“You’ve exceeded the photo limit—pay an extra 1.4 million won” ... Studio makes bride cry while choosing her wedding photos

[Financial News] A story has emerged about a bride who visited a studio to choose photos from her wedding ceremony and returned in tears after the studio demanded an excessive additional payment and an employee hurried her and treated her poorly.
On the 22nd, a post titled “My wife went to select our wedding ceremony photos and came back crying” was uploaded to the online community Bobaedream.
The author, identified as A, began by saying, “We got married last month, and had our wedding ceremony photos taken at a studio affiliated with the wedding venue.”
He said, “A wedding ceremony photo shoot usually produces at least 1,000 photos. There’s a process where you choose which ones to put in the album and then have them retouched, but I was so busy with work that my wife went to choose the photos alone.” He added, “I also thought it made sense to go with my wife’s preferences anyway.”
According to A, when his wife was choosing photos, an employee told her to select at least 100 and then left. A sign at the studio also said that customers should first select at least 100 photos, then go through them with an employee, arrange them in the order of the wedding ceremony, and narrow them down further for the final selection. A said his wife followed this procedure, but about 10 minutes before the selection period was due to end, she was told that she had exceeded the photo limit and asked to pay approximately 1.4 million won more.
A said that after receiving a call from his wife, he asked the employee to explain the additional charge, but the employee did not provide details and urged her to decide quickly, saying there was no time.
A said that after he told the employee, “We’ll just go ahead with the basic package without any extras,” and ended the call, the employee’s attitude suddenly changed. The employee kept rushing his wife, saying there was no time, and responded in a sarcastic tone, A claimed. When his wife said she wanted to choose again from the 100 photos she had initially selected, the employee said she could not but did not properly explain why. The employee reportedly spoke to her along the lines of, “You can’t even understand this?” and “Can’t you even count?”
A said, “My wife eventually came back in tears,” and added, “I felt so bad that I’d sent her alone for no reason, so I kept apologizing to her.”
He said, “I contacted the studio again, and the person in charge apologized, but said they still hadn’t even asked the employee what had actually happened.” He added, “They said they couldn’t check because the employee had been too busy the previous day and was off that day.”
He continued, “It felt really underhanded to tell us about a hefty extra charge right before the selection ended and pressure us to pay immediately on the grounds that there was no time.” He added, “Why not clearly explain from the outset how many photos are included, the extra charge per photo, and the estimated total? Customers should simply be given enough time to think it over and make their choice.”
People online who read the story responded with comments such as, “I’d like to give her a comforting pat,” “Practices like that seem to drive up wedding costs overall,” and “It’s standard practice in the industry. You have to stand your ground, or they’ll rip you off.”
Meanwhile, the Fair Trade Commission has been enforcing the revised Notice on Important Matters in Labeling and Advertising since November 12 last year. Businesses in the wedding venue and wedding planning agency sectors must disclose the details and prices of basic services and optional items, as well as the penalties and refund criteria for contract cancellations, either on their websites or on the Korea Consumer Agency’s Expana, and on the cover of the contract. If an affiliated company provides a service, its prices and terms must also be disclosed separately. The FTC said that after the guidance period ended in May this year, it notified 17 businesses on the 16th in advance that they would be fined for violating the rules.
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter