Here's some inside info that applies to all JCP Portraits: Once u get here prepared to be rushed, upsold to, and 9/10, working with an inexperienced photographer no matter what time of year. Once in the camera room... PRAY the photographer is good with posing. And kids? You have a 50/50 chance the photographer has the patience and skill to work with them. This company prioritizes people who will comply over skill. They hire young people who have never used a camera, as long as they can pretend to know what they're doing. Prepare to feel rushed. Especially during their cash grab "events", weekends, and holiday seasons. They have a 15 min time limit no matter what age, disability, or group size...unless u pay a fee for more time. Thats on top of $15 per person. And of course, not an option during Xmas season, their busiest time of year. EXPERT ADVICE!! if u chose to gamble your money on Xmas photos here: request the manager take ur pics and go in early November for best results. The company trains you not to care about the customer's budget. Just try to ask them about pricing or coupons before the session lol they train to never talk about prices until after the photos are done. And they can NEVER offer the customer coupons. Workers are there to upsell u at all costs. But Don't worry they make $5 commission on the almost $400 package. Another tip: check out their GROUPON OFFERS haha they hate those bc they're harder to upsell you on they're genuinely good deals. This company doesn't care about their own workers, let alone your family's memories. They constantly overbook during their Xmas season and it makes everyone, including the customer, stressed out. Please consider taking your business elsewhere. The world would be a better place without companies like this existing. No one benefits but the corporate overlords. Eat a "stick". read more

I am so heartbroken that this year my session was horrible!!!! I have been bringing my boys to this location since they were born. This was the first time I had an awful experience with the photographer. She provided no direction in the beginning n once I told to her that usually the photographers tell us how to pose. She then gave very little direction after and I tried to make the best of it. Once I saw the photos I was heartbroken to see almost every picture my son his hair covering his eyes or it looked off or one person wasn't smiling. I have never been so unhappy with pictures!!! Usually I pick out so many pictures and have always loved coming here!!! Once I complained about it the manager said she can do another session but I would need to pay another fee!!!! They were over an hour late and I didn't like any of the pictures!!!! That is completely wrong!!!! I was so upset I picked only 2 pictures ( out of 28!!!!!) even tho I prepaid for 3 and wanted to cry but just tried to hurry up and leave!!!! Literally cried in my car and we will never be returning to this location again!!!!!! read more

Horrible customer service skills. No point in making an appointment since they take people in first come first serve.

i wish i could review with no stars. to start off our appointment was scheduled for 6:15pm. We waited about 10 mins to be able to check in because the workers were busy (this is understandable) we check in and the guy tells us it's about a 30 minute wait before our session (this is not what we had in mind however no problem). it wasn't until 45 minutes later did we get seen. we walked into the room and instantly the photographer lady told us our 15 minute timer had started.(this was NOT prefaced beforehand) she gave no direction to poses and constantly told us we were out of frame. even after we adjusted she didn't say anything about us being out of frame. now when i asked if the 15 minute timer was standard she said "well we did already close at 7". again we got there on time. Once it was time to take our pictures my sibling was cut out of frame, mid smile, and no smile in the all of the pictures. after expressing we weren't satisfied with the photos she said it was our responsibility to make sure we were in frame and smiling.(how can we see if we are in the frame??) the photographer was very rude and was ready to just get us out of there. when asking for a military discount she said that's something we should've done before NOT providing any assistance as to how we could get it. after a few back and forth conversation about not being satisfied her co worker adam stepped in and was much more patient and understanding. the photographer rushed us and was very inconsiderate about our session. she seemed to be annoyed or in a bad mood from the very start. she blamed it on being short staffed and how everyone got 15 mins in the room. (this is not accurate because the party before us had about 20-25 minutes) i would NEVER return back here due to the poor customer service from the photographer. very disappointed in the photos read more

This place is HORRIBLE! not helpful at all. These people are not helpful in any way, did not give ideas for poses or have props for my 7th month to support sit up. Photographer seemed overwhelmed and rushed. Would never return to this place again. If you do book here, ask to have anyone but LISA help you with your photos. read more

My photographer was Remington and she was THEE BEST but they had her doing the job of 3 people so she was running all over to take our pictures, answer phones, check people in, SHE DID IT ALL!!! She's not even the manager and yet she's doing so much work. Whoever the manager of this location is, or whoever is in charge, needs to give Remington a raise for all the tasks that she was doing! Also, prior to my photos I overheard her getting sassed by people that obviously have no respect for retail or customer service employees and she handled them like a champ because I would've deleted their photos on the spot and thrown them out for the way they were acting and I'm sure they weren't the first or only people that treat these employees that way either by the looks of some of these reviews. My photos were great and Remington was very polite and helpful despite having to deal with mean people prior. Either she gets a raise or she should get a job where the clientele respect her and their staffed appropriately read more

