Advanced Life School Photography & Print Specialists

Advanced Life has been very disappointing to deal with. If I could give zero stars, I would. I was around a month late ordering my children's photos and was told I would be charged a $15 late fee per child. I called to explain that I felt this fee was excessive and unfair to families, but instead of receiving understanding, I was made to feel… Read more

judged for missing the deadline. I was told that other families managed to order on time and questioned as to why I couldn't. The representative's attitude was so rude and dismissive that I eventually ended the call. What makes this even more frustrating is that I can't view the photos before paying, and then I'm expected to pay an additional late fee on top. The package options are also very limited, I wanted to purchase one photo of each child. Based on this experience, I will be recommending that the school consider alternative photography providers. Given the number of similar complaints in these reviews, I also believe the company's practices warrant further scrutiny by consumer affairs. The volume of negative feedback suggests this is not an isolated issue.

0/5 Stars I am incredibly disappointed with the photography package I received for my children. Despite paying premium prices for individual portraits, sibling photos, and a class group shot, this company cut major corners using digital editing software. ​Instead of taking genuine, separate photographs for each package, they took a single image… Read more

from the sibling shoot and digitally recycled it. They used editing software to crop that single photo for the individual portraits, and then literally imposed my children's faces into the class group photo. ​When you pay full price for multiple distinct photography packages, you expect authentic photography, not a lazy copy-and-paste job. To charge parents full price for separate packages when only one actual photograph was used is completely unjustifiable. ​I strongly advise schools and parents to look elsewhere if they want genuine, high-quality memories. I am currently awaiting a response from their customer service to rectify this and issue a refund

I dont understand how advanced life still have the contract for public schools in our area surley there is a competitor. The prices are ridiculous how is it justified? I got my daughter's photos back and they are terrible she wore 2 side pony tails and the women doing the photos moved one to the back of her head so you can only see 1 side pony in the photo it looks ridiculous

Appalling service. Purchased digital downloads and there was no link sent, no response to repeated emails. Had to raise a complaint with PayPal in order to get a response. Ordering physical photos is just as bad, it shouldn't take weeks to print and send a photo, even during peak periods, and not replying to emails is unacceptable when you have… Read more

taken payment already. If your school uses this company, use PayPal to make orders then you have recourse through PayPal for non delivery.

Advanced Life is genuinely one of the worst photography companies I have ever dealt with. The staff were painfully rude, unhelpful, and acted like customers were a burden instead of the people keeping their business alive. Especially Sophie, she was directly ignoring students asking common questions and she took one photo before they were ready… Read more

and they got one photo each. Every interaction felt cold, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. For a company charging such outrageous prices, the quality they deliver is honestly embarrassing. The photos look rushed, low quality, badly edited, and somehow manage to get worse every single year. School yearbooks should be something students can look back on proudly, but Advanced Life manages to make them look cheap and lifeless every time. It’s honestly impressive how consistently disappointing they are. The company feels disorganised, careless, and completely disconnected from what customers actually want. Questions get ignored, concerns get brushed off, and the staff attitude is beyond awful. They act arrogant while delivering a service that is nowhere near worth the money. There are far better photography companies out there that actually respect people and take pride in their work. I would never support Advanced Life again after such a pathetic experience.

Avoid this company if you can Money taken before any action and waiting for months for raw basic photos. Stuff extremely rude especially Sandi A Even free online photo from website after you paid for package now is $8! So bad and annoying people I even see in this country and see others the same type of reviews

Both my partner and I had issues processing payment from multiple devices and after waiting 30 min on hold, was able to leave a call back message. When a member of the team called me back I explained the issues both my partner and I had (separate), the team member was more than rude - I believe because I mentioned they might have some bugs in… Read more

their system and these might need to be passed onto IT for the sake of others? She hung up on me. I normally don't write reviews and am a polite person so a bit rocked by this. I will certainly be communicating this experience to my school for their consideration when they renew the contract.

If I could rate 0 stars I would. Had my photos taken by these people for 11 years now against my best wishes and I could take a better one with a nokia taped to my pinkie toe. Changes the way they do it every year, degrading staff who force you to put your head in the most insane positions. Never had a good photo, also if you're any kind of black you get the photos back and you look like bright poopoo.

As someone who has dealt with Advanced Life from a both a personal and professional POV, I cannot stress enough how UNprofessional they are. "Fill out our contact form" and they NEVER get back to you. Chased the company for months for a solution with no contact from them whatsoever. Beware other schools using this photo company - I will never use them again.

Won't send the email link to download my daughter's school portrait!!! I have tried over 6 times now and nothing. Absolutely terrible service for hom much they charge for school photos

Purchased photos in May. 5 months later and they still haven't shown up. They tell me they're just being printed, or they've just been sent. Absolutely no accountability. Happy to take my money, but don't seem to care that I don't have any photos. Would have preferred to give zero stars.

