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08/28/2006 10:52:44 AM · #1 |
//www.photolaureates.org/
I submitted a photo there for a contest, and they came back to say they were including it in an anthology. They seem to publish a few of them a year.
While it'd be fun to see my shot in a book, I'm wary of this just being a site that collects photos to sell overpriced books. Maybe I should buy a book only if I win the prize. ;)
Has anyone heard of them, and do you have any comments about them? |
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08/28/2006 10:55:23 AM · #2 |
| Scam! Everyone and I mean EVERYONE gets "published" and you get to get the book for a steep price! |
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08/28/2006 01:59:01 PM · #3 |
| Thanks! That's what I figured. |
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08/28/2006 02:07:15 PM · #4 |
I received the same thing for a picture I sent in earlier this year. What made me suspicious was last year I entered a picture of my cat in a photo contest and got a letter very similar to it. I ordered the book, paid extra for a biography. When I received the book I couldn't believe some of the pictures that were in there. It was obvious that everyone was put in this book, reguarless of the quality of the photo. When I received the one from photolaureates, it immediatly put up a red flag. I wasn't about to pay $65 for a book with any old picture in it.
Heather Brown
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07/19/2007 10:41:36 AM · #5 |
Hi Heather,
Do you know how long it took to get the book? When I asked how I should get a refund, they said they would mail me a cheque.
I have never seen a merchant give a cheque (essentially cash) for a credit card purchase. How strange is that? When I asked them about it, I didn't receive a reply from them.
What's more, I don't have a definite date from them as to when the book will arrive. How long did it take for you to get your book?
Regards,
Danny |
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07/19/2007 11:14:39 AM · #6 |
Run... fast & far from those guys. They only want your money. You could send them a picture of a blank screen and they would tell you its a winner & will be published and you only need to send them a few checks in the mail.......
..... RUN
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07/19/2007 11:19:30 AM · #7 |
Originally posted by dannybirdie:
Hi Heather,
Do you know how long it took to get the book? When I asked how I should get a refund, they said they would mail me a cheque.
I have never seen a merchant give a cheque (essentially cash) for a credit card purchase. How strange is that? When I asked them about it, I didn't receive a reply from them.
What's more, I don't have a definite date from them as to when the book will arrive. How long did it take for you to get your book?
Regards,
Danny |
If you dont hear from them soon, go through your credit card company to get the money back. |
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07/19/2007 12:05:17 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Originally posted by dannybirdie:
Hi Heather,
Do you know how long it took to get the book? When I asked how I should get a refund, they said they would mail me a cheque.
I have never seen a merchant give a cheque (essentially cash) for a credit card purchase. How strange is that? When I asked them about it, I didn't receive a reply from them.
What's more, I don't have a definite date from them as to when the book will arrive. How long did it take for you to get your book?
Regards,
Danny |
If you dont hear from them soon, go through your credit card company to get the money back. |
Yup I agree, if you paid with a credit card, simply email the company canceling your order and inform your credit card company that you want the payment stoped through them as the other company is unresonsive to phone calls and emails...
I had to do that recently with a magazine subscription where after 6 months of a pretty much 1 way conversation with the distributor I called my CC company and they nuked the purchase and refunded me... |
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08/18/2008 09:42:42 PM · #9 |
Be aware of photolaureates.org. Unfortunately I was a victim of a clever and money making SCAM.
These are facts that have happened to me, I have kept all evidence and can uphold my claims with living proof.
I’m a professional photographer, but wanted to get some recognition from somewhere serious on the web. As most photographers, you’d like to know if you’re doing a good job by showing others your work and getting critics to evaluate you.
After a brief search throughout the web, I found photolaureates.org . Happy with my find, I signed up and entered an very nice photo that I took while in Brazil. A few weeks later I receive an email congratulating me and informing that I was chosen as a finalist in the 2008 photography competition. With all the hype if this email, I sent in a high resolution final for the book that was supposedly going to be published in.
One this was done, I received an email with options to pay for an award plaque, and pay more for a larger photo and biography. I did so, spending a total of about $ 160.00 for 1 large photo, 1 book (2008 photography awards) and 1 customized biography.
Once this was done, I was asked to wait from November 2007 all the way until April of 2008 to receive my award and the 2008 published book. So far, so good!
Finally after waiting even longer than the announced time, my package finally arrived on July, 10 of 2008. I was so happy, but puzzled when I opened the package. Nothing in the package was from photolaureates.org, it was all from a place called “Photography Vibes – best of edition” but miraculously was exactly to the “T” of what I ordered from photolaureates.org. At the moment I brushed it off and went my merry way.
Being that everything did arrive, I was so proud of my award and being published in a book that completely blew off my first impression and went to show some friends my accomplishment!
