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Kids.com - Justourkids.com - NTAkids.com Child Modeling Scam Fraudulent Agency Misleading Consumers Total Scam Lynbrook, Valley Stream, NY, Fairfield, NJ, Cherry Hill, NJ, Lincolnwood, IL Nationwide
My story is just about the same as all of the other complaints regarding this agency, more or less, so I will spare you the details. However, I have recorded a phone conversation asking them how often they book children for commercial work, how many responses they receive from their website, which children are more requested for jobs, the average salary and so on. I get no answers.
They don't know. They can't even speculate. There are so many complaints on the internet from so many anonymous people. Where can I add my name to the list? Is anyone gathering a petition of some kind? Every time I try to file a complaint, it's such a lengthy process (even registering to this site, answering several questions and writing this message took a long time!) and when I call the NYC DCA, I get no response. I leave a detailed message asking about their state license and bonding, but no one calls back.(I'll keep trying!) I need to find out if this company is operating illegally. So that I know how to file my complaint properly.
This message website does NOT allow me to list my full name, phone # or even my e-mail address, so don't think that I'm too embarrassed. No one should be too embarrassed to come forward and tell their story because this can happen to anyone as it has happened to over 23,310 (according to a report from an LA Times investigation in the 1990's when the company was operating as National Talent Associates).
Like I stated, I am not allowed to give any of my own contact info but if anyone else could post a message stating who we can contact so that we can form a group and start a class action, let me know. In the meantime, I will contact a lawyer that I have used in the past and see if they can be of any assistance!
Lisa
Massapequa Pk, New York
U.S.A.
8 Updates & Rebuttals
Kateri
Neptune,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
I fell for it too....
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, May 19, 2004
I brought my daughter to the Fairfield, NJ. Office. They signed her up, we payed a hefty fee, and then they gave us the cold shoulder. This was over 4 yrs ago. She was just about a year old when we went , shes now turning 5. They told us to call and make an appointment for a photo shoot. That never happened, everytime I called they told me they were booked. I called to get my money back , they told me the money was non-refundable. so we were out over $600. I told them to cancel everything and I was contacting the better buisness burea. To try to scare them. The next month they charged the credit card for another $600. We have been trying ever since, and they still send us mail. They have balls. I have always wondered how long they can get away with this.
Kateri
Neptune,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
I fell for it too....
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, May 19, 2004
I brought my daughter to the Fairfield, NJ. Office. They signed her up, we payed a hefty fee, and then they gave us the cold shoulder. This was over 4 yrs ago. She was just about a year old when we went , shes now turning 5. They told us to call and make an appointment for a photo shoot. That never happened, everytime I called they told me they were booked. I called to get my money back , they told me the money was non-refundable. so we were out over $600. I told them to cancel everything and I was contacting the better buisness burea. To try to scare them. The next month they charged the credit card for another $600. We have been trying ever since, and they still send us mail. They have balls. I have always wondered how long they can get away with this.
Kateri
Neptune,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
I fell for it too....
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, May 19, 2004
I brought my daughter to the Fairfield, NJ. Office. They signed her up, we payed a hefty fee, and then they gave us the cold shoulder. This was over 4 yrs ago. She was just about a year old when we went , shes now turning 5. They told us to call and make an appointment for a photo shoot. That never happened, everytime I called they told me they were booked. I called to get my money back , they told me the money was non-refundable. so we were out over $600. I told them to cancel everything and I was contacting the better buisness burea. To try to scare them. The next month they charged the credit card for another $600. We have been trying ever since, and they still send us mail. They have balls. I have always wondered how long they can get away with this.
Kateri
Neptune,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
I fell for it too....
#9Consumer Comment
Wed, May 19, 2004
I brought my daughter to the Fairfield, NJ. Office. They signed her up, we payed a hefty fee, and then they gave us the cold shoulder. This was over 4 yrs ago. She was just about a year old when we went , shes now turning 5. They told us to call and make an appointment for a photo shoot. That never happened, everytime I called they told me they were booked. I called to get my money back , they told me the money was non-refundable. so we were out over $600. I told them to cancel everything and I was contacting the better buisness burea. To try to scare them. The next month they charged the credit card for another $600. We have been trying ever since, and they still send us mail. They have balls. I have always wondered how long they can get away with this.
Dayann
Richmond Hill,New York,
U.S.A.
Response to Your Questions
#9Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 12, 2004
Lisa,
I am one of the first folks who posted my story on the ripoffreport. There was a nice lady (I think from Minnesota) who was on here first and I thank her for having the courage to speak out. People who have been conned always think they are alone for some reason -- but how can they be alone, if there were all these other pictures of kids?? I'm so glad she posted her story and reminded me that I was never alone and that I should speak out.
