Complaint Review: Network International - Scottsdale Arizona

I felt the need to followup with this complaint as I see numerous complaints now listed here on Ripoff Report for the same guy and agency.

As I reflected on some of the complaints, I discover kust recently in 2017 that Patrick Simpson and an associate were found guilty and fined for a number of citations regarding their talent agency.

As mentioned originally in the complaint I filed way back in 2005, lessons learned andI surely hope this article as deflected at least a few people from hiring this guy and working with him in any manner, as well as being on the lookout for scams like this that billk people out of money while serving nothing in return

https://beverlypress.com/2017/09/two-sentenced-for-violating-talent-agency-rules/

Utmost compliments to this website for allowing the public to voice their option through their medium. Thank you Ripoff Report!

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Funny how Patri(c)k is using the same worn-out soap opera excuse on Heather as he did on me: "We thought you were on drugs!" and "You were incompetent!" and "You drank so much, you drunk girl!" Wait, was she also a - what word did you use on the other person who complained about you? - Oh yes, "Male Hustler" - was she also one of those hustler folks you're so familiar with in your culture? Um, what does any of that have to do with not receiving 4 paychecks? Even if she ended up being incompetent, what does any of that have to do with NOT HAVING TO FILL OUT proper documents when starting at a new job? What does that have to do with not paying someone for time when you had them working the room and finding sales leads for you? What does that have to do with instructing your employees to find you sales leads for modeling shoots by looking for quantity and not quality? Oh ... nothing. I guess that's why he doesn't address those things. "Please follow my lead and look away from anything of actual substance," is the real message embedded in all of his objections. The Lifetime show you produce over and over is soooo last decade, Patricia.

This little "business venture" never goes out of style! I can remember this one from the 80's when my little brother and a few of his friends decided this was a prudent move, that would "get them noticed", make that "dream" happen. I am no expert, but the unscrupulous have been taking advantage of vanity, dreams and basic human greed for centuries! In this person/companies defense; he could have just been a cheesy photographer with a real tight budget and a "business plan". This would explain earlier remarks about sub-standard equipment. Which brings up a good point; look around, what do you see, what does your "gut" say, is what you were told congruent with what is happening? If you want to be a model, which would require being in front of a camera of some sort for a great many hours, as these are the photographers "tools of the trade". You might learn a little about photography, especially equipment product names. Manfrotto/Bogan "can" suggest you are on the right track, buy some photo magazines and see what the "pros" are using. It will be much easier to spot a fake, phony or cheese ball! You also might be surprised what you, a friend and a decent digital camera can produce. Since a digital can essentially shoot forever, you can hit that shutter release to your hearts desire, take 500 and pick the best 20. If you don't get 20:500, try, try, and try again. The key to photography is lighting. Take your $500.00 but a Canon S-3, Panasonic FZ20 or 30, if need be, buy an adapter and get some cheap filters. This way, you have a cool camera at the end of the day, instead of a big L on your forehead. A tripod is a must, but can be had fairly cheap (except the brand mentioned above). You and a friend plan a photo-shoot day. Take a scenic drive; look for cool background and lighting, nothing beats the real thing, including lighting! If you want the school picture look borrow your dads shop lights, defuse the light to avoid shadowing and over-exposure. Make your own back drop from PVC piping or heck, even a clothes line, and use an old or cheap sheet. The color, design, and all that, leave to your creative self. If at the end of the day, you don't like the pictures, plan another day; maybe do some reading on photo-basics. You might be surprised to see what you can do on your own, and again with digital, you can shoot to your hearts content! I'd rather write the check to Best Buy or whomever (except Adorama) and have something to show for my money! I rather like the concept of having your cake and eating it too!!! Always remember; "Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, odds are it's a duck"!!! USE YOUR HEAD PEOPLE!!!

