Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We ordered photos from the company when they came to take pictures at our church. The pictures contained a large, intrusive watermark that was not explained when we ordered them. One of the pictures also arrived damaged. When I called to return/exchange the pictures, they refused and did not offer any solution to the problem and were dismissive of the issues.

  

  Business response

  09/24/2024

  All professional portraits are printed with a copyright logo on the picture, this is due to copyright laws. We have refunded the amount to the consumer's credit card. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

• Initial Complaint

  06/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On April 30th I had pictures taken AT OUR CHURCH AND ORDERED 6, 3 1/2 x 5 PICTURES. It IS NOW June 16TH AND i HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY PHOTOS. I wanted to send the pictures out for Father's *** which has since passed. I asked for a refund and they have refused. I have called three times. They blame the US ************ Church PA1070 sit# ***.

  

  Business response

  06/28/2024

  We apologize to Mr. and *************** for any inconvenience this situation has caused you. Your portrait order was shipped on 5/24/2024 to your home through the United *********** Office.

  It has never been returned to our office as non delivered. As soon as we heard you had not received your order 6/17/2024, we placed a replacement order and shipped them on 6/21/2024.

  We believe eventually you will also receive the original order as well. Again we apologize for any inconvenience. We will continue to review our methods of shipment, to evaluate whether we can trust the United ***********al Service with our packages. 

  Customer response

  06/28/2024

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. When they re-made the second set of pictures I requested that they be sent by *****, quickly. They refused. After I filed the BBB complain, they decided to ship by *****. Unfortunately it takes filing a complaint for this company to listen to their customer.

• Initial Complaint

  12/27/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  11/18/23 pictures taken for Church Directory. Church # ** *** SIT#**. (******** Church) Photographer seemed tired and rushed us. We had option to order extra photos. Prior to purchasing photos we ask about adjusting color in pictures, glare on glasses, redness on face, fixing blemishes, teeth color, neck wrinkles, etc. We were reassured these issues could be fixed. See order form. My husband looked as if he was biting his lower lip. That should have been pointed out. He told us frames were extra charge. I commented, “These look like frames from Dollar store.” Photographer commented that they have frame factory next to building where pictures were processed. “Frames are professionally custom made.” He also stated we would have pictures before Christmas as we had told him they would be gifts. I called on 12/18/23 and spoke to ******. She said she would ship pictures that day. I questioned issue about fixing neck wrinkles. ****** stated, “ they never touch up wrinkles because chin ends up looking like part of neck.” Pictures arrived with no frames for 3 of 8x10 pictures. I called again and ****** accessed invoice. She stated we had paid for frames and she would *** ** them that day. When I mentioned comments about building frame next door, she did not respond. Frames arrived several days later. See photos attached as well as sticker, “Made in *****!” I have spoken to representatives (****** and *******) Today, 12/27/2023, ******* acknowledged that they don’t have a frame factory and frames were free. ****** had acknowledged prior to we had paid for them. ******* reassured me “I would not get a refund” as well as acknowledging there was no frame factory next door! She refused to give me photographers name who took the pictures. He gave us false information. Will never use or recommend this group again. Poor workmanship, and no one wants to take responsibility for their dishonest employee!

  

  Business response

  01/04/2024

  We want to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. This is not Universal's standard and we have taken the appropriate actions to make sure this doesn't happen again. We have placed a reorder for the portraits, and we are shipping the correct frames with the order. The order was shipped on 1/4/2024. Please accept our sincere apology. 

  Customer response

  01/05/2024

  Waiting for updated pictures and frames to arrive and then I will send a response. Thank you for your assistance in this matter. 
  Sincerely,

  ***** ****

  Customer response

  01/09/2024

  Hi *******,  ?????????? To *******! 
  Just received our pictures. Thank you for working with us on this challenging issue regarding our photos. Also thank you for your prompt response in helping us to resolve problem quickly. We greatly value your support and appreciate that you took the time to double wrapped the pictures to make sure they arrived in mint condition. We are pleased with all the adjustments that you made to the prints as was agreed upon at time of appointment with photographer. The frames are much better. The only complaint my husband had was that the “T” in my name on large picture looks like letter “J” I will pick my battles. I did notice on first set, the big picture had “Dad and Mom” on it, and this one had our names. That is fine. I will add note to my ****** response as well as BBB. 
  We appreciate your help and support in this matter. 
  Our sincere appreciation,
  ***** *** ***** ****

• Initial Complaint

  12/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Ordered church photographs on 11/28/2023 with guaranteed Christmas delivery. Order was delivered completely wrong and not complete. The phone number disconnects you and you cannot get ahold of a live person. Ive emailed also with no response. I just want what weve paid for. Or Christmas gifts have not been received and complete silence from this company. Please just send the correct order!

