Yuen Lui Studios

*This review is based on renting their Photobooth for my wedding reception.
I was lucky enough to snag a groupon deal for their rental services on a photobooth. This category is fairly new to them and they have a pretty good set-​up. I’ve rated them a 3 because of the lack of photos that I’ve received back, maybe I would give them a 3.5 if it was possible but I wouldn’t give them a 4 because I’m upset that I only recieved a small amount of photos, when I expected double that amount. I rented them out for 3 hours (the rental hours does not factor in their set-​up and tear-​down and they do not charge for that, it’s already factored in the price) I added on a customized border for the print outs, instant print outs for guest.
* Photo quality is great, considering the fact that other photobooth vendors lack quality in their photos, Yuen Lui are well known for their professional looking photos and they exceeded my expectations. They also will give you a CD of all photos captured and I received mine in a couple of weeks.
* Set-​up was, okay. You are able to fit about 6 people comfortably. A photographer is there to do set-​up and tear-​down, adjust the camera to make sure everyone is in the photo, and is there at all times. There is a moniter screen so you are able to see you take your. Only thing is their variety on props to use is extremely lacking, I had a Disney theme for the wedding so I brought in some of the props to make-​up for the lack of what they had.
* You can customize your backdrop, but you have to provide it. They also have 3 basic curtains that they provide, red, blue, & black.
* Layout borders for the print outs are also customizable. It does cost extra ($ 50) but it was worth it to me to do it, so I went ahead and worked with one of designers, they work with you until you are happy with the outcome and you can request a print out of what it would look like if you ask them to mail you a copy.
* They have the option of doing an instant print-​out for your guest but it’s additional cost. They print out only one per group but they also give you the guest the option to email it to them.
TIPS & RECOMMENDATION:
— I wished I did not allow for guest to have the option to «email» the photos to them. It is extremely time consuming and held-​up the line. In the end, you can just post all of your photos, once you received them on Facebook, or dropbox. So all guest can save the huge file for themeselves if they even want it. I go some-​what suckered in to agreeing to have it, originally I was requested to take it off, now I regretfully wished I had because I did not receive as much photos as I had wished. This is the only reason why I rated them at an «OK 3-​Stars». Abandon the whole «input your email to recieve your photo» bs and you’ll be much happier. :) I strongly advised it.
Other than that, quality is good, customer-​service was ok, price is a bit pricey BUT I had a groupon so that helped, I would look at other vendors but I was also consider them as well. It really depends on what your wants are and who can give you the best deal.

Wow, look at what have they done to absolutely RUIN a previously well-​regarded long-​time Seattle business name!
Unfortunately for us, the Lake Washington School District gave YLS the school pictures contract – BIG MISTAKE LWSD!
I have been trying to view and order my child’s school pictures all week, the YLS website is absolute junk and does not easily avail the user to online proofs.
I called seeking help and they are VERY selective about when they decide to pick up the phone. I left messages and called back, only to get ANOTHER department that rudely and patronizingly offers NO HELP except to transfer me back to the ‘schools dept’ that DOES NOT ANSWER THE DAMNED PHONE! Did Maj. Major from Heller’s ‘Catch 22′ design their so-​called system!!?
Apparently, being low bidder on a government school contract means treating the customers like garbage, I guess they know they have us over a barrel – after all, who isn’t going to buy their kid’s school photo, right?
I plan to register a complaint Monday with the LWSD in hopes that these people will NEVER set foot again inside a LWSD school!

Do not under any circumstances give this company your email. You may be required to as part of purchasing your child’s school pictures. Don’t do it. I have tried unsubscribing, blocking their email. The emails keep coming. I wonder if they have sold my name to all the other spammers whose emails I get.
I would never willingly support a company that was so shady in how it treats its customers.

30 years ago Yuen Lui was THE best, but it seems things have changed. I paid for a photo shoot for my Daughter and new grandson and the pictures are atrocious. They did some withe a white silhouette background with seams in the cloth and lighting to make sure you focus on them. Some of the poses with the baby looks like they found an old grey and white striped mattress to use as a prop.
In general the poses look awkward, unnatural and just plain bad. It is hard for me to justify purchasing ANY of the 70+ prints I have to choose from. Next time time I’ll just go to the mall department store, they couldn’t do any worse.