Send your written complaint to the New Jersey branch of the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission was responsible for shutting this company down when they operated as NTA (National Talent Agency) a few years ago.
If you go on the FTC website, and put in the docket numbers I gave on my initial post about Kids.com, you can see a copy of the public notice of the injunction directly from the FTC's archives. Somewhere on that notice is a contact name and phone number. Call it. Find out who would be in charge of that investigation now in the year 2004, get their full name, direct address. Send them the complaint directly via certified mail.
Apparently, Kids.com was not operating legally in Minnesota. I do not know if they are operating legally in New York/New Jersey but you can tell the FTC that you are not sure they are operating legally because at least one of their other offices in another state was operating without the proper licenses and your questions about bonding, licensing, etc. are going unanswered.
They are the FEDERAL Trade Commission -- they investigate problems that cross state lines. This would be something they might find interesting.
Also, if you are going to contact the DCA send your written complaints to the attention of a gentleman named Jon Sorenson who is in the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs in Albany. He has been involved in this investigation and is familiar with the problem.
Send those complaints in, no matter how annoying the process is. And although our friends here on the Ripoff Report have warned us about the Better Business Bureau, and I agree with all they've posted -- I would urge you to still make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area because that is probably the first (or only) place a person would go to check if this company is legitimate. If they see a history of complaints when they check Kids.com out, this may hinder them from going to the offices and getting scammed -- and your report would have helped other parents. Also, the more places you complain to, the more of a paper trail there is against this company if and when a class action does occur.
I have been told by a lawyer in Minnesota who is working on the Minnesota class action that there is a lawsuit in the works over here in the NY/NJ area, but I have yet to get any concrete information on who that lawyer is, etc. Keep checking in with our friends here on the Ripoff report -- I believe they would let us all know if a lawyer was looking for us to contact him.
Best wishes to you. Thanks for posting about not being embarrassed -- there is nothing embarrassing about thinking the world of your child. You were naive, you were taken in, but you werent' the one doing wrong. Keep the crime where it belongs -- in the lap of these con artists. And be glad that even though they took your money, your child is safe. If just anybody can buy information about newborns and get their addresses -- think of all the slimy people (child porn, pedophiles, folks who kidnap kids and sell them in fake adoption rings, all kinds of insanity) -- who could have contacted you or come to your house. As angry as we are, the Kids.com scammers who came to our house were mild compared to some of the other sick people who could have come.
I think we should lobby for legislation that makes information about newborns/new families confidential and makes it a crime to sell or send that information to outside parties without a release from the family/parents. Kind of like a "do not call" or "do not mail" list for parents of small children/newborns. Then it will be harder for con artists like this to target children, new parents and families, and anyone selling information about new families will then be subject to scrutiny, if not legal action. (Including folks from magazines geared toward new parents, who sell their subscription lists to telemarketers and other agencies like Kids.com.)
Best of luck to you. If you find out about a class action in New York/New Jersey before I do, please come on the ripoffreport and let me know. I want these men put to justice -- I want my money back, I want her pictures destroyed so they can't use them for any dishonest purposes anymore, and I want these people in jail for their history of fraud. But I will settle for one or two out of three.
Dayann
Richmond Hill,New York,
U.S.A.
Response to Your Questions
#9Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 12, 2004
Lisa,
I am one of the first folks who posted my story on the ripoffreport. There was a nice lady (I think from Minnesota) who was on here first and I thank her for having the courage to speak out. People who have been conned always think they are alone for some reason -- but how can they be alone, if there were all these other pictures of kids?? I'm so glad she posted her story and reminded me that I was never alone and that I should speak out.
Send your written complaint to the New Jersey branch of the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission was responsible for shutting this company down when they operated as NTA (National Talent Agency) a few years ago.
If you go on the FTC website, and put in the docket numbers I gave on my initial post about Kids.com, you can see a copy of the public notice of the injunction directly from the FTC's archives. Somewhere on that notice is a contact name and phone number. Call it. Find out who would be in charge of that investigation now in the year 2004, get their full name, direct address. Send them the complaint directly via certified mail.
Apparently, Kids.com was not operating legally in Minnesota. I do not know if they are operating legally in New York/New Jersey but you can tell the FTC that you are not sure they are operating legally because at least one of their other offices in another state was operating without the proper licenses and your questions about bonding, licensing, etc. are going unanswered.
They are the FEDERAL Trade Commission -- they investigate problems that cross state lines. This would be something they might find interesting.
Also, if you are going to contact the DCA send your written complaints to the attention of a gentleman named Jon Sorenson who is in the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs in Albany. He has been involved in this investigation and is familiar with the problem.