This little "business venture" never goes out of style! I can remember this one from the 80's when my little brother and a few of his friends decided this was a prudent move, that would "get them noticed", make that "dream" happen. I am no expert, but the unscrupulous have been taking advantage of vanity, dreams and basic human greed for centuries! In this person/companies defense; he could have just been a cheesy photographer with a real tight budget and a "business plan". This would explain earlier remarks about sub-standard equipment. Which brings up a good point; look around, what do you see, what does your "gut" say, is what you were told congruent with what is happening? If you want to be a model, which would require being in front of a camera of some sort for a great many hours, as these are the photographers "tools of the trade". You might learn a little about photography, especially equipment product names. Manfrotto/Bogan "can" suggest you are on the right track, buy some photo magazines and see what the "pros" are using. It will be much easier to spot a fake, phony or cheese ball! You also might be surprised what you, a friend and a decent digital camera can produce. Since a digital can essentially shoot forever, you can hit that shutter release to your hearts desire, take 500 and pick the best 20. If you don't get 20:500, try, try, and try again. The key to photography is lighting. Take your $500.00 but a Canon S-3, Panasonic FZ20 or 30, if need be, buy an adapter and get some cheap filters. This way, you have a cool camera at the end of the day, instead of a big L on your forehead. A tripod is a must, but can be had fairly cheap (except the brand mentioned above). You and a friend plan a photo-shoot day. Take a scenic drive; look for cool background and lighting, nothing beats the real thing, including lighting! If you want the school picture look borrow your dads shop lights, defuse the light to avoid shadowing and over-exposure. Make your own back drop from PVC piping or heck, even a clothes line, and use an old or cheap sheet. The color, design, and all that, leave to your creative self. If at the end of the day, you don't like the pictures, plan another day; maybe do some reading on photo-basics. You might be surprised to see what you can do on your own, and again with digital, you can shoot to your hearts content! I'd rather write the check to Best Buy or whomever (except Adorama) and have something to show for my money! I rather like the concept of having your cake and eating it too!!! Always remember; "Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, odds are it's a duck"!!! USE YOUR HEAD PEOPLE!!!

This little "business venture" never goes out of style! I can remember this one from the 80's when my little brother and a few of his friends decided this was a prudent move, that would "get them noticed", make that "dream" happen. I am no expert, but the unscrupulous have been taking advantage of vanity, dreams and basic human greed for centuries! In this person/companies defense; he could have just been a cheesy photographer with a real tight budget and a "business plan". This would explain earlier remarks about sub-standard equipment. Which brings up a good point; look around, what do you see, what does your "gut" say, is what you were told congruent with what is happening? If you want to be a model, which would require being in front of a camera of some sort for a great many hours, as these are the photographers "tools of the trade". You might learn a little about photography, especially equipment product names. Manfrotto/Bogan "can" suggest you are on the right track, buy some photo magazines and see what the "pros" are using. It will be much easier to spot a fake, phony or cheese ball! You also might be surprised what you, a friend and a decent digital camera can produce. Since a digital can essentially shoot forever, you can hit that shutter release to your hearts desire, take 500 and pick the best 20. If you don't get 20:500, try, try, and try again. The key to photography is lighting. Take your $500.00 but a Canon S-3, Panasonic FZ20 or 30, if need be, buy an adapter and get some cheap filters. This way, you have a cool camera at the end of the day, instead of a big L on your forehead. A tripod is a must, but can be had fairly cheap (except the brand mentioned above). You and a friend plan a photo-shoot day. Take a scenic drive; look for cool background and lighting, nothing beats the real thing, including lighting! If you want the school picture look borrow your dads shop lights, defuse the light to avoid shadowing and over-exposure. Make your own back drop from PVC piping or heck, even a clothes line, and use an old or cheap sheet. The color, design, and all that, leave to your creative self. If at the end of the day, you don't like the pictures, plan another day; maybe do some reading on photo-basics. You might be surprised to see what you can do on your own, and again with digital, you can shoot to your hearts content! I'd rather write the check to Best Buy or whomever (except Adorama) and have something to show for my money! I rather like the concept of having your cake and eating it too!!! Always remember; "Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, odds are it's a duck"!!! USE YOUR HEAD PEOPLE!!!

An open letter to Heather, You were FIRED! You didn't quit. Your head was "FAR IN THE CLOUDS", we thought you were on drugs. No outstanding money was owed to you. Your recollections of the "Model scouting" is quite distorted. I remember you NOT doing anything that night except downing one drink after another! You were SO drunk that night you were "picked up off the floor" and driven home by our other scout, who incidently STILL is a part of the "Network Team". After we fired you for your inabilities...side note: when you are working at a company as a receptionist, it means that company wants you to answer their phones. Surfing the web continuously, "living in myspace.com, and gabbing with your friends..were NOT part of your duties. I suggest that NEXT time you want to post a false report on a website...at least TELL THE TRUTH. We keep very accurate records, and we can back up EVERYTHING...can you ? I think NOT. Patrik Simpson CEO/Network International llc. President Emeritus/MAAI

