My friend received a flyer for a Drama Class (Trading Faces) while at Austin Park and Pizza from Shelly Williams. Shelly was doing face painting at the time but that was a front for scouting kids for her drama class. She was recruiting for the play Grease and my friend told her about my daughter. Shelly gave her a flyer to give to me. I called the number (her cell phone) and she gave me instructions to show up and check it out, if my daughter liked it I could sign up that day. The class was at the Pflugerville Library in the community center. The set up seemed believable at the time. My daughter participated in the class and instantly Shelly wanted her to be Rizzo. My daughter was so excited and I knew right away that I was going to sign her up. After the class was over I talked with Shelly and she informed me that the class cost $300.00. I told her that I could not do this since it was so close to summer and my budget is tight. She quickly dropped the price to $165 because she really wanted my daughter to be in the play. I told her that I would think about it and she proceeded to tell me I needed to pay the registration today because the class was almost full. The money for registration pays for; rental of stage, costuming, props, and a Pink Ladies jacket that would come with my daughter's name stitched on it. I decided to pay the registration since my daughter wanted to be in the play really bad (she offered to pay with her OWN money!). So I wrote her a check and we were on our way. The following Sunday there was practiced and all seemed normal. The next three Sundays there were no rehearsals and I had received no calls from Shelly. Finally I contacted my bank and got the information off my cashed check (as to who cashed it). My check had been altered and was cashed by someone named Monica. After investigating on the Internet I called Monica and she told me that her daughter was in the program and had been for a while. She said that Shelly had lost here driver's license and that is why she had cashed the check for her. She had no idea what was going on. The next week I get a call from Angelica (Shelly's daughter) letting me know that practice has moved to Austin Park and Pizza. There was one practice there and then we went another three weeks without a rehearsal. I received a voice message on Mother's Day from one of the other mothers in the group and she advised me that practice has moved yet again to a place in Round Rock (USA Best Karate). We had one practice there (on Mother's Day) and haven't had one since. I got off easy because I paid a lot less then other parents in the group. It appears the average she got was $300.00 per kid. Shelly had been telling us that the performance would be at Manor High School in their theater on November 4th and that she had made the deposit. I contacted the school and no such arrangements had been made. Needless to say, I am out the money and that was a stupid me experience. The most upsetting thing is that my child will not be in a production as promised and she has memorized the entire script and can sing Look at me I'm Sandra Dee in her sleep. Shelly started this scam in Bastrop originally, she would get enough people to pay deposits and then she moves to the next city. You sign a contract saying that you are paying for the cost of the performance and the money is nonrefundable if your child quits. Moving from city to city makes it difficult for everyone to stay committed, and therefore Shelly makes money and there is never a performance. From Bastrop she moved to Elgin then Manor then Pflugerville and then Round Rock, collecting deposits all the way. I tried to look her business up with the taxing authority and there is no such business, her name is nowhere on file.
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