The worst school photos ever! I’ll never use them again and I’ll be advocating for anyone not to use them! Waited months and months and still can’t deliver. Absolutely rubbish

I ordered sibling photos for my 2 kids for their school photos and they are absolutely appalling !!! The photos look like they’ve been taken at the end of a long day, my son isn’t smiling at all, his shoulders are upright and stiff, my daughters collar is flipped and it looks like she came back from sports with her hair scruffed up everywhere. I don’t even want the photos anymore straight to the bin

Terrible website. Never lets you download a photo. No response to the contact form. Emails come back no longer monitored. Worst company to deal with, how are schools still using them?

Terrible photos - my son told me he smiled but with his 2 top front teeth missing, his face looks like someone has said smile but hide your teeth! Such disappointing photography!!! Schools need to find a better company to do this.

I've never been fond of school photos, but my experience with this company made me hate them 10 times more. You'd think for the price that you'd get a good photo, but my photographer was neither friendly or approachable like the website claims they are. She rushed my photo and took it the moment I smiled, no countdown, no retakes, nothing and I… Read more

looked half asleep. When I requested to see the photo, she refused and covered the loading image with her hand. I would be more understanding if there was a line behind me (there was not!) Would give 0 stars if I could as I had a highly negative experience and have had far better school photos in the past. From what I've heard from my peers, they agree and some even joked about them putting an ugly filter on everyone's photos. Do NOT waste your money!!

Warning to Parents! Total Rip-off! Advancedlife = Overpriced Photos + No Digital Option + No Choice! Parents, be aware! This company charges $34 for a single class photo with no digital option—only an overpriced printed version. That means for a group of 30+ students, they make over $1,000 for just one photo session. There’s no competition, no… Read more

alternative provider, and no flexibility—just a forced monopoly that leaves parents with no choice but to overpay. Many other photography services offer digital copies at reasonable prices, but schools are locked into exclusive deals with Advancedlife, forcing parents to pay excessive prices.

If you think this is unfair, demand change from your school! Ask them to allow alternative photography companies or at least provide digital versions. Don’t let this rip-off continue year after year!

No star for Advancelife School Photography. The worst in the business. Very unprofessional. Very rude to staff and children. They shouldn't be allowed in the school grounds. They should go back to school and learn some basic manners. Absolute beyond disgrace!!!

Could be better – I think this company being used represents just how much funding is going into our schools. The photos that were taken at the beginning of the year did not arrive until 3rd term. The website is down whenever I try to go in. Missed out on class photo because the original one was blurry or something rather and my son was sick the day it had to be retaken. It is an experience so we obviously don’t have a choice. Hoping 2025 wil be better.

Schools need to steer clear of this company – Not impressed. Such a waste of money. All students are same height. Shadows on students legs and hands are added. The class photo is made up of all the individual photos put together and added to a background. Very disappointed!

AI generated and politically correct imaging – These guys are useless and think that creating an AI generated photo and charging $50+ is good business. DONT USE THEM AND AND SAVE YOUR MONEY. They create PC photos that make all students the same height and tone down their facial features. IF I WANTED AN AI GENERATED IMAGE I WOULDN'T OF PAID THESE USELESS INDIVIDUALS TO DO IT FOR ME. EVERYBODY IN THE WHOLE YEAR GROUP IS THE SAME HEIGHT AND SAME COMPLEXION - REALLY????

Snails could get my photos to me faster – If I could give no stars I would. Every year we wait 7 plus months to receive the photos. I wish the kids schools would stop using this company.

Beautiful keepsake, great service without a hassle – Advanced Life has been a great provider of school photos to our local school. The school used them for a few years and they are exceptional. Beautiful keepsake for my family. First time this year we ordered a sibling photo and it looks stunning. Thank you to the whole team for your hard work!

Lost photo! Still charged for booklet! – They lost my sons photo. Paid $60 package and they sent me a $27 refund and a booklet that displays Year 12 students without my sons photo and commented he was absent. Why would I want a booklet without his photo!!!! Not to mention paying $33 for. My son was at school, had his photo taken. His mate that was next to him in line had his pic in the book and yet they lost my sons. No communication and Poor poor service!

Disgusting, lazy workers – If I could give a 0 I would. They don't give a crap about the students or the fact that we pay $50+ to get a photo which half the workers are slacking off. They take a single photo the moment the child sits down, not giving them time to pose and they don't even help the students adjust their uniform or let them know if something is wrong. Can't… Read more

believe schools continue hiring them despite all their bad reviews. This company doesn't deserve to even be in business, they leech off of all our money and slack off on their jobs. Disgusting, they couldn't even adjust the lighting and ensure that students with glasses didn't have a glare that covered their eyes. Please someone get this company out of business.

Very poor service – Credit card payment does not work - page loads at a snails pace - no phone number listed to prevent me from checking what is going on - what a waste of my time!