Greek Composite Services
 

Currently, my soroity is using Fraternal Composite Service, Inc. to do our yearly composites. We have had SO many problems with them and are searching for another company to use. Does anybody know of a different Greek composite service that is reputable (either nationallly or in Wisconsin/Illinois)?

Thanks!

My chapter has used Vantine Studios for years and has overall been happy with the results. They are located out of New York, and to the best of my knowledge operate nationwide. They can be reached at
(315)824-3200.

Fraternal Composite Service is HORRIBLE!!! It would take us a year and a half sometimes to get our composite! Vantine Studios is great though. My uncle used to work for them (Vantine is located in Hamilton, NY where I'm from) and Vantine just built a new state-of-the art facility, and I guess there moving to all digital photography which cuts down on the time it takes them to put together a composite. I think that they'll also put your compisite on a CD, which can be handy for websites and stuff. Everyone should BOYCOTT Fraternal Composite Service!

Here's Vantine's website:

www.vantine.com

Re: Greek Composite Services
 

Hello, just a few words on Vantine. They suck. Thats about all I can say. They suck you in on a 4 year contract and then spank you like a baby. We are still waiting for our 2000 composite that was supposed to be here 15 months ago.

PS, how are the Betas doing down there?

Maybe all composite services are the same...
Are you talking about Beta Theta Pi at Colgate? Is so, I have no idea. I'm from Hamilton ( and still live near there) but I did'nt go to 'gate. I have'nt heard any bad press though regarding any of the Greeks at Colgate.

Nope, sorry. I was referring to the Betas at Beloit. We just re-colonized there and it is one of our old chapters. They are only about 2 hours from my house.

Isn't Hamilton where the school revoked all greek housing, including the old Sigma Phi house? I could be wrong, but I think it was that school????

Fraternal Composite is HORRIBLE! Our photographer was a COMPLETE perv, and about half of our sisterhood was omitted from the final. Similar things happened to other Greeks at my school...grrrr.

Beliot, I have no idea...

Hamilton College (as far as I know) revoked ALL student off campus housing. Hamilton College is in Clinton, NY not Hamilton, NY. Colgate University is in Hamilton. The fact that Hamilton College and Colgate are only about ten minutes away from each other probabably causes a lot of mix ups...

Babble354,

We're still have a chapter in Hamilton College, and it seems that they still have a house (judging by the address they have). Are they going underground or something?

my sorority used CCI this year.... we had a lot of problems with them and a contract. the people there were extremely difficult to work with and made me feel like i was about as big as a thumbtack. we have already signed with fraternal next year. their composites just look so much better than CCI's........ but now i'm scared after reading everyone elses opinion on them.:eek:
hopefully it will all work out.... we've used them in the past.

Fraternal Composite Service is one of the worst services I have used for anything having to do with ordering by mail. It took over a year for us to get our composites, and the customer service was horrible - no help at all, and the people on the phone were extremely rude when I called with questions. After the experience last year, we're going with a new service.

Collin

Re: Re: Greek Composite Services
 

We've been using Vantine for a long time and haven't had any problems so far. Sorry they screwed you over, but they have been fairly good for some of us!

Re: Re: Re: Greek Composite Services
 

Maybe its because you are closer to them, and can hunt them down if you want. We are a little further than that. On top of just getting screwed over, we had to deal with rude people, bad composites, pictures out of order, missing pictures, misspelled words (Univerrsity). C'mon, thats just poor service. You may be lucky, we must have gotten the retard dept.

Fraternal Composite Service sucks! They lost our money we sent them along time ago and that backed up 3 years of composites trying to get it straighten out. We are finally going to get them all soon.

We used Custom Composite ( I think that's the same as CCI). Anyway, they mail you your pictures and then start billing you for them. It's like freaking Columbia House. And if you don't live with your parents, or you are out of town, you won't even know you were sent pics and billed until they start sending more letters about your bill. It is such a crock. To top it all off, this year they send me a 2 billing notices even though I had never received pictures. Then I mysteriously never got another letter indicating that I owed anything. Hmmm...I think that they were hoping I'd be dumb enough to just pay the bill?

We also use Custom Composite. The part about them sending you the pictures and then billing you for them can be a pain (you usually get them over the summer, and a lot of girls move around for the summer and don't know what address to put). But they got the composite here fast and it's very well done. My chapter recognized the problem with the advance pictures after the first time around and did this:

When we got the pics taken in April, girls who didn't know where they were going to be over the summer put their address as the chapter house or a sister's house who would be in town over the vacation. Then when the pics came in, the sisters in town just re-sent the packages back to the company, and nobody paid any extra $$. It worked out pretty well...

Their number is (815) 385-8150.

If everyone has had these horrible experiences with Fraternal Composite, why hasn't anyone reported them to the Better Business Bureau? We could probably shut them down... :)

BBB report
 

I actually just searched for Fraternal Composite on the BBB's website. Here's part of teh report, apparently they have an unsatisfactory record already, as you can see.


Customer Experience

The Bureau has requested basic information from this company.
The Bureau has not received a response. The Bureau opened its
file on August 15, 1999. According to information in Bureau
files, this company is in the photography business.

