Complaint Review: Annapolis Talent Agency Motion Pictures LLC Kidz In The Biz - Severna Park Maryland

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME ABOUT A YEAR AGO. I WENT TO THE AGENCY AND THEY TALKED ME INTO GETTING PICTURES WHICH WERE AWFUL, THEN THEY HAD THE NERVE TO TAKE MONEY OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I GOT THE MONEY BACK BUT IT WASN'T EASY. IT'S A SHAME THAT THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH THAT KIND OF THING. THAT'S OK THOUGH CAUSE I ALWAYS WARN PEOPLE ABOUT THE AGENCY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.

Hi... I have similar situations to all of you with Annapolis Agency as you can read my report that I filed on here today. They recently just charged me money that I never agreed to and I am in the process of getting it taken off my card and I am going to do everything I can to make sure Richard/the agency or whomever gets what's coming to them. Id like to know what you all did to fight against this agency and if theres anything I can do to help you or you to help me... Id love to hear back what you did to get your money back and to attempt to stop these crooks. Thanks.

Richard, you may come off slick but you are truly an IDIOT! Most people who guarantee something no matter what that guarantee, usually offer something in return IF (as we can see here) their clients are not satisfied. However, you state that they sign something stating there is no refund. Well then how do you guarantee the quality????? If there is no recourse for the UNSATISFIED individual because you state there is a "no refund clause" and they are not satisfied what are they supposed to do???? Usually most GUARANTEES from reputable companies who stand behind their work offer a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE the only thing you guaranteed these people was to continue to ripping them off on their credit cards and bank accounts if they were not satisfied. You are scum of the earth and you will have hell to pay one day for it! You will get yours if you are not doing so already! I contacted this idiot via email in regard to my child possibly becoming a client however he would not give me ANY information until I wasted my time to come in and speak with him.Once he was reluctant to give out info and after seeing his website was completely blank, I did some research....well thats when I found all of these reports! The lightbulb that went off was when he was not willing to give any written information about his company unless I came in to the office. If you go to this link...http://www.actingheadshots.com/dc_agents.htmMODELING you will still see that they are representing themselves as being SAG agents even after they were sent a cease & desist letter! YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE SLICK BUT I WILL PROVE THAT YOU ARE THE BIGGEST IDIOTS THERE ARE! There is truth in numbers and when I am finished finding the rest of the DISSATISFIED customers, you will REALLY have that little shack you operate out of for sale! BTW, any more visits from the zoning board? Maybe another complaint is required!

Richard, you may come off slick but you are truly an IDIOT! Most people who guarantee something no matter what that guarantee, usually offer something in return IF (as we can see here) their clients are not satisfied. However, you state that they sign something stating there is no refund. Well then how do you guarantee the quality????? If there is no recourse for the UNSATISFIED individual because you state there is a "no refund clause" and they are not satisfied what are they supposed to do???? Usually most GUARANTEES from reputable companies who stand behind their work offer a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE the only thing you guaranteed these people was to continue to ripping them off on their credit cards and bank accounts if they were not satisfied. You are scum of the earth and you will have hell to pay one day for it! You will get yours if you are not doing so already! I contacted this idiot via email in regard to my child possibly becoming a client however he would not give me ANY information until I wasted my time to come in and speak with him.Once he was reluctant to give out info and after seeing his website was completely blank, I did some research....well thats when I found all of these reports! The lightbulb that went off was when he was not willing to give any written information about his company unless I came in to the office. If you go to this link...http://www.actingheadshots.com/dc_agents.htmMODELING you will still see that they are representing themselves as being SAG agents even after they were sent a cease & desist letter! YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE SLICK BUT I WILL PROVE THAT YOU ARE THE BIGGEST IDIOTS THERE ARE! There is truth in numbers and when I am finished finding the rest of the DISSATISFIED customers, you will REALLY have that little shack you operate out of for sale! BTW, any more visits from the zoning board? Maybe another complaint is required!

