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January 2024 by Rachel McDonald
I have been using these services for years. However the last two years have been absolutely horrible. The staff and the actual photo event is fine however I never get the digital image that I PAID for. This is now the second year in a row where I have not gotten what I have paid for. I have called numerous times each year and never get a call back. Unless I get a response I may have to dispute the charges on my account for the hundreds of dollars I spent. If you want to stay on top of them to ensure you get your images don't use this service, just to get the digital image was $48 and still haven't gotten it for the three orders I completed.
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December 2023 by Megatron
They did santa photos at Bellevue square this year and they are pretty sad. The quality is poor and very dark. They need to recalibrate the printer. For $48 for one 5x7 I expect much more. Plus they are landscape not portrait.. who does that for Santa pics? We have over 50 years of family santa pics and not one have they been landscape!The extra star is because at least they got my kiddo to smile.
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December 2023 by Brad Stensland
I have been going to Arthur & Associates for 43 years now. Over those years our family has grown and they are always so accommodating. They are super patient as my sister tries to get her kids to look at the camera and we all debate over what picture looks the best. It is the only thing my mom wants for Christmas and they never disappoint. I am also really impressed with their customer service. It is a great experience all around.
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January 2023 by Edward Kaiser
Made an appointment to see Santa. The decor and Santa were great. Unfortunately when we finally got to see the photos, the first had one kid not looking at the camera and the second had the other kid mid-smile. I don't know how the photographer possibly missed this. We were unable to retake because they gave the kids blue candy canes which colored their teeth, so we left with an over-priced mediocre photo.
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December 2022 by Kristian Birkelund
If I could give 0 stars I would. Don't get me wrong about policy, I follow them all of the time. Apparently for the past 7 years, other than when I skipped during Covid restrictions, every photographer, every Santa, and every coordinator at U-Village has been breaking the pet policy. I have always had my dogs, who are 5 pounds and 9 pounds sit with Santa at U-Village, on his lap. Santa even had a special blanket he brought out to put on his lap. Well tonight, I learned that a policy, that is not posted anywhere, exists that does not allow Santa to handle the pets. I understand the rationale behind the policy, allergies being one, but I was also the last person of the night. I did that purposely on my own to be considerate. I made a reservation weeks ago, called to confirm they would be open because it is snowy and icy, had a friend drive just in case so I would not miss the appointment, and when I was getting my pups ready, the photographer then told me about this policy. I was told that every year before, the people who all work for A&A broke the rules. I am pretty livid. This is probably the last year my 17 year old will be alive, and I have missed all of the pet store Santas now. I generally spend close to $140 here, which was worth it to me before. I called to ask about the policy not being posted to be told too bad. They advertise pets are ok to bring to this particular location and yet they do not state any pet policy about pets on stools or the need to have owner in photo. If I had known, I could have made the decision weeks ago to go elsewhere. It is the lack of transparency that is upsetting and then to not accept any responsibility. All they said is they heard me, and understand and that they will look into it with their web designer for future. I read reviews the other day and was surprised to see the low the ratings and complaints were, but I have a better understanding now. Next year I will check out the pet store Santas, which is fine, I just wish now that I could still do it this year. Arthur and Associates, you don't have to think about posting your policy now, I did it for you. Merry Christmas.
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December 2022 by Alex W.
Quick Summary: They can't even get their photos in focus and don't respond to emails. Full Story: We got a Santa photo at their Third Place Books/Lake Forest Park location and were given a quick review there with a digital copy to be received later. When we got a chance to inspect the digital copy on our own devices it was immediately apparent that they missed the focus mark. The tree behind them was sharp as a tack, Santa and my kids - not so much. I reached out to them via email asking if we could work out some kind of reshoot, but never heard back. If you're selling yourself as photographers, you should at bare minimum be able to get a shot in focus. Never mind that the shot itself was also poorly staged. And if you're going to be a quality business then you should respond to emails. If you can, find your Santa photos elsewhere.
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December 2022 by Kristian B.
If I could give 0 stars I would. Don't get me wrong about policy, I follow them all of the time. Apparently for the past 7 years, other than when I skipped during Covid restrictions, every photographer, every Santa, and every coordinator at U-Village has been breaking the pet policy. I have always had my dogs, who are 5 pounds and 9 pounds sit with Santa at U-Village, on his lap. Santa even had a special blanket he brought out to put on his lap. Well tonight, I learned that a policy, that is not posted anywhere, exists that does not allow Santa to handle the pets. I understand the rationale behind the policy, allergies being one, but I was also the last person of the night. I did that purposely on my own to be considerate. I made a reservation weeks ago, called to confirm they would be open because it is snowy and icy, had a friend drive just in case so I would not miss the appointment, and when I was getting my pups ready, the photographer then told me about this policy. I was told that every year before, the people who all work for A&A broke the rules. I am pretty livid. This is probably the last year my 17 year old will be alive, and I have missed all of the pet store Santas now. I generally spend close to $140 here, which was worth it to me before. I called to ask about the policy not being posted to be told too bad. They advertise pets are ok to bring to this particular location and yet they do not state any pet policy about pets on stools or the need to have owner in photo. If I had known, I could have made the decision weeks ago to go elsewhere. It is the lack of transparency that is upsetting and then to not accept any responsibility. All they said is they heard me, and understand and that they will look into it with their web designer for future. I read reviews the other day and was surprised to see the low the ratings and complaints were, but I have a better understanding now. Next year I will check out the pet store Santas, which is fine, I just wish now that I could still do it this year. Arthur and Associates, you don't have to think about posting your policy now, I did it for you. Merry Christmas
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December 2022 by Aimee S.
