My family and I were walking through the local mall when a couple of women walked up to my seven year old and asked her if she watched Hannah Montana and a number of other TV shows on Disney. Then came their pitch about how they were talent scouts and all we had to do was show up at the Sheridan Hotel for our first trial.
So I took my daughter there and low and behold there were about fifty kids there with their parents. We were told she would be taped reading a couple of lines into video camera and they would get back to us.
We waited about a week, with my daughter asking me EVERYDAY if they had called. Well on the sixth day they called back and asked if we could come in to talk with one of their "producers." Both parents had to be there, so I had to take time off of work and go down there so they could explain all of the processes. My daughter was bouncing off the walls. She was so happy and the dreams, they kept adding, of maybe working with the stars of all of the shows she watched was almost too much. And let's not forget about the big bucks that would come rolling in.
So then we were called into the "producer's" office and he explained the "packages" they offered. This is also where they added that although you bought a service package, you still had other expenses for all of the acting classes and modeling classes and head shots... All in all it was going to cost MUCH more than what was expected.
My wife and I had an uneasy feeling about all of this and then when he added that we had to make a decision RIGHT THERE AND THEN, we were a little taken back. But the look on my daughters face was almost too much. They also sucked our older daughter into it too. We ended up putting the first of three payments down right then which was for $750. Then next two installments would be over the next two months.
Luckily I spent the weekend looking then up on the BBB and they didn't rate well and they were not a member of the BBB, even though Jason S (the "producer" we were dealing with) said that they were. So that was their first flat out lie. So before the 72 hour grace period was up, I raced back to their office (which looks shady to begin with) and returned their books and cancelled our contract.
My wife, as wise as she usually is, cancelled her credit card. We expected to get the money refunded to us within 10 businesses days, since that is what the contract stated, if the contract was cancelled. A month went by and not only was they money NOT refunded; they tried to charge the second installment on my wife's credit card. When it didn't go through, they sent it to their claims department.
I began sending emails back and forth to Jason S. Asking, and then demanding, that they get me my money back. Before they got us our money back they tried to charge her card for the THIRD installment. Then they claimed they LOST the cancellation form of the contract. How convenient for them. But my wife holds on to EVERYTHING and I faxed it to Jason and their claims department. It took almost three months to get our money back.
Stay far away from this place. You will know you are in their office when you walk in and it looks like it's outfitted with rental furniture and the walls are painted in a cheesy black and yellow "bee" stripe. This place preys on the dreams and hopes of young kids. They will also promise that your kids may be in one of their productions. You can check out the quality of some of their work at imdb.com. I could do a better job with my camcorder AND I won't charge my credit card to do it either.
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