Send those complaints in, no matter how annoying the process is. And although our friends here on the Ripoff Report have warned us about the Better Business Bureau, and I agree with all they've posted -- I would urge you to still make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area because that is probably the first (or only) place a person would go to check if this company is legitimate. If they see a history of complaints when they check Kids.com out, this may hinder them from going to the offices and getting scammed -- and your report would have helped other parents. Also, the more places you complain to, the more of a paper trail there is against this company if and when a class action does occur.
I have been told by a lawyer in Minnesota who is working on the Minnesota class action that there is a lawsuit in the works over here in the NY/NJ area, but I have yet to get any concrete information on who that lawyer is, etc. Keep checking in with our friends here on the Ripoff report -- I believe they would let us all know if a lawyer was looking for us to contact him.
Best wishes to you. Thanks for posting about not being embarrassed -- there is nothing embarrassing about thinking the world of your child. You were naive, you were taken in, but you werent' the one doing wrong. Keep the crime where it belongs -- in the lap of these con artists. And be glad that even though they took your money, your child is safe. If just anybody can buy information about newborns and get their addresses -- think of all the slimy people (child porn, pedophiles, folks who kidnap kids and sell them in fake adoption rings, all kinds of insanity) -- who could have contacted you or come to your house. As angry as we are, the Kids.com scammers who came to our house were mild compared to some of the other sick people who could have come.
I think we should lobby for legislation that makes information about newborns/new families confidential and makes it a crime to sell or send that information to outside parties without a release from the family/parents. Kind of like a "do not call" or "do not mail" list for parents of small children/newborns. Then it will be harder for con artists like this to target children, new parents and families, and anyone selling information about new families will then be subject to scrutiny, if not legal action. (Including folks from magazines geared toward new parents, who sell their subscription lists to telemarketers and other agencies like Kids.com.)
Best of luck to you. If you find out about a class action in New York/New Jersey before I do, please come on the ripoffreport and let me know. I want these men put to justice -- I want my money back, I want her pictures destroyed so they can't use them for any dishonest purposes anymore, and I want these people in jail for their history of fraud. But I will settle for one or two out of three.
Dayann
Richmond Hill,New York,
U.S.A.
Response to Your Questions
#9Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 12, 2004
Lisa,
I am one of the first folks who posted my story on the ripoffreport. There was a nice lady (I think from Minnesota) who was on here first and I thank her for having the courage to speak out. People who have been conned always think they are alone for some reason -- but how can they be alone, if there were all these other pictures of kids?? I'm so glad she posted her story and reminded me that I was never alone and that I should speak out.
Send your written complaint to the New Jersey branch of the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission was responsible for shutting this company down when they operated as NTA (National Talent Agency) a few years ago.
If you go on the FTC website, and put in the docket numbers I gave on my initial post about Kids.com, you can see a copy of the public notice of the injunction directly from the FTC's archives. Somewhere on that notice is a contact name and phone number. Call it. Find out who would be in charge of that investigation now in the year 2004, get their full name, direct address. Send them the complaint directly via certified mail.
Apparently, Kids.com was not operating legally in Minnesota. I do not know if they are operating legally in New York/New Jersey but you can tell the FTC that you are not sure they are operating legally because at least one of their other offices in another state was operating without the proper licenses and your questions about bonding, licensing, etc. are going unanswered.
They are the FEDERAL Trade Commission -- they investigate problems that cross state lines. This would be something they might find interesting.
Also, if you are going to contact the DCA send your written complaints to the attention of a gentleman named Jon Sorenson who is in the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs in Albany. He has been involved in this investigation and is familiar with the problem.
Send those complaints in, no matter how annoying the process is. And although our friends here on the Ripoff Report have warned us about the Better Business Bureau, and I agree with all they've posted -- I would urge you to still make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area because that is probably the first (or only) place a person would go to check if this company is legitimate. If they see a history of complaints when they check Kids.com out, this may hinder them from going to the offices and getting scammed -- and your report would have helped other parents. Also, the more places you complain to, the more of a paper trail there is against this company if and when a class action does occur.
I have been told by a lawyer in Minnesota who is working on the Minnesota class action that there is a lawsuit in the works over here in the NY/NJ area, but I have yet to get any concrete information on who that lawyer is, etc. Keep checking in with our friends here on the Ripoff report -- I believe they would let us all know if a lawyer was looking for us to contact him.
Best wishes to you. Thanks for posting about not being embarrassed -- there is nothing embarrassing about thinking the world of your child. You were naive, you were taken in, but you werent' the one doing wrong. Keep the crime where it belongs -- in the lap of these con artists. And be glad that even though they took your money, your child is safe. If just anybody can buy information about newborns and get their addresses -- think of all the slimy people (child porn, pedophiles, folks who kidnap kids and sell them in fake adoption rings, all kinds of insanity) -- who could have contacted you or come to your house. As angry as we are, the Kids.com scammers who came to our house were mild compared to some of the other sick people who could have come.
