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Barbizon Modeling & Acting Centers |
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Dafney of webster, TX November 2, 2009 My daughter was referred to this school when she turned 6 for modeling/acting. She had to audition in front of Shane to see if she would do well we did all of this she told him she wanted to be a model her whole life and at 6 that is a hard dream to admitt and mean it, but she did. We believed this man and he said there is a fee for the classes and we needed to pay at least 215.00 so we did to hold her a spot because she had what it took he said! We waited and waited while these classes had to be rescheduled and rescheduled over and over month after month and come June we were tired of waitng, so we asked for a refund. He took my card info again because we did a debit and they had their money right away but he said it could be up to legally 60 days for a refund. So we have waited nothing. I call back and they no longer exist! My daughter mean while has told her friends her relatives that she is a model. she is one day gonna be on tv...that she cant wait because she has what it takes. Now I as a mother have to tell my daughter it was a lie! This is insane, she was crushed so we try to drive to the building no one is there! I get a hold of corp. office and they procede to tell me we are on some list of refund. it is now Nov. 2 and we are still waitign for an answer and have nothing to be said except for us to wait and i refuse to wait any longer! They did not have to wait for my money and I want it back. I want answers now! I have been kind and pstient but I am done. what ever I have to do to make sure this school never runs in houston again and be successful and take little girls and their dreams from them I will do. this is crazy and these are childeren they are hurting. How cruel and ignorant of Barbrizons and to think at onw time i trusted them. they are a JOKE! Leslie of Albuquerque, NM July 28, 2009 I enrolled in the Barbizon Modeling School many years ago and was promised the world. I ended up selling my horse just so I could go. I went through all the classes and when it was over they didn't sign me on but promised that if I retake a couple of the classes and do better that I would be offered a contract. I called several times to schedule these so-called makeup classes but I was always blown off. Also, when I first went in they told me I needed to lose weight. I was 5'7 and 110 pounds. Because of the constant pressure I ended up developing anorexia nervosa and came dangerously close to death. They probably only offered contracts to no more than 10 percent of the women that go there. To this day it makes me sick how they took advantage of me. Jennifer of Charlotte, NC February 3, 2009 Jennifer of Charlotte NC (02/03/09) Marlyse of San Jacinto, CA January 11, 2009 Marlyse of San Jacinto CA (01/11/09) Dawn of Harvest, AL November 26, 2008 Dawn of Harvest AL (11/26/08) I did contact the School (Barbizon) several times to let them know I felt this was unacceptable and moved on because Lindsey wanted this so bad. Lindsey got to a point where she could not attent some of her classes due to her condition and was told she could complete her assignments from home. She worked on a VERY thick model magic book for months on end and we even put a down payment in for her to go to L.A.,CA. of approximately 3000.00 Her Book was mailed to the address that was provided to us on Sept.18,2008 with delivery confirmation and on Thursday November 20th 2008 after returning from Birmingham from Lindsey having surgery it was on our front pourch with a lable unclaimed. They didn't even bother to pick up her book that she had worked so very hard on for months and months. When I spoke with them about why it had been sent back they saidthey didn't get mail there,yet that was the address we had been provided and when I have mail that does not get delivered to my personal home I DO get a slip informing me that there is something at the post office to pick up! Lindsey was crushed and discouraged and now does not feel excepted and has a fear of traveling to L.A. and would rather have the Money that was to go toward the trip to go toward Collage(she will have to take online classes due to seizures) I have made an attempt to obtain a refund because there has been no service rendered for this large amount of money and her schooling at the Modeling school had already been paid in full. Barbizon , however does not want to refund the monies in which we paid although they have been neglectful to the needs of my daughter. So, In essence it's free money to them.
Consumer beware. I have learned a great leasson in trust ,but only had the well being of my child in mind, wanting to see her gain in self confidence.
This company has schools across the United States and in my opinion pray on the hopes and dreams of our youth. Kristin of New Ringgold, PA October 14, 2008 Kristin of New Ringgold PA (10/14/08) We showed up to the Open Call to find that it was a number of people (maybe 20). We watched a movie about IMTA and whatnot and then individually they said it was our Interview and Evaluation. A few days later we got a call saying that they usually don't take siblings, but they were taking my sister and I. We were ecstatic. The training program was a waste of time. Although it would have been helpful to a geek who turns into a beauty queen, my sister and I had workshops for acting and whatnot that already taught us the tools we needed. Nevertheless we were blind and had fun making friends with the fellow students. Near the end of the training program we all (a class of about 20 of us) signed contracts together. I thought completely nothing of it, and neither did my sister or my mother. We thought this place was legit, even though my mom had already put out a few thousand for the program, for each of us. I got my comp cards done at the agency, by the agency's photographer, and also the agency director. I didn't get work until I was 18, where I booked a photoshoot, a few modeling shows and in between all of the shows I was doing.. they booked me to recruit models. What I did was while a bunch of the models were in windows doing mannequin modeling, I was getting people to give me their information. After a while it seemed wierd, and after a while the actual modeling jobs stopped coming for me, and all I was doing was recruiting. I would give the agency 45-50 names at a time, and after a while I started to think about it. On my own and without Barbizon's knowledge I went to New York City to get professional coaching in Singing and Acting. These coaches are the key for me and I'm still working with them today. They told me to do lots and lots of research on this so called Agency. I googled Barbizon Scam, and hundreds of hits came up. I emailed a few women who hosted blogs about scams and the acting business, and they helped me a great deal. Almost all of the red flags had been done at Barbizon of Harrisburg: The Open Call, The photographer running the agency, They wanted models to pay thousands for IMTA when in reality a showcase costs under 50, and most of the time, nothing at all. The recruiting in malls, and the fact that legit agencies don't charge you for training you. If a real agency wants you they will train you for free. There's so many more red flags that bothered me and my conscience got to me. So the next time I recruited, I faked the names on the leeds, because I didn't know how many lives I had unintentionally corrupted, and I didn't want to do it again. Barbizon found out when they were all wrong numbers and my hand writing was similar on almost all of them. Another thing that really REALLY concerned me was when we found out how strict the rules are for underage people in show business. And both of us signed that contract when we were underage. And there were no licenses, there were no work permits no nothing to keep us protected or to prove that they were anything legit. I talked to my sister who got a call from One Source Talent, which in our research we found that IMTA, One Source Talent, Explore Talent and a few others are all in the same family and they just pass your information around. She also researched, she's 17 and still underage. We both decided to leave the agency, because we have contacts in New York and my cousin is a director in NYC. All this time we had the correct contacts, but settled for trusting frauds.
When I sent the agency director the letter, he retorted by saying how I was unprofessional and lied about the leeds, but never addressed all of the concerns I had dealing with the agency. He then told me that I had until a set date to mail the Barbizon materials back to Lemoyne or they would have to take immediate action. So the materials are sent back. But I still don't know how Brittany and I are going to get our contracts voided. However, I refuse to stop moving in the direction of where I want to be professionally. I'm working on getting a lawyer who can also be my manager, someone who specializes in the business, as well as my sister. Legally, my sister and I are changing our names, because for anyone who knows anything about Barbizon, they use faces and faces and faces of famous people. When in reality, Barbizon never got them famous. And I know that if my sister and I do get that big, that they'll use our faces as well. And since we don't know how to get out of that, we're legally changing our names. This was very recent, I'm still 18. And I encourage anyone who reads this to stay away from Barbizon, tell your family and friends. Tell everyone. And if you have a complaint, please make it even if it's anonymous. It could save good people from making the biggest mistakes of their lives. Advertisement
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