Babies & Bears Photography

It Is Nothing More Than A Cash Grab – Our family had their Christmas 2017 photo taken by Babies & Bears Photography (http://www.babiesandbears.com.au) at My Centre Nerang. * The experience was appalling * The staff lack knowledge and photography skills * Have atrocious customer service skills * The quality of the photos is very poor * At no point is any of this worth their top tier package of $50.

This is all the more obvious when I compare it to other Christmas family photos we’ve had done at Robina Town Centre, and Myer at Pacific Fair.

We waited in line for 30 minutes before a staff member of Babies & Bears asked us which package we wanted. We said we wanted a USB and she said there might not be any left and that we’d have to have a CD. “My computer doesn’t have a CD drive so I will need a USB, so are you able to find out for sure?” Her response, “Just ask the photographer when you get to the front.” Okay…

So after an hour waiting in line, we got to the front and the photographer told us we needed to pay an extra $10 (above the already extra $15) for a USB that has all the photos on it that she will shoot, not just one photo. This information was not explained to us by the first staff member of Babies & Bears and is not on their poster that lists their pricing and packaging. Nor is any of this on The Nerang My Centre website, unlike the Santa photo packages at Robine Town Centre. I was incredulous to her asking for more money after we waited almost an hour in line and I explained to the photographer that we have been mislead and ill-informed by the other staff member of Babies & Bears and she said, “If you want more photos, it’s an extra $10 because you will need to buy the top package.” I replied that I understood what she was saying, but that another staff member is telling potential customers that are waiting in line, incorrect information. The photographer became argumentative and repeated her statement and asked us if we wanted just one photo on a USB that will cost $15 for one photo or multiple photos on a USB for $25. I explained that I want more more photos, but you can’t mislead people like this to which she repeated herself again but added in, and I quote:

“You’ve got a bad attitude.”

That is deployable customer service.

Obviously I had no intentions of wanting to continue on with having a family photo taken with Santa from Babies & Bears Photography but my wife pointed out our son had waited patiently in line for almost an hour and he wanted to see Santa. Not wanting to be a horrible dad on Christmas Eve, I went ahead with the photos.

But the disappointment with the service of Babies & Bears Photography continued when the quality of her photography was revealed on screen.

* The photos are crooked

* Coles in pictured on the sides

* The sun shining through a skylight overhead is overexposing all the photos

* The photographer was using a Canon 70D, which is a low-grade camera (not used by professionals or semi-pros)

* The resolution on the photos on the USB is only 70ppi (which is not print quality - that’s 300ppi)

* Despite the abundance of light the photographer shot the photos at an ISO of 500 (which makes the photos grainy)

Don’t ever go to Babies & Bears Photography and if they are doing Christmas photos at a shopping centre, go somewhere else. Last year our extended family used Robina Town Centre and the process was quick and respectful and professional. The previous year we used Myer, who have an enclosed location or privacy if you want your photo taken with Santa, complete with Santa’s village too.

On a positive note: the Santa at Babies & Bears is great. Which is why we went there. But even Santa can’t carry the crippling weight of: incompetence, unprofessionalism, rudeness, and disrespect.