Trade Show Hostesses/Roger Knauer AKA Allen Knauer, Erin Darlage, Monica Robertson, Roger Longstreet, Tradeshow Hostesses, Statement Models Hires and DOES NOT PAY MODELS Nationwide scam Indianapolis Indiana
Roger Allen Knauer makes his money by hiring models to work events, getting payment from the client and then never paying his models. At this point, there are at least 15 Rip-off Reports under his name or one of his business names/aliases. I feel like that should be enough to get some action against him and stop him for good. But somehow he continues...
He's now scammed 15 more women. We were hired by Roger Allen Knauer of Trade Show Hostesses to work an event March 25-27, 2013 in San Francisco. We each signed a contract that stated the amount we were to be paid within 90 days. We all worked long hours, standing up all day, without any breaks other than a 45 minute lunch break. We happily did this work as we knew it would result in a nice paycheck.
After our hard work, we received multiple emails from one of Roger’s aliases "Erin Darlage" making excuses for why payment hadn't gone out according to schedule, varying from being hit hard by taxes to receiving a late payment from the client. Payment was always about to go out according to the emails, but weeks passed and still none of us were paid.
We patiently waited at first, but you can only tell us that checks are going out "next week" for so long until we get suspicious and start checking on you... And we found many, many other women who had not been paid by him over the years. We found many reports of him using aliases and changing his business names to avoid paying and trouble with the authorities. We found more information on him than he should feel comfortable with us having. In short, we found out what the other women who worked for him already know - he is a con artist who does not pay his workers.
On June 27, 2013 the payment was officially late per the 90 days in our contract and one of the women posted a Rip-Off Report detailing the situation. We received an email hours later telling us payment was coming soon and not to submit any more Rip-off Reports as "it will only delay the process." There was also a vague threat, "You will be paid as is everyone who doesn't do anything that causes them to no longer be owed a check."
Interestingly, the email came from the same "Erin Darlage" as always but "Erin" did not dispute ANY of the facts listed in the Rip-Off Report, including the fact that "Erin" doesn’t exist and is in reality an alias of Roger Allen Knauer.
It is now nearly 100 days since the event and it’s clear that he has no intention of paying us and that 15 hard working women are out about $600 each. However, this Rip-off Report is not the end of the story as we plan to pursue this matter in every way possible – in court and with state and federal agencies. He may think we have no recourse because he’s hiding in Indianapolis, but this is simply not the case.
Needless to say, DO NOT FALL VICTIM TO ROGER ALLEN KNAUER’S SCAM.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
TSH
Nationwide,California,
This Report is Inaccurate and Defamatory
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, July 28, 2013
Every now and then, someone doesn't get paid as fast as they think they should and they post this stuff on the Internet.
For the record: we have been in business since 1994 and have worked with over 1,000 contractors all across America. Nearly all have found the experience fun and rewarding. A few, like the person who posted this report, are the extremely small exception. These less than 1% make up 99% of our headache.
Instead of interacting with us to address any complaints, Tessa Verhoef and Lissa Keigwin have chosen to defame our name by posting nonsense anonymously on this website. We have told them that this content is defamatory and actionable but they are intent on engaging in it anyway. We have a small office staff but they do indeed exist and they work very hard.
Judge the content of their post for yourself and decide of what merit it is. If there were so many people across the country who truly were not being paid, does it make sense that we would now be in our 21st year of business and the choice of 12 of the 20 largest companies in America for trade show staff?
We hope that Tessa and Lissa will refrain from posting defamatory content like this in the future and address any real or perceived concerns directly to us.
HardWorkingModel
San Francisco,California,
San Francisco Models Still Have Not Been Paid!
#3Consumer Comment
Mon, July 22, 2013
The San Francisco Models are still owed thousands of dollars from Roger Allen Knauer one of his many websites is: http://www.indymodels.com as well as http://www.tradeshowhostesses.com and not to mention http://www.statementmodels.com and 1stplacemodels used to be one of his too! By the way Roger goes by the name of 'Allen Knauer' to the models in Indianapolis.
I have tried calling Roger who sometimes pretends to be a woman by the name of Erin Darlange via his emails and he has never picked up the phone so you can only leave voicemails. You'll notice that he posts many various phone numbers online, some of which have been disconnected.
At this point, we have given Roger enough warning that we will not tolerate non-payment. The contract was officially breached weeks ago. Myself and the model above are happy to take legal action against this scam artist.
By the way if you are victim of Roger Allen Knauer- please do not let him scare you by saying that you must not post any complaints etc. What he is doing is illegal. End of story and there is nothing that Roger should be saying to threaten models. If what you post is true then it is not libel or slander and I have no idea why Roger/ Allen Knauer would think otherwise.