Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

good spot sccobs xx

[Budgie]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

Found these on their website

A) ABOUT YOUR BOOKING

(i)

Each experience is subject to a booking fee, taken at the time of booking for administration purposes. This will be between £1 and £25 according to date and availability (with the exception of online booking fees).
(ii) All appointments are for individuals and subject to availability. Please note that this experience is not suitable for group bookings (more than 2 people) (iii) All our experiences are for over 18s. Strictly no under 18s.
(iv) You are required to bring your passport or driving license with you as identification (regardless of your age).

(v)

If you arrive more than 20 minutes after your ‘arrival time’ (see booking confirmation for details), your appointment can no longer be guaranteed. In such cases, we reserve the right to offer either a shortened make-up session or to cancel the appointment altogether. A no show charge would apply in the event of cancellation.
B) NO SHOW CHARGES (i) If for any reason you fail to attend your appointment, a no show charge of £125 per appointment will apply. This charge will be applied to the card used for the original booking fee.*

(ii)

No show charges are applicable if you do not attend your appointment at your allocated appointment time, or you do not complete the full ‘experience’ (including makeup/photography and viewing sessions) on the day of your appointment. These charges are taken in order to contribute towards the cost of the professional staff reserved for your appointment.
C) AMENDING APPOINTMENTS (a) Changing appointments

(i)

You will receive confirmation of your appointment by e-mail. An Experience Pack will also be sent in the post - this will act as the booking confirmation in the event that you have no e-mail address.
(ii) If you need to change your appointment, please call the Experience Management Team immediately on 0845 863 8342 or email bookingcontrol@doubletake-uk.com.

(iii)

Appointments can be changed free of charge within 7 days of receiving confirmation of your initial booking.
(iv) After 7 days of receiving confirmation of your initial booking, changes are subject to a £10 per appointment administration fee* unless section C.a)(iii) is applicable.
(v) If your appointment is wihtin the next 7 days, changes are subject to a £125 per appointment administration fee* unless section C.a)(iii) is applicable.
(b) Cancelling appointments

(i)

If you need to cancel your appointment, please call the Experience Management Team immediately on 0845 863 8342 or email bookingcontrol@doubletake-uk.com.
(ii) The booking fee paid at the time of booking is non-refundable in the event of cancellation.
(iii) Appointments can be cancelled without any further charge within 7 days of receiving confirmation of your initial booking.
(iv) After 7 days of receiving confirmation of your initial booking, cancellations are subject to an administration fee* of £50 per appointment (unless section C.b)(iii) is applicable).
(v) If your appointment is within the next 7 days, cancellations are subject to an administration fee* of £125 per appointment. (c) Registering appointments (i) All appointments must be registered. Registration forms are sent out with e-mail confirmation and are also included in the Experience Packs. A registration form must be completed and returned prior to the appointment date. DTS reserves the right to amend, vary or cancel unregistered appointments. Unregistered appointments are still subject to these full Terms and conditions.
*Any administration fees paid (except the original booking fee) can be used towards the purchase of any prints or images at your viewing session on the day of your appointment i.e. if you re-book an unattended appointment, you can use your no show fees towards prints or images at your viewing session.


D) DOUBLE MONEY VOUCHERS (i) A Double Money Voucher (DMV) purchased prior to your appointment entitles you to a discount off your photographic order of twice the value of your DMV.
(ii) DMVs can be used towards the purchase of any “Elite Range” photographic package or any individual items from the Doubletake Studios (DTS) Standard price list.
(iii) DMVs cannot be used towards any other special offers run by DTS from time to time.
(iv) Within 7 days of the date of purchase and on receipt of a written request, DTS will refund the full price paid for a DMV.
E) EXPERIENCE VOUCHERS (i) Experience vouchers may be used to book an experience at any time within 6 months of the date of purchase, but the booking itself must be done within 3 months of purchase. .
(ii) Within 7 days of receiving confirmation and on receipt of a written request, DTS will refund the full price paid for an experience voucher. The cancelled voucher must be returned to 19 Bakers Row, London, EC1R 3DG.
(iii) Promotional experiences (defined as any experience that is either complimentary or purchased at a discounted rate to the RRP published online) are valid for new clients only. Unless explicity stated otherwise, clients that have had an appointment in the previous 18 months are considered “existing” and are therefore not entitled to promotional experiences.
(iv) Experience Vouchers cannot be redeemed for cash in part or whole.
(v) Experience Vouchers cannot be replaced if lost or stolen.
F) THE VIEWING SESSION (i) There is no obligation to purchase images, prints or products from your photoshoot experience.
(ii) In order to complete the viewing session (as per B. (ii)above), you are required to: - Either Place an order for at least one print or image from your photoshoot
- Or sign a declaration agreeing that you understand that the images from your photoshoot will be deleted from the DTS server and that you will have no further opportunity to purchase them.
- If you do not complete the viewing session, a no show charge will apply as per B.(ii) above.
(iii) Discounts and special offers provided on the day of your photoshoot will not apply to subsequent orders.
(iv) Occasionally, clients may be offered Package Discount Vouchers. These can only be used towards packages from the Elite range (please see Doubletake Studios, makeover and photoshoot specialists in UK - Doubletake Prices and Special Offers for details) and will be deducted from the total package price before any registration discounts due are applied.
(v) All orders are posted individually and are subject to a minimum handling fee of £7. This fee applies to all orders including any complimentary prints. (vi) If for any reason other than circumstances beyond our control (e.g. Royal Mail strike action), the first attempt to deliver your order is made after the scheduled delivery date listed on your order form, then you will be entitled to:

