing similar reviews to yours and yes there have been misunderstandings. but we were very very overwhelmed last year and I actually never got a day off that whole year making sure everyone got shot. so I am sorry it seemed I was ignoring your emails but I really was swamped and stressed. We now have a customer service staff in house as well as extra photographers who help with shoots. So issue like you had will not be repeated. My services is still mainly commercial but we expanded to offer more head-shots and other retail services.
Your pictures may have looked flat. I shoot very clean in my own style to enhance with retouching so it would look better if you took the next step, let me know if you want to make the best of your images.
Thanks for using my service - I hope you consider the retouch, it will change your view.
Owner replied on July 25, 2012