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Report: #133136

Complaint Review: Elen's Kids - Cranford New Jersey

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  • Reported By: Guttenberg New Jersey
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  • Elen's Kids 116 Walnut Avenue Cranford, New Jersey U.S.A.

Elen's Kids RIPOFF! SIMILAR TO KIDS.COM AKA JUSTOURKIDS.COM, ILLEGALLY CHARGING A $595 FEE, Use your kids to get into your pocket, NO WORK IN 10 MONTHS! Cranford New Jersey

*Author of original report: ELEN'S KIDS CONTINUE'S TO RIP ME OFF

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Elen's Kids modeling & talent management agency scammed us out of $595. Elen's Kids operates very similar to Kids.com. On May 13, 2004, our family had an appointment at their office. During this appointment Elen said how much their agency has done for children in general and how well our children would do in the industry. She boasted about how cute your children and how much work they would get.

Since we were new in the industry we had no idea at that time that they were not supposed to charge any fees nor have us use a specified photographer. When Elen mentioned the price $595 to us we told her that we had our own pictures of the children, however she said that we had to use her photographer. We wanted the best for our children so we paid apprehensively.

When we went to the photographer we were charged an addtional $18 per child siting fee which totaled $36. The people in his office were not nice and when my children went to the bathroom the secretary gave all these rules about the bathroom. The photographer kept trying to sell us packages. Unfortunately, we went to him again and he was much more agressive with us in regard to wanting us to purchase packages which I informed Elen's kids about and they said to ignore him.

Elen's Kids has gotten our daughter 3 go-sees and our son 1 go-see. During one of my daughters go-see I found out they were looking for children my son's age so I went and got him for the appointment. In order for children to get jobs they have to go to go-sees. I am home with the children and am always available to take my children to appointments. The pictures on the website of elen's kids are awful.

We subsequently signed with other republable model agencies and talent agencies in New York and New Jersey and were never charged a fee, received many go-sees from these agencies and have received jobs from these agencies. Actually, I found out from these agencies that it is illegal practices what elen's kids is doing.

One of the ways I found out about this scam was by reading the rip-off report.com information. I did write elen's kids in January in a two page letter outlining the above and also what I wanted to happen now which include but was not limited to a refund, being removed from their site, etc.

Their response in general was to say that they got my two children a total of 5 go-see's in a 10 month period and to claim that I was not available for several appointments. That is ludicrous. My children are now signed up with 6 reputable agencies who did not charge us a fee and has gotten us work.

Actually we just signed up with a management company last week and they got us a job the next day. They also offerred to change the photographer and tried to force the information on me. They did not get the point that they are not allowed to make you use their photographer or charge a fee.

"No legitimate agency takes an advance fee, which is sometiems called a "registration fee" or a "consultation fee." This practice is prohibited in the State of New York by the New York General Business Law Section 396-n"

In there letter they did not acknowledge my request for a refund and just ending by saying they would remove the childrens pictures from their website until I contacted them if I wanted to continue to be represented by their agency. They totally missed the point regarding the $595 charge which they should not have charged me.

I have taken the next step and contacted the FBI, BBB, Attorneys General and the I-team. Any additional suggestions would be appreciated.

Jennifer
Guttenberg, New Jersey
U.S.A.



STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... CLICK HERE to see how other consumers were victimized by the BBB's false or misleading information. Don't be fooled! It has been reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the BBB has no choice but to finally give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can be sure, the business is bad. But what about all those BBB member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers never get to hear about them. What about the BBB advertising to the public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about consumer confidence when dealing with a business? Click here to understand more of what consumers and business alike are saying about the BBB. You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, it's paid for!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/28/2005 11:17 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/elens-kids/cranford-new-jersey-07093/elens-kids-ripoff-similar-to-kidscom-aka-justourkidscom-illegally-charging-a-595-fee-133136. 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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#1 Author of original report

ELEN'S KIDS CONTINUE'S TO RIP ME OFF

AUTHOR: Jennifer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, April 06, 2005

On Friday, March 18, Irv contacted me from Elen's Kids. Irv said that he was the other half of Elen's Kids which I assume to be Elen's husband. I had never heard of Irv before. Irv said to me that a parent came to him about a post that I had submitted on some website. I did confirm that I submitted a report to rip of report after my repeated attempts to get a refund were ignored. Irv said to me that he wished I had come to him first.

When I explained to Irv that I did come directly on several occasions that included but was not limited to on two occasions verbally one in January 2005 and the other October, when I sent a correspondence to them on February 13, 2005 which was received by them on February 17 at 6:09Am according the tracking, when Elen called me on February 23, 2005 in response to the correspondence and lastly when I sent a fax to Elen on February 24. I explained to Irv that I made it very clear what my expectations where and I was ignored. I also explained to Irv that what they were doing was unethical, deceptive and illegal to charge a fee for services that they are supposed to get paid from giving the clients job.

Irv said to me that he would have been happy to return the money and would return it when I removed the post. I explained to Irv that I would attempt to remove the post, not because it was not true but because he was fulfilling my request. When I sent an e-mail to ripoffreport.com I was told that they do not remove post but do allow updates to the situation. I called Irv back and said that if he sent me the refund I would write an update explaining that he did send the refund to me. Irv became very upset and said that there had to be someway to have the post removed and when it was removed he would give me a full refund and even represent my children for free. I responded to Irv saying how could he be mad at me it was his agency that was ripping parents off. How could he in good conscious charge parents all this money and promise things that may or may not happen? If he was a legitimate agency or management company then he would not charge a fee because he would be paid for the jobs.

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