portrait coupon deception and poor customer relations

Next time, write on the back of the coupon:
"By using the coupon, JCP agrees to offer the client a $200 gift card
with no expiry date"
and after they tell you read the fine print, tell them to read the
fine print on the back.

I work For JCP Portraits & I appologize for that associate calling
you "Hun" I don't believe she was tring to insult you, just
calm you down... which obviusly had the oppist effect. And I
appologize!

As for the rest I guess it's a lesson learned... always read the
entire coupon. As a Graphic Artist the bold print is to get your
attention (which in this case work a little too well) But as with just
about any offer there are detail "Fine print".

Actaully I am looking at one of our coupons right now & It States
"Free Sitting Fee for First Peron OR Apply $9.99 towards the
purchase of a portrait Club. A $9.99 sitting fee per additional
person."

It's not that small & how is it her fault you didnt read the
coupon do you usually not read them? You don't have to pay the sitting
fee you could buy the Portrait club & have no sitting fee's for 2
whole years! Which is normally 39.98 - 9.99 = 29.99. the same you'll
pay for each addiotional person @ 9.99 7 not have to do it again for 2
years.

Also I'm sure it gave you $3.99 or $4.99 sheets which is Much less
then you paid for @ Picture people at $17.99 a Sheet.

I hate to say it but your own neglagance might of cost you quite a bit
more in the long run.

You would like an apology because you didn't read the coupon? Get
real! Most studios only waive the sitting fee if you join a Portrait
Club or something like that. There must be more to your story because
no establishment would print "Free Sitting Fee" and then right below
it state "We lied. There is a sitting fee." I have seen a lot of
portrait coupons where it does say NO SITTING FEE but right below that
it states "With Portrait Club Membership" or something to that affect.
You must be leaving that detail out to make the company look very bad
so you can have something to "blame" them for because you didn't read
the coupon and feel stupid.

Ok she didnt read the fine print!!!! It happens I am looking at a JCP
coupon rigt now and at the top in about at 40FONT it says not sitting
fee and then at the bottom in about a 4FONT the first person has no
sitting fee and each additional is 9.99. The print is really small and
it can be deceptive she made a mistake SO WHAT! The tone of the
letters seems as if she is more upset about being called HON than
anything else. Well Mrs. Hansen I would be upset about the HON
reference to.

Learn to read everything, and stop whinign for freebies becasue you
did not read

My family wasn't big on family portraits (i think i found one set from
1988... i was 4) So can someone please clear up what a "sitting fee"
is for me?

I appreciate the fact that you did not like to be called "hon". But
would you care if the sitting fee was waived? Not saying that YOU are
like this, but I know of people who try to pick things to be mad about
after the fact if they didn't get their way. Although if you truly
would have been offended anyway then never mind that bit. I personally
don't care if people use pet names for me, but when i worked customer
service i never used pet names, because they can be inappropriate to
some.

Every coupon I've ever seen for JCP Portraits has No Sitting Fee in
bold and the not so fine print at the bottom states that the free
sitting is for the first person - - each additional person is $9.99.

This doesn't sound like coupon deception to me - - it sounds like yet
another consumer didn't read the entire offer before packing up the
family and heading to get their pictures taken.

The small print...tricky but a fact of our consumer lives...

...my beloved mom, who is wonderful and intelligent often forgets
about small print and has had a number of frustrating times because of
it. I always want to support my mom, but when you're at the store,
and I can see the small print and the store's position versus my
mom's, I hate to say that I often have to side with the business.
It's not the business' fault you didn't read the whole coupon.

I would agree that small print is tricky and I wish that companies
would be more upfront and not use the tiniest font known to humankind
to let you know the details of the 'deal'...ah well, keep smiling.

The manager's disrespect aside - this situation seems odd to me.

I have gotten tons of JCP photo coupons since the birth of my youngest
son in December and they all say the same thing as yours did - NO
SITTING FEE.

The implication, though, is that the portrait would be of just my son
and no one else. I'm wondering if perhaps the catch was that you had
4 people in your picture and that was not included in the free sitting
promotion.

But for the manager to refer to you as "hon" and to tell you that you
needed to "read the fine print" was just uncalled for - the coupon was
not specific and while they weren't obligated to waive the fee, since
the wording was misleading, I think they should have.

You aren't going to get anything for inconvenience and wasted travel
expense. At best they might give you ore free coupons. Lame to be
sure, but at least you found a better portrait studio because of it.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's this :Always read the enire
ad. The bold and the fine print and any caveats on the back page of
the circular. I would rather make a phone call before to make
absolutely sure, and I'd ask to whom I am speaking and what their job
duties are. Some retail stores, I'm not sure of JCPenney, but some
stores "outsource" certain services such as optical and photo
services.
Not knowing what the fine print actually said, it's difficult to know
for sure what actually transpired and if deception was an issue at
all.
The "hon" thing would bug me as well, but I would correct them and
keep correcting them until they know how to address me.
I don't understand the need for a written apology, but apprently it
does fill some need. I've asked for one myself a few times and I still
don't know what I was thinking at the time.
As far as compensation, I don't think it's deserved. It was your
choice and free will that made you get in the car and drive etc...not
JCPenny's coersion.