  

  Business response

  12/26/2023

  We are very sorry for any inconvenience regarding their portrait order. We apologize for our phone system  not being changed to a holiday greeting and state we were closed until 12/26/23 on Friday afternoon. Once we became aware of the issue we reached out to rectify the situation. We are making the missing portraits and frames to ship out this week with an additional gift for their inconvenience. Please accept our sincere apology.

   

   

  Customer response

  12/27/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We took church photos with this company and were presented with the option to purchase them. We paid for digital versions of all photos. The photographer didn't have the background framed well in many photos. We were told the photos would be edited to fix the background and mailed to us in a few weeks. We received the photo cd and only one photo was poorly edited. I called and told them of the issue. They said they would resend. A few weeks later we received a second CD with photos that had all been edited, but the editing quality was very poor. They didn’t fix the background in the whole picture and there are obvious editing marks in the pictures. I tried getting them to fix the issues and they told me that I didn't pay for editing. I would not recommend using this company for photos.

  

  Business response

  12/26/2023

  We apologize for any inconvenience we have caused and that our photographer misspoke about our digital images. This has been corrected. We have cropped the copyrighted images that we normally sell as raw images, not cropped or retouched, a CD is being resent.. There is typically an additional charge for retouch. When copyrighted images are sold, it states on our receipt that all sales are final. We hope the ******** family will get great use out of their images.

  Customer response

  12/27/2023

   I am rejecting this response because we were hoping to use these photos in Christmas cards. That time has past and I have given the business plenty of opportunities to correct this mistake in the past and they refused. I requested a refund, not for the business to try once more to fix their work.
  
  
  

  

  Business response

  01/03/2024

  We have made an adjustment and have done a partial refund and adjusted the image to the customers specifications even though the purchase of copy righted images are non-refundable.

• Initial Complaint

  12/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Universal Church Directory took pictures at our church on 10/18/2023.I called on 11/21/23 inquiring about our pictures which he had paid for since we had not received. Ever church member I talked with had received their pictures.The person informed me they would be delivered within the next two weeks.I called today, 12/5/2023, received voice recording and then the phone went dead. I attempted calling using several numbers to no avail. Line went dead everytime.

  

  Business response

  12/13/2023

  ****** and ******************************* were photographed at their church Beaver Dam Baptist Church on 10/18/23.  Tracking shows the custom portrait order was shipped via **** and delivered on 12/12/23.  It shipped a week prior.  We were experiencing issues with our telephone system.  We have been working with our telephone service provider to resolve these issues and we apologize for the issues the ******** family experienced.  We are also experiencing delays in delivery from the **** and working very hard to ensure all portraits ship according to the timeframe allocated.  Again, we apologize for the unfortunate experience the ******** family had and will continue to work to resolve any and all issues related to our telephone system.   They have received their custom portrait order, and this complaint should be removed. 

  

  Business response

  12/13/2023

  ****** and ******************************* were photographed at their church Beaver Dam Baptist Church on 10/18/23.  Tracking shows the custom portrait order was shipped via **** and delivered on 12/12/23.  It shipped a week prior.  We were experiencing issues with our telephone system.  We have been working with our telephone service provider to resolve these issues and we apologize for the issues the ******** family experienced.  We are also experiencing delays in delivery from the **** and working very hard to ensure all portraits ship according to the timeframe allocated.  Again, we apologize for the unfortunate experience the ******** family had and will continue to work to resolve any and all issues related to our telephone system.   They have received their custom portrait order, and this complaint should be removed. 

• Initial Complaint

  09/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My pictures were taking on 7/21/23. On 7/24/23 I asked for a partial cancellation. My information was taken. On around 8/4/23 ****** from your service center called me. At that time, she informed me that a check would be issued as a refund due of approximately $228.00 due to the fact that my credit card I paid for had been lost and cancelled in between the time of the refund. I was told it would take three weeks for me to receive my check. I received our pictures that we ended up ordering with. I called on 8/31/23 and 9/1/23 and was told that a check not been issued for my refund. On 9/1/23 ****** told me she would contact me back that afternoon to let me know if there was a way to expedite the check since I had already waited well over the 3 week period. I did not get a call back. I called back again on 9/5/23 to get an update.

