OCUS Arvostelua 436

I have been shooting in the US for Ocus for about 4 and a half years now (near 100 shoots), and can honestly say that they have now sunk to a new low.
More photos, less pay, no live chat support, and a website that makes it very complicated to ask for travel expenses or cancellation fees.
I officially quit them today after going round and round about a cancellation that I reported on the same day, but was rejected because they are saying it was after the 24 hour window.
DoorDash should be ashamed to work with companies like this!!!
Good luck with the new business model!!!
And please don't bother with the "feel good" generated response...I'm over it!

Still not much improvement, except for the implementation of video shoots and their slightly increased pay rate.

As much as I hate to say this, I still continue to work with OCUS because I can’t hold down a typical 9-to-5. If I could find another agency with the amount of consistency and (much) higher pay and a respectable rating system, you best believe more of my efforts will be spent with them.

After checking out some of the reviews here, my assessment is that 5 star reviews from photographers are more on the newer-to-the-field and platform side, possibly fascinated with the concept of getting paid and setting their own schedule to take photos (that’s how I got hooked), while reviews from photographers skewing to the lower side show quite a bit more detail on why OCUS has earned their lower ratings from a longer tenure with them. Each of their complaints, seem pretty on par with my own experience. As I state with all my media uploads now, I’ve been looking for help to improve for 5 star reviews eversince OCUS started using their ridiculous rating system around spring 2022. How much longer do you think they’ll take (if they decide) to get this addressed?

After writing this review, I now expect to get a response like, “we’re sorry to not achieve your satisfaction, and we value your feedback to providing a better service”, and will probably include something along the lines of “we’ll have someone reach out to you to resolve your concerns”, which most likely won’t amount to much resolved damage control, based on their track record

I need someone to contact me to fix the problem with my uploading of my photos from my assignment LAST Saturday...6 days ago. Please help. thanks

If you look at the recent reviews, you will see that most of the complaints concern travel expenses—an issue they have failed to resolve for years. I submit a claim for travel expenses, but it gets automatically rejected. The reasons given for the rejection are laughable: an incorrect ID number (which isn't true—the ID number is correct) or the claim that there are "too many photographers" (which also isn't true).

A better platform cannot be built by constantly cutting into photographers' fees. This is demotivating. I hope they finally fix the "travel fee" issue.

I really do not know if this will be seen or not, but here it goes. Payment has been going lower and lower every year, even though everything else is getting more expensive, they cut off the photographer pay. When I started few years ago, a 7 image package was paying about $70. Now, a 20 image package is for $80ish. Travel fees, it’s like you are begging not it’s a compensation for the distance you’re welling to travel for your clients.
Throughout what I’ve experienced, OCUS made it feel like its priority is saving money rather than delivering to clients.
OCUS needs to update their photographer data. Need to make sure that all photographers listed are all active because in my area I know at least a dozen of photographers that stopped using OCUS yet they are still in their database. This affects other requests specially the travel fees.
Customer service is a hit or miss, some are good and would be very helpful and patient. Others are rude and I’ve had few occasions where they hung up on me and when I contacted support by email, I got nothing. I think I’ll stop here. This already took longer than needed.

I booked today’s photo shoot through OCUS. My dashboard showed it was scheduled, so I proceeded as if everything was confirmed. No one from OCUS contacted me to say the assignment was unclaimed.

As a result, I lost time and spent money on food and labor to prep for a shoot that never happened. That’s unacceptable.

I need this addressed immediately.

My concern is regarding with my February invoice, until now i didn't receive. They promise me that i receive 24 to 48 hours since i was reported. And the other said on May 5th, until now im waiting. Hoping that i receive that payment so that i can continue for the next project...

I really appreciate the free market structure. Ocus has been a heaven sent. All one needs to do is stick to the guidelines and execute. I want to be able to do this forever. I didn’t actually get my first paycheck as yet but I am confident all will be well.

Es ist leider keine stabile Lösung, da die Budgets sehr niedrig sind und Gastronomen oft sehr Chaotisch und unberechenbar sind. Je nach Ort muss man auch viel reisen und die kosten davon selbst übernehmen. Zu mindest manche Gastronomen sind doch toll und es gibt viel Essen die mann bekommt.

Getting solution in timely fashion is most important thing to get and I did got it. Thank you

Fast service

Great communication and quite helpful support centre

I had always the best assistance since the new ocus website is online

Love working with Ocus. My only concern is that the restaurant owners don't always receive the communication on the size package and conditions for shoots needed.

