HLR Photography

I wanted to like Hlr. I tried. Up to, and including, the photo shoot, Katelin was professional, prompt and pleasant. I had high hopes! Unfortunately, once that shoot was over things went completely down hill. I waited the suggested 3-4 week turn over time without hearing a peep. So, at 4.5 weeks I sent Hlr a message on Fb Messenger. Katelin got back to me right away and said that the photos would be ready to go on the following Monday and she would be in touch when they were done. That Monday came and went, and I didn't hear anything. So I messaged her again on Fb Messenger. Nothing. So I saw a post on her Fb page saying that they were experiencing trouble with Messenger and to email or call. I emailed her and again, she was very prompt in responding saying that she'd thought she'd messaged me to tell me that the photos were ready to go but must not have, and that the photos were ready to be either picked up or could be mailed to me. I emailed her back almost immediately and asked to have the photos mailed as I was now back at work and lived 45 minutes away from the studio and provided my mailing address. Fast forward to 12 days later when the Usb had still not arrived, so I emailed back inquiring about it. I didn't hear back for 4 days so I called and left a message, and then she emailed me back within a matter of hours. She apologized saying that she'd had a family emergency and had been out of town, and that she would look into the Usb not arriving. She also offered to give me a digital download that day so that I could at least see the photos (this is 8 weeks after they'd been taken). I emailed back offering my condolences and said yes please to the download. The next day, I still hadn't received the download link, so I sent her another email expressing my frustration and disappointment with how the entire process had been handled. I did note that I totally understand that life happens, we get busy, we have unexpected emergencies crop up, but that I felt I had to chase her for any answers regarding my son's photos, and that at 8 weeks I still hadn't even seen a sneak peek. I was frustrated also because I knew that there were people whose photos had been taken after my son's who had received their full sets of photos almost two weeks prior. Katelin got back to me the following day and apologized again, she sent me the digital download link and offered to resend the Usb. She also offered two free sessions to make up for the lack of communication and me being unhappy with the service. I emailed back and said not to worry about resending the Usb, as I'm sure the original would eventually arrive (a month later... it has not). I also inquired about when the 2 free sessions would be available and what she had in mind for them. That was November 16th. I have never heard back. All in all, sure the photos turned out well, but unless you'd like to chase them down for months at a time, I wouldn't recommend hiring Hlr. Honestly, I feel like Katelin's a lovely person and she did produce nice photos with a bit of a tricky subject (my son was a year and didn't want to sit still; although the editing was a little weird on some, but I'm not a professional photographer so really I don't know what goes into editing). I think Hlr has taken on far too many clients in a short amount of time and is overwhelmed, but that doesn't excuse a Huge lack of communication. Best of luck Katelin.