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Report: #1185436

Complaint Review: TBS - Internet

  • Submitted:
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  • Reported By: SadieLauraine — Las Vegas Nevada
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  • TBS Internet USA

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I went in for an interview with the studio owner and everything seemed great, the studio was clean and nice and there were seperate rooms that could be rented out for certain periods of time, each with locking doors and solid walls, etc. After a long talk about where they were headed in the future, I decided I liked the building and the owner and accepted a position there.

After just one 30 mile commute through Las Vegas traffic, I realized that this studio was not gonna work out as I could not put that many miles on my car every day and, of course, it was not worth the gas. So after one shift, I told him that I wasn't able to make the commute, and he shut down my entire webcam site, took the passwords, and said that I was just "using him for information." I don't know how much information I could have ever gotten from him with just one 2 1/2 hour shift, but it certainly was not enough for him to accuse me of scamming him. I spent the entire time learning how to set up the webcam to work on two sites. I could have googled this. 

As mentioned before, he took my Streamate account and locked it up without my consent, when I originally had my own Streamate account that I used from home. He took this already opened account and changed the settings so it would work in a studio, then when I didn't want to work in his studio anymore, he locked it through Streamate, which they can only unlock with his permission.

After all of this, I tried to be calm and just let everything go, however, I couldn't because I hadn't been paid yet. So I waited and waited to receive the check in the mail, since he said I would have to wait to be paid until the other models got paid at the end of the month. After maybe two weeks I started calling, texting, emailing, and even Facebook messaged the studio owner to find out why I hadn't been paid yet or to see if it got sent to the wrong place. Come to find out, he blocked my phone number, so I started using other phones to call and no matter what I did, I could never get ahold of the studio owner.

Finally, after waiting 6 weeks to be paid, I found out the check went to my old address (after I had given him the updated address on my paperwork). I put the check in the bank and was happy to be done with the whole situation. Little did I know, the owner put a stop payment on the check so after depositing it and using the money, I was charged by my bank a fee for the check and the money was taken out of my account. So now on top of gas money, I was out my entire check and the $12 fee from the bank. I had officially lost money starting that job.

I had just had it at this point and decided to make the drive up to the studio to speak in person about this. When pulling up to the studio, I noticed the owners car leaving the lot so I hurried to stop him before I may not get the chance to speak with him again. After stopping the car, the owner gets out and I let him know, calmly and politely, that I had not been able to reach him and that I hadn't been paid yet. I told him that I had called multiple times and that I had never been able to get ahold of him. He responded loudly that he put a stop payment on the check because it hadn't been cashed yet (within just 4 weeks of him sending it) and that it wasn't his responsibility to get ahold of me after that. I explained to him that I had been trying to get ahold of him and I was even able to provide proof of each text message, phone call, and email that I had made to him. He was very loud and irate at this point saying that he was worth millions and didn't care about my measly little check and that if he had the cash he would just pay me right there. I consistently repeated, "I do not want to argue or fight with you, I just simply want to be paid the money that I earned." A male witness to the event stepped in and tried to mediate and Mr. Seifert replied, "I don't want to hear your f****** voice right now" and continued to curse at me instead.

Finally, I said I didn't care any longer what he had to say and that if he didn't pay me I would be taking him to court. He replied telling me that he needed my new address and for me to send it. I said I would but that I couldn't get ahold of him! Rather than unblocking my phone number like an adult, he had me use the witnesses phone to text my new address to him.

In the end, I received the check, but not enough to cover the insufficient funds fee in my bank. I just want other girls to know what this guy is doing to people out there. I thought this was going to be an excellent opportunity and it turned into a really big pain. Just take my advice, don't go to this studio. It's all too good to be true.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 10/28/2014 12:56 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/tbs/internet/tbs-tb-studios-william-j-sifert-bill-sifert-t-b-s-tbs-webcam-studio-owner-is-a-scam-ar-1185436. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
1Consumer
2Employee/Owner

#4 General Comment

Just to be clear

AUTHOR: Gia - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, March 14, 2015

TBS Studio is one of the best in Vegas, I went in and spoke to Bill about working with him last year, he spent a lot of time talking with me , sharing information with me, treating me with respect, offering me all of the information I needed to either work with him OR at home stating that what ever I decided would be alright with him as he wanted me to do what was in MY BEST INTEREST. He is a kind, generous, soft spoken man who I am sure does not give a crap about 60$. As for accounts, he does not and makes it CLEAR , lock your account with the studio in a contract, for any length of time. This is a surprise to read as TBS was the only studio that in my opinion was up front and not shady in any way. This sounds like the ranting of a lunatic as no body would go to such trouble for that amount of money. Get over it lady.....deal with what ever is really the issue at hand because this is crazy and unwarranted!

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#3 REBUTTAL Owner of company

This is getting funny

AUTHOR: TBS_Studios - ()

POSTED: Sunday, January 11, 2015

Okay.... So now Gentry Dennis is saying I'm "still" harassing her (because sending her final check to the wrong address she gave me is total harassment, lol). I have no idea why I'm responding to this girl who says I "ripped her off”, because how can mailing a check to an independent contractor that gave me the wrong address be considered ripping her off? I feel that if anyone believes her story, which she is totally exaggerating, is real then I wouldn’t want them working at my studio anyway. But for the educational benefit of the potential and current models, I would like to explain to you all that webcam models are NOT employees. Models are people that are self employed and operate their own business. THAT is where Gentry is confused at. She thinks that she “worked” for me as an employee, but she didn’t. Just like your hair stylist is not your employee, you simply hired them for a job, right? Well, she posted my company name, my personal name, and my phone number. As a business, she feels she can post that about me, but here are the facts. My LLC goes under a DBA and a company name, not my PERSONAL name and contact information. Her posting my personal information would be a violation if any. Me posting her company name, which personal names are the company names of independent contractors, is well in my rights since all of this is her company being upset with my company due to the fact that she gave me false information and has no clue how this business works. If she would have known that she could have started a new account with the network because we don’t do non-competes, and if she would have filled out her W9 correctly rather than giving me a bogus address, then she wouldn’t be living this delusion. Her saying that I’m harassing her and acting like I’m a model is beyond stupid. I did email her from a non-personal email account, one that I use to avoid spam in my personal account, but I never once said that I was a model or acted like one.

 

So Gentry, I hope you know that anyone can Google your screen name, the one that you claimed in your earlier email that Sal Henning posted and not you, and see pictures and video of you. Now that your name is all over this, if your parents Google your name then this page will come up and they will be able to read all of this and find you porn tube videos. So please stop posting lies about me saying that I ripped you off and is harassing you, because all you are doing is posting your content and dementia for all of your friends and family to see. 

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#2 Author of original report

Currently being harassed by studio owner... Still

AUTHOR: SadieLauraine - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, January 07, 2015

This studio owner is now pretending to be another webcam model and has contacted me via her email address to threaten me. Mind you, I wasn't the one blocking his number or running from the issue, he could have simply called me or contacted me with the contact info that I left with him (which he admitted to in the previous rebuttal). I acted as a responsible person and he is now childishly attempting to ruin my reputation and blast my personal information on this website, knowing that the confidentiality of a model is crucial. I have all emails saved and would like the harassment to end. Impersonation is against the law. His rebuttal is full of lies and complete coverups. Ladies, again, save yourself the trouble. 6 months later and I'm still dealing with this guy. 

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#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

Please let me explain the truth...I'm writing on behalf of Webcam Model Gentry Dennis' so called Ripoff Report she posted on this website. Here is my rebuttal paragraph by paragraph: - Her first parag

AUTHOR: TBS_Studios - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, January 06, 2015

I'm writing on behalf of Webcam Model Gentry Dennis' so called Ripoff Report she posted on this website. Here is my rebuttal paragraph by paragraph:

 - Her first paragraph is pretty straight forward. Nothing to comment here. 

 - Ok, first of all she knew how far away the studio was. came in to interview, and worked there twice (not once). She had been there three times before she said her room mates said it was too far and she couldn't work there anymore. 

 She said I shut down her whole webcam site and took her passwords?? Here are the facts... Webcam models are independent contractors, not employees. I don't build them websites; I made an account for them on a webcam network through the studio. That way the studio gets paid first, we do a commission split, and I pay the contractor/model. When a model quits working with (not for) the studio, then the account needs to be closed. Otherwise the studio will keep receiving her payouts. The network she worked on doesn't allow transfers, so models that want to go independent need to close their account and open a new one under their own name. This is done to keep the taxes straight. So her claims that shut down her "whole website and took her passwords" is a little silly. Now, I never said she was "scamming me", but her failed attempts to work from home on various sites that didn't work out for her prompted her to join a studio and find out which sites convert the best, how to simulcast, and how to obtain affiliate links. That is the main reason for the non-compete contracts, to prevent models from stealing privilege information for personal use. I don't enforce these non-competes, but the webcam networks do automatically. Her saying that she "could have Googled" this is false because this information is not out there. I wish she would have used Google maps to see how far the studio was away from her house.. or after the long drive to the interview she would have realized it then, lol. 