I have done 14 jobs so far with Ocus to test their system and company, so far they are one star. Their web based interface (not an app) is so confusing and complicated to do a simle shoot is sad. Just getting access on my devices is a major job and you need it to start any job. So far in the US all the jobs are food photos, no real estate at all do I see. The food locations are all for DoorDash, so they must have a contract with them. One of my locations to shoot was a food truck that parked on the street and just used the address of a public building. They didn't show up at all, so I'll likely loose my payout and "boost" which is mileage. Anytime I've asked for mileage compensation I get a mile long explanation of why it was rejected. I have a feeling they are all rejected. Most DoorDash restaurant shoots are very small with hardly a place to set the food to shoot it. Every time I have questions from "support" it's to a different person and the review for that person is longer than my actual question and 1/2 answer. All contact is through email (in France) which means you don't get an answer for many hours. In the field forget getting any quick answer. They require you to keep track of the name of the dish you are shooting and match it to the photos you send in. Usually even if you've done everything right when you get to the shoot the client has no idea or remembers they even booked a shoot, so they just start preparing then and makes you wait until they have food ready. Also there are many glitches with their web based "app" during the shoot which again takes time to figure out and no immediate support is possible. The pay is VERY low for all the trouble and time for the shoot, sorting and download process, so I'll likely stop working with them. The only good thing so far is you get to keep a lot of the food. BTW I haven't been paid for any jobs yet as that process is crazy too. UPDATE: Well, now that I understand their interface better things are easier to navigate, so I have to say it's not as terrible as it was. The way their system works is still odd to me, but it is workable. Things like every time I send them an email they send me one back automatically to "verify" that I sent that email. I can see verifying my email once but not every time. They do answer as quick as they can for being in France, so that helps. I also have to deal with a different person every time i have a question and then the send me an email asking me to rate that person's answer. As you can Imagine I get a lot of emails back and forth. The whole system I think could be made easier. There are a lot of jobs to be had, but most are too far away and low pay to make them worthwhile doing. With the price of gas now travel becomes a deal killer. Pay for photographers hasn't followed the economy. I'll stick with it for a while and see how it goes.

Absoluto desastre.

Hola: Trabajo para Ocus desde hace unos años como fotógrafo.
He pasado por varios cambios de protocolo y de precios (siempre a la baja)
En base tanto a mi experiencia con Ocus como a la mía como profesional de la fotografia, estas son mis valoraciones.

1.-El sistema de asignación de sesiones es absolutamente inútil.
Si me aparece una oferta de sesión casi nunca puedo llamar al restaurante al momento y casi nunca pueden responderte al instante.
Quien ha ideado este sistema no ha trabajado como fotógrafo profesional con restaurantes.
Solución:
Publicar en el mapa todas las ofertas de sesiones del día a una hora exacta cada día. Por ejemplo, a las 09:00 de la mañana. Y que cada fotógrafo pueda hacer clic sobre un máximo diario de ofertas de sesiones.
De esta forma, podemos ajustar perfectamente nuestra agenda de trabajo con la del restaurante al llamar para fijar día y hora. Además, con este sistema podemos agrupar sesiones por zona y desplazarnos para realizar varias agrupadas.
Adicionalmente, fijar en un plazo máximo de días para poder subir las fotos a la plataforma. Por ejemplo, 10-12 días.

2.-Compensaciones por sesiones no realizadas a causa del restaurante.
Los fotógrafos no tenemos porqué "pagar" los errores de los comerciales que visitan a los restaurantes. Si no hacen bien su trabajo comercial, explicándole al cliente que un profesional va a visitar su restaurante, que DEBEN tener preparados los platos y que NUNCA deben usar platos que se vayan a servir a clientes del restaurante. Que hacer 20 platos lo deben considerar una inversión y no un gasto de comida que no van a vender. Que las horas de sesión son horas de trabajo de un profesional que nunca debe esperar a que el cocinero empiece a preparar los platos. Etc, etc.
Propuesta:
a.-Sesión anulada en las últimas 24 horas, compensación del 100% del precio
b.-Anulada 48 horas antes, compensación del 80%
c.-Anulada 72 o mas horas antes, compensada con el 50% del precio.