Bureau records indicate a pattern of complaints alleging
inadequate performance on the part of the company.

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record
with the Bureau.

When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.

Closed Complaints
Number of complaints processed by the BBB since the firm's BBB file was opened in August of 1999: 18
Number of complaints processed by the BBB in last 12 months: 12


Complaints Concerned
Delivery Issues: 8
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 3; Unresolved: 4; Company made every
reasonable effort to Resolve: 1

Product Quality Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Company made every reasonable effort to Resolve: 1

Contract Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Company made every reasonable effort to Resolve: 1

Customer Service Issues: 7
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 3; Unresolved: 1; Company made every
reasonable effort to Resolve: 2; Company did not respond: 1

Credit or Billing Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Resolved: 1

composite nightmare
 

I wish I could remember the company that did our composites back when I was in college so that I could tell y'all where NOT to go.

Whoever it was, they completely screwed up the very first composite I ever received, which was for the 93/94 school year. They put 94/95 as the year instead! It's in the middle of every composite, including the big one that we hang in the house. So now, we have confused new pledges walking through, wanting to know why there are two 94/95 composites on our wall. :mad:

Re: Re: Re: Re: Greek Composite Services
 

I see what you're saying, and it sucks that you got such bad service :( But my school is in southern Virginia so we're not really that close to a company based in New York! ;) But the reps we have always sit down with the person in charge (last time it was me) after everyone's picture has been taken and they have you look over everything to make sure everything is correct. I don't know why they apparently don't do that with everyone? :confused:

How to avoid problems with composite services
 

I have experienced problems with the composite companies, both as a collegiate member in the late eighties and most recently as an advisor to a collegiate chapter. It doesn't sound like there is much difference no matter which company you choose. I would advise that if you are the officer responsible for signing the contract, no matter how much of a deal they give you, do not sign for more than 1 year of service. What is the incentive for the company to behave if they know they have you locked in for 2 or 4 years? Also it lets the next group of officers decide who to use based on the service they received the previous year. And one last piece of advice. SAVE ALL COPIES OF ALL CONTRACTS AND NEVER EVER TRASH THEM! The chapter I advised decided to change composite companies and the first one claimed that the officer (who was long gone) had signed a two-year contract. We couldn't find a copy of the contract but finally did speak to the former officer who was positive she didn't sign a 2-year contract. Include this in your officer training after elections, to not ever sign more than a 1 year contract, consult your advisors (sometimes they know of a blacklisted company that the group on a national level should not use due to past bad experiences), and keep all copies of contracts.

We used Custom Composites this year and they were great. We had an excellent photographer. I don't think there is one horrible picture of someone on our composite. Also, the shipment was quick. We had our photos taken at the beginning of September and I think that the composite was sent to us sometime during Winter Break in December.

Manolia Composites
 

Does anyone use Magnolia Composites? My sorority (and most of the others at UT) use them and I think they're great. The photographers are very professional. They have a good eye for what looks good and more importantly, what doesn't! They're based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana have a stronghold on many southern schools. The owner is relatively young (mid-30's?) and former fratboy himself. When I had to miss all the appointments my senior year due to job interviews, the owner himself came back through Austin when he was on his way to Dallas to take my picture so I wouldn't have to use an old photo. (For those of you not familiar with Texas, Austin is at least 3 hours out of the way when driving to Dallas from Houston.) Talk about great customer service!

Fraternal Composites, Inc. is the worst company I've ever dealt with. We filed a complaint with the BBB a few months ago because they rescheduled on us for times last semester, (photographer broke his leg, they weren't going to be in Wisconsin on the first date they set to come to our house and take our pictures, they lost our information, and one more bogus excuse.) After that mess, they still overcharged us, and the pictures were horrible.

d

Fraternal Composites, INC
 

ARGH!!!

I'm dealing with Fraternal Composites right now! This year I am in charge of getting the composite in order, and to my dismay I found in my binder that we had a three year contract with them!! Luckily this is our last year with them. Anyway, I was very upset over the fact that they choose the date and time of the photography session, and after nicely asking them to change the time to allow our Open Rush girls on the composite I was turned down. They gave us a horrible time (11am-1pm), and on the phone they instructed me to send my girls over to fraternities to get their pictures taken if they couldn't make our time. Long story short, they thought I cancelled on them so they didn't even come for the 11am time! They then said they would come later on that night at 9:30pm. What did they do? They called back later and cancelled! ARGH It's been a week since this fiasco, and I still haven't heard back from them. Do NOT work with this company!! From what I've heard about last year's experience they were rude and did not do half the things they advertised.

Composites
 

I am the Financial Advisor for the Alpha Eta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega. We have had TERRIBLE experience with Fraternal Composite Services for years. Has anyone ever had any experience with Greek Yearbook?
Their website looks quite promising and they actually had an example section of their work with a composite of the Alpha Gamma Chapter of AXO at the University of New Mexico 2005-2006. If any Alpha Gamma's see this, please let me know how it went. I welcome any comments on the Greek Yearbook company. Thank you:)

After a couple years of Fraternal Composites screwing up EVERY single organization's composite, we switched over to Greek Yearbook. The experience with them was a lot better. We all liked that they put proofs of the composites on the internet so you could see what they look like and make any potential corrections before they get printed.

