They picked the WRONG mom to try and scam!!(LOOONG VENT)

[bubbleprincessmom]

Thursday while shopping with friends and all our assorted children a nice looking gentleman and his "coworker" lady friend came up to us and asked "whos little girl is this?" pointing to my DD. I told him she was mine and asked why was she rude (she was pushing a baby stroller and thought maybe she had run into him or something) he was like oh no shes just so adorable, shes so cute, she has such a great look. We all laughed and I asked "so what are you some kind of talent scout" he says yeah I am and hands me a card. He goes on to say "we REPRESENT (and this ends up being key) companys such as Disney, Nickalodean , Ross (the store we were in) and other major retailers, looking for new faces and talent". He went on to say I NEED to bring DD to meet his boss at an "open call" that night. Well I wasn't born yesturday and DD has had some LEGIT offers to model here locally so I have done some research on what a legit offer should look like. I came home and did some quick research on the company (TC Talent...Trans Continental Talent) and then called the local news station. What I was reading screamed SCAM!! The news asked me to play along so they could investagate so we did. We went to their meeting...saw a video on the company and its owner Lou Perlman...you may recognize the name he manages some boy band and did making the band. Any way just cause your famous doesn't make you ethical. They talked about the cost of "comp" cards (a models resume) and how for $800 they would post your "comp" card on thier website (if your chosen) and then for $20 a month you could keep it available for "agents" and clients to see. You could update your card as often as you needed to for free. THey claim to have 1200 agencies that use their websites to look for "new talent" of course they also have over 70000 models listed with them. After going through the "interview" my children were "chosen" to move on to the next phase which was having the home office in Orlando call us. During the initial interview I asked for references and they said to contact the BBB. Now this is where alot of folks probably wouldn't have done. I mean why would they tell you to contact them if they had a bad rep right. Well I did. And they were right. There were no complaints filed in Oregon...follow the paper trail folks the corporate office is in Florida...thats where the complaints were listed. They have an unsatisfactory label and a consumer beware notice . more research led to the former company name of Options which led to Emodels...Three names in two years...hmmmmmm... also some of their head honchos (who are still the same) have an ongoing criminal investagation going on against them as well as SEC investagtion...sounds like a company we should ALL do business with right?? Anyway Orlando called today and the heavy sales pitch started. I kept getting higher and higher in the company (I can see you may need more info let me have you talk to my regional director...till finally I was talking to the 'National" director...WOW!!!!!! ) pretty impressive right....yeah and I have some ocean front property in Idaho for sale too. Anyway very long two days later to make the story abit shorter our local news is doing a feature consumer story on them which should be aired tommorrow night featuring yours truely and my superstar daughter!!! Dont mess with this mom!!!!!! I anticapate fireworks by tommorrow night!!!

 

[Serena]

YES!!!
I'm proud of you.

 

[olena]

EXCELLENT!

 

[allicat]

good for you!
I believe Lou Perlman managed Backstreet boys or 98 degrees (not sure which) and they ended up suing him. The group in making the band is o town.

 

[pollyanna]

Anytime a company asks for money$$ upfront, then it is NOT a legitimate Modeling company. Good work.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

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Good job! Keep us posted after they air the piece (too bad we won't see it in Los Angeles!)

 

[supercarrie]

Good for you! Living in So Cal, I have seen so many offers of "open call talent agency" auditions which end up being complete scams...like pollyanna said, if they ask for money upfront, they are not legit.

With them being affilated with Lou Pearlman, that makes them far from decent. The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town (Making the Band) all started with him, and the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC both ended up suing to get out of their contracts with him. *NSYNC's legal battle was particularly nasty. I believe O-Town left him, as well, although I am not positive of that. There have also been many groups of his (Take 5, Innosense, etc) that didn't make it and had to battle to be released from their contracts as well.

 

[minniecarousel]

You go girl!! (sorry - I couldn't resist!)

A very big thank you for going through that far with them! It's people like you that will put scam artists like them out of business!

 

[Rajah]

Good for you! Excellent work!

 

[bubbleprincessmom]

You know I even asked them in Florida about the fact that Backstreet Boys were suing him (lou perlman) and can you believe (YES...this group will! LOL) they even had a "sugar' coated answer to that. They said that two of the boys were doing nothing but flipping burgers when Lou discovered them and they were jeaolus that he made $150 million to their $50 million...she even said..."I don't know about you but I would certainly be happy with a "measly" $50 million wouldn't you?" and that Lou had done all the leg work and taken the "risk" of managing them....geez....this company has NO shame!!!!

 

[Mish19]

Good for you! The funny thing about this is, before I knew this place was fishy I had a job interview to be a recruiter when this company was Options. My actor friend told me he smelled scam all over this company. Saw their ad once again a few weeks ago as Trans Continental.

 

[SplshMtn99]

Wow -- excellent work!

I don't like scam artists or cheats.

Message to scam artists: "Get a real job"!!

 

[Kallison]

AWESOME!!! That is so cool! I went to a talent agency in Philadelphia, no money, no fees, just open call. Unfortunately I have no talent - lol, but my girlfriend did!! They asked her to come back. She teaches theater camp and brings her kids there who have potential.

 

[Liz]

Good for you!!!

What's really sad is there are probably a ton of people who actually fall for this and pay the money.

 

[Lars624]

WOW!! Good for you.............you should be very proud of yourself!
Something like that would really make me mad

......I think it's really cool that you did something about it! Maybe it'll keep other less savvy people from getting duped by them...you did a really good thing!

 

[nativetxn]

Good for you! I'm really proud of you. You have probably saved a lot of other less savvy moms some money and heartache. Once this news story airs, I imagine that these predators will move to another area.

Katholyn

 

[DixieDreamer]

Hurrah for you ... doing your homework and pressing just a little beyond the bait responses. You'll have to report back to us on how the newsstory turned out.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Wow, I'm proud of you--not only for realizing it's a scam but to involve the media in it! Like others said, you have probably saved a lot of families some well earned money. People that pull this crap should be ashamed of themselves! Good for you for exposing them!

 

[chell]

Great job! Good thing you did your research. Please let us know how things go after it airs.

 

[iluvdisney]

Good for you for catching onto this scam so quickly!

Unfortunately - like Katholyn said - they will move on - this happens all over and too many people lose their money before they catch on!

It makes it that much harder for people working in the field that are legit. True agencies make their money by getting their clients work - and pictures and comp cards don't cost near that much. So happy to hear that you did not get taken in by them!