By Amelia Tan

THEY were promised free makeovers and photo shoots. Instead, the customers of a photo studio in Circular Road said that they were pressured into buying packages that cost up to $4,000.

The hard-sell from studio Naughty by Nature sparked dozens of complaints to Singapore's consumer watchdog and eventually landed the company in court.

Yesterday, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said that the company had agreed to change its sales pitch earlier this year.

Last September, Naughty by Nature had been temporarily barred by a district court from pushing pricey photo packages, Case said in a press release.

The consumer group had applied for the injunction after receiving 63 complaints about Naughty by Nature between 2005 and 2007, said Case executive director Seah Seng Choon.

Most of the complaints had been filed by women.

Mr Seah said that Naughty by Nature's employees had once refused to let a customer leave the studio without buying a photo set. After staying for about four hours, the customer bought a package for about $3,000.

The customers got freebies, such as two photographs, only after they agreed to buy a package.

Co-owner of Naughty by Nature Bupendra Ramason defended his company's sales pitch and said that the unhappy customers were in the minority.

'I think they were shy people who were uncomfortable with our sales strategies. Most of our customers are families and we don't have any problems with them,' he said.

He added that, since the injunction, the studio has tried its best to abide by Case's requests.

For example, sales presentations are now limited to only an hour when dealing with female customers.

The employees also give the two free photographs to the customers before the sales presentation.

Mr Ramason, 41, set up the studio in Circular Road in 2004 with business partner Raoul Martin Fenianos. He currently employs 90 staff members, of whom nine are full-time photographers.

A check on online forums and blogs showed that there were many customers who were unhappy with Naughty By Nature's sales strategies.

One, 42-year-old Tan Ngiap Heng, told the Straits Times about being pressured to buy a $1,000 book of photographs after taking part in a photo shoot two years ago.

'I felt that I was being blackmailed psychologically because they told me they would delete my photos immediately if I decided not to buy the package,' he said.

He did not buy the package and subsequently made a complaint to Case.

Mr Ramason said that business had not been affected by the bad publicity.

Case and Naughty by Nature have agreed to settle disputes with the unhappy customers through an arbitration session chaired by a neutral third party.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jun 12, 2008

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