Towards the end of March 08, we took the kids to Munch media for a studio shoots. My ultimate aim was to get the three of them together in a pix where i can blow the pic up and hang on the wall of my room and probably in my future home. It was initially a $188 package with 10 album pix WITHOUT soft copy. Thus, if you wanna keep the soft, you have to pay $4 each. The break down of the price is shown below:
Classic Portfolio – 10 $188
Tricombo image (19.75” x 9” enlarge) $60 (aft. Disc.)
Special editing for Tricombo (x3) $30
Softcopy (tricombo panoramic) $8
Softcopies (tricombo 1,2 and the rest) $40
Deposit paid ($50)
We got to choose the better pics we wanted on the spot. Unfortunately, my feathered kids pics were not up to our expectations. Seriously i think i could take a better one myself, dun believe you take a peek at twinkle's pic on the left hand side of my blog. Since the birdies images wun nice, we chose more of MuFFin's pic in the album. So it was 6 X MuFFin's, 1 of each of the birdies and 2 tricombos which were digitally enhance. Coincidentally, there was this pic where muf lie on the floor looking down. They suggested that they could put the birds infront of her and make it panoramic. The idea truely sounds great, we can blow up that special pic! So she quote me for $60 as she pointed to the size of frame(19.75" by 9") hanging on their wall. With Yida around, there was no way i could decide on the spot. Thus, they gave us time to consider. As usual, i will go persuade him to let me have it and i got my wish. I anxiously called Munch up and gave my green light to do that pic.
Oh, i forget to add that for every digitally enhance pic (those tricombos) i would have to pay extra 10 bucks for the work. So naturally i expected a really good job. We anxiously waited for the completion. Being impatient i sms her 3 weeks later (she said about 3 to 4 weeks from the day of shoot), her reply was something like not ready. Then slightly more than 4 weeks later, she called me up to tell me the price of panoramic she quoted wasn't the size that i wanted! FWAH! She told me she was pointing to another frame on top of the frame that i tot it was. Seriously, i was angry. I just tried to be nice and explained nicely.
Her: "The price i quoted that day wasn't the size of frame you wanted. It was for 12" by 8" and for the dimensions you wan, it would be $120. I managed to negotiate with the printing side to let you have it for $100."
Me: "Huh? That day you pointed to the frame which i brought it over the next appt i had with you. You never say anything? Becoz you quote $60, we then decide to have it done."
Her: " I was refering to the frame on top with the Maltese that day."
Me: "No, i was very sure that it was the one with three pics sitting next to each other in a single frame."
Her: "Hmm, ok. Maybe it was a miscommunication. Nevermind, i will absorbed the cost on my side."
Me (didn't want to say thank you coz there's not my fault and it wasn't a favour!): "Hmm (with fake laughters), i don't know what to say."
So the call ended something like that, she told me that e album was ready but not the panoramic pic. Oh if you checked the breakdown, there was this 'after discount' after the panoramic price. Is it really a discount or it was just purely her fault? Of coz, we would very much want to collect on the same trip. So i told her we would wait. She added it prob will be done the following week. Hiaz... sometimes, when you keep waiting for a thing, your expectations would rise higher and higher. I did expect to have a very good panoramic blow up pic of my babies on my wall for the following week.
The following week arrived, i sms her again. Her reply can take hours. Probably, they were really bz with upcoming shoots or wat. From my side, it seemed that they work non stop. Her reply was will let me know after checking.
Ok, this was the part i get pissed. I smsed her to get updates again on a Monday. Her reply was the printing side was closed that day so she can only know by tom or tues, will definitely let me know asap. FYI, i did sent her another sms on the previous week Thurs abt the updates. Which means, she didn't bother to ask from Thurs to Monday???? Maybe she was that bz with work. Maybe........ but it was just a phone call away.
Anyway, her next update was , "Aroudn next week Thurs or fri. They re doing up my other standard sizes first!" I punched my hand in the air and said, "YESH!" With that, i replied her that i would go down on Sat. As the day drew nearer, i changed my mind to collect it on Thurs. So out of courtesy, i told her about it.
Her: " Can't confirm yet until your enlargement is already at my studio. I've to wait for my printer to confirm the time. I'll inform you as soon as i receive it. Meanwhile i only know it's sometime this thur or fri.
I'm like ok... maybe i was too impatient. I was nasty enough to something like there were many delays and changes.
"I apologize for the inconvenince. But i have mentioned that it'd be ard this thur or fri and you acknowledge it last wekk over sms. There have not been any changes since. Ehnce you also wanted to drop by on sat. All i'm saying is that i'd rather confirm exact time wif you once your order has arrived. I apologize for your frustration."
I paused and thought about it. Ok, i was pushing too hard. So i replied that i was just very eager to get the pix. Not frustrated.
Her: "Thanks very much for your patience. We're trying our best to complete and hand over your orders asap too. be rest assured that i'll call you once your order is here, which is very soon liao. =)"
Ok i just wait lo.. wat to do. So on that thurs, i received this msg.
" Hi natalie, your enlargement is coming back tmr. I will let you know once i've mounted into the frame then you can come collect after dinner or something." Apparently, i hope to get it on Friday so i dun have to make a trip out of the house again. She said she is trying her best to get it by noon. Ok i try to understand that it's the printer that was holding up the pic, not her.
So on Friday, i asked if it was possible to collect it on that day.
"You want to come after dinner? The enlargement will be in together with the rest of other people's order this evening." Naturally, i asked for what time. It was 8 to 9 plus!!! Seriously, at that hour, who would want to make their way down to Sin Ming road? Not to mention that i wanna bring the girl back to my place with her big crate. It would b very inconvenient to travel here and there when we don't have our own vehicle. I tried my luck for 8pm. She said she will try then added "I mentioned that i can only collect 8 to 9plus. So if you can come at 845pm. May need to wait for me to mount for you int he frame. That won't take long." Erm, didn't she mention 8 to 9 plus? Asking me to go at 845pm to wait for her outside the shop?? Have to add that she was always late for appointments too!
My colleague saw my trouble. She strucked me with "Why don't you collect some other day? why make yrself so ma fan?" She's so right. Since i have waited for so long already, why hurry for that day? So i called off the collection.
Fortunately, i managed to get the lorry to run some errand for my aunt. So i could shun bian go collect the pics. I called her to tell her the news but she said she have to leave by 6pm from the studio for some dinner. Although i never exclaimed,but i felt something. It was like begging her for the pics when i am the paying customer. Ya i know paying doesn't mean big fuck, but can you imagine the wait? So i compromised told her can go down tot the venue she will be at for the pics. It was at Marina. No qualms Yida said ok and off we go at 745pm. The lorry was only available from that time onwards. Not long before, she msged me again asking if i could reach by 8pm coz she has to go home and cut cake with her bro, his birthday. FWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't she wait for 15 to 30 mins? Or was she expecting me to go up to her door steps to collect? Very infuriating, i compromised then she gave me a time line to meet? I just replied, "I'll try." with discontentment of coz.
Mr Saint Yida prompted me to give her a msg on where we were la la la, reaching in how many mins. Hiaz, i just followed la. A few more moments this chase will be OVER. Met them at Carl's Junior entrance, paid $276. Pull out the panoramic frame and was shocked to see how fako it was for the birds to be tgr with muf. MEGA SIGH... we were rushing for time, so i nv said much and went off.
Yida hated the tri combos. The individuals were fine. The price we paid was for something better i guessed. Both of us felt so cheated.
The pics were at the end of the entry and you will know what i mean?
That was not all. I bought the soft copies rem?
This is the CD-rom. It looked really nice. But i got a shock when i opened up. All the soft copies were all in 100dpi! WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. MEGA FUCK! HOLY FUCK! 100dpi was only gd for 3R printing and i paid fucking $4 for the fucking size???????????????????????????
GOSH, we were really cheated big time. I sent her all my comments and now awaiting for her call. I posted the pics on facebook and waiting for comments, awful comments i expect. The only words i could pull out of my vocabulary for the tricombo were 'FAKO'. You called that professional? A friend of mine said the lightings and angle were all off when they put the three together.
Will update how it goes.
