Kids.com ripoff, scam artist, pray on parents Cherryhill New Jersey
I am a single mom wanting the best for my daughter. I was persuaded by several people to put her into modeling and to do it now while she was young. So I started my search for what I thought was a reputable modeling agency. I looked in the phone book and there it was Kids.com. I gave them a call set up an appointment and I thought she was set. I do however remember asking them did I need to bring anything other than my daughter just to see if there was going to be a large sum of money asked for because that would have indicated to me they were a fraud. But the guy I was speaking to said no.
However that became a different story once I got there. The first part of the interview went fine. They show you all these legitimate magazines and their walls are posted with kids and they tell you how the kids are always working and then they take your child in another room to see if the child can take orders and be okay without you. Once thats over then they ask you for 595.00. Of course I didn't have it. But they seemed so legite to me that I went home and saved and saved and saved until I came up with it.
Mind you that I'm a mother on disability so it took some months for me to come up with it. I'm very angry and hurt because all I wanted to do was open some doors for my three year old daughter and start her a college fund with the money I thought she could have earned. My disability money barely take care of us I really can't afford 600.00 in pictuers.
Dorothy
Deptford, New Jersey
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Dayann
Richmond Hill,New York,
U.S.A.
No Matter How Bad the Parent Is, Kids.com is still a scam
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, May 12, 2004
The issue on this website is scams, how to get your money back if you've been scammed, and how to avoid similar/future scams.
It is not whether you think someone is a good parent or not.
I am not someone who walked into Kids.com's offices saying, "make my baby a star". They contacted me. And I ignored their letters, only to get more and more letters -- and in the cases of some parents -- we got phone calls, too. All of which lent the impression that our child had been "discovered" by a legitimate agency.
Prior to contacting Kids.com, I called friends of mine who are in the business (on the adult modelling/runway modeling end), asking them if they had heard of this company and what questions should I ask in order to see how "legitimate" Kids.com was. The agent knew the right answers to give to each of my questions -- I asked about Screen Actor's Guild guidelines for children working as models/actors, I asked about commissions, etc. These people know the modelling industry and know what to say to make you think that they are legit. A new parent -- and they target new parents -- is not aware of all the scams out there, is totally gaga over their new baby, and so they are more easily duped by the rhetoric. These people from Kids.com bank on that and use it. They have been conning people for at least 30 years and have their scam streamlined.
I also checked the Better Business Bureau prior to calling Kids.com back. They had a SPOTLESS history -- no consumer complaints at all, and they are members of the BBB. This further lends the appearance of legitimacy.
In addition, there are some casting people who have "heard" of Kids.com. In fact the friend I contacted who is in the business said he'd "heard" of them but couldn't remember where. Here is how -- there is a website called "Kids.com" that is well known. These folks take names that are similar to well known, legitimate companies and so when you ask around, the response you will get is "oh yeah I think I have heard of them". Kids.com also puts small adds in industry papers from time to time, further lending the appearance of legitimacy -- if you open up a paper like "Backstage" (used by actors and models for casting calls etc) and see a Kids.com ad, you may think they are a real, legitimate agency and they aren't. All you have to do to get an ad in someone's paper is get a contact name and pay for the space in the publication. But people who are not familiar with the industry don't understand how any of it works.
I am not a "pageant mom". I agree that a 3-year old should be worrying about playgroup. However, some parents do not have money or resources or trust funds or any way of saving money for their child's future, and some of them figure, if their child is lucky and gets their picture on one Gerber ad, or one 2-minute clip on a commercial, they can put the royalties from that ad into a college fund that can gather interest and this way the child will have something for themselves when they are older -- something the parents may not otherwise be able to give. This is not the same as someone who is star-struck and pissed that they never "made it" in the acting industry and pushes their child to be a pageant beauty queen or runway model at only 3 or 4 or 5 years old. There is a clear distinction.
I would never, in a million years, have brought my daughter to an agency out of the blue like that. I brought her in because I was targeted by Kids.com, I was repeatedly contacted, and they are good at making themselves look like a legitimate business on the surface in case parents check the Better Business Bureau, the industry papers, or call around asking questions. Specifically targeting new parents so you can con them out of their hard earned cash (and using their love for their child to do it) is really low. No matter how dysfunctional you think the parent is, or how naive you think they are, none of that makes what Kids.com is doing to children and families legal, or OK.
I am sorry that parents who have nothing to put away in the bank for their kids and figure maybe a pretty picture will help them out later on is something that makes you sick.
What makes me sick are people who would take advantage of that desperation some parents live with, the shame and stress of feeling that they can't give their child what other parents can, and the fascination and joy that a new, inexperienced mom has when she looks into her new baby's face. That is such a sacred, universal thing, and these people are using it to rob new families. It's disgusting and it makes me just as sick as when I see a woman forcing her baby to smile on those sick beauty pageants. They are both wrong.
So many people are quick to judge -- because they don't realized that a skilled con artist (these folks have years of experience and it is a "family" business) can go after ANYONE -- even some of the most honest, conscientious people. Even parents who DO the homework before getting involved.
It is not a crime to go to an agency with a photo of your child out of curiousity, to see what might come out of it. It is a crime, though, to con people out of their money.
Peggy
Toolaville,Idaho,
U.S.A.
Parents like you make me sick!!
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, October 30, 2003
Parents like you make me sick!! Your daughter is only three years old. She should be learning how to potty-train, how to walk, and how to socialize with other children. You, on the other hand, are attempting to skip all that and force her into a career of modeling, a venture that would harm your child for life and immediately put you in debt, as you have already noted. And yet, you claim to want "only the best" for your daughter. How is any of this "the best" may I ask?
As for your supposed rip-off ... pictures are not free, especially professional ones. Did they hold a burning torch under your hand until you wrote out a check for that high amount? If so, then yes you were ripped off. If not, then you simply made a bad decision and signed up for something you could not afford.
Furthermore, do you always take every company that is listed in the phone book to be a "reputable company?" Usually people do a little more research about a company to determine if it is reputable or not. The qualifications for being listed in the phone book are basically ZERO -- in fact any individual or company is automatically listed unless otherwise requested.