We have used JC Penney for years to take family photos. This particular photographer had zero suggestions for posing. She was very concerned about how many "points" she was going to lose on the session and most of the photos either chopped off part of one or more family members or were not even close to being centered. Very disappointing. read more

The photographer rushed us. I have been to other photo sessions but this was a bad experience. The end product as just as bad.

Horrible! Rushed and didn't do the correct back ground and said that they couldn't do the correct one. They were is such a hurry with us that they didn't even care what the photos looked like. I would give it no stars if i could. Never coming back here again. read more

My family (husband, 2year old, 3 month old, and myself) took pictures at the Mokena, IL JCPENNEY. They called us two days before to comform the allowed 15 minute time slot we had chosen. We were told there were no outfit changes, and that we should arrive 5 minutes early. The day of our pictures we arrived 10 minutes early to check in, but we ended up waiting over an hour before we were called back for pictures. An hour is a very long time for a two year old, much less a 3 month old to wait. The least they could have done was curtacy call us letting us know that they were running late. Needless to say by the time we got called back my 3 month old was cranky and tired, and my 2 year old was distracted by the crowd of crabby customers. Our photographer was not very professional, nor good with children, both were questions I asked prior to making an appointment with them. She did not pose us very well, and kept asking us if we wanted any more poses. I am not a professional photographer, but I know that big gaps between people does not look good. And having peoples faces blocked by other body parts is not good either. She took only 16 photos the whole time! I wanted to tell her to just keep snapping oictues so that we has a better chance of getting some good ones. She kept making comments like, I can only take a few more... as if she was limited on how many she was allowed to take. There were other families who were taking pictures for 45 minutes and doing outfit changes, but we were rushed through ours. At the end there were maybe 4 pictures that were just ok. And I say just ok, because the pictures were off center, or had a lot of dead space above our heads. I asked the girls if we could edit the photos by making them more centered, but they were not able to, even though there was a good amount of picture that was cut off that could have been used to center the picture. I do NOT recommend coming here for pictures!! Spend your money elsewhere... you get what you pay for! read more

They are a great place to go for portraits. They are digital and give you online reorder capability. Since recent manager change, much improved staff. read more

July 4th, came with a Groupon. No waiting. Alex, a new guy (since 2 other photographers quit) took the photo session. 8 times the buzzer (lighting misfire when snapping camera) went off during our shoot. A lot of the photos were dark during the review. When it came to purchasing, he could not use the Groupon code and made a mistake by asking us to redeem it (which never happened in the 4 years we've been going there) so we left without closing a transaction. If he had admitted the mistake, I would have been ok, but he denied it first by saying he didn't tell us to redeem it then said he didn't remember. It just took too long to decide on a decent pic; more than 30 minutes, he wasn't trained and his manager left for lunch so basically we were out of luck. Sad read more

I had a appointment at 8 am I was 5 min late when I walked in the women at the front could not wait to tell me they could not take my pictures any more. I said I have 4 daughters she was so rude . I took my girls there for 13 years. I will no longer take them to jcpenney . I'm so sad to have lost my Favorite place to take pictures. read more

First appointment of the day, only 1 girl there running the whole studio. In the MIDDLE of photographing my 2 young children, she stopped to answer the phone twice. Apologized for it, but totally lost the attention of my kids. Her flash stopped working, too. Many good photo ops were okay because of this. Backdrop choices were not all available to me for some reason. Left with average looking photos at best. Glad I used a Groupon so I didn't spend that much money but I could have done a better job with my iPhone and I will next time. No offense to the girl, she did the best she could but she needed help. read more

I paid 268.00 for the worst pictures ever. I let my son pick them out with his fiancé while we were shopping and that was a big mistake. But to talk them into buying 268.00 worth of pictures with no imagination just all of us standing there like soldiers. How about take out and ottoman or some different poses. read more

