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C Taylor Agency OWNER: Theresa Catanese This company hires demonstrators, models to work for C. Taylor but then they will not pay you. Ripoff Evansville Indiana
This company hires demonstrators to hand samples out in Walmarts. I took 7 of their jobs. But when it comes time to get paid, Theresa Catanese gives one excuse after another. I worked 2 days in Aug. 2006 and after much begging and complaining, she finally paid for those 2 days only.
The other 5 days that were worked in Nov. 2006 are still not paid yet and it is almost April 2007 as I type this.
She refuses to answer her phone, and does not respond to my emails. Only after I contacted another woman at the company, did Theresa respond. Below is her email:
"Obviously, my answers are not good enough for you..............I am writing checks one job at a time. I have about 200 stores per event - which means about 150 checks per event. I'm sorry that I am not getting them out fast enough to meet your satisfaction.
Do NOT contact my employees. Cori can not help you, Sherri cannot help you and Lisa cannot help you. You will get your check when and ONLY when we get to your check/job."
I doubt I will ever see another penny from her. Beware of C. Taylor agency. Don't let Theresa fool anyone else. It never takes 6 months to get paid for a demo job so avoid her at all costs.
Chrissy
Wellington, Ohio
U.S.A.
9 Updates & Rebuttals
Lori
Evansville,Indiana,
U.S.A.
Theresa Catanese / The C. Taylor Agency - Still At It...
#10UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, April 28, 2009
Molli - Theresa will get all PISSY if you say she was ARRESTED for Criminal Check Deception. She was only CONVICTED and CHARGED of Criminal Check Deception according to the Dockets at the Vanderburgh County Courthouse. I believe she must think its not as bad since they didn't haul her off in handcuffs.
There are 3 sides to every court story. The plaintiff, the defendant and the truth.
The JUDGE decides (and is well qualified to decide) what the truth is.
Every case that a Model brought before the judge was carefully researched, and there was no question what the truth was.
The Models worked for The C. Taylor Agency...... and they did not get paid what they were due. The Judge ruled in favor of the Models every time.
Theresa's "side of the story" was ruled ....NOT the truth.
Now there are more models surfacing and getting the GUTS to stand up and fight for what is rightfully theirs. Theresa seems to be (once again) ignoring them???
When I left the C. Taylor Agency, I confronted Theresa point blank.
I asked her WHY she was lying to the models.... and saying that the clients had not paid her yet (when indeed they had). I knew this because I know the clients, and I called them personally. They were MY clients before they were ever hers. Thats how Natasha Smith... the first model who successfully sued.... got her money hands down. The client provided information to us of WHEN they paid Theresa.... when the check was even cashed by her.. just weeks after the job was completed. Natasha was told in emails that the client had not paid.... and got excuse after excuse... then Theresa just decided to start ignoring her.... UNTIL Natasha found ME, and I helped her gather the information she needed to sue. Teri S. (another model from Louisville) has not gotten paid from the same job to this day. The same thing happened to her, but Teri could not ever find the time or money to travel to Evansville several times to pursue a court hearing.
You should ask her former and current Miss Evansville what their experiences are with not getting paid. I feel so sorry for them.
Theresa knew full well that what she was doing was wrong when I initially confronted her. When I told her I was going to leave the Agency IF she did not stop stealing money from the Models.... She freaked and wiped out all of my personal emails accounts..... and started a personal rampage against me. I never intended to start my own Agency in Evansville UNTIL I had began receiving phone call after phone call from Models I had worked with before..... saying they did not want to work with her anymore... asking if I could help them. Theresa was scared, of course... because before she met me, she barely had anything she could call an "agency". No computer, files, contracts, no office.... and an out of date basket of photos of people with invalid phone numbers in the corner. Any model she knew was just the girls and friends of her little pageant world. She only had ONE client that I knew of at the time. I built her client business for her.... built her website.... wrote her contracts... did all the marketing...organized all the files..... ONLY to receive money here and there.... and half the time my checks bounced anyway and I had to go straight to her bank and wait for available funds.
Yes, Theresa... I knew that you were trying to get Chadwick to take a photo of me while we were out of town with some man so you could try to tell my husband I was cheating on him. Yes... your seamstress in the back office came and told me EVERYTHING you had been saying about me to EVERYONE that came into the Agency. She broke down in tears and could not believe what a horrible person you were. Several models came to me out of concern and shared the same story.