1. A refund of any ‘express delivery’ charges paid
2. Order an additional 8” x 6” print free of charge

(vii) Photographic images remain the copyright of DTS and must not be reproduced in any form without DTS' written permission. (viii) All prices are in British pounds sterling inclusive of VAT unless stated otherwise. G) GENERAL (i) By booking an appointment with DTS you are subject to these full Terms & Conditions. If your experience was purchased through a company other than Doubletake, these Terms and conditions may vary – please see your original experience voucher for any variations. (ii) DTS operates a professional service and therefore reserves the right to deny or reduce sessions if staff feel that a client's behaviour, presentation or hygiene may compromise the experience for other clients.
(iii) Do not bring any under 13s with you to your appointment as we do not have child care facilities. (iv) Your data may be used by DTS to advise you of products, services and special promotions and passed to its group, affiliated companies, agents, sub-contractors for research and analysis purposes. DTS may contact you by post, telephone, SMS text or email.
(v) DTS reserves the right to amend, vary or cancel these terms and conditions at any time.
(vi) These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and any disputes will be decided only by the English courts.
(vii) If any of these Terms and conditions is held by any court of competent authority to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, this will not affect the validity of the remaining Terms and conditions which will continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
(viii) No delay or waiver in enforcing DTS' rights under these Terms and conditions shall prevent DTS taking actions later.
(ix) DTS shall not be liable for any breach of these Terms and Conditions beyond its reasonable control. (xi) A person who is not a party to these Terms and conditions shall have no right under the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of these Terms and conditions but this shall not affect any right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act.
(xii) DTS’ full legal name is Double Take Portraits Limited (company number 326 3188, whose registered address is at 31a Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0AT). Please address all queries, complaints or suggestions to that address marked for the attention of “The Company Secretary”.

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

theres the pressure then

F) THE VIEWING SESSION (i) There is no obligation to purchase images, prints or products from your photoshoot experience.
(ii) In order to complete the viewing session (as per B. (ii)above), you are required to: - Either Place an order for at least one print or image from your photoshoot
- Or sign a declaration agreeing that you understand that the images from your photoshoot will be deleted from the DTS server and that you will have no further opportunity to purchase them.

Wouldnt hurt them and would be much fairer to keep them for 7 / 14 days after.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

I do sympathise.my daughter had a similar but nowhere near as bad experience with another studio in London.She had the hard sell and had to sit through a screen show of the pictures.She had pictures taken with a freind.She explained they were students and asked to pay jointly.It went on for ages and they were refused point blank - so walked out with no photos- when they were out on the street they called the back in and allowed the to buy together . It was about £300.00 for 4 or 5 photos.At that age they dont really understand about credit and from what I can see this company are experts at the hard sell.

[Budgie]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

The only possible way to resolve this is to take court action against the photographic company and sue on the basis that your Daughter was placed under extremely intense and undue pressure to agree to the contract.

The credit agreement is rock solid and no cooling off period was actually required. It would be like banging your head against a brick wall trying to resolve this with Blackhorse.

A rough list of points that could be used to prepare a court claim are as follows :

1) Your Daughter was not visiting the studio with the expectation of having her photographs taken or entering into a contract. She was accompanying a friend.

2) The inconsistencies on the forms with respect to your daughter’s name and type of occupation, the fact that no credit checks were carried out. Her salary level compared to the amount of credit on the contract.

3) The methods used to persuade her to sign the contract. She will have to write all of this information down.

4) The Company’s website and general marketing approach which appears to indicate that a person is under no obligation to purchase and that they maintain a strict no pressure policy. But which seems totally at odds with your daughter’s experience.

5) Your Daughters mild autism

6) The generally suspicious business model offered by the Company.

The aim of court action would be to rescind the contract.

It would be an interesting case to take to Court. But the threat of having their pressure sales tactics exposed and the likely adverse publicity would probably force the Company to settle before it actually gets to a Court hearing anyway.

All you would have to lose would be the court claim filing fee. ( about £100 )



Let us know if you wish to proceed on this basis. Am sure we could help with the POC and generally assist you with this claim.


Budgie

[llewellyn1]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

Thank you everyone for all your replies and support on this one. It is the naivety of my daughter on one hand concerning such arrangements and the pressure for a sale by the company on the other. Having brought my children up to honour debts etc the issue isn't about avoidance of the debt- but the 'rightness' of it in the first place. I will speak with my daughter and see how she feels about court action regarding the pressure applied route.

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

I'm in two minds I have to say, I think FOS would be the less risky route costs wise (after a strong complaint to the company CEO), Consumer Direct may also be able to help regarding whether you should return the packages before starting action ?

I think court action would come later if no joy those routes as I'm not sure of LEGAL grounds on which to base the claim. Despite the claim being under £5k there are still costs risks attached if they do defend and go on to win and possibly depending on grounds the judge seeing the claim as vexatious etc. Will discuss with budgie though as he might have a better idea of which direction to head.

I would certainly though write to the CEO of the company to complain and speak to consumer direct as a pre court action thing regardless which direction you end up taking.

[llewellyn1]

Re: Daughter embroiled in dubious credit arrangement- advice please

Hi, just a few more details to clarify events:

My daughter travelled with her friend who had booked in for the session at the Studio. She had not gone with any intention of being involved. Once there she was told her friend was allowed to recommend a friend....so my daughter was invited to take part.

The session lasted some 4-5 hours and at around 19.30 hours they were both pressured/ pushed into accepting the 'ultimate package' at 4k. Neither of them wanted this but whilst they told the studio worker she did not seem too interested and only talked in terms of the ultimate package.

My daughter was told they would do a credit check she was asked her salary and she told them that she got X for 3 to 4 4 days work- this was interpreted as 'full time' - my daughter said 'No- part time'

Although she carried her passport ( always does) she was not asked to show it ( contra their own T&C)

I am awaiting reply from Consumer Credit, but welcome any further insight with this additional background information.