Madison West Towne Mall Location HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!! DO NOT GO HERE FOR NEWBORN PICTURES! The photographer was answering the phone during half of our session because she "has to". She was the only one in the studio. It was total chaos. If I had know we didn't have to buy the pictures, I wouldn't have. The quality was terrible, some weren't even focused. The photographer didn't even take time to position our baby well or fix his clothes. I was attempting to work with customer service to get a re-shoot (the only thing you can do if you make the mistake of buying the digital package), and they told me there's nothing to prevent the phone answering from happening at another studio. Apparently JCPenny is the "McDonalds of photography...just in and out" (in the photographer's words), and it is obvious. I regret choosing JCPenny SO much for this special time for my family. I could have used that money for quality pictures. Please spare yourselves! UPDATE: I was contacted by the lead in customer service. He was very professional and helped correct the situation and will be looking into our local studio. While I am much happier with the ultimate result, I still cannot recommend going to the West Towne Mall in Madison at this time. read more

Recently went to this location to have my fiancé take his SFSU graduation pictures. I called day of and was able to get in within 20 minutes. It was awesome! When we arrived we were promptly greeted and waited just a few minutes while they set up everything and we filled out a few forms. We got in and our photographer shot probably 20 shots. I loved them all great angles and speedy work. I had my 6 year old who can get restless at times however he was great given it was 10 minutes or so. Hardest part was picking our favorites since I loved them all. I highly recommend JCPenny for your photos. : ) read more

Having our portraits made at JCPenney Portraits had become a birthday tradition for our family the last 3 years, until now. This is the first year that we will NOT be using JCPenney Portraits. As before, I went to the store in person (since you can never get anyone on the phone) to make sure that they noted that my daughter would have 1 clothing change in order to first get a few photos of her dad and I with her (with our matching party shirts) and then to get some photos of her in her birthday dress. This has not been a problem until now. The woman was very adamant that a clothing change would not be possible because they were fully booked. That was a lie because the schedule was wide open when I'd just booked the session online. When I mentioned that the schedule appeared to have a lot of open slots that same day, she still refused. I even asked what time slot would allow that (as I've done before) and she made it seem as if it was not an option at all. I asked if this was something new and she made it sound like they just don't accommodate clothing changes at all. Funny thing is, this SAME WOMAN is the one who I spoke with in person LAST YEAR and who assured me at the time that it wouldn't be a problem at all. At one point she said that it'd have to be a weekday M-Th but that even changed toward the end of the conversation because when I kept asking when?? she just kept shaking her head and saying sorry, they really couldn't do that. I even asked if the next weekend would be better to allow even more time (which still made no sense since the schedule was open) but she still shook her head and said no sorry. THEN, when I went online the next day to cancel my appointment, I noticed that she added a note to the reservation saying, "Guest came by to confirm appointment. I did let her know that there is a possibility that we may not be able to honor a clothing change request depending on how busy the day is. She was upset that she did not have a guarantee that she could do a clothing change and said she would go elsewhere." What the heck?? She never mentioned that there was a 'possibility' that they may not be able to do it, she flat out told me no. She refused any flexibility. Additionally, I told her that I didn't know what I was going to do then because that's what we've always done and that I guessed I would have to try to find somewhere else. I did not cancel the appointment until I found and booked an appointment elsewhere. I'm looking forward to a fresh start with Picture People inside Buy Buy Baby! read more

My family and I went for our scheduled appointment and when we got there the camera was broken. We had to get redressed the next day to go to another studio across town. When it was time to pick the pictures up they couldn't find the photos! I will never use their studios again. read more

We didn't had a good experience during the new born photo shoot. Photographer there didn't guide us properly while taking photos. basic things fingers needs to close together, smile during clicking. etc were totally missed.. she was busy getting her 20 pic count to get 150$ price for the CD rather than guiding if the pic came out good or not. With new born parents are focusing to make sure baby is held securely etc.. so its duty of photographer to guide us in all ways.. When we saw the final compilation of pics. we were shocked to see just 2 out of 20 were good. They spent more time after photo shoot explaining different deals to get more money .. Ahh.. so confusing.. thanks to hidden rates.. One advice.. give more effort on taking better pics.. rather than getting more $ .. I will never visit this place again.. I would have done better job with my camera.. read more

Had my 16 year old pitbull's portrait taken here. Diana was just AWESOME. I'm thrilled with the pictures she was able to capture. Def ask for her if you are getting a pet photographed. read more

