Complaint Review: John Robert Powers Modeling And Acting School

Beware! John Robert Powers will cold-heartedly steal your money! I called the San Jose facility back in July of 2009. As a 28 year old woman who has had a hard life, I wanted to do something beneficial for myself and take an acting class in order to boost my self esteem and possibly start a new career. Unfortunately, I called the wrong place!! They told me over the phone that I could attend an "audition" on that following saturday. I could look up and memmorize the lines of a commercial off of their website. I wondered why I had to do this since the whole reason I was calling in the 1st place was to learn how to act, but I was seeing stars and excited. I looked at it as a challenge. The day before the audition, I realized that I didn't have a babysitter for my 1 1/2 year old son and regretfully called in to cancel. The JRP representative on the phone was very pushy and desperate to keep our appointment. He stated that I could bring my child and he could audition too! He said that a 1 1/2 year old child was not too young. I ignored my nagging intuition that maybe they just wanted my money and I kept the appointment--even adding my son onto the list as well. I drove a distance from Pleasanton, CA (where we live) and when we got there they didn't even have our names on the list!! (part of their scam? ... or just unorganized unprofessionalism?) The receptionist said not to worry... she would go ahead and add us. I saw several "star struck" looking people in the waiting room. Little did they realize that they were about to be hustled! The JRP representative then ushered us all into a big room with a television and camera where they sat us down and showed us a movie about all their success stories. A couple of JRP employees got up and spoke for a minute or so, and then they said it was time for everyone to do a cat walk and then the scouts there would speak to us individually and let us know if we had a look or a chance to be accepted into the school and should come back or not. I was one of the first to be called back into Casey Caldwell's office. I brought my son in with me and she said instantly that we both definitely had a look and she knew of 3 agents right off the bat that would hire us immediately for commercial print and acting (only after we paid for their school of course!) She talked about how she herself was a commercial model for Hawaiian Tropic and just got a $3,000 check in the mail the other day. She also discussed something called a ZED card and said that we would each have to get one (at $600 a pop for the photo shoots!!) Casey stated that she already knew that they wanted to accept us into the school, but to go ahead and do my audition in front of the camera and she would review my "acting abilities" and let me know what she thought. She had "only a few other acceptable canidates to interview" and gave me a price phamplet then told me that she wanted to see me back in the office in one hour. I went and did my bit in front of the camera with everyone watching, and then left to go have lunch. When I opened the phamplet to review it, I was appalled at the cost of the school. It ranged from $1,000 to $10,000 depending on what you wanted. I didn't have that type of money! I went back in an hour as promised and spoke to her again. She didn't even say anything about the "video audition," she just wanted to talk money. I had to ask her how she thought I did, and all she said was that I need work and that's what they were there for...to help. She promoted the acting class, photo shoots and modeling for me, and Zed cards for my son.  I thanked her for her time and told her that I just didn't think I could do it for that kind of money and drive all the way to San Jose for my (5) classes. She said that was no problem.... She could give me 10% off if I paid in full that day and then she would transfer me over to the pleasanton branch and work with me one-on-one because I had so much potential. She promised a successful career! I was so stupid! I fell for it!! I whipped out my check book--even though I was barely surviving and my car payment was due in a couple days. I asked if I could write 2 checks: One for $800 which could be deposited that day, and the remaining $550 as a postdated check to be deposited several days later. She said she would have to ask her supervisor and left for a moment. She came back and said that would be fine. She had me sign a form (which I later found out was a binding contract that said I had to cancel within 3 days or I would lose my money). Casey made no verbal mention of this. She shook my hand and wouldn't tell me when my classes started. She said that she would have to transfer my file over to Pleasanton and they would be calling me shortly. Well one week went by and my 1st check was deposited (I noticed on my banking statement). I finally broke down and looked up the Pleasanton number on the internet and called. They said they had no idea who I was and had never gotten my file....

TO BE CONTINUED