I am an unemployed mother of three who struggles everyday to support my kids and make sure they have what they need and if possible what they want. I decided that my three year old would be perfect for modeling in catalogs or magazines and there just happened to be "scouts" in the local mall. So when we signed up for it I didn't think anything of it. I had seen these people set up in a mall a little farther north and thought "Great now they are closer to home, I'll give it a shot"
After I had spoke with someone on the phone who called herself "Candy" I was given a time to take my daughter for so called auditions. We went and were given a cheap black and white booklet telling about the company and in this booklet was a page stating that if you are already a professional model or actor you don't need to audition just submit your resume and portfolio, but if you are not you have to have a photoshoot at the cost of $150.00. I almost just walked away and I should have but the thought of my beautiful three year old possibly modeling got the best of me. After the auditon my daughter was listed as an "ALL STAR" along with another little girl and we were told to fill out the page with the photoshoot info and pay a minimum of $50 to book the shoot. Again I almost walked away and even asked my husband if we should do it. To avoid a possible arguement he just let me do it, leading to arguements later on. After I put $100 down we had relatives look into the company. And Guess what... There are A LOT of people being scammed. I wasn't the only one.
Now I have my daughters father and his family on my back about this, they don't want her in the business at all. So my Husband and I go back to the mall and talk to the "scout" who slips up and only calls himself an employee and then quickly corrects himself. We explain that my daughters biological father is furious we can't follow through with it and we need our $100 back. He proceeds to tell us that he can't authorize a refund and to call his supervisor "Janis" who is Miami. He writes down a phone number on a post it and we go to call it and he tells us they aren't there because it's Saturday and to call Monday. So we wait.
Monday comes and we call the number but wait... IT'S NOT A WORKING NUMBER!!! We couldn't go up to the mall due to my husband being at work and having the only vehicle so we wait. Now it's Tuesday and I'm filing this report to warn others... Don't do it. When I get back to the house we are loading up the kids and going to the mall to try to demand our money back. If they don't we will go through whatever means possible to get it back and possibly others who have been scammed as well. I will update as need be.
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