I've been working from home and maintained a home office for nearly 20 years now. I've certainly dealt with my share of idiocy and non payment here and there, but most generally have been able to work it out.
I've ALWAYS maintained a nice clean reputation for doing marketing and communications among other things (customer service, lead generation etc.) Working for companies that have a good reputation themselves, is important to me, for obvious reasons.
I've worked from home because I was a single parent for many years and wanted to raise my kids on my own. Daycare was too expensive, not to mention I have a child that suffers mental illness and being available to him, as well as anyone else involved in his life has been vital.
I am involved in many wonderful work from home parent communities online and have in recent years come to consumer complaints to check companies before I work for them. I did the same with Lifetime Studios but nothing was listed so I thought I would be alright working with this company.
When I work for ANYONE, especially working from home, I find that in most cases one must work twice as hard and be twice as productive to A. Make any money and B. Because it's the only way to prove one can be as great an employee or contractor as anyone in a bricks and mortar business. It's fine, I'm not afraid of hard work.
I came across the ad for Lifetime Studios, Jarrett Pratt on a site I pay to subscribe to. The ad was highly attractive and I was very persistent in pursuing the position as an independent contractor for this company.
I loved the idea that this company gave away an 8X10 vintage photograph to daycare centers directors that they could give to every child whether they could afford it or not as a gift. Every child would get a free 8X10, it wasn't a hard promotion for daycare centers because we would provide everything.
When he would go back with the free photographs he would then make available to the parents many more packages they could purchase if they so desired - fine, everyone loves vintage photography, it's beautiful and everyone has to make a living.
When I began working for Mr. Pratt, he told me that I should contact all daycare centers, make the offer and book the sessions. Being an independent contractor, I know the laws state that he isn't responsible to train me, but intellectually, one would believe that the more information a contractor has the better the outcome for the company.
His finacial offer, in his ad stated that a contractor would make 100.00 to 200.00 per booked session. He never laid out any parameters or types of situations he DID NOT want to work.
What began to happen was, Mr. Pratt would allow me to come up with the booked sessions then he would (at first) verfiy them to be certain I was doing my job and I would be credited. Each week he would find daycares on my list that he was unwilling to pay for. I had no idea why, he wouldn't tell me. Now I realize he was most likely shooting and selling them, but at that point I was just trusting that he really couldn't make money from them and well, he's the pro, he should know, right? It was up to me to learn the hard way, I guess.
Fine, I accepted that I couldn't actually work with head starts because they were, in his words "in the Ghetto" and those were children of teen mothers and he didn't want to send his photographers on "dangerous shoots" or to daycares that were federally subsidized because they don't have money. (I've been poor and managed to save money for pictures of my children, whatever) Ok, so I stopped that.
Originally, he told me I would be paid 100.00 for anything over 30 children and 150.00 for anything over 110 children. And the types of daycare centers became increasingly clear. The better I got, the more money he was making. But each week, he was becoming increasingly later and later in putting my pay in the bank. Not to mention, I was getting better at the job and he was still finding things he refused to pay for at the end of the week DESPITE THE FACT THAT I WAS EMAILING EXTENSIVE INFO DAILY. He couldn't tell me daily what he wasn't willing to pay for and why?
Eventually, he began coming up with reasons why he couldn't pay on time, or why he couldn't pay in full. Reasons like, he just married and bought his wife a 3 carat diamond and moved into a beautiful new home. After a week, according to himself, his wife of one week, left him and he told me he needed to pay for an abortion, that he couldn't pay me on time or in full. If I was upset about it, and remain quiet he would switch into bully mode - " Do I detect an ATTITUDE, Jacqueline? Huh? Do you have a PROBLEM?"
The better I became at the job, the better the session I booked for him. But despite my work getting better and better, he would call me and do things like whisper to me that a center that booked was "ghetto", all teen Moms, he would have to subtract it from my pay.
One center in particular was an administrative and community daycare center for Doctors, Lawyers, Small business owners, and college administrative people on the college campus where it was located. I knew that and that was one of the centers he insisted was no good.
Please keep in mind that I keep highly accurate records. I went back to that record and found that this was a wonderful daycare facility. He probably would have made thousands of dollars. But they scheduled it for only one day instead of two, didn't show and knew that they would call me to see why they didn't show - he attempted to recover it and make the money, thinking I had been contacted, therefore, I would not suspect he was making money, but wasn't paying me.
She had asked for flyers 3 weeks in advance. He overnighted them to the daycare on the second day of the shoot.