It surprised me when you ALL OF A SUDDEN became a "professional makeup artist".... without any training.....I gave you Makeup jobs a few times when I was out of town and I could not do them..... and the clients made me swear not to ever send you to them again because it was so unprofessional. You went behind my back and started your "Teased by J and T" while I was still working with you... and you lied to me about it. You went after my MUA clients and lied to me about it WHILE I was still working with you. Do you not think that I don't know what you told the photographer from LaVegas? He was infuriated when he found out the truth.
You claim to this that you and Jennifer are the "Only licensed and/or certified Makeup Artists In the area"....... COME ON!!! What about the hundreds of licensed hair and mua who just graduated beauty school? And everyone who works in a salon? Are they not licensed and certified? You have only been certified in ONE thing ever, and I have to bite my tongue to not say what I think that is.
EVERY single thing I have written in this rebuttal is TRUTH. NONE can be considered slanderous, because I have proof of everything. So you cannot come back and whine about LIBEL AND SLANDER..... You are the only one who specializes in that.
I am embarrased that I was EVER associated with Theresa Catanese.
I hope more people bring the TRUTH to light about the way she operates.
Molli
Edwardsville,Illinois,
U.S.A.
This aired on her local news,,,,,,,,,Now we are victims of retaliation on her myspace/ctayloragency
#10UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, February 09, 2008
Anyone knows that when someone is caught red-handed that they will retaliate. The truth is being revealed about The C. Taylor Modeling Agency and Theresa Catanese - So please if you REALLY want to know the truth, please go to the Vanderburgh County Court Systems in Evansville Indiana and check it out for yourself! Please do not believe the slanderous lies that she has been spreading about the people involved. Get the facts.
And consider this: If a well known news reporter did a special story about all of this, you know she has to be very careful about her facts. She cannot air anything that cannot be proven.
Please read the News Story below:
Reporter: Stefanie Silvey Channel 14-WFIE Evansville, Indiana
New Media Producer: Rachel Beavin
The owner of an Evansville talent and modeling agency is ordered to pay up after being sued by models who say she pocketed their paychecks.
The C. Taylor Agency has been in business in Evansville for more than a decade. (SO she says.... actually it has been about 4 years).
The owner, Theresa Catanese, has been active in the local pageant world for years.
Now, several models say she hasn't been paying them for their time and work.
We spoke to former clients of Catanese. One after another have gone to court to fight for a paycheck they say they never received.
Former client, Andrea Simmons, says she tried very hard to contact Catanese, "I tried contacting her on several occasions and had no response. Her voice mails were always full so you couldn't even leave a message."
Amanda McClure says she is still waiting on payment from a lengthy job," I did a job for her in October 2005. It was supposed to be a four hour, six day event where I was paid and she didn't pay me for those."
They say local companies paid Theresa Catanese's agency a paycheck for promotional jobs her models did. She was supposed to take a percentage of the money and then pay the models, but the models say instead she took it all.
McClure says, "I think she doesn't think we would have went this far but I mean, there's a lot of girls she hasn't paid so we're determined to get it."
McClure goes on to say, "I deserve to be paid. I took off work to work for her and I missed school to work for her and she should pay it."
Molli Funk sued for thousands of dollars, and won, after she modeled and provided other models to do a job for Catanese. Funk says she ended up paying the other models out of her own pocket when Catanese didn't, "No one should have to go through this to get their money and what is rightfully theirs and what they are owed. She knows this and she's the one who has to look at herself in the mirror everyday."
Some have appeared in court more than once, after a judge ordered Catanese to pay up, and she didn't.
Many times Catanese has failed to show up at all, and that's also what happened with us. After she failed to show up for our scheduled interview, she issued this statement:
"I am fully aware of the talent that needs to be paid for jobs they have performed. We have full intentions of paying those individuals as quickly as possible. If any individual feels that they have not received full compensation in work they have completed, they are welcome to call us and we will help resolve the issue. The C. Taylor agency has been successful helping to launch the careers of many local and national talent and are looking forward to help both talent and clients in the future."
A judge ordered the money owed to one model garnished from Theresa Catanese's assets after Catanese failed to appear in court a second time with this particular model.
Four models have sued Catanese. In every case, the judge has ruled in favor of the models.
FOLLOW UP NOTES:
Amanda McClure went back to court this Monday for the 3rd time because Theresa did not pay her from 2005, and Theresa has not shown up to ANY court hearings. SO.. the judge ordered her to pay the money in full within 2 weeks, or there will be a warrant out for Theresa's arrest.
Molli Funk's attorney went back to court this Wednesday with Theresa because she had lied about her income and had to be served legal garnishment papers on the set of a photoshoot recently (in front of the client and models, I might add!) They are still trying to work with Theresa on paying back the $4000 she owes Molli alone, but if it does not happen soon, the future does not look too bright for Mrs. Catanese.