Richard, you may come off slick but you are truly an IDIOT! Most people who guarantee something no matter what that guarantee, usually offer something in return IF (as we can see here) their clients are not satisfied. However, you state that they sign something stating there is no refund. Well then how do you guarantee the quality????? If there is no recourse for the UNSATISFIED individual because you state there is a "no refund clause" and they are not satisfied what are they supposed to do???? Usually most GUARANTEES from reputable companies who stand behind their work offer a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE the only thing you guaranteed these people was to continue to ripping them off on their credit cards and bank accounts if they were not satisfied. You are scum of the earth and you will have hell to pay one day for it! You will get yours if you are not doing so already! I contacted this idiot via email in regard to my child possibly becoming a client however he would not give me ANY information until I wasted my time to come in and speak with him.Once he was reluctant to give out info and after seeing his website was completely blank, I did some research....well thats when I found all of these reports! The lightbulb that went off was when he was not willing to give any written information about his company unless I came in to the office. If you go to this link...http://www.actingheadshots.com/dc_agents.htmMODELING you will still see that they are representing themselves as being SAG agents even after they were sent a cease & desist letter! YOU PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE SLICK BUT I WILL PROVE THAT YOU ARE THE BIGGEST IDIOTS THERE ARE! There is truth in numbers and when I am finished finding the rest of the DISSATISFIED customers, you will REALLY have that little shack you operate out of for sale! BTW, any more visits from the zoning board? Maybe another complaint is required!

Yep, my daughter was one of the "rip-off" victims. She now lives in another state, and is young, going on with her life. That's what this company counts on. As I told you in our face to face conversation Richard, I am retired, and have plenty of time to pursue crooks like you! You make it sound like the money was "simply" refunded. Well, folks, it took numerous phone calls, correspondence, filing for a judgment in court (which was won) and a complaint to the Better Business Bureau(16 mths). Richard hopes you don't have time to pursue this, and will chalk it up as a bad experience. Don't let him get away with it!!! File a judgment against him and his company. His "Resident Agent" is CSC Lawyers in Baltimore-11 E. Chase St. (ironic, isn't it). You have to serve it there, but it will be worth it. The "President" of the corporation is named as Mary Hagen. Take the time to follow it through. Check this company with the BBB and MD State Dept. of Assessments & Taxation. Bad reports everywhere!

Richard keeps trying to make himself look good - but the fact of the matter is he has NEVER tried to contact my wife and I to resolve anything, AND he misled us on every aspect of his business. Even if he has any satisfied clients - the bottom line is this - he also has many dis-satisified clients due to the way he treats them. If he was so sure of himself and his satisfied clients - he would pay less attention to this forum.

The person who is complaining about our services was never one of our clients. Her daughter was our client and was completely refunded of her money. We only act upon signed contract agreements. We have made numerous attempts to resolve this matter with no response.

Hello all, As Mike stated above, this IS a powerful forum. Mr. Shaw, your company seems to operate similar to one here in Phoenix called Starbiz Wilhelmina. They lure you in with the false hope that your child will appear in a print adverstisement, only to find out that it is all a lie, and you will be wasting $685 on useless "web marketing" and poor quality headshots. I would be willing to bet that the "thousands of satisfied customers" that Richard claims to have are the ones who have cut their loses and not complained to him. To everyone who has a complaint with this/these companies, file complaints with the Maryland Attorney General's office, the FTC, the BBB (although they might not be any help, but who knows) and with any and all TV stations in the area that do investigative or consumer rights reports. Also encourage everyone to file their own report here. Most state AG's review this website on a regular basis. And the TV stations read it. The one I am working with here even has this site linked on their Investigative Reports page. Good luck to you all.

Due to the nature of the talent industry we only offer our photography services on a NO refund signed binding agreement. We do 100% quality guaranteed. We have thousands of satisfied customers and have been in business for over 30 years. We have tried many times to contact and resolve this matter. Our agreement also states that the balance can be put on the customer's financial accounts, credit cards, or bank cards on file after two months. We try to stabilize our talent base of artist photography with this agreement. We are ready to complete what was contracted for originally. Best regards, annapolis agency

I own an entertainment agency in Maryland as well, and found these comments about Annapolis Talent because one of their ex employees came to me for a job this morning and I researched the company. This site was one of the first to appear. All I can say is, this forum is powerful! Immediate responses, customers can be heard, companies are not taken at their word but checked and double checked by consumers. Which is good, because disreputable agencies like this one, which abound (research an agency a bit before you use it!), bring discredit on all the rest of us who try to do a good and responsible job. And doubly good, because of those agencies that might be tempted to cut corners on their ethics, but won't, knowing that they will suffer repurcussions like this terrible advertising and bad will if they do. Kudos!

