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In the end, they received an A4 print and two digital photos for $100 more than the prize, which they had already paid as a holding fee.
“It’s not an art piece, it’s just a print on cardboard, no frame,” Berthold said of the photo that eventually arrived in the mail.
Others have paid much more, and blame pushy sale tactics after the photos have been taken.
Bellizzi says it offers premium quality prints.
One woman who spoke to this masthead signed up to pay $2728 for three unframed photos with her dog.
She said the sales consultant organised a package for them that was much more than the prize’s value, before eventually telling them the price.
They said they loved the photos and asked whether they could have time to think about the cost, but were told it was their only chance to decide.
The woman said Bellizzi’s sales consultant was pushy when they said the package was out of their budget, saying: “Even with the payment plan you can’t afford it?”
Eventually, they relented and gave their details, which were used to set up a loan contract with an external provider called Humm.
After the phone call ended she said she felt stupid, and that the company had pressured her to proceed with the sale.
The next morning, she and her partner tried to cancel the loan, but Bellizzi said the contract they had signed had no cool-off period and did not allow refunds.
The woman has paid about $600 of the loan and is one of 19 people in New South Wales and Queensland to complain to offices of fair trading about the company.
By the time the images arrived, she said she didn’t even want them.
Bellizzi managing director Yury Samokhvalov said he was shocked to hear of people complaining about his business’s sales tactics.
“From day one, we’ve been very transparent about our pricing — it’s clearly displayed on our website, so there are no surprises,” he said.
He added prices are “provided directly to each client before their appointment”.
“One thing no one can say is that they weren’t informed,” he said.
Samokhvalov said photos are never deleted. However, this masthead has seen emails where the company says the Zoom meeting is the only opportunity to see the images, encouraging “all decision makers” to be on the call.
A video sent to people who enter Bellizzi’s competitions tells the story of a woman who got portraits of their dog just before it suddenly passed away.
“I will be forever grateful for those portraits,” the voiceover says.
Multiple competition winners said similar stories were mentioned to them by Bellizzi employees.
A woman who won a photoshoot with her dog said she considers the studio’s tactics as emotional blackmail.
“It would be a real shame for this dog to die and for you not to have any photos of him,” she said the salesperson said, after she had told a story about her old pet who had passed away.
Samokhvalov said staff was not encouraged to mention deceased pets, and the “team genuinely connects with clients over [a] shared love of pets”.
Other winners have told this masthead they have been pressured to buy photos. One woman said the sales consultant questioned whether she could make financial decisions when she said she’d have to run the purchase – several thousands of dollars – past her husband.
“Don’t you want your daughter to know you love her?” she said the salesperson asked on the Zoom call.
An email sent by Bellizzi says the call is necessary “because this is a visual decision that needs to be considered with one’s own eyes”.
In a statement, NSW Fair Trading said 10 people complained about Bellizzi since February 2024.
“NSW Fair Trading has engaged directly with the business to reinforce its obligations under the Australian Consumer Law and other relevant legislation, including an expectation that the business comply in future,” a spokesperson said.
Samokhvalov said his business had been reviewed by Fair Trading and was fully compliant.
Consumer advocate Jo Ucukalo from Handle My Complaint said cooling-off periods apply when a business directly approaches you, but the lines are blurred when it comes to online competitions.
A competition offered by Bellizzi Studios on facebook.
“That cooling-off period is really clear when you’re sitting at home and someone knocks on your door, but when you start engaging with them online your entitlement as a consumer to a cooling-off period gets very, very murky,” she said.
“So if they use a honeypot like a giveaway that you can enter, you’ve now engaged with them in the first instance.”
Samokhvalov said the company has a “100 per cent satisfaction guarantee” and always aims to work with the customer where possible.
“We understand that sometimes buyer’s remorse can happen, but we’re always transparent about our pricing and the value we deliver,” he said.
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