Before writing this review I have thought really hard whether to provide feedback or not and what rating to give. In the end I decided to write this review as I would not like to see anyone else make the same mistake considering the money that we spent ($1800) as we did not come out with 100% of what we had asked for.

Firstly, we would like to say that we are really pleased with the result of the photos taken of our daughter. There is nothing that I can fault with how they have turned out.

However there are a number of reason why I have given a very low rating, so I will start at the beginning.

1. I won 2nd Prize at an Exhibition where Urban Life Photography had a stand. I registered the prize but was not able to have the photos taken. A month later I was contacted by Urban Life Photography and told they would honour the prize if I had the photoshoot in April plus they would also allow me to use the current promotion of $200 discount. Of course I clarified that I could use both discounts together which I was told yes definitely I could use both. This was NOT honoured, and they had no record of either discount so they would only apply one of the discounts which was the 2nd prize as it was the highest discount.

2. I had a lot of pressure from the staff to be in the photos, to which I gave in and agreed so we could have some family shots. I really should have stood my ground as I HATED the photos of me, and the one decent one they took had my hair sticking up in a very odd way. Of course, we were advised that they could fix the hair, so agreed to 3 family photos ONLY if they could fix up a few problems with them.
When the photos arrived today, they had not fixed the photos like was written down in their notes so there is ABSOLUTELY no way that these photos can ever be seen by anyone. I felt so pressured into getting these photos and I feel sick just looking at them.

3. Another customer with child, dog and rabbit turned up towards the end of our photoshoot. Urban Life and the other customer allowed the dog to run around without being on a leash. My daughter was frightened of the dog, but they would not put it in a room away from us. When the dog then started biting on my clothes they all just laughed. All the owner could say was "oh".
Honestly I should have walked the family out right then and there. I still don't know why I didn't.
We were moved to a separate room but the dog was still able to get in and bother us. Complaining was no use.

4. The Photos came with a softcopy so we could get further prints done if we so choose. The average size of the photos was only 2000kb - not very big when considering the cost. There were 8 under 1500kb with the smallest being 679kb.

5. The pressure put on to buy the photos and telling us that they are going to delete them immediately, so if we don't agreed to a purchase we will not have an opportunity to come back. The gentleman doing the selling just didn't give up.

At the end all I wanted to do was walk out and I paid the money to get out. I don't believe that we received any discount as they worded everything to very carefully to make it look like we were getting out $695 discount but they didn't want to show that on the invoice. It was only once we had agreed to a purchase (which we signed) did it turn out the $695 discount was not actually discounted, instead $150 was discounted.

Yes I was suckered and should have not paid over such money. This is why I am writing this review. When a number of photos cannot be used and the overall experience was not positive, I honestly would not recommend Urban Live Photography for anyone. The money has been paid and I can't get a refund on the photos that were not as we agreed to.

This was a very expensive exercise and I will NEVER be getting family photos done again.

My only contemplation is whether I have a burning of the really bad photos or to hide them for someone to find after I die. No chance they will ever see the light of day.

As the saying goes the best and worst publicity is by the Word of Mouth.

Approximate cost: $1800