Thank You Mark! Thank you for your response. Some unsuspecting individuals may have taken "Tricky Dicky" Shaw for his word, saying that your complaint was satisfied! This company appers to operate on the "funds" that are not returned for unsatisfactory or NO services. We have stood in their office and heard the secretary state to people on the phone..."I'm sorry, there are no refunds." More dissatisfied customers? Richard, you could STOP THE MADNESS if you had good business practices..for instance, give the money back to the dissatisfied customers. Better yet, don't mislead them in the first place. After she requested a refund, this company sent my daughter a bill for "additional charges" and threatened to send her to collections. I'm sure they would have "hit" her credit card again if she hadn't cancelled it right after this unpleasant encounter with Mr. Shaw. A check that they told BBB would be sent on September 3 is still not here! It would not be too soon if I never again heard of Mr. Shaw and his "businesses" but THIS madness will not stop until my daughter receives her check and it clears the bank!!!!

In response to Richard's comments, my wife and I only wish to say this. We tried for weeks to contact Mr. Shaw without any luck. Their hours of operation make it difficult for anyone to get a hold of them. When we finally did, we actually talked to Mr. Shaw himself - who said that he would have Laurel (not sure of the spelling) in his office take care of it right away and credit our account. Two weeks later - it was still not done. We finally contacted our credit card company and our credit card company was kind enough to remove the charge - not the talent agency. Then after leaving several messages - we finally talked to Laurel directly. She said she would make an effort to resolve things. Honestly - I do not know if she ever did - because our credit card company got to it first. Bottom Line: Even if they had credited our account - we have been so misled by this whole agency about what we were "getting" for our money to begin with that they would have to go a long way to satisfy us - like finding our daughter the opportunities they had told us about to begin with. At this point - the only thing we have are a set of proofs that cost us almost $500.00. I would have been better off going to a professional photographer and getting some actual pictures we could at least enjoy.

My complaint is filed under "Motion Pictures," which is a different company name-run by the same people. For them to say that the customer is satisfied, I will believe it when I see it. They promised my daughter a refund, which was to be mailed to her on September 3, 2004. To this date, she has not received it. This company misrepresented themselves as being affiliated with SAG/AFTRA and performed NO SERVICES, but has held her money since June 2003. She has a court judgment against them. Please "ignore" Mr. Shaw's request to "egnore" this complaint!!!

Richard: I agree with the previous poster. Its not up to you to state that the consumer is satisfied and I assume you would not even know about these rip off reports had I not mailed them to you. Not to mention, I know ONE of your clients who has yet to be satisfied and I also know that you are continuing to defraud clients. I'm glad this report does not go away that way you can be revealed as the snake that you really are!

Richard, If Mark truly is satisfied with your company, then let him update his original report to that fact. Nobody that reads these reports will believe information from the owner of the company reported unless it is confirmed by the original poster. By the way, this report will never be "removed". If it was, then this website would be no better than the Better Business Bureau. Posts here remain forever so that us consumers can see all complaints on a particular company, and read whether or not that complaint was satisfied. Why am I bothering to post comments here you ask? Well, I have my own report about a kids talent marketing group that is ripping off people here in Phoenix. I have learned that any "Agency" that wants money up front is most likely a scam, as that is not how the talent industry truly works. Ethical Talent Agents only make money if they get you assignments, and do not charge you for "marketing". Mark, please post your comments to Richard's rebuttal. Thank you.

THIS RIP OFF REPORT WAS IN ERROR AND WILL BE TAKEN OFF ASAP. PLEASE EGNORE THIS MESSAGE. THE CUSTOMER THAT WROTE THIS IS NOW SATISFIED AND IS NO LONGER MAD AT OUR AGENCY. THANKS ANNPOLIS AGENCY.