JCPenney

We had family pictures taken this past Sunday at JC Penney Portrait studies at Mid Rivers Mall. It was the worst experience. We had a large group so when we scheduled the appointment we went in person to make sure they could accommodate our group. We were told it would be no problem and we booked 2 appointment times. They even moved our appointment from 9:00am to 8:00am to ensure we would not be rushed. When we arrived we were told we only had 20 minutes to take all of the photos. Because of the time limitation we did not get to take many of the pictures we wanted to. When we asked the staff the length of a normal apartment time they all gave us different answers-​no one knew. They were very unprofessional and were all just standing around looking at each other. Also, the room is to tiny that by the time my entire family was in the there it was so HOT. To put the icing on the cake by the time it was all said and done the 20 minute appointment cost us $ 800 (prior to our coupon). I would never recommend going to JC Penney at Mid Rivers to get any kind of picture taken. We could have done better ourselves. They really need to learn how to communicate to their customers and listen to their needs. Terrible job JC Penney.

I know you probably shouldn’t expect much for the cost of their portraits but they are lazy and care very little about the product they are selling. We got my son’s 1,3,6,9,12 month photos taken here. The first few were not bad, only because at that point, what can they do to mess up photos? By the 6 month photos when he was moving around, they took a whole lot of half-​ass pictures and called it done. The 1 year photos were the worst. They didn’t get a smiling photo at all and every one of them he was moving, not looking or looked mad. They rushed us through and when we were viewing them and my husband said ‘I don’t like any of them’ they never said anything, just ignored it and continued to try to sell us their ‘packages’. When we barely bought anything, they still seemed undeterred to try to get us to buy a portrait membership. Sadly, we will not go back and I recommend you find someplace else to get your photos. Other JCP studios have been good but this one is not.

My mother booked an 11:20 AM appointment for a group family portrait, which involved nine people. It was a disaster from start to finish! There was a large family scheduled before us at 11:00 AM, but not all of their people showed up until 11:15 AM. Most studios have a policy of making people reschedule if they are over five minutes late. The photographer at this portrait studio STILL took the tardy group before us, even though OUR appointment was for 11:20 AM. Needless to say, the photographer took forever with the first family. It was 12:00 PM before the photographer began taking pictures of our group, and because they were so grossly understaffed, it took another long waiting period before we could select the portraits we wanted to purchase. We didn’t leave the portrait studio until 1:45 PM. We will not be visiting this portrait studio in the future.

JCPenney Portrait Studio: I am very disappointed. After 10 years of using JCP Portraits from all over the US, this one session may have ruined me from ever using JCP again! I could not find a comment or contact us, so I am using this medium. I visited the JCP Portraits on 7÷27÷14 at St. Peters, MO. I am in the military and used your generous military discount. Thank you. I have used JCP for 10 years because of your discount. The past 4 years, I have been using St. Peters as it is my hometown and when I come into town, we get a family photos. There are 9 of us now (6 adults and 3 children)! Because I could not call to make an appointment, I used your online appointment service. It was very convenient. Going off the past two photos, I was advised to tell the photographer that I need 2 slots. As I was doing this on the computer, I booked two appointments back to back. I received confirmation and all was good to go. A day or two before the appointment, I received a phone call (I was in the area now) and was told I could not have two appointments. I tried explaining that it always took a while and no matter what I said the woman said she could fit all 9 of us and all of our individual photos in 20 minutes. I knew it would not happen and I pleaded with her. She said she was cancelling the latter appointment.
The portrait time came and of course, with a family of 9, kids photos, grand kids photos, new baby photos we were into the 35 minute mark when they cut us off. I was not happy. To make matters worse, I felt very rushed when it was time to pick out the photos. She told me that large groups are supposed to be at the end of the day and now they were running late. I was so upset, I did not even try to explain what the other woman on the phone said. To get out of there, I bought a DVD. It took a while for me to receive the DVD as I am not in Missouri any longer. I had to get someone to pick it up and mail it to me. I just received it and I am in tears! The family photos are horrible. I did not notice how the background screen was cut off and you can see the mess of the studio; eyes are shut; we aren’t looking the same way. There are a few nice ones, but unfortunately the photographer got the mess of the studio and not the screen in the background. I am not coming back to St. Peters for over a year, so another retake is impossible. This entire experience is so sad.