The director of the daycare called me and asked why they didn't show, I communicated by e mail my apologies, she wrote back and thanked me for my kindness, but she was no longer willing to work with the company. She said that on the night of the first scheduled day the photographer called her and left a message, then called the next morning and begged to shoot it.By then the director was so disappointed, she just didn't want that anymore.
He immediately called me to scream at me and tell me he was going to doc my pay because they canceled! I have many stories like these and so much documentation it's insane! He would often tell me that the photography "sucked" with a couple of his photographers or that they weren't fast enough, he would the say things like " I'll just doc their pay, that's what I'll do, I'll take it out of their check". Nothing ANYONE did was ever good enough and as far as I can see, he docked us ALL except ONE photographer. I can only imagine.
My clients who trust ME to allow this idiot into their facility and he repeatedly breeched that trust when he wouldn't even bother to call them and even make up and excuse as to why he won't show. Who do they call? Me! Now I understand why!
Recently he had me do a project whereas he stated to me that he had 600 cards of people he had collected money from for a promotion in Northwestern AR mall. He sent me the cards via UPS 2 days before Memorial Day Weekend. He promised me 1000.00 if I could produce 200 people to come back in and take portraits and pay their 7.95 sitting fee. He said they had already paid for them, but there was an ice storm and they were unable to shoot it in Feb. He told me no matter what, he would give me a "bonus" for doing the work.
He presented it to me as if he wanted to make it right for all of these people who had already paid for a 20.00 promo package of portraits. He said that when they come they must pay the 7.95 sitting fee and that I could advise them to return to the same location (a bran new daycare center who he fooled into letting him shoot there) a week later to pick up their packages and if they wanted to buy more, they could have them at 50% of the price they were charging at the mall.
As I began to call all 600 of these cards, which took me 80 hours over a 10 day period, I found that about 1/4 of the cards were disconnected numbers, most I couldn't reach and the ones I was able to reach some had horror stories of how they were treated. Some had taken the photos and went back to horrible sales pressure and bad attitudes.
I was able to book about 40 or 50 to come in. He said that they only shot 19 of those depsite the fact that I called each one the day before and confirmed most and left messages with the rest.
These people were wonderful to call me if they were going to be late or needed to rechedule for the next day. I kept a solid schedule for the photographers that were there. I faxed it to the daycare. Jarrett called me that morning Sat June 3 and asked me to write a script for the receptionist he had hired so they would know "how to treat people" when they came in and to add 20.00 to my check for my extra work on Sat and Sun.
I did so and even spoke with one of the day care people and added a little blurb that would make the people arriving with their kids, aware that they could tour the site while they waited or after their session.
I worked that project from 2 days before memorial day, all day Memorial day and through the entire following week, taking time from booking good viable accounts, through the following weekend. I was so happy when it was over, because Jarrett made it perfectly clear that I had done a bad job that he wasn't happy with. I knew then this was going to lead to NO PAY.
He then told me that he hadn't decided how much to pay me because it was so bad and informed me that he had "worked these cards before and it went just fine!" And he had worked it just a couple of months before!
Soon he began to bully me, he would call me SCREAMING at the top of his lungs, he would tell me how he's never made a dime from anything I've done. Then he would call me maybe 10 minutes later and tell me that actually he was making good money off of 90% of what I've done. (That made more sense considering I worked for him for 3 months, I mean who is going to keep someone that would just be sending him on wild goose chases and costing him money?) He would tell me then that I was a Godsend and he could have never made it without me - THIS was true. To date I have, what was a bare schedule crammed though then end of July.
This happened over and over - over the course of three weeks. Each week I worked harder and harder and attempted to understand what I could be doing wrong.
He would resentfully deposit money in my account and run down a line of expenses that weren't real and tell me over and over what he's had to pay photographers, consultants, even though he was the only consultant that I know of and so on. Then he would tell me it had better be worth it.
I would tell him I have a family to support, a child on medication and that I had bills to pay. A couple of weeks ago, and this week as well, I've had bank charges for drafts that came out of my bank because of his failure to pay me what he owes and even when he would pay the portions of what he owed they would be a week late.
Now he is simply refusing to pay.
I told him I would have to detach myself from this business because my name and perception of work ethic is very important to me.
He has been calling me on my business line and screaming at me daily, leaving messages, telling me that my work is worthless and even sent me an e mail, thanking me for nothing. He's attempted to tell me that one of my accounts canceled so he wouldn't be responsible for it. He's now telling me that I owe him money.
As I have investigated him on line and otherwise, I've discovered some pretty scary things.