tl;dr: DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU HAVE NEURODIVERGENT KIDS. The Santa we saw was rude and cruel when my kid took a little longer because he had sensory issues with the flash. We took our kids to see Santa at Lake Forest Park Town Center. I believe the Santa who was working at the time was Bobj B. My 7-year-old son was having a sensory issue with the flash, so we tried a photo without flash first, then (since that didn't work), we tried one with flash after. The photographers had some trouble getting the flash to turn back on, and we had to try to get the kids to smile and look at the camera multiple times because the flash kept not going off. After a few minutes of this, my son started getting nervous about the flash, and wouldn't look at the camera. I finally gave up on the photographers and asked if I could just take a picture with my phone, and said that I'd still pay the (stupidly high) fee. At this point, Santa started getting frustrated and was repeatedly rude to my son. He pointed to the line and told my son that he was "ruining Christmas" for all those kids. I told Santa that he needed to stop, and he said "I've been doing this for 20 years, and I've only lost it on one kid, but this kid has me close." He said this to me in front of my kids, who still believe in Santa. If you have "lost it" on ANY kids, then you shouldn't be Santa. And if you get really close just because a kid has sensory issues with a flash, then you need a new career. There's no way my kid is the first one he's treated like this, and it's absolutely unacceptable. Yes, my kid took a little bit longer, but that's mostly because the photographers couldn't figure out their equipment. As a side note, the photographers were very kind and apologetic, and offered to have us come back for free photos with a different Santa, but we're just so done at this point. I've emailed the company, but haven't heard back from them yet. Maybe they don't care how their employees are treating kids?
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December 2022 by S bar
This was super disappointing! We have visited the Issaquah Commons Santa for years. When Cherry Hill was the photography company they seemed to care about the experience and took multiple pictures. They provided 6 digital photos for about $45 dollars and Arthur & Associates took two pictures to choose from, charged us $48 dollars for 1 digital copy and wanted to charge another $20 for a second. The photo quality was not great. Too much flash and Santa didn't even smile. Our session lasted less than a minute and the photographer didn't seem to care about the quality. We will not be returning.
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December 2022 by Brooke V.
What a great company! We had Santa pictures taken at The Bellevue Mall and they came back beautiful but horizontal. We need them vertical to fit the frame that holds several years of Santa pictures. We I called I thought I had little chance of them helping me. But Ramsey instantly and enthusiastically said sure he could fix the problem. He said we would receive the new picture within a couple days by mail! He turned out to be the real Santa Claus. Ho ho ho.
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December 2022 by Lauren B.
Went to Crossroads to see if we could get a Santa photo and the Santa immediately gave my daughter bad vibes. Since she was nervous we started to walk away to talk about it privately. We hear: "Are you gonna get a picture? Hello?!" from the gal at the cash register. We walk around the corner HALFWAY ACROSS THE MALL to be out of sight when Santa himself suddenly cuts us off to ask if we're getting a picture. NOPE! If you stalk me across the mall there's no way I'll give you business. Not appropriate.
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January 2022 by Beth James
The best Santa's in the business
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December 2021 by Angela Schaffer
I was excited to take my kids back to Bellevue Square this year for their annual Santa picture. I loved being able to make an appointment ahead of time. The “print on the spot” idea is nice, but I agree with other reviews that the quality doesn’t appear to be as nice as several years past. And the price has gone up, again, but that seems to be with everything these days. My biggest praise was for the customer service afterwards. I had an issue with my photo that I didn’t notice until we got home. I contacted the company - they were more than happy to make the adjustment and mail me a new photo.
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December 2021 by Tessa Sunderland
I felt rushed and most picture choices they let me choose from was horrible, wish they offered to try again.
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December 2021 by Michelle C.
What can I say about this experience....We have been to Arthur & Associates before when they were at the downtown Macy's and the experience was always good. When Macy's closed, I feared our tradition was over but then I saw that Santa would be in multiple places during the Christmas season, so we picked one (UVillage) and made an appointment. 1. The display could not have been anymore plain - Santa, in a chair and bare wood walls. Not great but if this had been the only issue, it would have been fine. 2. Santa did not look Jolly except when he (Santa) sat on my granddaughter's father's lap. Yes, you read that right. After a picture will all my grandkids (except one who is very anti-Santa), Santa asked if he could sit on the lap of my granddaughters dad - this brought Santa great joy and what a gift, he had them add this photo to my package free of charge. 3. Santa, decided to share his unsolicited parenting advice to the parents of the anti-Santa 5 year old - not his place and my son and his wife were pretty offended. 4. Santa's helper made a comment also about my anti-Santa grandson - he said that he wasn't sure what he (my grandson) could have done that was so bad that he wouldn't want to talk to Santa. 5. The building with Santa is very small and we had a large group - 6 grandkids, 6 adults and two strollers - half of the adults had to go stand out in the freezing rain with the strollers - a tent or something would have been better. Hands down the worst Santa experience we have ever had.
