Complaint Review: IEC Studios Travis Bedore Charles Gardner - Internet

 TRICKED INTO A DEAL WITH A SNAKE! Quite a few years back, as I was trying to get a new company off the ground, I gave Charles Gardner (IEC Studios) a chance to be a published photographer in a national magazine. Throughout that relationship, Charles displayed a few red flags regarding talent, telling models they had to go through him to appear in the magazine that I hired him for as I was the editor. Of course things get resolved and we move forward. But I was also trying to get a talent agency off of the ground, and again came conflicts with Charles regarding that. I moved to separate Charles from the magazine and continue doing business as usual. As usual, Charles always attempts to extend an Olive Branch to mend his offenses. This time it was in a form of a booking for my then client Suelyn Medieros. CHARLES ATTEMPTED TO GO AROUND ME TO BOOK SUELYN BUT GOT CAUGHT OUT THERE AND EVENTUALLY CONTACTS ME. Not foreseeing the poison that came with involving myself with Charles, the jealousy, the contempt and envy that he had for me, I reluctantly accepted the offer in attempting to attain work for my client. Charles contacted me about the booking, but failed to inform me that he created his own rider contract on our behalf which we never saw. Not to mention, he accepted money on our behalf without discussing with us. CHARLES ATTEMPTS TO KEEP SUELYN'S MONEY Knowing nothing about Charles fraudulent rider, I forwarded to him Suelyn's actual rider. In return Charles sends less than a third of Suelyns deposit and says the rest will be delivered the night of the event. Suelyn refused to accept less than half of her deposit.

After a couple of weeks Charles finally sent the full balance, but by then the event was upon us and Charles chose to abandon Travis (whom I was never introduced to) who at this point I assume was pissed off at Charles choppy communication. Upon introduction, Travis started off nasty and agitated. (My mistake was not recognizing the mess that I was dragged into and letting this go) but Suelyn had already been paid (limiting me from backing out because her rider protects her deposits). Travis and I entered a new agreement for a rescheduled date and he signed her new rider. The next step was to book travel. Suelyn was in and out of Europe so our communication was somewhat choppy for two- three days. Travis became impatient and googled Suelyn to find contacts to her former agent and a soft porn mag publisher, both known for doing shady business and not to mention considered themselves my competitors. Of course slander flies through the roof and Travis becomes a maniac claiming I did not represent Suelyn. (Yet I have her signature on contract not to mention a photo history of booking her on my Facebook.) Within the 3 days Suelyn responds and says that she will be in LA, and her person was flying her to LA just to honor this booking. According to Suelyns rider she requires two flights which Travis attempted to renig on though he signed. I contacted Travis with her flight info immediately and suddenly I received no response. I attempted to contact him several times. Unfortunately for Travis, he signed a rider that says if he fails to adhere to the terms, including booking travel and cancellations, he not only forfiets his deposit, but also has to pay penalties and fees.

Travis Bedore till this day owes a 75% booking fee and if the issue was pressed, a travel fee from Europe. He mentioned that this would be far too expensive to settle in court and it wasn't worth my pursuit of it. He then placed his own report with slanderous accounts of what happened. He failed to mention that the model was paid, the contract he signed and whatever happened to the travel. Charles later began to persue Suelyn as she and I parted ways but she never signed to him. He was never published in the company's magazines again and he lost his # client Rosa Acosta over shady business. You summize who you believe the victim here was. If nothing else, I never deserved the slander nor lies that followed. And according to the contract, Travis owes 75% of the balance. Hence I took the loss due to his refusal to honor the contract.