  

  Business response

  09/07/2023

  WE want to apologize for any inconvenience this situation has caused. It is company policy to refund any customer by the method in which they paid. Do to the customers credit card being canceled and a check needing issued put the order into check refunds which are held waiting a potential canceled check which was never necessary in this case. We are sorry for the delay, the refund was issued and mailed yesterday. Had the card not been canceled a refund would have been processed immediately.

• Initial Complaint

  04/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We had church directory photos taken 3/8/23. We purchased a photo frame that we were told would be matted and framed. The photographer explained it would be grey matting. My husband and kids heard him explain this to us 3 times. I received the photo yesterday and it’s it a digital photo with a grey background in a frame with no plastic or glass covering, not matted and it also had a Bible and was creased. When I’m paying for a matted photo I expected nice cardboard matting around the photos that will be interchangeable which I even said to the photographer that’s good I can switch the photos if we ever want something different. He didn’t correct me and say this is a digital picture. We were mislead into what we were buying just so they can make money. They will not refund me, I’m very angry that a company like this would dupe church members into buying things. I would have NEVER paid 154.08 for a digital picture stuck behind a wood frame. He made this sound like we were getting so much more then what they sent me. The phone staff was very rude when I call asking for a refund. They claim they don’t issue refunds. I did not receive what we thought we were buying and told to us by the photographer.

  

  Business response

  04/10/2023

  We are sorry for the misunderstanding, we do not sell custom matted products. We have never had this happen before because of the large display we have onsite at the church that shows the actual products. We sell thousands of this 10 x 20 Trio portrait product a month. We will investigate further to see how this could have happened. We have issued a refund for the product ordered.

  Customer response

  04/10/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

• Initial Complaint

  01/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Church #: ****** and Sit #: *** Our photos were taken on 9-7-22. The first set of photos we received were all wrong. I called them, they said they would correct the order and they would resend them. Shipping took a long time but again, the replacement order was all wrong and I needed them for Christmas gifts! I called them again on 11-10-22, and spoke directly to the manager, *****. She verified that the replacements I received were indeed incorrect. She said she'd personally make sure they got done correctly and that I would receive them in 2 weeks maximum. I called on 11-29-22 and they still hadn't been shipped to me. I called again on 12-15-22, they again haven't shipped them to me yet. The manager, *****, then said they would ship by 12-19-22. On 1-2-23, I again called and was told they still haven't shipped them to me! The manager, ***** called me back on 1-3-23, and told me that they still haven't shipped them, so I then firmly requested a refund. ***** took my debit card information over the phone right then on 1-3-23 and she told me that I'd be refunded (back to my debit card) by 1-6-23. She also said she would email me the confirmation, and then took down my email address, but I never received that email. On 1-17-23, I still haven't received the refund, so I called and was told by the finance (refund) department, that they have NEVER received any request or information at all, in reference to my refund or my order! I called again on 1-18-23 and left a message for ***** to call me. I haven't heard anything back. At this point, I am way beyond upset about ALL of this! I have been overly patient, respectful and courteous. It's been almost 4.5 months since our photo session. I still haven't received an email or a refund as of 1-18-23. I am on our church finance board, and I will be bringing this to the board's attention. I want a full refund for my order!

  

  Business response

  01/27/2023

  I want to apologize for any inconvenience we have caused. This is not Universal's standard and we have taken the appropriate actions to make sure this doesn't happen again.

  Universal has refunded their order 1/19/23 and shipped their corrected portraits 1/23/23.

  Again, please accept our deepest apologies, this should have never happened.

  Customer response

  01/28/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  Thank you Universal Church Directories for your prompt attention to this matter.

• Initial Complaint

  01/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My wife and I had pictures taken for our Church directory on 8/19/2022. We purchased additional pictures for a total of $179.99, hoping to gift them for Christmas. I called the company on 11/29/2022 to check on the status. After a lengthy time on hold, I was told that the pictures would be mailed the following week. When they still didn't come, a representative from the Church reached out. They were told that the pictures had been mailed. My latest attempt to resolve the issue with this company was on 12/27/2022. I was again told that the pictures had been mailed. As of 1/16/2023 they have yet to be received.

  

  Business response

  01/19/2023

  We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused Mr. & Mrs. ********. We show the order was shipped 10/6/22 and must have been lost in the mail.

  We received a call 12/21/22 regarding missing order, we reordered immediately, but due to holidays and shut downs it took longer than normal for reprint.

  We have shipped the order and refunded also. We are sorry your portrait order did not make it for Christmas.

  Customer response

  01/19/2023

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