I called on a wednesday morning and made an appointment to come in for the groupon I had purchased and the gentleman Kale was a great help. He was pleasant on the phone and in person and made the experience much better than I expected. Reading this reviews had me a bit worried about waiting and the experience but Kale proved all of that wrong. He made the experience fun and enjoyable and time flew by while taking our pictures. We did have to wait a little bit past our appointment due to people being in front of us but nothing out of the ordinary. If you do decide to come to this location do yourself a favor and ask for Kale! read more

I took my son here to take pics. They came out nice for the most part, I did have to edit the lighting myself on my phone after downloading the digital versions which was costly for such a simple session. The service was questionable, the girl who took the pics didn't seem to have experience with taking pics of children, I did so much directing her on the shots I felt like I worked there. She wasn't helpful enough but the photos came out kind of ok. Out of about 35 shots I'd say 7 were nice after me editing them at home. The photo packages are outdated in my opinion because it's 2018 and some come with too many wallet sizes or multiple same size prints. More variety would be better but this place is decent if you want something quick and aren't picky. Best with older children because they aren't so patient with toddlers and book people close together. In the middle of a session you see others walk in and wait which puts pressure to finish up quickly. It isn't the worst or the best. read more

Wouldn't come back or recommend. We got 13 pictures from a session. That is all. Only 5 were decent. The "floor" looks wrinkled, body part were cut, not framed well, photographer wouldn't let us improvise only their poses, she didn't feel happy doing what she was doing, it is extremely overpriced, they wanted me to pay $120 for 13 digital pics. I can get 100 digital images at any other Groupon session with way more time to shoot, she only too like 20 mins and 2 shots for every pose, considering we had a toddler and a baby the chances of half of those pictures being decent are minimum. I ended up only buying 4 prints from 4 pics the only good ones and it was about $60, without any digital each digital if you want to buy one is $40. A complete rip off. read more

Just needed some head shots for professional reasons. They didn't even bother to tell me my hair was not hanging right or that my necklace was half inside my blouse. Photos were awful. My selfie that I thought was not 'professional' looking enough was much better and what I will use! And I spent $100 because I thought there were enough decent ones to review later. Ugh. read more

First off, I really liked our photographer Ricardo. He was patient, friendly, and interacted great with my kids especially being that I have an 11 month old and a 3 1/2 year old. He made my toddler comfortable and he was playful with her. I bought a groupon for $35.99 and it was worth it. The digital album that cost $100 is kind of a rip off for only 18 photos. I did add that on cause I liked the photos and wanted to have in case I needed to make reprints. I also bought 3 extra photos for $36.99. Including my groupon, I paid roughly $185 with taxes. I would definitely come back again just to have only Ricardo take our photos. I wouldn't want anyone else but him. read more

Came here to have me, my husband and our 1 year old daughter's first family photos taken. The staff was very nice and the photos came out good. The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was the price. Paid $100+ for the package, but that didn't include a CD with the photos of my choice. If you want a cd with all the photos, you have to pay $100 something for it. read more

Great value for the money!! but please avoid weekends and before holidays!

If I could give no stars I would. The photo shoot was fine and Alice was actually very nice and catering. She shot great photos. However, she was the only one there and my appointment did not start on time. I went with my mother on September 16th to pick up the photos. I literally waited 45 minutes with 2 kids screaming to finally actually be able to pick up the photos. They are completely understaffed with only one person working, who happens to be the photographer. The photos were fine except for the cards. They are thank you cards, however they said Happy Birthday on them. The lady, not Alice told me she would fix them to say whatever I wanted. I went to JCpenney soley for photos for my son's 1st birthday for the thank you cards. They said sorry and said that they would fix the problem. They even said that they would mail them to my house. I thought the problem was resolved. She said they would arrive by the 22nd. Well, today is 10/2 and my cards are still not there. I called this morning at 11 to inquire about the problem. I was told they did not know where my photos were and that they would need time to investigate because Alice was the only one there. I asked for a refund, however Alice told me the only free time that she had was at 3:00, and that I would have to come into the store, which is crazy. Alice did call me at 3:00, yelling at me that the photos were delivered to 168! The problem is my house is 186. There was a mistake on the re-order even though I confirmed my address at the studio. I kindly asked for a refund. Alice told me that she could not over the phone. She then told me that I should knock on my neighbor's door looking for the photos- great costumer service. I think that it is unfair for me not to get the refund that I want! I refuse to go back into the store and subject my children to an 1 wait, just so someone can be at the counter!!!!! I just want my thank you cards or my refund!!!!!!!!!!!! Waste of time and energy. I ended up just using my photos and making cards at Target, which was cheaper per card and printed that day. read more