Once I got there and showed various of my friends the award and photo, which, by the way was the only photo in the whole book that had its own page and the photo was larger than all the other ones in the entire book, and was the only photo that had its own biography (all the other biographies are small and in the last few pages of the book).
When I pulled out the award to show everyone, at first everyone was impressed, I was too!! But then one of my friend pointed out and said “Strange, I didn’t know that Snoop Dog and Notorious B.I.G. were into photography”, to which I replied, “what??”.
At this point everything started to go downhill, and show the true colors of what was really going on.
To my shock, embarrassment and disbelief, I saw my award signed by “Calvin Broadus, Director” and “Christopher Wallace, Coordinator”. Do those names ring any bells??
So, naturally, I went online to check this all out, sure enough, I came across 10 forums of people all saying the same thingâ€Â¦ it’s a SCAM!!! At one point someone mentioned that they fell for it too, and when they figured it out, they saw that the page that was in the book was GLUED to another page at the binding. As curiosity got the best of me, I looked at my book, and sure enough, my photo was glued into the book as well.
At this point I was furious and needed to tell people about this. How can someone claim to be something wonderful, then turn around and make money off some ones biggest dreams and turn these dreams into ashes by faking everything and sending out a load of crap.
MAY EVERYONE BE WARNED - THIS IS A SCAM - RUN!!!
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08/18/2008 09:48:05 PM · #10 |
| oh hey i did this last year. dont |
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11/26/2008 11:20:53 AM · #11 |
| I've been waiting for my book since 10-2-2007 from photo laureates. The last few emails I have sent to them have gone unanswered. For those of you who did get books-- consider yourself. At least you have something to show for your $$. I have an order confirmation. |
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11/26/2008 11:25:01 AM · #12 |
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11/26/2008 12:38:48 PM · #13 |
Personally, I thought the whole thing just reeked when they contacted me.....why should you have to pay for this book and award if you "Won".
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12/14/2008 02:09:53 PM · #14 |
| I never sent them anything but I "won".....I have a strange strong aversion to any winning contests I've not entered. |
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12/14/2008 02:27:36 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
Personally, I thought the whole thing just reeked when they contacted me.....why should you have to pay for this book and award if you "Won". |
Yeah... When I win something it doesn't involve MY credit Card.... |
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01/15/2009 03:20:35 AM · #16 |
| I won or was chosen as 1 of the winners of the $6500 cash prize - all I have to do is send them $69 to get a copy of "my hardbound book" with my photo published in it! I just received a "second notice" email telling me I have to respond by Jan 20, 2009 or the offer will not be repeated!! ROTS A RUCK GUYS - NOT MY MONEY -sorry charlie - This has got to be a scam -but with the economy as bad as it is now, these guys got to also have rocks in their collective heads. And how did I find them - I googled pet photo contests and voila - they were part of the result - and the bait - its free to enter -- don't do it - or, if you enter - don't buy your own photo - it is yours, you can print or scan and print it any time you want. Why pay for what is already yours?? |
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01/15/2009 07:58:47 AM · #17 |
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01/21/2009 09:00:32 AM · #18 |
Hi all,
I've done some searching and found that //www.photolaureates.org has //www.globat.com as their hosting provider.
I've sent globat.com an e-mail asking them if they can at least keep photolaureates from sending me these mails since I've got a
feeling that unsubscribing to their newsletter won't help. Maybe if enough people file a complaint it's even possible to shut them down completely!
Let's see what happens...
Message edited by author 2009-01-21 09:08:57.
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01/21/2009 09:33:24 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by CAROLE6115:
I won or was chosen as 1 of the winners of the $6500 cash prize - all I have to do is send them $69 to get a copy of "my hardbound book" with my photo published in it! I just received a "second notice" email telling me I have to respond by Jan 20, 2009 or the offer will not be repeated!! ROTS A RUCK GUYS - NOT MY MONEY -sorry charlie - This has got to be a scam -but with the economy as bad as it is now, these guys got to also have rocks in their collective heads. And how did I find them - I googled pet photo contests and voila - they were part of the result - and the bait - its free to enter -- don't do it - or, if you enter - don't buy your own photo - it is yours, you can print or scan and print it any time you want. Why pay for what is already yours?? |
If they are offering cash prizes and not paying them, as seems to be the case for you, then it is an illegal operation, as opposed to running a "vanity contest" (like vanity license plates and selling people their own photos in a book), which isnt illegal (though I'm not a lawyer, it seems pretty clear).
I would suggest you contact your attorney general and present this to them so they may take legal action.