I give two stars because this studio apparently donates their photography services to the Children’s Hospital Festival of Trees – points for charitable work – and they took a nice Santa photo of my daughter.
However, both my friend and I received only half the number of prints we paid for and neither of us can get anyone to pick up the phone or call back. This seems to be Yuen Lui’s modus operandi based on the other reviews.
Glad my money went to Children’s Hospital, but not so happy that I can’t get the Santa photos we paid for. I would have lined up another Santa photo option and just given cash to Children’s.

The photo shoot we had at golden gardens was fun and some of the pictures turned out great. I have had a heck of a time ordering prints, and when the disk arrived with the retouched images it didn’t work. After leaving voicemails without getting a response a disk finally showed up with the images but no the retouched ones I paid for. To be honest, I am just giving up at this point.

Had the best experience having photos of my two year old taken. Staff was so patient with her. They really had a good sense of humor and handled her well. They helped in selecting the right photos for what we were looking for without a lot of sales pressure.

I’m furious the Seattle School District used this studio for school pictures. I could not even order the pictures from my daughters kindergarten year ONE year later. No archive, no nothing, the nature of school pictures seems to be beyond what this expensive studio can handle, they claimed they «can’t afford» to keep pictures that long. I recommend they talk to the folks at Google and Microsoft and work something out because it is doable and these school memories are SO IMPORTANT. I recommend local photographers for family pictures if you can afford it and for schools something more professional like Lifetouch that knows what they are doing with school pictures.

I was so upset when I recieved my homecoming pictures 2 months after everyone in my school got theirs. My date and I were waiting for our pictures and when we told them they mixed our order with someone elses they said they would fix it but they sent in a bigger package of the same pictures that were not ours. In the end my boyfriend had to go down to the studio look through all the pictures to finally find ours. A week later we had recieved two big packages of our order so I was some what satisfied if only I had gotten them earlier. Although their quality in pictures are great the timing is not birilliant.

I thought I would give this is a try since I always see «deals» offered on Groupon and Living Social. Not impressed. Worst family photos ever. And way overpriced even with a Groupon. Don’t waste your time or money. I have seen a lot of great family photos all taken by local photographers. They do a much better job and give you a lot more for your money.

I want to say I was very pleased with the pictures we took at the Tulip festival last month with Yuen Lui Studios. We had a Groupon and the staff was very professional and treated us like full price customers. I especially appreciated the help Regina provided me after I hounded her for several changes. She was polite, courteous, gave me what we ordered and remembered me each time I called. Thanks Yuen Lui for perfectly capturing the moment and for having people like Regina on your Staff.

I did not enjoy our experience at Yuen Lui on Roosevelt. The photographer, while trying very hard to get our small children to smile, sat us in some strange poses. Out of approximately 100 photos taken, only one had all four of us smiling. Then, when I picked up our pictures, I noticed they had photo shopped the scar off my sons head, without asking my permission first.
I’ve had better experiences with family photos at Sears. Won’t go back.

Worst customer service ever.
The portrait studio, photographer, and staff there were great. But good luck with the screwups at corporate. I’ve never been so frustrated working with another company in my life. I worked with them in August and am to this day still steamed about it. Here’s an example:
«Hi Yuen Lui Studio Customer Service Representative!
I’m here. Your photographer is not. Let’s discuss.
We had a date set for the Waiting in the Washington Park Arboretum. I’ve left several messages on your 206 and 866 lines. My guess is that your studio is closed, and nobody’s in the office. Just like nobody’s here, to take my outdoor portrait. Also, there’s a wedding at the Arb right now. The wedding photographer is not with your studio.
I’m a little concerned.
In any case, the bride and groom are very nice. They have Skillet’s food truck catering. Classy.
Also, the music’s pretty good. Two guys here that work either the event or at this Donald G. Graham Visitor’s Center at 2300 Arboretum Drive informed me that they haven’t seen any other photographers around. I tried to get the wedding photographer to shoot my silly business professional portrait, but he does not appear to take Groupons.
What’s a girl to do?
In any case, I’d appreciate a call back.
Thank you,
Heather M.»
They didn’t call back. Not for the messages I left, not for the emails I sent. It took two calls a week, for four weeks, to get my refund back. Even when I got through to a representative, they were unable to help me, or would put me on hold for 13 minutes and hang up. I rescheduled with a studio, I just needed my $ 15 holding fee for outdoor portraiture back.
I GAVE THEM MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER FOUR TIMES. God knows what they did with it 3 out of 4 of those times. Which makes me think I should cancel it…
Terrible, terrible customer service, I cannot stress this enough. Their corporate customer service representatives probably quit weekly, because this place sucks so bad. That’s why they can’t offer any simple solutions. I will not utilize Yuen Lui ever again, even though the studio portrait photographer was talented and I was pleased with my shots, the company’s just awful.

