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Industry Model & Talent Studios is a total scam and complete rip off Edgewater New Jersey
On July 12, 2009 we (my husband, twin daughters and I) were approached at the Menlo Park Mall, NJ by one of the agents from Industry Modeling & Talent Studio claiming that our daughters would have great potential in the modeling business. She took our phone number and said that someone will contact us to set up an appointment. The next day I got a phone call from a person named Danielle claiming that he was calling from the agency to set up an initial interview with us to see if our girls have a potential. We made an appointment for July 19, 2009 and literally between the first call and the actual day of appointment Danielle kept calling me about 7 times to make sure that we are coming and that the development director will be there just for us (that was already a first sign that there are desperate to attract people).
Our appointment was scheduled for 2:30 on Sunday July 19. We signed in at 2:15 and the place was full of people waiting their turn to be seen by those people. We waited more than one hour and development director named Shana Geer came out to meet with us at 3:30. By that time out twins were getting very cranky and started screaming and crying (they were 10.5 months at that point). Shana took us into her office and started telling us that OMG, your twins are gorgeous and there is a VERY HIGH potential for them in this business and I can't believe that you never thought about them modeling before. She started showing us pictures of different kids who she said were her clients and basically convincing us that we should sign up and think about their future and saving for their college. After much convincing we told her ok, what is the next step? She told us that we have to schedule a photoshoot for them very soon to create their composite card so that they can send it to their potential clients.
We asked how much does it cost and she presented us with a price list. The photoshoot prices were ranging from $550 to $1500 and I asked her if that is for 1 child and she said of course, you have to pay double since you have twins. I told her that I needed a time with my husband to talk about this and make a decision (at that point my husband was taking care of twins because they were screaming uncontrollably) to which Shana said no, you have to give me an answer right now, right this minute My husband looked at me and I told him that this was very expensive. Shana said that since they are only 10 months old, we have to take a package that was $1500 per child in order to make good pictures in case they don't cooperate. She also said that she would give us this package for $1350 per child instead of $1500. After much convincing again and stating that we are making one time investment and we are on the right track, we agreed to her offer. At that point my husband took the girls and left the room. Shana started filling out some papers and asked me for a credit card. I was shocked and said Do we have to pay right now? and she said Of course, everyone pays upfront She made an appointment for a photoshoot for August 1 at 3pm and charged my Visa card $2700. We were so much forced into this contract she did not give us a minute to even look at it or read it. Girls were cranky since we were waiting for a long time, music was blasting everywhere and Shana was just forcing and convincing us that we are making a right decision.
After we left the agency and got home my husband and me were talking and decided to cancel the photoshoot appointment. We called Shana within the 24 hours but never got hold of her, every time we called we were told that she was not available and leave a message for her. I also emailed her explaining that we want to cancel and get our $2700 money back. They emailed us back stating that we have to call them.
My husband finally got hold of someone and told them that we need to cancel and get a refund back to which they replied that there is no cancellation policy and that it is stated in the contract. We have not used they service, they charged us upfront and we can't even get the money back for the services that we never used. Shana is not calling us back.
At this point we are very disappointed and feel so ripped of by this agency. We started doing a research on the internet and see if there is anything written about them and we found a lot of people complaining and saying that they paid upfront and could never get hold of anyone or get their money back. These people try very hard and being very nice during the initial appointment but the minute you leave the agency you are not able to reach anyone, no-one replies to your phone calls.
Inga
Staten Island, New York
U.S.A.