I think we should lobby for legislation that makes information about newborns/new families confidential and makes it a crime to sell or send that information to outside parties without a release from the family/parents. Kind of like a "do not call" or "do not mail" list for parents of small children/newborns. Then it will be harder for con artists like this to target children, new parents and families, and anyone selling information about new families will then be subject to scrutiny, if not legal action. (Including folks from magazines geared toward new parents, who sell their subscription lists to telemarketers and other agencies like Kids.com.)
Best of luck to you. If you find out about a class action in New York/New Jersey before I do, please come on the ripoffreport and let me know. I want these men put to justice -- I want my money back, I want her pictures destroyed so they can't use them for any dishonest purposes anymore, and I want these people in jail for their history of fraud. But I will settle for one or two out of three.
Dayann
Richmond Hill,New York,
U.S.A.
Response to Your Questions
#9Consumer Suggestion
Wed, May 12, 2004
Lisa,
I am one of the first folks who posted my story on the ripoffreport. There was a nice lady (I think from Minnesota) who was on here first and I thank her for having the courage to speak out. People who have been conned always think they are alone for some reason -- but how can they be alone, if there were all these other pictures of kids?? I'm so glad she posted her story and reminded me that I was never alone and that I should speak out.
Send your written complaint to the New Jersey branch of the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission was responsible for shutting this company down when they operated as NTA (National Talent Agency) a few years ago.
If you go on the FTC website, and put in the docket numbers I gave on my initial post about Kids.com, you can see a copy of the public notice of the injunction directly from the FTC's archives. Somewhere on that notice is a contact name and phone number. Call it. Find out who would be in charge of that investigation now in the year 2004, get their full name, direct address. Send them the complaint directly via certified mail.
Apparently, Kids.com was not operating legally in Minnesota. I do not know if they are operating legally in New York/New Jersey but you can tell the FTC that you are not sure they are operating legally because at least one of their other offices in another state was operating without the proper licenses and your questions about bonding, licensing, etc. are going unanswered.
They are the FEDERAL Trade Commission -- they investigate problems that cross state lines. This would be something they might find interesting.
Also, if you are going to contact the DCA send your written complaints to the attention of a gentleman named Jon Sorenson who is in the New York State Department of Consumer Affairs in Albany. He has been involved in this investigation and is familiar with the problem.
Send those complaints in, no matter how annoying the process is. And although our friends here on the Ripoff Report have warned us about the Better Business Bureau, and I agree with all they've posted -- I would urge you to still make a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area because that is probably the first (or only) place a person would go to check if this company is legitimate. If they see a history of complaints when they check Kids.com out, this may hinder them from going to the offices and getting scammed -- and your report would have helped other parents. Also, the more places you complain to, the more of a paper trail there is against this company if and when a class action does occur.
I have been told by a lawyer in Minnesota who is working on the Minnesota class action that there is a lawsuit in the works over here in the NY/NJ area, but I have yet to get any concrete information on who that lawyer is, etc. Keep checking in with our friends here on the Ripoff report -- I believe they would let us all know if a lawyer was looking for us to contact him.
Best wishes to you. Thanks for posting about not being embarrassed -- there is nothing embarrassing about thinking the world of your child. You were naive, you were taken in, but you werent' the one doing wrong. Keep the crime where it belongs -- in the lap of these con artists. And be glad that even though they took your money, your child is safe. If just anybody can buy information about newborns and get their addresses -- think of all the slimy people (child porn, pedophiles, folks who kidnap kids and sell them in fake adoption rings, all kinds of insanity) -- who could have contacted you or come to your house. As angry as we are, the Kids.com scammers who came to our house were mild compared to some of the other sick people who could have come.
I think we should lobby for legislation that makes information about newborns/new families confidential and makes it a crime to sell or send that information to outside parties without a release from the family/parents. Kind of like a "do not call" or "do not mail" list for parents of small children/newborns. Then it will be harder for con artists like this to target children, new parents and families, and anyone selling information about new families will then be subject to scrutiny, if not legal action. (Including folks from magazines geared toward new parents, who sell their subscription lists to telemarketers and other agencies like Kids.com.)
Best of luck to you. If you find out about a class action in New York/New Jersey before I do, please come on the ripoffreport and let me know. I want these men put to justice -- I want my money back, I want her pictures destroyed so they can't use them for any dishonest purposes anymore, and I want these people in jail for their history of fraud. But I will settle for one or two out of three.