Hot Shot Imaging

I am rejecting this response because:The business is using the pictures for commercial purposesPer the law they can take pictures but cannot use it for advertisement or commercial purposes. When the theme parks take your pictures, while you are in the ride, they do not publish them on the internet because that would make it commercial purpose as you want others to see the pictures and see what they will possibly be gettingIn this case, they have taken my pictures and put them on the website for everyone to seeTaking pictures may be allowed but putting them online for commercial purposes without my permission is not allowed

Message: You’ll find below our email trail with [redacted].  We advertise on our website that we shoot the “Tunnel Chute Rapid”.  That’s what we always shoot and that’s what he purchased – a picture of his raft going through the rapid.  What he is complaining about is a shot of his...

boat going thru the actual “Tunnel Chute” – it is after the rapid is over and is a bit past the rapid itself. We never advertise shooting that shot.  On occasion, one of our photographers uses his own equipment to shoot some “bonus” shots of boats going thru the “Tunnel Chute” that we throw in for no charge.  We don’t regularly do it so never advertise or charge for it.  Also, each boat has a random number of shots taken of it as well.  It could be 15 shots or 50.  It depends on a number of factors that we don’t control.  I believe this customer is just trying to get something for free from us.  He was absolutely under no obligation to purchase the image that he did.  He saw the image in our store and made the decision to purchase it.  For that he gets a digital image which has no value returning as he can already have made multiple copies of.  Customer satisfaction has always been a priority for us but I am not willing to refund a customer who threatens us and has a baseless claim.  Thanks so much for your help.

Response:This is my response to Complaint ID [redacted].  The complainant says “The business is telling a lie. They advertise the previous trip pictures…”.  This is untrue. We actually do not advertise any pictures.  At the end of the day we upload trip pictures for those customers who wish to view them and possibly purchase them.  This is not advertising. We never say they get the same shots. Actually it is impossible to get identical shots as there are many variables that affect the shots.  Some boats we even miss shooting at all because the cameras digital card is full.  Other times we shoot only a few shots if there are many boats coming through the rapid at the same time.  Other times we’ll shoot 4 times as many shots if someone falls out of the boat.  We only advertise that we shoot the “TunnelChute Rapid”. The key word here is “Rapid”.  [redacted] actually bought a picture of the “Rapid”. He was wanting a shot of the “Chute” which we do NOT advertise as selling and usually don’t take a picture of.  At any rate, any customer has the choice to purchase the photos or not as they get that choice only AFTER having viewed them and not before.As for needing permission to put pictures online, we do not need permission.  We know photo copyright laws and as long as we do not use a particular picture in an advertisement piece, no “photo release” is required. We’ve done the research and know the law.  I am sorry for [redacted]’s confusion on these matters.  In over 13 years in business and shooting over 10 million pictures, we’ve never had a single complaint of this nature.[redacted]

Review: The Hotshot Imaging company provides photography services for rafting on the Middle River. Its website says that they will shoot images at the Tunnel Chute Rapid. It also provides pictures of the previous customers wit ha watermark.I had looked at the previous customers pictures and they had taken shots of the raft entering the tunnel. This was a shot I was interested in. I had gone rafting on sat, Sep 12, 2015. On that day the photographer did not have the tools to take the picture of us entering the tunnel. I was so furious because that is one shot I absolutely needed.I had driven to their store which is a 30 min drive out of the way from 80W. Upon reaching the store I found that they did not take the shot with the tunnel in the background. Because I had driven a lot, I just ended up buying a picture for $22 which I did not like.It is a pity that a company which charges $22 for a single image cannot guarantee the level of service. Some customer do get the tunnel shot and some do not. The company claims that it is based on the photographer. I would counter saying that the bad photographer should only be charging $1 per picture instead of the $22 per picture.Desired Settlement: 1. Refund me the $22 that I paid for the image which I did not really need.2. Provide me free pictures of the trip as their photographer screwed up and did not take the pictures which they usually take for all customers.3. I paid $260 for the rafting trip and ended up not having the image I needed. The same image which other customers did get in the recent past.

Business

Response:

Message: You’ll find below our email trail with [redacted]. We advertise on our website that we shoot the “Tunnel Chute Rapid”. That’s what we always shoot and that’s what he purchased – a picture of his raft going through the rapid. What he is complaining about is a shot of his boat going thru the actual “Tunnel Chute” – it is after the rapid is over and is a bit past the rapid itself. We never advertise shooting that shot. On occasion, one of our photographers uses his own equipment to shoot some “bonus” shots of boats going thru the “Tunnel Chute” that we throw in for no charge. We don’t regularly do it so never advertise or charge for it. Also, each boat has a random number of shots taken of it as well. It could be 15 shots or 50. It depends on a number of factors that we don’t control. I believe this customer is just trying to get something for free from us. He was absolutely under no obligation to purchase the image that he did. He saw the image in our store and made the decision to purchase it. For that he gets a digital image which has no value returning as he can already have made multiple copies of. Customer satisfaction has always been a priority for us but I am not willing to refund a customer who threatens us and has a baseless claim. Thanks so much for your help.

Business

Response:

Response:This is my response to Complaint ID [redacted]. The complainant says “The business is telling a lie. They advertise the previous trip pictures…”. This is untrue. We actually do not advertise any pictures. At the end of the day we upload trip pictures for those customers who wish to view them and possibly purchase them. This is not advertising. We never say they get the same shots. Actually it is impossible to get identical shots as there are many variables that affect the shots. Some boats we even miss shooting at all because the cameras digital card is full. Other times we shoot only a few shots if there are many boats coming through the rapid at the same time. Other times we’ll shoot 4 times as many shots if someone falls out of the boat. We only advertise that we shoot the “TunnelChute Rapid”. The key word here is “Rapid”. [redacted] actually bought a picture of the “Rapid”. He was wanting a shot of the “Chute” which we do NOT advertise as selling and usually don’t take a picture of. At any rate, any customer has the choice to purchase the photos or not as they get that choice only AFTER having viewed them and not before.As for needing permission to put pictures online, we do not need permission. We know photo copyright laws and as long as we do not use a particular picture in an advertisement piece, no “photo release” is required. We’ve done the research and know the law. I am sorry for [redacted]’s confusion on these matters. In over 13 years in business and shooting over 10 million pictures, we’ve never had a single complaint of this nature.[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:The business is using the pictures for commercial purposes. Per the law they can take pictures but cannot use it for advertisement or commercial purposes. When the theme parks take your pictures, while you are in the ride, they do not publish them on the internet because that would make it commercial purpose as you want others to see the pictures and see what they will possibly be getting. In this case, they have taken my pictures and put them on the website for everyone to see. Taking pictures may be allowed but putting them online for commercial purposes without my permission is not allowed.