Advice Regarding School Photos - Being Harrassed for Payment

Ugh...Lifetouch. They are the worst! This happened to my niece. Finally, they called their corporate office and explained...they also told them they better stop harassing them. You might try it. Sorry they are being a pain.

I hate that! I did not even want spring photos taken, and they took them anyhow and sent them home. It was annoying. I would think about contacting corporate to complain about the local branch of the company if they keep at it.

Spring photos...what a scam! I refuse to allow my children's pictures taken for spring photos. Once a year is enough! Geez!

**UPDATE**
SH: With all due respect, of course you have the option to opt out! You are the parent. I wrote in mega sized letters across the order form that permission was not granted for my child's photo to be taken and sent it back to school.

I agree. Write a formal letter to the school and to lifetouch. If that doesn't work, call corporate. I think this is part of the problem with them sending you a package and then expecting you to buy what they choose vs your own package. We stopped buying them because I found it irritating that they gave us a collection we did not want and didn't meet our needs. It's not my problem if they wasted their money.

I would also find out how to opt out of this in the future. They generally use these photos for the yearbook, so even if I never bought a package, my stepkids got their pictures taken for that. But it was only once.

I think taking fall AND spring photos is a hassle and completely unnecessary. Right up there with 50 fundraisers. I'd tell the school what I thought about that, too.

Ive got real mixed feelings on school photos. On one hand, I think its a shame so many of you dont want your kids photo taken, and then so many send them back because they arent good enough. I think its a special rite of passage later in life to look back and see all the goofy photos we have from each grade in school. The funny hair all messy from recess, the finger paint on our shirts and chin, the chocolate pudding on our faces from lunch, and the glasses sitting crooked on our noses. What? You mean Im the only one? HA. I wouldnt trade those pictures of my kids for anything. It is the marker of life for that age and its great to see them later. I dont expect them to be perfect portraits. Yes the cost is too high, and they send the whole 2618 photo pack home in hopes you will just melt over little Suzies koolaid stained face and pay for them all. Knowing they get shredded if sent back hurts my feelings! Most any portrait shop does this same thing. Walmart, Pennys, do this same thing. You get the sitting done, with maybe 12 shots taken, and when you go to pick them up, they have 11x13s and 8x10s and 3x5s and wallets already printed out of each pose, so you can buy now and not have to wait. But, in reality its not for your convienence, its their marketing ploy to make you spend more money out of guilt! And we do, so they keep doing it, and they make money. I know I tried to send back partial packs of school pics and only pay the smallest fee for a couple sheets, but it hurt my daughters feeling one time and I felt bad for making her think she didnt look good enough. She was very cute with her toothless grin that year but gosh I just didnt need all of them. And they take them spring and fall because they think we want to see the change in the kids from beginning to end of the school year. Yep, we see the difference, and some of us want the pictures to remember them by. And, all the snap shots and attempts at great poses and back drops at home will never be the same as that sponge painted wrinkled blue or grey canvas they hang up behind our kids for school pictures.

Lifetouch always does that. I've been dealing with them for 8 years.
Fall photos only come home if you pre-order. Spring photos come home as pay/send back.

This year I taped the package shut, sent it back, and wrote a note in my kid's class notebook so the teacher would notice. Then I had to threaten severe punishment if my kid passed any photos out instead of returning them.

I would go to the school and make them check. Our school has a stack of them in the office. Just last week a kid brought their in (a month overdue) and the secretary said 'just put them with the others'...

I've always wondered what they do with all of the returned photos...

I think they do the Spring packets like that hoping that once you see them, you will buy them since they are already printed. I hate that.

Did they have to be turned in by a certain date and maybe got returned late? Could your daughter have misplaced them? Do you know for a fact that your daughter turned them back in? If so, go to the teacher (assuming that is who she turned them in to) and ask what happened to them.

Then go from there...write a letter to the company stating that although you did review the pictures they sent, you did not order them nor did you keep them. Specify that you returned the unsolicited packet back to school on such and such date and they were turned in to Mrs. So and So. Tell them that if the school did not return them to their company than they need to contact the school to retrieve them or for payment.

I'm wondering how Lifetouch got your numbers. That's the scary part to me.

I had that happen years ago. The school kept telling me I kept one of my girls photo packets. I was not about to pay $36 for a packet of photos I did not want. I had to fight the school on it actually to get them to really search for them. They found then a week before the end of school. The following year, I sent a note to school when they told us about the photo shoot and then again the day before so the teacher knew I did not want my kids taking the pictures.

Ah the unsolicited photos. They are usually horrible anyway, way overpriced and I've often wondered what happens if they are lost. Bug's right, call their coporate office. In the future ask that your child be excluded from picture day. Either read tips online or have a friend who's good with the camera take "school pictures" for you. Also, check with your school to see if they have a parent rep. At our school this position is coveted because you get free photos. They should be able to help you atleast with company info, and possibly with this situation. Does anyone know this? I thought if something was unsolicited you don't owe for them anyway. They may get around this because they do notify you on a school calendar somewhere that it's picture day.......

First of all do you have any proof that you returned them to the school? If so have the school notify Lifetouch that they lost the pictures. Also I would send them a letter stating that you returned the pictures to the school and you have no idea what happened from that point. Tell them to call the school and to stop calling you about pictures that you no longer have or ever wanted. If they do this again next year, don't even take the pictures from the school and have the clerk give you a letter stating that you did not take the spring pictures and will not be ordering any of them. That way you will be double covered.

They did the same to me. I just called them and was told "dont worry about it" and "a bunch of letters were sent out in error". If that doesnt help, i would definitely call the school.

Good Luck!

Call and ask for a supervisor, tell them to fix the error on their part immediately or you will contact your state consumer affairs and file a formal complaint of their company practices. good luck.

I have nightmares about this. I didn't care for my daughter's photos, but bought them anyway because by the time I picked her up from daycare, she had already cut the photos apart! Ugh! $47 later, we have a stack of pictures I don't like! I would go to the school office and make them deal with it right then and there. Get the principal involved, whatever you have to do. I wouldn't deal with Lifetouch directly.

You need to deal with the school first and remind them that you indeed returned the packet to them. They should be the ones handling the situation with LifeTouch.

In the future, if you don't want the pictures don't even take them off of the premises (not trying to say this in a way that blames you at all :) ). Just look at them and hand 'em back over to your kid's teacher or to the school.

Is the school acknowledging that they lost them? If so, I would ask them to pay Lifetouch. Our schools do the same thing (spring photos). One of the teachers actually told me that it is a huge money maker for the schools because the pictures are sent home toward the end of the school year when parents are busy. Many forget to return the unwanted pictures by the due date, therefore they have to purchase them. She also said they count on the fact that many parents don't have the heart to tell their children that they don't want their pictures so they end up buying them. I don't really have a solution for this year but next year you can request that your child not be photographed.

Ugh...so glad this year they put a note saying photo's were going to be taken but if you did not preorder the spring photos this year, then you would not see the photos.

I would go to the teacher/school office and tell them your story. Then tell them you are being harassed. Maybe they have a salesperson they know well enough to contact and can help you out with the situation.

I would suggest that you send a letter one more time (certified mail, so no one say they didn't get it) to both the school and ILifetouch and state that you did not solicit the pictures and are not responsible and if you want to at the same time, let them know that you will contact the BBB (Better Business Bureau) as I am certain this company does not want complaints. They are very popular with a lot of schools.