Picture Day

Today my little boy is 21 months old. I have always had pictures of my kids taken very often so today was picture day. We went to Sears Portrait Studio to have them done. From the time my daughter was 4 weeks old until she turned 5 we have taken her to Sears for pictures. On her 6th birthday we started taking her to Wal-mart for her pictures. I hope to do the same for my little boy but we'll see.

Although the girl did a good job getting my son to smile today and the pictures turned out well, I am a bit annoyed with how Sears lets you use the coupons they give you. Here's a little history on how I acquired one of the coupons I wanted to use at my visit today.

Back in the fall we did family pictures with them and I was NOT happy with the overall experience. I'm usually a pretty quiet person but I flat out told the people working the day we were there how I felt. My hubby wasn't even too pleased with this visit and it takes quite a bit for him to be annoyed with something. He's pretty laid back. After our pictures were taken, I had told the people working that out of all the years I'd been coming there (since 2003) that this time was by far my WORST experience ever. When asked what they could have done to make it better I told them they needed to have people working there that knew what they were doing. So then the girl was all apologetic and gave me some free coupons for free portrait sheets that I could use at future visits. I had actually thought about never going back to Sears for pictures but decided to try again since the ones working the night I wasn't happy were just seasonal helpers.

Well, today at my visit I wanted to use one of those coupons and also a 20% off my total purchase coupon which the girl said would be fine. Now Sears Portrait Studio also has a Smile Savers plan that you purchase to be a part of that gives you a free 8x10 when you have pictures taken. Since I wanted to use my coupon for a free portrait that I was given for not being pleased back in the fall, the girl told me I could not get the free 8x10 with the Smile Savers plan. It was either one or the other.

I personally am annoyed with this because what is the point in being in the plan if you don't get one of the perks of it if you use any other coupons? Why mail me coupons if I can't use them if I am in the plan? And I definitely don't see why they bother to give me a coupon for a free portrait if they won't let me use it the way I want! I basically told the girl that I thought it was kind of stupid to give me a coupon for not being happy and then not let me take advantage of it. So today I basically lost the perk of a free 8x10 for being a Smile Savers plan member in order to use the coupon I was given for being unhappy in the fall. I feel I should have been able to receive both but hey, guess that is just my opinion! Oh well! We'll see if I keep using Sears Portrait Studio in the future or not! Only time will tell!