My experience is that they have used NUMEROUS spammers to try to advertise on GC over the years. I, and many others, have a strong distaste for companies who use these tactics.

When I became chapter president, my chapter was stuck in the contract time warp with Fraternal Composite. "We'll keep the price the same if you sign for another year". Then the price goes up with inflation.

I refused to sign an addendum to the contract and we as well had horrible service. I, on behalf of the chapter, sued Fraternal Composite, with me representing us pro se. They counterclaimed a breach of contract. We ended up winning, getting out of the 3 year contract that my predecessors got us into, and getting our money back. I guess that's why I became a lawyer.

I say keep the business in your local community. Strike a deal with a local photographer to get the pictures done. They are usually used to the quick processing (It's like getting your pictures done for prom) and then send the pcitures to a framer in town. They can probably construct something similar to what Fraternal Composite can do. It may be a couple bucks more but at least you will get it in the year you took the pictures.

My ulcer gurgled at the very thought of Vantine! They tried to force a three year contract on us, and then delivered the composite in time for the next year's Christmas party!

My chapter (here at ECU) has been dealing with Vantine for the last three years. We're EXTREMELY thankful that our contract runs out this year. They're one of worst groups of people I've ever had to deal with as an advisor. Thankfully, our new Asst. Director of GL has helped us find a new company that is nearly $400 cheaper. I think it's Greek Yearbook.

The problem with Vantine is that they're not as good for gigantic chapters. We've been using Vantine Imaging since 1969 and they haven't ever done a bad composite. A couple have had wierd lighting but as a whole, they've been fantastic. Greek Yearbook was used last year but we plan on going back to Vantine. GY was alright. It was very pricy though. Vantine is about $100 cheaper for us (we're only a chapter of around 25). I guess my biggest complaint about GY is that, as a whole, the composite we got didn't look like a "fraternal" composite. Just a bunch of pictures plastered together. I had to tell her how to put the thing together becausethe way it was done initially was rediculous (that is, the placement of the pictures). They had numerous mispellings and what not. But we were able to get it fixed and that was a GOOD thing.

I think Vantine and GY are the best ones out there. Everyone here at CMU uses Vantine.

As a former President of my chapter I can say I did not enjoy working with any composite servicer. They are shady as hell. Back in the day before email was a big source of communication they used to make you sign a contract and shadily put other contracts hidden beneath so you couldn't read them. You'd then get into a big mess and be locked into their contract for years and they'd raise the prices. NEVER sign anything that is for more than 2 years. I had this problem where Fraternal Composite Services dug up this old contract from 4 years before me and claimed we were still under contract for a composite service where we had 40+ brother minimum. We had 18 actives at the time (which is another story). I told them we did not have the funds to pay for such a composite.They got real nasty with me and started talking about lawsuits and crap. I basically kicked and screamed our way out of the contract. Finally, somehow I got us out of it and decided to look at GreekYearbook. I heard a lot of people were switching over to it. Then I heard a lot of rumors that their composites looked like shit and the pictures are of poor quality. I then signed a one year contract back with Fraternal Composite Services and got a deal that didn't break our bank, but was still absolutely ridiculous.

Needless to say, Fraternal Composite Services do a great job, but they are expensive as hell and are very shady. If anyone can back up GreakYearbook and tell me how their compisite services are (as well as the quality of the actual composites themselves) it would be a great help to this chapter in the future. I hope my experiences helped anyone as well.

Bring me some new info
 

Take a look at the dates on these postings. Most of them are years old. Does anybody have new information on Composite Companies?

In my sorority, we used fraternal composite service and like lcalbdpzax said, they were shady, they pulled out some contract with a minimum required number of ppl to sit and charged us b/c we didn't have enough... it was ridiculous! I used Vantine when I didn't know that we were still under contract for another year, and they were FANTASTIC, especially being in NY alumni dad. They were courteous, fair, friendly, and went above and beyond actually researching for our crest so they'd have an original on there. Our composite was beautiful.

http://www.vantineimaging.com/

We have had some issues with Vantine in the past. The photographer and secretary were both rude and unprofessional both of the last two years and when we declined to resign a two year contract their reply was that "You'll come back. No one else can do the composites like we do. So don't sign now, we'll just charge you more later." Rude. Our Greek Office did some research about other companies that we as a Greek Community could use... I'll see if I have the contact information for any of the companies we screened which came both with good reviews.

The only one I've never heard anything bad about is Magnolia.

However, their site doesn't work anymore, so I'm guessing they went out of business.

Fraternal Composite still sucks!! I have no idea when we will get our pictures!! If you have 10 years to wait the pictures are quite nice, but it is taking sooo long. I am sure the chapter will have to mail pictures to graduates.

i'm really surprised by this... but I was only going off my experience, but I know that a few of the other sororities used them and like them as well... hmm... :confused:

We started using Digital Pix after another sorority on campus recommended them, and they have been great. Their website is: www.dpcpix.com