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01/21/2009 09:43:35 AM · #20 |
Originally posted by nshapiro:
Originally posted by CAROLE6115:
I won or was chosen as 1 of the winners of the $6500 cash prize - all I have to do is send them $69 to get a copy of "my hardbound book" with my photo published in it! I just received a "second notice" email telling me I have to respond by Jan 20, 2009 or the offer will not be repeated!! ROTS A RUCK GUYS - NOT MY MONEY -sorry charlie - This has got to be a scam -but with the economy as bad as it is now, these guys got to also have rocks in their collective heads. And how did I find them - I googled pet photo contests and voila - they were part of the result - and the bait - its free to enter -- don't do it - or, if you enter - don't buy your own photo - it is yours, you can print or scan and print it any time you want. Why pay for what is already yours?? |
If they are offering cash prizes and not paying them, as seems to be the case for you, then it is an illegal operation, as opposed to running a "vanity contest" (like vanity license plates and selling people their own photos in a book), which isnt illegal (though I'm not a lawyer, it seems pretty clear).
I would suggest you contact your attorney general and present this to them so they may take legal action. |
Sounds like one of those Nigerian scams we have over here: "I have 200.000 euro's to give to you as a thank-you if you lend me your bank account to temporarily deposit 10 million euros onto. To get the transaction going, we'll need 10.000 euro's though and since we don't have it, would you be so kind as to advance it to us through western union?". Any way if the statement by nshapiro is correct (though I'm not an attorney either and don't live in the US) you might have a case!
Message edited by author 2009-01-21 09:44:38.
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01/21/2009 10:41:30 AM · #21 |
I too have also uncovered a scam online.
These are facts that have happened to me - I can provide evidence to support my claims.
A few years ago now I signed up with an online 'photography' site. The site had a fair bit of free content, but if you wanted access to all the really good stuff, you had to pay a subscription.
The deal was, you send them a low-res image of something you've taken (I kept sending them some of my best work). Then hundreds of people view your images online, and add tons of criticism to it (that's if you're lucky - sometimes the images just get ignored), basically breaking down your self-esteem and making you wonder why you even bothered to take the photo in the first place.
I was eventually lucky enough to win an award on their site. When I eventually received my 'ribbon' and opened up the envelope... you guessed it: nothing. All you got was a tiny jpeg graphic indicating that your photo had won an award.
Nonetheless, I was proud of my award so I showed off my image on the site to co-workers... They all asked the same thing: "How much did you win for it?" Me: "Nothing"... Them: "Oh..." (then shuffled off rather quietly with a bemused look on their face).
You have to understand: I have spent 1000's of dollars on equipment, slaving away to get photos submitted to this website. Hours of my time. And here's the kicker, you also have to give of your own [immense] photographic knowledge to provide criticism to other people's photos - in some cases people actually ask for criticism on EVERY photo that you view on the site! What a clever con: to get all your photographic knowledge dished out to whoever may come along and submit a photo.
It's a scam guys. If you ever see some sort of competition promising the chance to win a fancy 'blue ribbon' run for the hills: you won't just end up spending money in an endless pursuit of the fabled ribbon, you'll also lose precious time you could have spent with your girlfriend/wife/kids/friends all in the name of trying to have one of those silly jpeg images appended to your photo title...
Obviously I jest: DPC is awesome. And even though my co-workers don't quite get the significance of a jpeg ribbon, the red one that I won today means the world to me. This site has taught me so much. And the subscriptions I have paid were worth every cent (hell, if you could have asked me how much I'd be prepared to pay for a course on photography that would teach me as much as I've learnt from DPC, I'd probably pay a lot more than what I've paid for subscriptions here - but don't tell Langdon that)
If DPC were ever to publish a coffee table book though, I'm sure I'd buy it - even if NONE of my photos were published in it... |
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02/05/2009 01:46:30 PM · #22 |
I cant not stress enough to everyone on here. DONT NOT BELEAVE THIS SITE!!!Photography Laureates rips people off.
I am one of thopse people, I enter my work online for contest and reseved a notice that I had won and for a
fee I can buy a book with my work and that of others, I thought that was cool so my husband bought two of them for $115.00
last summer. they said that becouse they were still sreechin for others to be in this book it would be sent 1-4-09.
so I sent them an e-mail yesterday askin when it would be mailed and have not reseved any news.
If you go to BBB and look them up you will see that their facks but theres others |
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02/06/2009 04:27:05 AM · #23 |
Yes...I've been down that road as well.
On another note.
Right after 9/11, I submitted a poem to "The Poets Society" and when I heard it was going to be published in the book, I of course (16 yrs old) fell for it. Paid like 100 bucks for this huge freaking book...with a lot of crap in it.
In addition, they had a recording of a "poet" reading my piece.
....now...this was about the sept 11 tragedy. But the inflections in this guys voice would have you believe it was a freakin Dr. Seuss Poem.
SCAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMM (not a scam, just really freaking immoral) |
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02/06/2009 05:47:50 AM · #24 |
LOL at  Tygerr's post - too funny!! :-) |
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02/06/2009 08:52:37 AM · #25 |
Originally posted by Melethia:
LOL at Tygerr's post - too funny!! :-) |
Ditto! |
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