I am an ex-employee of this "company" I was there from January 2005 to March 2005 as a receptionist before I finally understood exactly what was going on in that office. It is true, Patrik shoots his own photos a lot. He even has had them developed at walgreens. I have had to drive there to pick them up before. Many times I saw Meg driving too and from walgreens to pick up these so called professional photos. A co-worker and I were once put in charge of a "model show" at a local bar in tempe, where neither her and I knew even what we were supposed to be doing. The event was free, none of the models were paid, and none of them even knew how to walk or what to do but were pranced around in lingerie for drunk men to gawk at. Then my co-worker and I were supposed to go around the place telling the people that we thought they had talent and get phone numbers and contact information telling them we were putting them in a drawing for a free photo shoot and contract. What we did was choose the person we thought was the best looking so Patrik would call them to set up the free stuff. The rest of the phone numbers were then put on my list to call and solicit to come in for an interview. I was never paid anything for the Saturday night 'model show' that I worked during. When I was hired by Patrik I was NEVER given anything to fill out for taking out taxes, no official forms...no forms at all.. he just took my social security number and address information on a scrap of paper. I never signed anything. I was promised a weekly pay check. Every time pay day came around there would always be some excuse, usually, the printer ink was out so they could not print my paycheck. When I quit I was still owed 4-5 paychecks and came in twice to collect and never got a penny. I do not wish to go after Patrik on that case, or I would have last year. I am simply backing up the information that this company is a scam and hoping others will read this before he does it to them too.

I love the internet. You all are correct. Patrik Simpson loves more than anything to play the innocent victim and everyone else in the world that calls him on his scam is some evil bad guy who is putting him through all this undeserved heartache. Touching, really. One-millimeter violin. I remember one time I gave him a ride to pick up his car from the shop, back when I was involved at his Get-No-Werk International and he was telling me a story about one of the people who refused to pay him for his "services" or lack thereof. He took joy in the fact that she was calling him angry because she couldn't buy a house due to the credit report he made on her insignificant amount of leftover invoice. His ex used to ask him how he could look himself in the mirror every day. What I can say you take with you after being around a person like Patrik is the ability to look yourself in the mirror, look at your friends, family and coworkers, and feel a great sense of appreciation and peace with the knowledge that you and yours are good people and better off.

Check out another person's opinion, with refelctions of exactly the same tactics and the same fellow running the business-- http://www.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=131933

$80.00 - where you are requiring the models to sign up for a year for membership when they do a photo set + $420.00 for pictures totals $500.00. A successful studio would be able to afford some controlled lighting, one or even two view cameras (such as a 4x6 negative format), a professional photographer (or even two). Everyone I have encountered that has paid for your services has been told the photographer is from Hollywood. Is that where you are from? Cluttered is one thing, but un-kept, dusty, and dirty is another. Your office needs a good cleaning, period. The photographs are grainy and poor quality. Track marks on the finished photos prove low cost processing. Where do you send the film for processing? Many of these new-comer models don't know the difference between shoddy or high quality, and they are blinded by their goal to become rich and famous. One time visits prove the point, as you have very few returning clients that come back for more pictures. Who cares about outdoor pictures? You schedule well over 10 models for that day at the same time period. Let's see, that is well over $4200.00 for several hours work with low expenses on your own part while utilizing a strip mall front instead your own studio. You can't pick up some reflectors and offer some studio shots? You do have a studio centralized in your office; if you had someone clean it you could take pictures there as well. You have disallowed some models from getting their hair done anywhere else but your referred salon. Why is that? Ultimately, these models can do all what you offer themselves for $420.00. Stylists, make-up, photographer, and a 35 mm camera. Many of them find out afterwards and that's where they end up getting more pictures done with far better time and effort applied with studio shots as well. It is your ad that pulls them in. The new wanna-bes that have never gotten involved in modeling yet. Your ad states you are looking for models to hire. Do you have paid models employed currently? You do have reports from unsatisfied clients with BBB on file. Other resources as follows: http://www.easybackgroundcheck.com/networkinternational.html http://www.sacramento.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=22000693 Why shouldn't you provide a guarantee of some kind? You state you make no promises, and your contract is conclusive "NO possible way anyone signing our contracts could miss-interpret the agreement". Many of your clients had no clue because the contract is very lengthily and over the head of an 18 year old model want-to-be with $500 in her pocket and intentions of becoming famous. If you had a result of 10 - 8" x 12" fantastic photographs that are perfect for any models portfolio, then that would be sufficient for the price, but you do not deliver.

Patrik, Your company is just as bad as those that have "models" come in, pay for photos and get "web services" and a comp card. 16 years scamming promising models? That's a pretty good run. Most businesses like yours only run 4-5 years before everyone gets wise to the scheme. Clean record with the BBB? Only because you pay your annual protection, oops I means membership fees, to keep your record clean. To all aspiring models/actors: Any talent company that requires you to do photos with them, or pay for "web services", membership fees, or just simply asks for any kind of money up front with no guarantee for work, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! A reputable agency will not require any of this nonsense.