3.-Los fotógrafos sólo debemos hacer fotografías. No somos los secretarios de Ocus. No tenemos porqué explicarle a los dueños o gerentes de restaurantes cómo funciona Uber Eats, Just Eat, Glovo, etc, etc. Ni cómo se activan los sistemas de cada plataforma. Eso es trabajo de los comerciales de cada plataforma.

4.-El precio de cada sesión está muy, muy lejos de ajustarse a la realidad del mercado.
Cuando hago trabajos similares por mi cuenta nunca es por menos de 250€ por sesión.
Evidentemente, el trabajo de Ocus tiene su coste y nadie pretende que se nos pague esa cantidad por sesión. Pero una sesión por 45€ es una auténtica miseria. El mínimo exigible para estar dentro de la lógica no debería ser menos de 110€ por sesión de 20 platos + Hero.
Por descontado, las sesiones realizadas de noche, en domingo o en día festivo laboral en el área en que se realizan deben ser pagadas con un extra de al menos un 15% sobre el precio de la sesión en día laborable normal.
Acudimos al restaurante con equipos extremadamente caros, procesamos las imágenes en ordenadores que tienen un elevado precio. Pagamos suscripciones de software que no son nada baratas. Tenemos que pagar un seguro que vale su dinero. Los transportes no nos los regala nadie...
Insisto: se paga una miseria al fotógrafo por sesión.

5.-Es irreal plantear que un restaurante vaya a preparar 50 platos para una sesión de fotos.
Sobre todo si es un restaurante de calidad o si es un kebab.

6.-Cuando se nos ofrecen sesiones en zonas que no cubre ningún fotógrafo local, el extra de dinero que se ofrece por ellas es de risa. Lo mínimo es que se ofrezca al menos el doble del precio de cada sesión.

7.-El sistema de valoración por puntos del fotógrafo.
Desconozco quien hace la revisión de las imágenes. Pero conozco muy bien mi protocolo de trabajo. Y este incluye una calibración completa de iluminación, medición con fotómetro, equipo de toma y perfil de color por cada sesión con Color Cheker.
Es imposible que mis imágenes se valoren negativamente en aspectos de sobre-sub exposición o desviación de color. Imposible.

8.-La posibilidad de que sea el gerente del restaurante quien elija el fotógrafo de entre varios según su puntuación en la plataforma.
Eso penaliza a los nuevos fotógrafos que comiencen en Ocus.
Además...¿de verdad creen que eso debe hacerlo un gerente de restaurante?

9.-Sesiones imposibles.
Se reconocen de inmediato. Son aquellas, por ejemplo, en restaurantes que pertenecen a una franquicia. Del estilo de Jenkin's Burguer, etc.
En definitiva, los fotógrafos somos el motor de Ocus.
Si Ocus pretende continuar ofreciendo un servicio de calidad, profesional, a sus clientes, los fotógrafos deben ser escuchados, atendidos, ENTENDIDOS y, por tanto, valorados correctamente.
Si pagas barato, tendrás producto malo.
No hay mas.

I had a photo shoot done with my restaurant and I never received the photos and support is not helpful even when contacted multiple times, this is horrifying, please avoid this company.

You need to be careful with working for OCUS. They operating budget is out. Once my invoice was overdue 23 days. They lowering prices of commercial sessions to unacceptables fares that ruining the market. They take 1200EUR from Uber EAT to pay us 89EUR? Seriously? Customer service is out. This company is understaffed. They cannnot handle it. Once you join, you will see. Not responding for e-mails. Disaster.

This company went down the drain, I don't know who is running the ship into the iceberd dead ahead. They clearly don't know how to do payroll. They went to a once a month for ease of payments and to verify jobs, yet they still can't get it together. Here it is the 6th and invoices still have yet to show up, the customer support sucks bad. No response. I hate when platforms start to get like this. With competitive players coming in the game you think they would want to keep their photographers happy. The fastest way to get a bad name is be consistently late with pay. This is why i slowed up freelancing for them, I hate literally chasing my paycheck from a company that plays dodgeball with emails.....

The pay from this company is an absolute joke. Under $200usd for 20 menu items!! Driving setting up lights gear waiting for the cooks, breaking down, driving back. They do not pay fairly and never have. The cost for photo services should be 3 to 4 times what they pay.
Also, you can't say the photographer is a contractor and then tell them their rate! Contractors set their own rate! Poor business practices, poor customer service (they rush to get off the phone with you).
They want high quality photos but want to pay pennies.

Truly awful and this company should be ashamed of how they treat the ones actually doing the work.