IN searching for a summer job, my 17 year-old son responded to a Craigs List posting (#354694471). This was an open casting call for a print ad for a major beverage company No experience, no photos necessary.
He was called and given an appointment. He was asked to bring someone over 18 years of age. There was no mention of the need to purchase photos in order to apply for this job.
Upon arrival he was asked to sign an acknowledgment that Talent Model Network is not a modeling agency. I was not asked to review or sign this document.
Two minutes into the interview, he was asked to present photos. When he replied that he had none, we were told that he would need photos to pursue this line of work and this company could provide them, for a fee, and give him a list of modeling agencies to send them to. No mention was made of the job he was specifically here for. I reluctantly agreed to pay for these pictures, hoping that this was the appropriate way for him to be seen for the aforementioned job.
Upon returning home and reading the Craigs listing ad it was clear to me that we had been duped. I contacted friends in the modeling business. They assured me that asking someone to purchase a photo shoot before being seen for an open call job is not the way the print business seeks models or actors.
When I tried to stop payment thru American Express, this company cleverly replied as if they were a simple photography business. They said I purchased a photo shoot, selected the photos to be printed and had been called on numerous occasions to pick them up.
American Express has refused to reverse the charge! They suggested I contact the company directly. So I sent Talent Model Network aka Photographers R Us, a certified letter requesting a refund. They refused to accept it!
I am now in the process of accumulating evidence documenting this scam to submit to Amex for reconsideration of my refund.
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