He called my phone and left a message yesterday that he doesn't believe he owes me a dime, but he wanted me to tell him how much it would take for me not to call or write to these people and let them know I was leaving because it would ruin his business. I told him to send me what he owes me, but that I would still make contact with over 300 records of Daycare centers I had personally been involved with to detach my name from this business and only to provide all of HIS contact information to them so they would be able to make contact with a representitive of the company. I promised, and I wouldn't, do anything to make him look bad, but provide proper contact info directly to him. Isn't that the responsible thing to do ANYWAY?
I mean that mall promotion alone, the people who showed, each paid TWICE and he never went back to give them what they paid for and I don't think he will. He just told me that he would figure it out, mail them or something and moved me quickly from the subject.
I had sent an invoice to him last week, but when I had decided that there was no way I could conciously work for this man anymore, I decided to send a new invoice, charging him the amount he owed me for 4 accounts (I slowed way down when I saw that the slow pay was going to become chronic) and I charged him 5 dollars per hour for 80 hours of my time that he also refuses to pay, not even minimum wage.
Also in my investigations, I've discovered that he has operated in other states, left photographers owing them thousands, owing others whom he had used their products and services thousands of dollars. Leaving many high and dry.
This man is 26 years old and he has been doing this for 6 years already. I cannot BELIEVE no one has reported him at all. I see him as a bully, a user a liar and a cheat (I had been bullied by him upon several occasions) a thief (his most recent, charging at least 20 people 7.95 sitting fees and AGAIN never returning with the product) one of those clients when I gave her his contact info, called him, she said he was rude to her and never promised or told anyone he would be back that week to give them their packets, they had already paid for. He told her he would let her know when he's ready to do that.
His moods swing high and low within a matter of minutes. It almost makes me fearful for him to be around children or anyone else. I've lost an account that needed a reschedule because she called him and not me. He screamed at her, according to the owner and he called it "overcomming objections" He wanted me to call her and told me " I don't care if you cuss her out at this point!" I had to pay back the money I earned for the simple fact that he abused that woman, and she was a very nice person.
I felt this to be a "feel good" job when I began. I LOVED dealing with the daycares and believe that ANY of them would tell anyone that I worked with them with a smile and on a highly professional level.
This man has made thousands of dollars from the work I've done for him. I can only imagine where the money is going.
He recently moved from Springdale to Fayettville, Arkanasa and he was moved out of that place in less than a month. Now he has no physical address, I've listed the last known address. He works now from cell phones only.
This weekend is Father's day. Again I have not even a dollar for groceries. My income has always been the other half of our household. I spent my last dime on copays for medication for my son. He owes me money, but he needs it to party on.
I have already acquired new work, but it will take a good month for me to make a dime. All I want is 720.00 he owes me (actually he owes more, but I'm willing to settle on the amount to feed my family) But I will not accept what he owes me as a payoff to keep quiet, I have the recordings on my answering service to prove that he offered that to me, but when I refused to allow him to use it as hush money, that it was money I worked for fair and square, and certainly not what he REALLY owes or promised, he refused to pay and told me I owe him money instead.
I'm not the only one. He had me manage a young lady that was far wiser than myself. She experienced the same. He actually owes her more than she's asking for, but she and her husband are saving for a home, and she moved on to other things. No one REPORTS this jerk! He is a very YOUNG manipulative thief. He needs to be stopped now while he can be!
This man has ads all over the internet. PLEASE! Work from home parents, avoid Lifetime Studios at ALL costs. Daycare facilities, if he services your facility and parents buy from him, (if you even fit into his idea of a successful promotion) PLEASE refuse to work with LIFETIME STUDIOS INC! Although it's a beautiful concept, many are being abused and cheated. Most are the people who make it work for him who lose out, but as I said, consumers as well, especially if he works in malls, may also be taken. PLEASE do not support this business, I beg you. The only way to stop him is to dry up his fly by night business.
This is one person running this company. To my knowledge there are no other accomplices yet. If there are other companies out there who do the same on a legitimate basis, I don't wish to harm you! This business is LIFETIME STUDIOS INC., JARRETT HOWARD PRATT, located in Springdale and Fayetteville Arkansas.
He has only been in business there for THREE MONTHS! I'm looking for his business license there, but I only find him licensed in a small Virginia town.
There are SO MANY MORE STORIES TO THIS! There isn't enough time in the world to advise of just my experiences with LIFETME STUDIOS, I hope many others whom he's taken from will come to this site and tell their stories too!
Thank so much consumer complaints. If I get nothing more than a vent, at least, with any luck, others he's cheated will eventually catch up with him here.
CONTRACTORS AND CONSUMERS ALIKE, PLEASE BE AWARE! I'm loaded with documentation to prove my allegations. I'm certain there are others out there as well. Stop him while he's young.
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