This post I made about Canadian Baby Photographers makes an interesting read, not for what I wrote really but more for the hundreds of comments from people finding this site and voicing their own experiences.
Completely bizarrely, I received an email from this company yesterday. They've obviously been stalking this blog and have taken a frightening interest in where I live and what I'm doing. Anyway, it was interesting if more than a little odd (maybe they were trying to buy me off to remove my post about them?)
Here's what they wrote, and my responses (read from bottom up)
Dear Katie:
Thank you for your prompt response.
Sorry we are not able to accommodate you as the purpose of our business is
bringing joy to our clients. However, we respect your right to voice your
honest opinion.
Sincerely
Phyllis Casados
President
Judy Caine
Customer Service Manager
-----Original Message-----
From: Katie Jones
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 4:55 PM
To: [redacted]
Subject: Re: Canadian Baby Photographers
Dear Phyllis / Judy
Thank you for your somewhat unexpected email.
I did have a very unpleasant experience with Canadian Baby Photographers
almost 2 years ago when Harry was born. I guess, from your remarks about
where I live, you've been reading my blog and are aware of the
complaints I had at the time. Obviously I wasn't alone as the number of
comments left by other individuals is quite staggering, and some of them
quite disturbing. You also may or may not be aware that false positive
comments were posted by your organization on my blog too from one of
your offices in Ontario.
I do sincerely hope that your services have improved, for the sake of
all new mothers out there. Not least because (in my experience) the
sales tactics were incredibly inappropriate and the services offered
were not in any way worth the money that you were charging. You came
across as exploitative of the emotional and hormonally unbalanced
parents of newborn babies.
I do not live in Canada any more and I'm not sure that this gift
certificate is of any use to me.
Regards
Katie Jones
Judy Caine wrote:
> > Dear Katie:
> > On behalf of Canadian Baby Photographers, we want to say that we are sorry
> > that you were unhappy with our services over 2 1/2 years ago.
> > Since Harry had his portraits taken, many changes have taken place. We
would
> > like you to see these changes first hand. We know that you are now in the
> > Seattle area and we hope you are happy there in spite of the rain. If you
> > know anyone residing in Vancouver or any of our serviced areas throughout
> > Canada, please feel free to use a $250 gift certificate from Canadian Baby
> > Photographers. We look forward to your seeing for yourself our upgraded,
> > present quality of services provided by Canadian Baby Photographers.
> >
> > Sincerely Yours
> >
> > Phyllis Casados
> > President
> > Judy Caine
> > Customer Service Manager
> > CANADIANBABY PHOTOGRAPHERS
> >
> >
> >
OMG - I read through some of the comments. I was shocked by both the content and thte number of comments you received. Wowza.
I just had to comment on: "the purpose of our business is bringing joy to our clients."
Don't prostitutes have this same purpose? It almost sounds like they share some of the same business principles.
Posted by: Lynanne at June 14, 2006 02:14 PMHa ha, maybe your gift certificate is like my $300 one: access to online books for free or should I say- useless!
Posted by: natalie at June 22, 2006 06:06 PMI forgot to say that maybe they want you to remove your post about them because when you do a Canadian Baby google search, your blog comes up right underneath it... I know that's how I found you ; p
Posted by: natalie at June 22, 2006 06:09 PMI am sorry that you had a bad experience with CBP, I have only had wonderful experiences (4 of them to be exact!). The only time CBP contacted me was after my son was born (5 years ago yesterday), and I arranged for them to come to my house south of Calgary when he was between 11 & 12 weeks old..........the photographer was FABULOUS, my son was fighting off thrush at the time & was in pain, the photographer was so patient with him & he made the most interesting sounds/noises that he got my cranky boy to smile!!! The salesman was a little pushy, but I just didn't let him push me into anything I didn't want! I ordered what I WANTED to, not what he thought I should!!!! My daughter was born 14 months after my son, and this time I contacted them........we arranged for her pictures to be taken at the same age as my sons were taken, and, again, the photographer was wonderful.....my son wanted to be the center of attention during my daughters shoot, and the photographer was awsome with him.......we did some pics of the 2 of them, and then each individually, I think we have around 20 pics from that session.........because we had ordered in the past we knew what we wanted, and as soon as the salesman came in the door we TOLD him what we wanted, we didn't even want to see his price lists.......we were in charge of the meeting!!!!! My third child was born 21 months later, this time we were in Regina, and, again the whole experience was wonderful........I contacted CBP again, and, again they worked it so that her pics were taken at the same age as my older kids.....and because of my experience with the siblings shots with my 1st daughters pics I arranged for sibling pics first, and then the older kids were happy & my baby was happy too.....again, we were in charge when the salesman came to visit...........my 3rd daughter was born 21 months later, and, again we called CBP, and they did another awsome job........the photographer got all 4 of the kids with REAL smiles on their faces (not forced ones like you get at Walmart or Sears), and the photographer was so good with all of them......he came in, took group pics/individual pics of the older 3 and 15 pics of my daughter......not a tear or a pout in the bunch, and the whole session took 35 minutes!!! The salesman just came tonight to show us the pics, and I was thrilled to learn that they have changed the size of their proofs, and instead of the 3 x 5's you now get 5 x 7's........once again WE ran the meeting and the salesman was in & out (with our order), in 15 minutes!!!!
I would strongly recommend CBP to anyone who asked me, but I would also strongly recommend that YOU run the meeting with the salesman......the only salesman who was a little pushy was the 1st time.......after that we ran all the meetings & we told THEM what we wanted!!!!
Posted by: Lisa at June 28, 2006 02:54 AM