I worked for the local cable company with a secure position (in these scarey times) and GREAT benefits! A friend who worked as a manager at the Barbizon located in Tampa has approached me several times about working for her. This particular time she told me about the TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE benefits with Barbizon: 5 weeks vacation from day one, travel every other weekend, bonus checks of $4000 guaranteed because business was so good and the rest of the country was doing much better financially then FL and parents were signing their kids up because this was such a great program. After telling a few friends about it, a few were cautious, but I told them my friend told me all this and she wouldn't steer me wrong knowing that I already had a good job. WRONG! Not only did she lie about the 5 weeks vacation (there is NO vacation time, you work EVERY WEEKEND! Holiday weekends that they didn't travel on, you were expected in bring in twice as many appointments as normal)! So I quit a really good job, just to find out that I had to lie to parents, tell them their daughter was "picked" for tryouts for our "New Faces Division" and we were looking for models for Macys, JC Pennys, and other stores at the mall (no we weren't just another lie). They were lying to kids as to how they got their personal information! They have kiosks at the mall and tell them they are signing up to win something! No they are not, they are filling this info out so we can call them and basically harrasse them and their parents into coming to our "tryouts". We are told to call these numbers as many times as it takes to get them to sign up with us. Sometimes that means calling these people 4 & 5 times at home, at work, on their cell phones, whatever number they give us. Then when they come to tryouts, they are told that we take their info and pictures (that the families provided us) back to our office and present them in front of a board and only the best girls are picked! All the girls are picked! Anyone who can pay is picked! We lie to them from beginning to end. They are told that we will give them "jobs" after they graduate. No they don't. Another lie! I finally got so sick of it that I quit! I just couldn't sleep at night knowing that I was lying to these people about everything! I felt like a sleezy car salesmen! Oh and the $4000? Yeah right!!! Only possible if you are able to get 20 accounts within a month! Signed and paid up front! Not possible especially in this economy! Of course some of the girls actually made that, but they worked pretty much around the clock with not much personal time and had to chase down paperwork (which was another job all in itself). And the minute you get back from a trip, you are expected to close your sales and start booking for the next event for the following weekend! Everything that you have heard about Barbizon being a scam is unfortunately true. I took the job every excited and optimistic not only because of the great money I could make but because it was in the fashion industry and I was signing girls up to do something I always dreamed of doing! Sadly none of it was true! I was lied to so that my "friend" would benefit from me and all she ever did for us was complain to us that we didn't book enough appointments and we needed to make sure we closed a certain amount so SHE COULD GET HER $15,000 BONUS which some how was something we needed to work on! Now I am starting all over again with a new company and can barely pay my mortgage because I am not making what I was at the cable company. Very had lesson learned: If it sounds too good to be true THEN IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! Stay away from Barbizon Modeling and Acting, Inc!
0 comments