MOST of the models who Theresa owes money to are out of state. This is how she does most of her business because now all of the local clients are aware of her methods. This makes it very difficult for anyone to sue her if they live so far away! ....ALL part of the plan, I am sure.
If you "GOOGLE" the words Theresa Catanese or The C. Taylor Agency along with the word SCAM.... its gets very interesting how many other models are out there.
Anyone can go to the Vanderburgh County Courts and look up these words to find out the truth for yourself. The one where Theresa was arrested for criminal check deception is very interesting as well.
Theresa Catanese
Theresa Catonese
Theresa Steel
Frank Catanese
The C. Taylor Agency
Natasha Smith
Andrea Simmons
Amanda McClure
Molli Funk
Tina
San Antonio,Texas,
U.S.A.
Scammed in Texas
#10UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, May 08, 2007
My husband and I worked for this theresa what ever her last name is.We acually got hired by tina norris..but later learned miss cantanese was to paying us..we worked back in october and did a bunch of jobs,after much waiting and even had alot of touble getting paid for other jobs from tina norris..after contacting client tina finally paid up..theresa has sent 2 persoal checks and im still owes even more.so we havent been paid yet..theres is so much info we have gathered since we bagan looking for payment..She threated to sue us HA!i just can't believe shes gotten away with so so much..she hurt my family and it is just not cool...i will be trying to cash the checks I have and see if they bounce..I hear she does that alot..i call it her shut up checks..
i had been trying to call her for months and when i got a check last week i called and i was shocked that she answered..
i know people are taking her to court just to get what they earned..this is so sad..We wish someone would do something to stop her...
ID STAY AWAY FROM TINA NORRIS TOO..
I will let you all know if I get those checks cashed..miss cantanese has christian things on her checks...get that!!!
Chrissy
Brunswick,Ohio,
U.S.A.
TO JAY WHO RESPONDED AND AN UPDATE
#10Author of original report
Thu, May 03, 2007
Thanks Jay for your info. Believe it or not, I tried every avenue (except contacting Wal-Mart.....I should have thought of that one), and the first one, the Labor Dept., said it wasn't within their jurisdiction as I was out of state (C Taylor is in Indiana and I live in Ohio)
Then the BBB said it was not of a nature for them to get involved. I contacted the Attorney General's office in Indiana and they said they couldn't do anything (don't remember why now).
So I then contacted the AG in Ohio and they said it was not within their power as the contract was signed with another state.
There was another site where a person could post about demo work and I asked the guestion if anyone else had ever done demos for C Taylor and then told my story to warn those that were either working there or thinking of working there, but the moderator chopped my message so badly that all he allowed was me asking if anyone knew of her company. In the end, my post turned out to be very benign and so I was very discouraged but then finally I found ripoffreport.com and was able post and to find that I was not the only one.
The good news is that a check finally came in today 5/03/07 for the last day worked for C Taylor which was way back in November 11, 2006. Finally my very last check she owed me!!! I am so glad to be able to wash my hands of C Taylor and Theresa Catanese. I believe the only reason I got paid is that I kept contacting, calling and emailing her and everyone who worked for her (no calls were ever ans. but when I posted here, she finally started emailing me jaunticed and vitriol replies. I think she paid me just to get rid of me!
Please, please..........anybody reading these posts and threads....be aware of her sloppy, deceitful habits. Know that if you accept a job with her company, you may have to wait up to and longer than 120 days, "IF" you get paid at all but her contract will state only up to 90 days.
Theresa Catanese did all the things to me that another poster said she does to those who "cross" her by wanting paid for their work. The only thing she didn't do was dig up dirt on me and who knows, maybe she did a background check for all I know. I don't care though as there's nothing in my background that warrants not getting paid for worked performed.
Thank you so much ripoffreport.com for letting us bring C Taylor to light!!!!!
This is the end of my C Taylor report but I will be watching for posts and threads in the hopes that more will not be afraid to come forward here and tell on her!
Sincerely,
Jay
Newport,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
Complain to the store!
#10Consumer Suggestion
Tue, May 01, 2007
Chrissy,
You have several options including writing to the State Attorney General and to the State Labor Board!
You also have the option of contacting Wal-Mart Corporation in Bentonville Arkansas and if you wanted to get real nasty about it, turn in a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service.
Just be truthful! State your case!
Good Luck!
Chrissy
Brunswick,Ohio,
U.S.A.