First, I can appreciate you did not appreciate being called "hon". It
also seems to me you could have been a bit more assertive there. "It's
Mrs. Hansen, not Hon".
But, in all honesty, I'd rather be called "Hon" than some other names
people have been known to use.

Second, I don't think they were intentionally being deceptive.
Depending on a couple circumstances, I would be willing to change that
opinion.
They did clearly state that the first person's sitting fee is waived.

However, it is deceptive in that they did say "NO SITTING FEE". I
agree it should be stated "NO SITTING FEE 1st person"
I'm no so kind to them on the $20 value, however. Since you were
there, you would know better than I, if they normally charge a $20 fee
for the first person. If they do, no deception. If not, then it is.

I'd probably be upset also. I'd be upset at me, for having not read
the terms; but, also with the fact they did not word the offer
correctly. I'd probably not win my case, either. So, at that point I'd
have to make a decision. Is it worth the price for the portraits, or
should I have them keep them? Knowing me, it'd be their's.

read EVERYTHING on the coupon and don't assume anything. And also,
lighten up on the "hon" thing.. its not like he was touching or
harrassing you.

JC Penney has long been known for the deceptive portrait studios. I
used one of their "No sitting fee" coupons once. Pictures turned out
great. When I ordered I was charged a sitting fee. I told them they
had my coupon sitting right there that said "no sitting fee". The
girl stumbled and hemmed and hawed and finally told me that there was
no sitting fee for the portrait, but a fee for ordering which just
happened to be the amount of the normal sitting fee and they didn't
have an entry for the ordering fee so they just charged it under
sitting fee.

Though those pictures were darling, I walked out. I called Marvin
Zindler the old and crazy consumer reporter for Channel 13 in Houston
(yes that Marvin Zindler of the Chicken Ranch fame) and I had my
portraits the next day sans "sitting fee" along with an apology from
the manager.

Looks like they are up to the same old same old.

I am soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry.

There. My apology is worth the same as anyone elses (not a damn
thing), so you can take my apology and print it, frame it, and bask in
it's glory.

Case closed.

I'm guessing the small print said that the NO SITTING FEE refers to
the FIRST person - they usually only waive the sitting fee at
JCPenney's for one person, any additional people in the portrait, it's
$10/person. And since you had a family of four, that makes sense. No
deception here - I've read the small print myself on those coupons, as
I do for EVERYTHING. You have to be a portrait club member to have
the sitting fees for everyone waived. For the coupon, you only get
ONE sitting fee waived, and besides, there is an asterisk next to the
words "no sitting fee" on the coupon which directs you down to the
fine print. JCPenney's owes you nothing.

Fine print is still print, and its point is to make people like you,
who only read the bold print, use it and therefore end up spending
more money than they intended to. The most common sitting fee deal
I've seen is that one person sits free, and it's x number of dollars
for each addional person sitting. Seems like this is the case here.

I've never seen the big deal with strangers using pet names. I spent a
large chunk of my life in Atlantic Canada, where depending on your
gender you are either "buddy" or "missy", neither of which I had a
real problem with. "Condesending"? Stop being a brat.

Gas and toll money because you didn't read the whole coupon? Grow up.

Usually at department store studios like this sitting fees are waived
when you have a photo club membership. The coupon will then sometimes
apply a different discount. If you're not a club member you get free
sitting for one person. She was charged for the rest of the people in
her group (looks to be about $10 each for the family of four with one
person free with said coupon).

This is always plainly written out on the coupon. The "fine print".

As everyone else is pointing out, it seems suspicious that you don't
explain this small print. Because of that being the case, I don't
think an appology for the small print is required.

I would alway think using Miss in place of hun would be more proper.

Ugh, I hate it when strangers refer to me as hon or sweetie or any
sort of pet name. My family gets away with it because they're family
and shooting them is bad juju. Strangers get the hairy eyeball and I
repeat my name until they finally catch the clue.

That being said, in the future, read the small print. Whenever I see
stuff like 'free' or 'no interest until' etc, I always read the fine
print because I just know there is a catch.

Actually, I kind of agree with the OP here (although she doesn't
specify what the fine print said...gee, wonder why). If the fine
print directly contradicts the "no sitting fee" in big, bold letters,
then I'd say that's a bit deceptive (but not illegal).

Of course, this doesn't let the OP off the hook for not reading the
small print. If Margaret had done that, perhaps she wouldn't have
wasted gas and toll money.

And as to being called "hon", yeah, I'd have to agree compeletely with
the OP on that one. It's incredibly condescending. I would've just
looked at the guy and said,"Thanks for clarifying that, BABE."

At least now you know where to take your money.

Yes, what did the small print say?

You have every right to stand up for yourself and tell somebody, "I'd
appreciate/prefer it if you called me Mrs. Howard, if you don't mind.
Thank you."

But what did the small print say?