 - Here she claims "I took her Streamate account and locked it up without her consent". That is just plain silly! Any Streamate model will tell you that this is not possible. I can't "lock it up". The account was made through the studio and could not be transferred. If you don't believe me then email Streamate support and ask them if accounts can be moved, and they will say no, they have to be closed out from the studio and an new one opened independently. This is a fact that anyone can verify. In fact, studio cannot even close accounts, only deactivate them. Only the network can close them. Any model, even studio models, can choose to close their own accounts. The only thing the studio can do is prevent the model from opening a new one for 6 months if they so desire. I don't enforce this...ever. So if she would have be wiser then she would have discovered this. 

 - Yes she did wait a long time for her check, because when she signed up a week earlier she gave me the wrong address to mail it to. This is her fault, not mine. And yes, I did block her number because I was receiving text after text from her raising hell saying that by law she suppose to get paid within 3 days of quitting. But little did she know that she is an independent contractor and not an employee. Contractors don't get paid early if they are not contracted anymore. Obviously she is not aware of the difference.

 - Now she is claiming that I mailed it to the wrong address after she gave me the updated one. This is completely false. She filled out the W9 and never updated it. Keep in mind that she is claiming that she only worked one day, so when did she come in and update her address? Another exaggeration. I did a stop payment because I mailed the check to her and after a month it was not cashed or returned (if it was the wrong address, why wasn't it returned and how did she get it?). So I was under the impression that it was lost and I didn't want any fraud. Plus, if I had to re-issue her a new check then I would have had to do a stop payment anyways. I'm sure she is unaware that stop payments cost $20, which is less than the little commission I even made off of her. She her "officially losing money" is not true, she did get paid when she contacted me again (so she made money minus the $12, and I'm not sure how the bank cleared that check in the first place) and I lost money from dealing with her. Therefore I was the one who lost in this situation. Also keep this in mind, she is not some employee that I ripped off, she was a "business" that was doing business with my "business". She quit working with me, gave me the wrong address, and now this overly exaggerated story surfaces.  

 - At this point I'm sure you all reading this knows where she is taking it, lol. Since I blocked her phone number because she was blowing up my phone, she had no idea how to get in touch with me. So she calls from a number that I don't know and doesn't leave a voicemail (and somehow that is me avoiding her, right, lol?). Then she shows us with other guys who were confronting me as well. She was yelling at me from their car in front of my neighbors. So yes, at this point she shows up with some guy, starts yelling at me, and makes a scene. So I'm upset enough to speak very directly and louder than normal. Yes, it was personal at this point and this is not me talking to an employee, it's me talking to another business who decided to show up and get loud in front of mine. Trust me, if you had to deal with a contractor like this who was driving a half hour each way because she bounced a $60 check and was owed $12 (she probably burned more than $12 in gas to come talk to me), then you would be a little irritated too. I'm never confrontational with employees or customers (I do customer support with our independent cam platform), but when a subcontractor that cost me money and drives me nuts shows up raising hell, well, I'm not going to be so professional. I'm sure most of you would do the same. 

 - When she said she was going to hire a lawyer to sue me for $60 I almost laughed, but I just reassured her that it was never my intention to rip her off for $60. I told her to text me her real address, so she did, and I mailed her the check for $60 she can finally retire and live the dream. 

 On a final note, I'm not going to try to convince anyone how we are great and she is Looney. I'm sure if you read her post and wondered why she was freaking out over $60 that was sent to the address she gave me, and ended up exaggerated everything else, then I don’t need to convince anyone of anything. I'm not even sure why I wasted my time responding to her bogus claim, but if you want to know more about our wonderful studio then check out the website she posted. And if you want to learn more about her then Google her stage name. It's in her post as well. She has all kinds of photos and videos online that she loves showing people. In fact, I won't be surprised if this is her sick way of getting traffic to her page because she is do desperate for money. One thing we help the contractors that work with us learn about is affiliate marketing. We don't profit from it, but it helps our partners make lots of money. If she would have stayed longer then maybe she wouldn't be freaking out of losing $12 and won't be posting false accusations like this in order to get webcam traffic. Any ways, at least this was entertaining, lol. Now back to work....     :)

 

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