[16465] in APO-L
Composites
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Cheshire)
Tue Mar 25 20:39:55 1997
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 20:38:49 -0500
Reply-To: Cheshire <derbob@RPI.EDU>
From: Cheshire <derbob@RPI.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Sharon mentioned Vantine Studios. EZ still uses them, but we have had some
problems with them the last couple years. First, they make you buy a
composite for each person who is on it (not everyone in the chapter is
interested in having one), and we lose money on that. Second, their
photographer is a real pain to deal with. Third, their sales rep is a real
pain to deal with, and it is difficult to get a real answer out of him. But
worst of all is the pressure tactics they use to get a contract. He showed
up last week to have us choose which sitting each of us would like to have on
the composite, and told our Historian that he would have to sign a contract
right then and there for the next three years in order to guarantee certain
rates, otherwise they would go up. Our Historian, not knowing any better,
signed the contract. I would rather our chapter have the chance to shop
around for a better studio. EZ doesn't know anything about other studios,
but we would at least have liked the opportunity to go to another company and
see if we can get better service.
The impression I'm getting from this discussion is there aren't all that many
wonderful studios with which to work, which is unfortunate. Anybody in New
York have any good experiences?
The good thing about our situation is that, while our Historian was pressured
to sign a contract, he had no legal authority to sign a contract for our
chapter or to incur a financial liability on behalf of the chapter. But I
wish I knew what the contract said; Vantine didn't give us a copy of it.
I wonder what other people think of Vantine.
Bernard Derboven,
Epsilon Zeta Chapter,
Alpha Phi Omega