I feel it is necessary to clear up and address all the inaccuracies and mis-statments made by the person who posted this "BLOG" on your web-site. First of all, Network International DOES NOT charge $ 500.00 for a portfolio photo-shoot. Our fees are as follows: $ 80.00 annual Membership Fee. This fee covers a yearly membership in our company, and is used to create a user name and password for our model/talent. Every week our company posts a weekly list of auditions, in which our members access to obtain work. The $ 80.00 annual fee (which breaks down to about $ 2.00 a week) covers our fees to create the auditions page weekly and post it on our site for our members. Every week we post at a minimum of 100 auditions. Many of our models and actors have booked work, as a result of attending the auditions from these postings. Most companies charge a minimum MONTHLY fee, and it FAR surpasses what we charge. $ 420.00 Photo-shoot fee. This includes a full day of shooting, five seperate & complete changes of make-up, hair and styling. It also covers the editing of the film, and we include 10 8x12's ($ 275.00 value of print enlargements for the portfolio). Most companies in our industry charge three times as much ! Now, to continue with clearing up the wrong information posted. Network International DOES NOT exploit new comer models or charge for bad photos, and we SPELL out in black and white in our contracts that NOTHING IS GUARANTEED. So, there is NO possible way anyone signing our contracts could mis-interpret the agreement. I have made my agreements and contracts VERY SPECIFIC, and EVERYTHING is outlined, because I d not agree with some of these companies that lie to a new model or actor, just to get their money. If a model comes to my company and they have a good portfolio and the photos are of good quality, we will sign that model without making them take new pictures. I have done so MANY times in the past. Our contracts do NOT state the photographers are from Beverly Hills, California. We do have another office in Beverly Hills, and sometimes our California photographers shoot the models in Arizona, and vice-versa. The only reason we would tell this model to get her/his hair done, would be because it was not marketable for the photo-shoot. If I was running such a "scam" as they claim, why would I really care how they looked at their shoot. It is because I DO CARE about the models and actors I represent, that I want them to look their best for the photo-shoot. If a model needs a new cut, or style or color, we do have two great salons that we work with. It is an OPTION for our models or actors to use that salon. It is NOT mandatory. It is true that we shoot our models at our office location. We don't shoot studio, nor do we promise that we will do that. Most companies shoot outdoors. WHO CARES ? As a matter-of-fact, most ads and images you see in magazines and campaigns and printwork is shot outside. Our models have won awards NUMEROUS times in the photography competition in NYC event we attend, with our photography ! Our office is in a GREAT location and we have many spots to choose from all around our "strip mall" and across the street, or a few blocks away. Several of our models have booked contracts with agencies ALL OVER THE WORLD, with the portfolios we created for them. I have placed models in New York, Miami, Paris, Milan, Athens, Barcelona, Tokyo, Taipei, and Mexico City. I MUST be doing SOMETHING right ! As far as the "untidy office" comment, our office is quite clean. However, I will admit we have files, and zeds and photo's everywhere. It may seem untidy, it's not. It is a WORKING office. We are always sending out packages to clients, therefore we have to pull zeds off our walls, continuously make laser copies, sometimes we have a few portfolios on our desks. I would rather walk into an office that is "lived in" and "busy", then an office that is IMMACULATE and looks like NO work is happening. Wouldn't you ??? One more piece of FALSE INFORMATION, the $ 150.00 reschedule fee. We charge a $ 100.00 reschedule fee, not $ 150.00. The only reason we do this is because when a model schedules a photo-shoot with us, we book make-up artists (more than one), Hair Stylists and Photographer. When the model makes that appointment, that is a SPOT they are agreeing to fill. If something "comes up", or they need to change the appointment, I can't fill their spot, that they were holding. We have to book a certain amount of models for the photo-shoot, to justify the expense of make-up, hair and photographer. We have a policy, just like a doctor or a dentisit office. It is never a problem for someone that is responsible, because they know that our time is valuable, and they respect that. In closing, I have been in business for sixteen years. I have a clean record at the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and I have had MANY satisfied and happy clients. Unfortunately, we can NOT please everyone all of the time, however, we have ALWAYS had an outstanding track record with our models, actors and clients. I encourage you to view our web-site www.network-models.com You will see for yourself the models and actors we have packaged and promoted to a high level of success. You will see for yourself the quality of the photoshoots, and the ads, catalogs and magazines our models have been featured in, due to our representation. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and please DO NOT judge our company by one person's opinion. Sincerely Yours, Patrik Simpson CEO/Network Int'l '04 President/MAAI

Always, Always, Always beware! Caveat Emptor! Never do buisiness with some one yu don't know again until you contack the better buisiness beurau. Fight this. That will make you feel good about your self!

I originally went in to boost my esteem, but instead it shattered my dreams. I would love to get my money back, and would like to know how i can do that without spending more money on a lawyer. This company seemed as though it was a pretty legit corparation, however they have continued to call and threaten to take me to court if I continue to refuse addtional billing. I would like for something to be done about this scam, because it left me feeling betrayed.