Complaint Review: Starbiz Wilhelmina - Scottsdale Arizona

Kristine, When I read your comment about what they said about me, I almost fell off my chair laughing! The whole point of my complaint is that my child DID make it. But she was not paid for the first "assignment" as we had been led to believe, and we thought that the assignment was for Steinmart, not for some ugly line of clothing called Laughter Pieces. You said you talked to Mallette. Was it possibly Melette Clayton? She worked there last year, and Bruce told us she left because she married into money. But a former employee said she was fired by Bruce. Anyway, thanks for posting your comments. I'm glad to hear you did not get taken by this very smooth con artist.

Kristine, When I read your comment about what they said about me, I almost fell off my chair laughing! The whole point of my complaint is that my child DID make it. But she was not paid for the first "assignment" as we had been led to believe, and we thought that the assignment was for Steinmart, not for some ugly line of clothing called Laughter Pieces. You said you talked to Mallette. Was it possibly Melette Clayton? She worked there last year, and Bruce told us she left because she married into money. But a former employee said she was fired by Bruce. Anyway, thanks for posting your comments. I'm glad to hear you did not get taken by this very smooth con artist.

Kristine, When I read your comment about what they said about me, I almost fell off my chair laughing! The whole point of my complaint is that my child DID make it. But she was not paid for the first "assignment" as we had been led to believe, and we thought that the assignment was for Steinmart, not for some ugly line of clothing called Laughter Pieces. You said you talked to Mallette. Was it possibly Melette Clayton? She worked there last year, and Bruce told us she left because she married into money. But a former employee said she was fired by Bruce. Anyway, thanks for posting your comments. I'm glad to hear you did not get taken by this very smooth con artist.

I took my son to an audition on the 27th I thought evrything looked legal and did not think it was a scam. Later that day mallette called me back and said that my son had been picked. I thought it over and decided to pay the money to get started thinking I would get all the money back that i paid with the first shoot in which I THOUGHT we would be paid for. Before I made my my appt to meet with Mallette i looked here and changed my mind completely and when I called to ask about the complaints about them Mallette told me it was just this guy named Patrick who is mad because his child did not make it. I could then tell that this was a very dishonest company and i thank you all for writing all of your comments, I almost got ripped off.

I am organizing a picket of Starbiz on these dates and times: Saturday, November 6th 9am - 1pm Wednesday, November 10th 10am - 1pm Thursday, November 11th 10am - 1pm Please come out and join me! I will have flyers printed up for everyone to hand out. Please rebuttal if you plan on attending any of the days.

I just called the Attorney General's office to follow up on the complaint I filed. The person I spoke with said that my complaint was in the system and was being investigated by the legal staff. He did indicate that everyone with the same complaint should file a report. I urge everyone to go to the following website and fill out a Consumer Complaint Form: www.ag.state.az.us If the AG's office sees a trend developing, they are more likely to pursue action.

I just called the Attorney General's office to follow up on the complaint I filed. The person I spoke with said that my complaint was in the system and was being investigated by the legal staff. He did indicate that everyone with the same complaint should file a report. I urge everyone to go to the following website and fill out a Consumer Complaint Form: www.ag.state.az.us If the AG's office sees a trend developing, they are more likely to pursue action.

I just called the Attorney General's office to follow up on the complaint I filed. The person I spoke with said that my complaint was in the system and was being investigated by the legal staff. He did indicate that everyone with the same complaint should file a report. I urge everyone to go to the following website and fill out a Consumer Complaint Form: www.ag.state.az.us If the AG's office sees a trend developing, they are more likely to pursue action.

I just called the Attorney General's office to follow up on the complaint I filed. The person I spoke with said that my complaint was in the system and was being investigated by the legal staff. He did indicate that everyone with the same complaint should file a report. I urge everyone to go to the following website and fill out a Consumer Complaint Form: www.ag.state.az.us If the AG's office sees a trend developing, they are more likely to pursue action.

Marc, It would be nice to get my money back, but at this point I think I would be more content with putting them out of business for good. I will continually update my report.

Quote: But since we thought we were going to get paid for the first assignment, we had no problem paying that. I do hope you get your money back from them. But this scam is a good one I must admit. They cover their behinds by asking YOU to call them back so they can't be accused of selling you something under pressure. They appear legit with radio ads, employees, offices, etc. And I suspect you never actually signed anything that specifically said you'd get paid for every assignments so in court they stand a good chance of winning unless many many more people come forward. Did you actually signed a contract that says all assignments would be paid? Or was it All paid assignments may be compensated up to $$$ ? This is important because rumors are StarBiz actually PAYS the clothing store; there is never any paid assignments in the real sense. StarBiz can always claim that this particular assignment wasn't paid because, well, it isn't a paid assignment. I bet not a single child got a paid assignment from an actual client. Then the assignment becomes a mere photo session where you eventually get what they promised: 1 photo Shoot (by a non-professional photographer) Disk of photos Complete marketing (what's that?) including website One guaranteed commercial print appearance (replica of website) or television appearance (no chance) Probably worth . $85. Pathetic. But hey, they're still at it! I heard the infamous Baby Alert ad from Mix 96.9 yesterday