I went to take portraits of my Son for his 5th birthday, during Holiday season, as he was born on the 31st. They did not listen to my comments, They did not take enough poses and props for the Birthday boy. Some of the pics were cut on the sides. Only a couple of poses were good. I would not recommend JCPenney to any one. I really felt like it was a waste of time and money spending in the studio. They were really rushing us out of the studio. Did not spend enough time. I think instead of booking appointments too close and rush out they could probably say no appointments and save our time. Its a complete bad experience. In general, I am not person who writes reviews. BUt since this is really bad I need to write this because, no one wants to waste the family time during holidays in a studio like this. read more

JCPenney Portrait Studio in Baltimore (Owings Mills): Save your money and time. The whole process is stressful, quality of cards we ordered is very mediocre. Plus you have to go to studio to pick up the order 6 days later (really? for 150$ I left for 30 cards and 10 prints they could't even mail them???), and cut all pictures on my own. For the money we paid I expected much more. Make your own pics and order online whatever prints you need. read more

This was a mess! Arrived for shoot today and the camera wasn't working. Forty-Five minutes later the camera starts working. In the middle of the shoot it stops again. Girl at the counter is a complete waste of air. She could care less that our family Christmas pictures have gone to crap! The photographer was doing his absolute best, but it was bad. Apparently these are not JC Penny employees. Rather JC Penny has leased the space to Life Touch Portrait Studios. Not sure where they are located, but it's probably not worth it anyway. If you have choices, go somewhere else. This place was small and cramped. The camera apparently was of poor quality and the hired help was not interested. Needless to say, we won't be going back. PS. This is for Regency Mall in Richmond VA read more

This company does pictures at tutor time (child care), and there is always something wrong with the pictures every year. Last year, I asked them to take off the hair tie(which had a big flower on it) and put on the beautiful band with a big flower on my daughter, what they did they just put the headband and left the hair tie, so my daughter ended up having two huge flowers on her head. This year I dressed my son up but I left a white shirt and told them to change his shirt before the pictures will be taken, since it's white i didn't want my son to mess it up, and he would've because he's very messy. So what they did was they just put the white dress shirt on top of it, so he has two shirt on the pictures, blue dress shirt inside and white dress shirt on the outside, and it looks awful. I mean, have you seen any man wear two dress shirts over each other? So I'm unhappy with their work, they just want to come in and get out, but they charge a lot. Very careless photographers. If a baby cries, they just refuse to take pics of them and go on to the next child. And then the parents wonder why their children didn't get to take any pictures when they dressed them up and the answer is "your child cried and refused". read more

I have been coming here for 8 years... and for some reason the last year had been shitty customer service but today I've had enough...first I called today as soon as they opened to see if they had any later appointments,they claimed they didn't ..weird I went online yesterday and they had several appointments available ok whatever ... he(omar) states that we need to be on time for the appointment for they won't be taking late appointments, ok that's fine ( However I've been late and on time and they take me anyway and nine times out of 10 they are running behind)... so I get there on time and I get no acknowledgement NONE!!! Mind you I've worked in customer service ...next thing he proceeds to do is help other ppl... he help the lady who came in after me and her appointment was at 12:45 mines is at 12:30 something is not adding up... so it took him 10 min after he did all that to notice I was in there ... and asks pretty much why I'm here... wtf the same reason everyone else is.. I got no apology for overlooking or the wait... pictures are ok just nothing special no props no nothing if I asked you what occasion my picture is for you won't be able to notice that it's for Easter ... fast forward ... done with my session and waiting for them to show me the photos and yet I'm waiting again.... Pppl were checked in,ppl came in to get their photos and the phone was also answered and helped... yet I'm still waiting and again no sorry for the wait blah blah blah nada... he shows me the photos and they are the most genetic "extra " photos they have ever made ... considering I have worked for life touch and have been going there for 8 years I could have made better colleges my 7 year old could have did way better ...over all try to find a better professional place to take your pictures ... pictures are basic but good , customer service every time I come lately had been a 0 and real shitty... read more

