Ryan, one of the guys in the office where I work has had some issues with this company, so promised I’d blog about it.

So my loves, here goes:

Ryan bought his girlfriend a gift for her 21st birthday – a ‘Deluxe Fashion Experience’ at New ID Photographic Studios in London – 17-18 Margaret Street, London W1W 8RP.

The experience included a haircut, a makeover and a photoshoot. He paid £50 for the ‘makeover session’, and an additional £50 to put towards any photos which she wanted to purchase.

Initially everything was going really well – the hair and makeup was lovely, and she really enjoyed the photoshoot.

They fully intended to purchase a couple of photos – (as a momento if you will) however, at New ID they employ some fairly sneaky selling tactics.

They rolled out the ‘you should really consider modelling’ line.

Buoyed up with a couple of free glasses of bubbly, seeing the photos, and the photographer’s reaction Ryan and his girlfriend (both 21) were swayed a little.

As Ryan’s girlfriend had previously modelled as a child the idea of going back to it didn’t seem too outrageous.

The staff at New ID then went on to suggest that she’d need a portfolio of pictures if it was something that she wanted to pursue…

That was the clincher.

End game is – they fell for it. At a terrifying cost of around £1,400 they decided to purchase all of the pictures. As you’d expect a couple of 21 year olds don’t have that sort of money knocking about, so they took out a credit agreement.

Come Monday – the realisation dawned that they’d been had.

Having called around a couple of modelling agencies they found out that not only was Ryan’s girlfriend too short to model – even if she was taller – she would not need a portfolio to approach an agency. Typically modelling agencies simply require a couple of photos – and it really doesn’t matter how professional or otherwise they are.

Perhaps unsurprisingly – it seems that New ID make it very difficult to get your money back. They claim that the agreement which Ryan & his girlfriend entered into cannot be cancelled.

To add insult to injury, they then called up Ryan’s girlfriend to ask permission to use her photos for promotional purposes on their website.

Without wishing to sound like a Daily Mail reader, I think that the policies and indeed the behaviour of this company are reprehensible.

Let’s face it, a couple of 21 year olds, who’ve had a really nice day, who’ve been loosened up with the complimentary bubbly are pretty easy prey.

I’m not a lawyer, but it may be that from a legal standpoint their ‘no cancellation’ policy can be upheld.

But this company’s business practise of encouraging young girls to purchase ‘portfolio pictures’ which they do not even need is, as far as I’m concerned, morally devoid.