It was around Nov. 8th 09' when I first made contact to collaborate with Mr. Saadiq everything seemed to be legit. I was getting phone calls and texts returned in a timely manner and he seemed professional.
But around this time I started to see signs, he said he would only be inOrlando for a week and if I wanted to shoot I would have to come upwith the money within that week for a, and he was quick to make sure he got his money deposit first before he set up a shoot via paypal and the rest CASH at the shoot.
The shoot was not in a studio, but an apartment, when I got there the makeup artist was late, which delayed the shoot and as a result we had to set up another shoot to finish the 3 looks. And I never received the "professional airbrush makeup" I was paying for. He did however send me 3 low quality images of 2 looks just to see what they look like.
For the next whole week he kept putting me off, ignoring me, and didn't follow up with me, so I filed a complaint through paypal and that same day he called to ask why I filed a complaint saying that I had nothing to worry about, he was making up excuses and said he wouldn't scam me or take advantage of me, then he told me a day for the shoot and told me to cancel the paypal claim.
I did cancel it, i thought he got the message and he didn't, it was the most foolish thing I could do.
The day before the next rescheduled shoot he calls and says he has another shoot to do and if I wanted, I could come and finish my looks but had to pay an extra $200 for hair and makeup, I said no and went along with what I originally paid for.
The day of the second shoot he kept changing the time of the shoot from 1pm to 1:30pm to 2pm saying that something came up, He also said he would give me an extra look for having to reschedule which I never knew was edited, ready or posted online until I went on facebook and there it was... I told him to take it down and he refused.
A week after the second shoot with no replies to communication on his part, he asks me if I want to shoot with another model for $100, I said no, I ask him when I will get my photos and I get no reply. At this point I realized he is just trying to get money out of me.
Two days later I text him telling him that I need to talk to him about a deadline to receive the photos and he replies in quote: " Sorry I was shooting yesterday and I'm out shooting now. Later 2nite".
I reply in quote: " You keep putting me off, I need a real date that I know your actually doing the photos, so I know when I'll get them". No response... This is when the flat out disrespectful unprofessional side of him became clear to me.
For the next whole week I called, emailed and texted but I got no replies.
He said that he would be done with editing the Hi-res photos by theend of thanksgiving week but I heard nothing from him. Dec. 5th 09' Isent an email about it and no reply. So I started contacting people that knew him and worked with him only to find out I'm not the only struggling model with the same issue with Saadiq.
I also learned that of the $350 I paid him, only $20 of it actually went to the makeup artist.
Dec. 9th 09' I sent another emailthreatening with legal authorities, and still no reply so I called, this time blocking my number and he actually answered but afterrealizing it was me he said to call him back and then hung up on me.
So I did call back an hour later but instead have someone else try to talk to him on my behalf, Mr. Saadiq refused to talk to the person and requested that I talk to him instead.
So I called and he cursed me out over the phone for having someone else contact him in regards to our business, and contacting other people to get to him, he went on in his rage by saying that my photos have been done for months and that he just refuses to give them to me, that its not stealing because he cant take something he already has from me.
His last words before hanging up on me and leaving me in tears were: " I'LL GET YOUR PICTURES, I'LL GIVE THEM TO YOU SO YOU DON'T EVER HAVE TO ASK ME FOR SH*T AGAIN!"
The only thing I wanted WAS my pictures, its been 3 1/2 months, it's now
Feb. 20 and I still have nothing to show for $350 which was supposed to be 2-3 professional Hi-RES edits 9x12 for print and 6x9for web with logo per each of the 3 looks I paid for and the extra look.
Things like this make it hard for aspiring models like myself to make it in the industry
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