Quote: But since we thought we were going to get paid for the first assignment, we had no problem paying that. I do hope you get your money back from them. But this scam is a good one I must admit. They cover their behinds by asking YOU to call them back so they can't be accused of selling you something under pressure. They appear legit with radio ads, employees, offices, etc. And I suspect you never actually signed anything that specifically said you'd get paid for every assignments so in court they stand a good chance of winning unless many many more people come forward. Did you actually signed a contract that says all assignments would be paid? Or was it All paid assignments may be compensated up to $$$ ? This is important because rumors are StarBiz actually PAYS the clothing store; there is never any paid assignments in the real sense. StarBiz can always claim that this particular assignment wasn't paid because, well, it isn't a paid assignment. I bet not a single child got a paid assignment from an actual client. Then the assignment becomes a mere photo session where you eventually get what they promised: 1 photo Shoot (by a non-professional photographer) Disk of photos Complete marketing (what's that?) including website One guaranteed commercial print appearance (replica of website) or television appearance (no chance) Probably worth . $85. Pathetic. But hey, they're still at it! I heard the infamous Baby Alert ad from Mix 96.9 yesterday

Quote: But since we thought we were going to get paid for the first assignment, we had no problem paying that. I do hope you get your money back from them. But this scam is a good one I must admit. They cover their behinds by asking YOU to call them back so they can't be accused of selling you something under pressure. They appear legit with radio ads, employees, offices, etc. And I suspect you never actually signed anything that specifically said you'd get paid for every assignments so in court they stand a good chance of winning unless many many more people come forward. Did you actually signed a contract that says all assignments would be paid? Or was it All paid assignments may be compensated up to $$$ ? This is important because rumors are StarBiz actually PAYS the clothing store; there is never any paid assignments in the real sense. StarBiz can always claim that this particular assignment wasn't paid because, well, it isn't a paid assignment. I bet not a single child got a paid assignment from an actual client. Then the assignment becomes a mere photo session where you eventually get what they promised: 1 photo Shoot (by a non-professional photographer) Disk of photos Complete marketing (what's that?) including website One guaranteed commercial print appearance (replica of website) or television appearance (no chance) Probably worth . $85. Pathetic. But hey, they're still at it! I heard the infamous Baby Alert ad from Mix 96.9 yesterday

Quote: But since we thought we were going to get paid for the first assignment, we had no problem paying that. I do hope you get your money back from them. But this scam is a good one I must admit. They cover their behinds by asking YOU to call them back so they can't be accused of selling you something under pressure. They appear legit with radio ads, employees, offices, etc. And I suspect you never actually signed anything that specifically said you'd get paid for every assignments so in court they stand a good chance of winning unless many many more people come forward. Did you actually signed a contract that says all assignments would be paid? Or was it All paid assignments may be compensated up to $$$ ? This is important because rumors are StarBiz actually PAYS the clothing store; there is never any paid assignments in the real sense. StarBiz can always claim that this particular assignment wasn't paid because, well, it isn't a paid assignment. I bet not a single child got a paid assignment from an actual client. Then the assignment becomes a mere photo session where you eventually get what they promised: 1 photo Shoot (by a non-professional photographer) Disk of photos Complete marketing (what's that?) including website One guaranteed commercial print appearance (replica of website) or television appearance (no chance) Probably worth . $85. Pathetic. But hey, they're still at it! I heard the infamous Baby Alert ad from Mix 96.9 yesterday

Wow, they never told you at the interview that YOU had to pay? This is the first time I've heard of this one. When we had our interview with Julie Johnson (then Director of New Talent), she made us well aware that it would cost us $685 for the "Baby Marketing Package". But since we thought we were going to get paid for the first assignment, we had no problem paying that. Sara Beth is new, so she must have overlooked telling you about the cost.

When leaving the building we had NO IDEA that WE would ever have to pay ANYTHING. So we were very surprised when this young woman in the parking lot told us about the money that we would have to pay. We almost did not believe her: perhaps she was frustrated because her child wasn't picked? For we never expected to pay anything; on the contrary, we expected to make money. For us, this was the red flag. I immediately figured something was fishy and proceeded to research on the web. I found many articles concerning modeling scams, including StarBiz. Then I went through the material Sarah Beth gave us and found the $685 package on the third page. No way! I was never going to pay a penny under any circumstances. And we never called back. I contacted the radio station MIX 96.9 regarding StarBiz s Baby Alert ad but the ad still played last weekend (09/18/04).

Marc, During the audition, did they ever say that the first assignment would not be paid, that it was for experience only? Your answer will help our case against them.