Complaint Review: Prima-Facia Anthony Moya Glamour Model & Talent - Chicago Illinois

I worked for Prima-Facia and Anthony Moya but have since quit the company for several critical reasons. Let me take you through the process of how they operate. First, you go downstairs to Glamour Model &Talent and get "assessed" by either John Vuolo (the owner of Glamour and part-owner of Prima-Facia) or one of his other talent consultants. If you pay the $95.00 fee for your "test shots" you are told you have talent for modeling or acting. A week later, you get "reviewed" by them which consists of looking at your cd of pictures. Then they try to talk you into a $425.00 portfolio. If you agree to have that taken, you are told you "have what it takes" and they will find you work. I was there for a very long time and NO ONE had ever received a job from Glamour. They tell anyone who pays their fees that they have talent but they sell photography services and that's it.

After your consultation, they tell you to go to the building directly next door (Prima-Facia) because they can help you get some work. Once you arrive there, you are then seen by Anthony Moya (owner and photographer) or a consultant. That's what I did when I was employed there. Prima-Facia is a magazine that features models and actors and is supposed to be distributed to top modeling agencies, schools, and casting directors in 28 states. NO AGENCY receives these magazines. THEY ARE NEVER MAILED OUT AT ALL, yet you are told that they are and your chance at fame and fortune via an audition with one of these agencies will cost you anywhere from $200.00 up to $1,000 for an ad with your photos and stats on it.

While I was employed there, I watched as Anthony Moya and John Vuolo took hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who were desperate to be a star, and are repeatedly told they could be....for a price. However, Prima-Facia and Glamour Model doesn't just rip off consumers; they lie and rip off their employees as well. I sat and watched literally ten employees quit and file lawsuits against them because their paychecks REPEATEDLY bounced. Several employees were not paid at all. After an employee quits, they are replaced by someone else who will do their dirty work and when they complain, they are asked to leave or are not paid at all.

The worst part of my job was the sexual harrassment some of my clients faced at the hands of Anthony Moya. On several occassions, I witnessed Mr. Moya call many of my clients into his office and ask them for their phone number and out to dinner. Most would go out with him thinking they might further their career if they do. When they refused his sexual advances, they'd call me up and demand their money back. My hands were tied because Mr. Moya would laugh it off. Many times Mr. Moya would place ads on Craigslist for a "Model Search" for the magazines but it was actually so he can find a date with someone or ask them to pose nude for him. He bills himself as a world-reknowned Glamour photographer but he's only been doing it for five-years. I spoke to two clients who were filing sexual harrassment lawsuits against him.

The magazine is supposed to be printed four times a year at a printer in China. It's only printed when the client calls threatening a lawsuit because of the ridiculous length of time they have to wait to see it. It actually gets printed off a printer in Mr. Moya's office on paper he purchases from Office Depot but we were told to tell the client it's very late because it's being printed and shipped from a printer overseas. To top things off, he gave his girlfriend Julie Hurkes a job as Prima-Facia's baby photographer. She has absolutely no experience as a photographed but is billed as a top child photographer and charges anywhere from $250.00 up to $600.00 for a portfolio.

Please head this warning and STAY AWAY FROM PRIMA-FACIA and GLAMOUR MODEL & TALENT in Chicago. They will take your hard earned money and will do nothing for you in return. If you have fallen victim to them already, please file a report with RipOff Report, the Illinois Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. Demand your money back asap before Mr. Moya closes up shop and opens back up somewhere else under a different name. Apparently, this is what he does when too many people complain and his scam is uncovered. BEWARE!!!

Anonymous

Chicago, Illinois

U.S.A.