Worst experience ever. We went there to get our Christmas pictures taken. The 30$ session was short, and without asking us what we want, he just told us where to stand and sit, and was done in a few minutes. Then we saw the pictures, which were really bad with eyes closed, and most unusable. We did not read the small print of there coupon, which forced us to buy 48 Christmas cards and pay the session fee, despite not liking the pictures. Then they told us the cards will not be ready in time before Christmas unless we pay extra 20$ for delivery. We paid the 20$ extra and just received the cards, which were cut wrong, cutting off in the middle of one picture and showing white boarders on one side. read more

Super unprofessional photographer. Super cheap backgrounds paper thin that wrinkle when you step on them. Our photographer took the photo while the background was all wrinkled and never bothered to fix it. Additionally, in our photos you can see outside the studio or outside the backdrop like several inches over to the left and right of the backdrop. For my sons individual portrait photo the photographer took it horizontal like a landscape photo when it should be vertical for an individual portrait. You can only see him from the shoulders up. Looks ridiculous. They do not print the photos the same day like Portrait Innovations you have to come back several weeks later. Also they printed the wrong things I asked for. I asked all family photos to be printed in 8 x 10s and single portraits to be 5 x 7s and they printed the family photos in 5 x 7s instead of 8 x 10s. Before I booked with them they said they had several Christmas backgrounds to choose from, well when I show up there was one that's it. Then the whole time they are pressuring you to sign up for the Portrait Club for an additional fee. I told them I wasn't really interested in that and they insisted I get it. Then when I pick up my photos they try to scam you one last time saying, "Well we printed these extra photos. The company makes us print them to try and sell you on them for an extra $20 before you leave the studio with your prints. You have to look at what we printed out." This is the most unprofessional place I have ever taken family photos. I will never go back. Do not waste your money or time. I spent $280 for something that looks completely unprofessional. Never again! read more

Don't waste your money going to this awful place. I was given no other options than to buy digital downloads I did not want, and they are a rip off!! $50 dollars for ONE picture. Santa photos are a better deal than that. I feel scammed and of course they do nothing but offer you to go back. Yeah I'd rather take pictures with my phone than ever go back there again!!!!!!!!!!! read more

They were able to make accommodations for us even after we came a little late called ahead of time to let them know. but limited us to one background and had to wait 30 mins till we could take our pictures. But pictures came out good. Extremely hot in there. read more

I had gone to JCP Portraits 5 years ago and got some TERRIFIC photographs. They were just wonderful. So, without hesitation, I booked a session around the Thanksgiving holiday. It wasn't terribly crowded, as it used to be. The gentleman that checked us in said that based on what we were wearing that he preferred 2 different options of backgrounds he gave me. I decided to try both. Well, the problem arose when we went in to see the photographer. (By the way, this was the same photographer that took those amazing pictures 5 years ago). So I felt confident in his abilities. He had us changing positions more times than I can count. He was very rushed and just seemed to want to get out of there. My goal was to have some pics of my 11-year-old son and some pics of me and my 11-year-old son. After he had us change positions gazillion times, he looked at his camera, announced that he was done and scurried us out of there, muttering that someone would have our pictures at the computer in just a moment. A red flag went up. He rushed. The pictures are going to represent that. About 10 minutes later, a lady showed me the "best" of the worst. These pictures she showed us were horrible! Our eyes were closed in half of them. I could not find one decent picture of both my son and me. I settled for two 5X7s of my son by himself. This wrecked my original idea of a 'family photo'. It just didn't happen. I paid for the one sheet of photos that I did buy and got the heck out of there. I will NEVER, EVER go back to that hideous place. They have literally gone down the toilet. DO NOT GO THERE TO GET YOUR PICTURES. YOU'LL REGRET IT. I'm going to look through Yelp and see if I can find a local portrait photographer locally next time. Lesson learned. read more

