I wanted to warn other parents about this acting scam The Playground Los Angeles.
My husband and I were approached while shopping with my daughter at Target by a woman who claimed she was a Talent Scout. She told us how wonderful she was and asked if she would like to be in commercials and TV. Of course my daughter was excited, but we were more than skeptical. We asked if there were any fees involved. We now know she flat out lied to us by saying there were NO costs at all. (Im sure the "Scouts" get paid for every sucker they can get to show up)
We took the card and did show up to their audition. There we found many other parents with there with children who were told the some story. After a presentation that could only be compared to a Time Share pitch, we met a representative briefly, and were asked how serious we are about getting involved and they would be in touch. (I know now they call back almost everybody).
Well, sure enough we get a call back and were informed that we needed to come in for a one on one meeting. Thats when the hard sell started, and I mean a hard sell! They wanted thousands of dollars for classes and we needed to make a decision right on the spot. No time to discuss or talk about it. We were told they only have a few openings and if we did not take now, they would select another child. We said thank you and walked out.
I was angry that we had wasted all this time and at no point were they ever honest about money until the very end. They do this because if they tell people upfront about costs, no one would show up for their little audition to scam.
I have been on the phone, internet and have done much research into Gary and his companies.
Facts:
Dont be misled about some of the great reviews you see online, such as Yelp and the other sites. Its an old trick that scammers use.
They publish positive comments and webpages and these are merely employees of the company attempting to hide all the bad and negative postings. They usually respond by claiming the negative comments are a competitor or a disgruntled ex employee.
No real company has to hire people to target parents with children at malls. Think about it, if Gary Spatz and the Playground are so successful, they would have a waiting list of people for their classes. There is nothing exclusive about The Playground;they accept anyone who is willing to pay them.
Here are some of the many links and posts from parents that have been scammed or almost scammed. There are so many that I cant repost them all, and since the company changes the name every couple of years its hard for people to find the truth.
Google gary spatz and scam after his name. Amazing!
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