On December 11 I received a call from a company claiming to be a talent agency. They did not fully disclose how they had gotten my name or my cell phone number, and I was not even certain who they were. Still they insisted that I meet with them for a free consultation as soon as possible, and so I felt obligated to meet them at the earliest available time, which was at 5:00 that day. I just thought that they were open late, so I went down to their office at 12 Desbrosses Street in Tribeca.
I was first greeted by Bryan, an aggressive sales representative, and his partner, Seamus, who asked for my headshot and rsum. They insisted that I had a "certain James Spader quality" and that I was just the sort of actor casting directors were seeking, even though my rsum didn't have a lot of credits and I hadn't even auditioned for them. They used all sorts of flattery, including putting up my headshot on the wall. Despite my misgivings, I had no reason to doubt them when they claimed that their service of allowing you into networking events where you would meet industry professionals was the best way for actors and models to get noticed and would easily lead to high-paying gigs, as if to say that their initial offers, of $895 for one event or $995 for two years' worth of events, would only be a small investment. They went for the hard sell, pointing out how the slots were filling up and that they might not make this offer again, basically, that I would be a sucker not to partake of it. So I wound up, probably against my better judgment, signing a non-refundable contract good for too years, for $995.
Only after I returned home did I see this website and learn about how shady this company really is. Real agents don't call you, and they don't ask for cash up front. A reputable business would not go for the hard sell, and in fact real networking events do not charge hundreds of dollars!
So I tried to get a refund, first by calling the company itself, who refused, reminding me that I had signed a non-refundable contract, and then by disputing the charge with my credit card company, who decided that the charge was not fraud since I had willingly signed a contract, albeit a vague contract signed under intimidation and false pretenses. For instance, it does not specify how many "events" it is really good for, or if I have to pay extra to attend them (I thought the $995 would cover all of them). Then I contacted the Better Business Bureau about them, and I got a reply in which VIP claimed that they had charged me for meals and headshots, which I did not know about and would not have agreed to pay for. The contract doesn't mention anything about meals and headshots. So I'm taking them to small claims court, however I'll have to go to Philadelphia to do so, since their New York office was only a temporary one. When I went back to Tribeca to find them, the woman at the door of 12 Desbrosses Street explained that they had closed and even added that a lot of people felt cheated by them, but "you didn't hear it from me."
Don't let this happen to you!
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