C. Taylor Agency Ripp-Off
#10Author of original report
Tue, May 01, 2007
WOW! I am glad everyone is coming out of the woodwork to report this scam artist C Taylor, Theresa Catanese! I am still owed from Nov 11 2007 that I worked.
Fortunately, she finally paid the others (I posted on this site when it happened). I contacted the Company USM&P that contracted her for this demo and their accounting dept. said she sent her paperwork in, in Feb 2007 for this demo (Wow......I did these demos in Nov 2006......why so long? Other companies send in right away!) she was cut a check within a week for it and I was still "begging" for my money in March, of which she finally paid at the end. Yet she was still claiming she was not paid yet by USM&P. She was not aware that I had contacted them and knew better.
Theresa threatened to send all future correspondence from me to her lawyer and I responnded with YES, please do so he may see you are not paying your demonstrators. She said I was harrassing her! WHAT!? Bccause I had to keep contacting to get my money? I never swore and my emails were cortial and very mannerly, of which she can not say the same towards the last.
She is full of baloney when she says her contract states up to 120 days. Mine says up to 90 days and sometimes longer but 120 days is not specifically mentioned. Those amts. of time are unheard of in the demonstrator business and she knows that!!! If she would have told me at any tme she would take up to 120 Dsys to pay, I would not have accepted those terms, thereby, i would not have worked for her. I wondered why her turnaround for payment was so long as the others ar usually 30-45 days tops.
I would be glad to post the contract I signed with her if I am allowed to do so, so that anyone reading this will know I am not lying.
I am so glad to be able to bring her to light. I feel bad for you others who were scammed by her. That is why it is important that we post these behaviors.........to force her to clean up her act and pay or go out of busiiness.
She was livid when she saw I exposed her and her email to me was poisonous but so far, her attorney hasn't contacted me as she claimed, as I would love to tell him what she's up to and give forth all correspondence with her as I have a hard copy of all my "begging" email for payment. I think he would be very interested.
Chrissy /Wellington, OH
Molli
Edwardsville,Illinois,
U.S.A.
CHRISSY IN WELLINTON OHIO PLEASE RESPOND
#10UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, April 13, 2007
Teresa Catannese is full of herself! Her first report? Go under EVANSVILLE, IND and do the search, she comes up again. I think she meant her first report on this website, checkout craigslist in Evansville and surrounding areas. There are postings of CTAYLOR AGENCY scamming a couple out of Texas, she does not respond to her calls, call the business line,it wont accept messages (bad sign if your a business owner). Her cell number will not take messages as well, and she will not respond to emails. How do we contact you Teresa?
Natasha
Columbia,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Does Not Pay!!!
#10UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sun, April 08, 2007
I am also victim of The Taylor Agency and only after taking the Agency to court and suing for the money owed did I see payment. The "check is in the mail" is a common excuse. I have heard from many other models claiming the same thing. I have written documented proof that Mrs. Cantonese has lied, and cashed checks from clients without paying the actors/models. I have emails from her saying that she has not been paid from the client, when in fact I would have a receipt from the producer/client proving otherwise. She also claims that she is constantly being "slandered" However, she has yet to take any of these claims to court because she knows she will have to answer why she has yet to pay her models. Do not work for this woman because she will never pay you!!!
-Former hired model
Theresa
Evansville,Indiana,
U.S.A.
Response
#10REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, March 28, 2007
Upon hiring of a job with this agency, the independant contractor signs an agreement stating that they are aware that payment takes anywhere from 90-120 days to receive payment from a job completed. When jobs are completed, paperwork is turned into this agency (along with about 150 other individuals that work that particular job). Once the paperwork is turned into the agency, the job is invoiced to the client and submitted for payment. The client then goes over the paperwork and either accepts or declines payment of each job. As you can see, this is a lengthy process and can take anywhere from only 30 days and in some instances has taken 6-7 months - depending on the client/job.
When this individual first contacted me, I - again - explained the process to her.
When this individual wrote the original complain to this website, she had already received payment of a check she had cashed on March 13, 2007.
And on March 22nd, this email was sent to me:
"I received a check today for 3 days in Nov. from C Taylor and I want to thank you very much for getting that out to me".
That check was cashed on March 26th.
This individual has threatened to contact my client on several occassions to verify payment. I have given her permission to contact them to prove that a check had not been received by this company at that time. She is still welcome to.
This individual knowingly posted libelous remarks AFTER she had received her checks.
This company has been in business for over 6 years and has over 5000 promotional talent across the US. In this time, this is the first complaint that we have received.