Was shopping with my son and mother, they asked her if we wanted a free photo for him etc. Got it done, was all fine and well, was invited to pick up a few weeks later. Went to pick up, they laid out about 18 photos (more than usual (my son is a camera boy)), and then talked through their packages etc. I'm good with money but I don't have much. So she's going through the highest package first, then tells me its $76 a week or something. I automatically knew that was several thousand dollars, and said no. Continued through a couple more packages, all extremely expensive $3000, $2400. I'm laughing in bewilderment right now because how crazy are these prices? She says the lower package is $1800. It includes some random printed wall art and a photo book (mind you I could print the whole lot for less than $400, I know because I print photos quite often). So I say I don't want any of those packages, I just want the photos. It's $800. I was hoping something like $500 because, let's be honest, you can hire a good one on one photographer to do a photoshoot for less. And the fact that I didn't get to choose the photos really annoyed me. I want the photos immediately so i agree to pay a $200 deposit, and she tells me I can pay $22 a week over 6 months or something. After everything is almost sorted, at the very end when I'm almost finished signing the contract, she tells me to sign a thing saying I'm aware of the extra $5 a month they charge for payment plans (really annoyed me seeing as she didn't tell me till the VERY last moment, tbh I considered telling her to shove it at that point). So that's all whatever, I sign, and she tells me they'll take the payments each fortnight, which is fine. I have the option to pay more to finish faster, but I have to call to make those payments. We left and it was all good. I had to call them a few days after the first payment was supposed to come through because they'd screwed up my details. Now I've paid off everything early and have been waiting weeks for my USB to arrive in the mail, but it probably won't come for ages. So, don't do it tbh. Get the free print and book a professional photographer because you'll get 5x the value for your money and 10x the service!

Approximate cost: $830