I am a fan of Lisa the manager of the downtown store. I am not a fan of all the changes corporate has made to calling the 866 number to book your appointments, but the manager at the Seattle downtown branch continues to help us to correct the frustrations we have been having and she deserves the stars. The photographer we had was friendly and the kids enjoyed working with her. Hopefully corporate will realize that hi tech and streamlining may look good on paper, but we expect more personalized service from Yuen Lui, we pay a premium price for good customer service from start to finish. Get rid of the 866 number and please stop the emails – too many – or fine tune your marketing approach.

I had my senior pictures done by Yuen Lui a few years ago at their downtown location and they did an amazing job! They were able to take some great pictures that I could share with my family members (not easy to do when you have a mohawk).
This review however is from when my dad and I bought a Groupon for my mom to get family pictures done (somethign we hadn’t done since I was a wee little babe).
Kat (Cat– not sure how she spells her name) our photographer was awesome. She was fun and easy going and made us all feel welcome. I believe we did a 60 pose sitting and it flew by (in a good way). When we were done and ready to pick out which pictures we wanted prints of, the front staff was nice and patiemt with us while we compared and even helped us pick a package where we could pick more prints for not a ton extra.
The bottom line is this: they were friendly, profesional, easy going and patient. If you want great pictures, this is where to come!

Best Place to Get Pictures Taken, and close to Downtown…

Extremely poor customer service. I never even made it to the picture phase. I purchased a membership for a family member. Almost 2 weeks later I called asking where the certificate is. I was told they were behind and just put them in the mail. 8 days later I called and said it was never received and asked to pick it up at the store close to my house. I was told it would be there the next day. I went there 1pm and was told they have no idea where it might be. I called to cancel and get a refund. We will see if they process the promised refund. I would not inflict this type of customer service on anyone I know.

Yesterday, two grungy looking guys showed up at my door for an at home photography session. As Nic, the photographer, went to get the equipment, Harold, his sidekick, stayed to talk with me and the kids. Seconds into getting to know one another, he tells a story about receiving a huge tip from a football player and his family. It was so obvious what he was doing that it took everything I had not to say something to him. It felt like a scam. It was really unprofessional, distasteful and novice. I gave each a $ 10 tip at the urging of my kids, but I wouldn’t have given a dime after Harold’s speel. It set the tone for the shoot. It is super expensive and I really felt pushed into buying expensive packages. I wouldn’t use Yuen Lui again. I had used them years ago and bought the recent Groupon thinking it might be better than before, but I am done. Too much of a factory not enough authentic customer service and way too costly!

They are amazing photographers and they did a really great job of taking pictures of the 3 of us, 2 people and a dog… The pictures were nothing short of stunning.
I have taken off a couple of stars for the following:
1. Its crazy expensive! A sitting along with pictures from 4 poses amounts to about $ 300… thats pretty high in my books, you better make me look like Heidi Klum if you are charging that much.
2. You dont get ANY digital images! I mean, what are you going to do with those pictures that you are charging me that much for? In all likelihood you are going to delete that file from your computer.
I did pay for the Family package which gives me 4 sittings and 4 8 by 10 pictures as well as Xmas cards… but seriously, this pricing is crazy… Charging $ 150 for a digital print is nothing short of ransom in my books.

A few years ago a friend of mine found a postcard from Yuen Lui offering a special on pet photography: a sitting, proofs and a custom 8×10 for around $ 50 a pet. I thought this was a pretty good deal for a high end photography studio. I had my two dogs portraits done and it was a great experience! The took the time to deal with the dogs and make them comfortable (and me too). It was difficult to pick out a favorite shot because they were all good. I liked them so much that I am taking my new puppy to them this week for a matching portrait.