I wouldn't have went here if I had known you have to wait 2 weeks to get your photos printed plus a shipping fee. Plus the sitting fee of $15. I thought it was just one fee of $15 not per person. I literally paid $140 for only digital copies (emailed copies to me) and ONE PRINTED PHOTO which was supposed to be free but yet comes with a $5 fee for shipping that ONE photo. They should disclose the fact that they aren't printing and are shipping instead so that way you don't show up and find out after the session is all done. So disappointed. I feel ripped off and the only reason I'm somewhat okay is because these are my Newborns photos so obviously not going to put him through a whole other session. All the added fees are ridiculous especially for not even walking out with prints. read more

I have been disappointed with every part of my experience with this studio. I had a fabulous experience with JCPenney portraits at the Whittier location, and was expecting the same at Lakewood, but unfortunately this was not the case. My husband and I brought our 18mo son for a family portrait and the photographer seemed to have no experience working with children. Every attempt to engage my son was half-hearted and I ended up having to do all the work to make him laugh and smile. When it was time to review our photos, the girl at the computer insisted on showing me several of her "creation" ideas even after I told her specifically what I was looking for. We were short on time and I ended up feeling rushed and pressured to buy a collage that she made. Then when we got our portrait, the girl at the desk didn't offer to open it and check the quality and correct order. I had to request it. She did a very rushed job, and when I got home I found out there is some slight warping on the edge of the picture. read more

Horrible horrible horrible. The ladies don't know how to photograph at all! I went in with my three kids and the photos came out ugly. Took some with my kids and you can see my sons head with no body. I called the manger and she never called me back. They don't even deserve one star. Don't waste your time going! read more

Awful. They are so rushed. They stuck my baby in a basket took a few pictures and called it a day. Then when I called to see where my Xmas pictures were at they told me that I may not get them til February. Too bad so sad was basically what they told me. My recommendation is to go with a local photographer and skip the crappy service and shit customer service you get from JCPENNEY and Life touch. read more

Don't waste your time with JCPenney's Portraits in West Covina. We visited this place just after Christmas, and scheduled an appointment. When we walked in there was no customers in the studio, so we were able to jump right into our photo sitting. But that was the only pleasant experience with this visit. The (teenage girl) photographer appeared to be a novice and didn't know what she was doing. It was apparent when we had a chance to look at her work. The poses she had us position in were awkward to say the less and that was apparent in the photographs. Additionally, some of the people were missing part of their heads in the photographs. When we reluctantly chose some pictures to have placed onto a CD, that took over an hour to happen since the computers could not operate properly (according to the girl, the computers were "overloaded."). This will be my first and LAST time coming to this place. read more

Appointment was at 11:10 and it is now 11:40. The photographer was great and all the shots came out nice though. Expensive as hell. read more

JcPenney Portraits - Shooting area. - Session Photography Near Me - West Covina, California

Took my daughter for her newborn photos . They came out ok . The photographer seemed very overwhelmed and annoyed cause she wasn't sleeping though . What can I say my baby was born with her eyes open literally. She also seemed that way cause it was a busy day. I felt rushed when I was choosing the pics. I didn't feel she had good skills . But they get an extra star for allowing me to change some sheets at the end. read more

I usually go to the JcPenneys photographers in Arcadia. They are great; yet my family lives in West Covina. I scheduled a 7:20pm appointment. Large family portrait of 7 adults and 4 children. The staff was very slow. Our wait time was 1hr and 20minutes. The male photographer had trouble with his camera and instead of fixing it he kept on showing us every picture on the camera. Usually the photographer takes a variety of pictures different poses and shots and after the whole session we go out and choose our favorite poses. No instead this guy took a picture and showed it to us on the little window of his camera one at a time after every picture. The focus was way off, it looked like the images you get when you take a picture with a very bad cell phone. After wasting our time (keep in mind we had 4 kids with us) he still kept on winning about his faulty camera. I decided to stop the shoot and have him fix or replace the camera. Just when I thought things were getting bad..... after fixing his camera we continued with the shoot. He took a lot of pictures he was very slow and the kids were just bored. He wanted more pictures but I said that we had enough. He said he needed more pictures because he had erased some of the ones he had already taken. He took it upon himself to erase the pictures he found bad. Usually that is for the client to decide! Never again! read more