This place is a total disaster. Don't even bother with an appointment because you'll still wait and wait and wait. If I could do zero stars I would. Young guy sits at desk debating for 15 minutes whether he would take us or wait for an appointment coming in 30 minutes. What????!!! Won"t ever be back here. How do they stay in business? Not sure. Totally inept management. Just save yourself and your kids the aggravation and go elsewhere read more

Outstanding customer service. Both staff members were great and I would definitely recommend. Beware of Sears portrait center, their staff is rude... read more

The session I had with JCpenny was ridiculous! The pictures came out horrible and you can see all the imperfections in the session, the floor had bumps in it, my baby's shoe was falling off and they didn't even say anything while taking photos. We waited over an hour pass out appointment time and we were rushed and also paid almost $200 for our pictures because we were rushed into purchasing them. They zoom in so we didn't see the imperfections until we got the actual pictures. Never again! Asked for a refund and they said no. It takes one person to spread a word around and if it makes it big, then someone wants to offer the little people something back. I'm am very angry and frustrated with JCpenny. And everyone I spoke to sounded like they didn't even care. Only one person actually felt bad for me from your company but there was nothing he could do for me. First and last time taking pictures at JCpenny. read more

We recently went and got our family pics taken here via my Mother's Day request. I made the mistake of going to the wrong JCPenney. (I was at serramonte instead of Tanforan.) Our appointment was scheduled for 5 so when I called to tell them I thought I would have to re-schedule. They were totally cool about it. They had us come in and wait for the next opening (@6:20.) Well, as you can imagine my almost 2year old daughter was tired and cranky by the time we went in the room. She didn't want to sit still and refused to look at the camera. I thought for sure we should just leave and come back with her in good spirits. Then... The other lady whose name I believe was Jenna came into the room and played with her to make her smile and laugh for the photos. The two girls that were there did such and amazing job!! What lifesavers!! I picked my pics up today and Megan did such a great job. Thank you ladies for the amazing-ness :) read more

What happened to this place? This used to be the go to for baby/children/family photos. Today, at the Tanforan location in south San Francisco, we received the worst customer service EVER from Evelyn and Diana (manager at that time). We scheduled our appointment at 3:15 pm. We arrived at 3:20 pm and had one person in front of me checking in. It took 5 minutes for Evelyn to even reach the register and another 5 minutes to help the woman in front of me. By the time I checked in, it was 3:30 pm and I was immediately greeted with "please pick your 2 backgrounds and you are late so you have lost your appointment time." I explained to Evelyn i was here with 3 small children under the age of 5 and waited 10 minutes for her to get to me in line. She then told me we would be taken after the next appointment. A whole HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES later, I asked when we would be taken in (still waiting with the 3 small children) and she told me it would be another 20 minutes. A family offered for us to take their spot to take our photos but Evelyn refused to take us. I spoke with Diana and explained the situation and she just stood there and said sorry. What a horrible experience!!! I would understand if we were 15 or 20 minutes late for our appointment but 5 minutes and then had to wait to be talked to at the register. So sad!!! read more

Beware - photos are not always printed as they appear on the preview screens in studio (in a good way). I was completely bummed when the adorable pictures of my daughter with a gray background were washed out - the background was so white (even though it was a gray background), you could barely see her. So, I ordered all my pics with the less preferred black background. Then the photo session was emailed to me with much better quality. So, I ended up ordering more photos online which arrived before (with free shipping I might add) the original ones I ordered in-store. Net/net - the screens in their studio or completely out-of-date and of terrible quality. I don't know if this is a SCAM to get people to buy more photos or what but it was SO frustrating. Even the girl at the desk mentioned it when I picked them up - "oh yea, I remember you. Weird, I thought you had a white background but they are gray now. I'll talk to my Manager about this." Will I receive any kind of refund? Of course not. If I had to do over, I would order 1 sheet of photos in store, and then wait for the digital session. They give you better deals, the images are more accurately portrayed, and the shipping is faster. read more

Mu pics came out kind of boring. This is my first time here and yes, this will be the last. The photog didnt even try to make the kids smile...poses arent great either. Back to picture people! read more