Recently I saw an ad in my local newspaper claiming to need 'movie extras', and decided to call, due to curiosity. When I called they said that they were a casting agency and would fill out a profile and let me search for local castings.
At first I was a little skeptical when they asked for $139 fee that would be used for my portofolio. After that I immediatly went online to check it out before giving my number, to check and see if it was legit. Everything looked good so i gave them my number (stupid me).
When I noticed that there weren't any local castings in my area, i called them back to cancel, which i was put on hold for quite some time. After i finally got to talk to someone, they immediatly cancelled my membership and said that my refund would be in the mail after the 30 day trial period. 3 months later i still haven't seen anything.
A couple days later i was looking at my account statement and noticed some charges to number 866-295-1658. I called this number and it was a company called Bargainlink (www.bargainlink.com). They said that Showtime Casting signed me up. I was able to cancel what they had and i think i might even get a refund.
I have been trying to get a hold of Showtime for quite sometime but seems impossible to actually talk to someone. All i get is holding music for a very long time. Never get to talk to anyone. I finally wised up and checked the Better Business Bureau and showed that i'm not the only one that these scam artists have gotten. Plenty of reports have been filed to them, and only a handful have seen a refund.
I wish i would have done this before. I guess it was an important lesson learned the hard way. I have since read reports where Showtime has pulled more money from accounts. I can tell you that won't happen to me, i'm getting a new account, those bastards.
I am contacting the local newpaper to see if they can pull this ad, and if they can't if they can post a bold ad above it saying its a scam. I don't want anyone else getting caught up in it. I am also going to search to see how many other ads have been posted around the U.S. To contact those newspapers also.
Yours Truly,
It sucks to be scammed
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