First of all I must write that I am so excited to finally have a chance to get back at Trans Continental Talent. I didn't know a company had the audacity to screw someone over so much in such a short amount of time.
It all began two Octobers ago. I was given a card at a local Mall by one of their so called "scouts". I called the Philadelphia office to schedule an appointment to then find out that the office had been closed. That should have been warning number one. I called the New Jersey office in Rutherford to schedule an appointment. It was three hours away from my home outside Philadelphia.
I drove the distance and went through the screening process that the other Rip off reporters described. It seemed as though 10 out of 30 "models" were chosen. I was one of them. The owner brought me in for a two minute interview telling me about the $500.00 fee I would have to pay and how it would be beneficial to have my portfolio seen by thousands of representatives throughout the country. For some idiotic reason I believed her and I had the money (at the time) so I paid it.
I allowed the owner to hold on to my portfolio so she could process my pictures for the website. I thought she would have the courtesy to send it back to me, being that I drove three hours to get up there to see her and give her $500.00. She told me she could not send me my portfolio and that I had to drive back up there. I told her it was 3 hours away, but there was no budging. She used ANTHRAX as her excuse for not sending me my portfolio. "Ah letters were still sent everyday after 911... Bad excuse". Anyway, after driving all the way up there, they made me wait 15 minutes and her assistant walked out all snotty like and handed me my portfolio without as much as a "hello, thanks for taking the 6 hour trip to see us".
THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING FOLKS... Hold on it gets better. A month later I got an email saying I have been chosen to compete in sports clothes line model competition. I figured since I wrote in my profile that I love to workout and I have a mesomorph, aka Jennifer Lopez body type, I could compete. I interviewed over the phone for the position and they accepted me. I was accepted to go on a cruise to the Bahamas to compete for this position. I was told that 20 of the nations top agencies were going to see me. I was told that the four day cruise cost $1,000.00. I used the last of my college graduation money to compete in this sports model competition. I figured you gotta spend money to make money right? WRONG.
I gave them one of my check numbers over the phone worth $1,000.00 (I didn't use credit cards much at the time). One week later I found out that my checking account balance is -$800.00. The model company deleted $2000.00 out of my account instead of $1,000.00. I thought that this was a simple mistake that could have been cleared up in a day or so. Oh no, I don't think so! It took over two months battling with my bank and telechecks to find out what happened. I actually broke down and told a man at telechecks my model scam story and he broke a few rules to get my money back into my account and then I had to close the account so that e-models could not take it back.
I didn't even want to go on this cruise after all of this, but felt that I paid my money and had to go. E-models then told me I wasn't on the list to even go at all. I barked and barked and barked and they put me on the list. I wasn't about to lose $1,000.00 on this pathetic company. I was a glutten for punishment. I arrive on the boat after doing all the stuff you have to do to go on a cruise to find out that I have a room mate. I wasn't told that we had to bunk with a stranger. Most cruise lines that last four days cost about half of what I paid. I figured the least they could do was give me my own room. Moving on.
There were a 1000 people competing for two positions. I was also told that we were going to be interviewed. We were not interviewed. We were told to walk a runway twice and that is it. The girls that were chosen, were 5 foot 11 inches tall and like 90 pounds. If I knew beforehand they were looking for run way models, I would have never jumped aboard. I was told the competition was for a fitness SPOKES MODEL. Someone with brains, someone who could speak. My roommate was approached by an agent from Elite. He said in a drunken stupor that he was interested in representing her and then proceeded to ask her what her room number was at 1:30 in the morning. Shady or what people?
I am going to wrap things up. On the bus ride back to the airport, I spoke to at least five different prospective models who felt ripped off. I did not meet one person (on the cruise of off) who actually felt good about his/her experience. Trans continental talent... YOU ARE GOING DOWN!!!
Gail
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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