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Report: #369422

Complaint Review: Model Search America - Internet

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Charlotte North Carolina
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Model Search America modelsearchamerica.com Internet U.S.A.

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Because of my granddaughter's interested in modeling she found Model Search America (MSA) that advertised model conventions and the opportunity to meet with modeling agencies. We called the Miami BBB to check on the MSA record and were informed they had a B rating, without any complaints. My granddaughter was accepted to participate in their advertised event in Las Vegas in August 2008. Most contact with them was via email. Only twice did a real person answer the phone, in December of 2007. The second time was to accept the payment of $2,200.00 with my credit card. The payment included hotel, food, and all modeling related events for the participant and her chaperon. I called MSA several times in the first months of 2008 and sent emails to follow up on event details but nobody answered. I finally called the hotel in Las Vegas where the event was to take place, Bally's, to request room reservation details and I was informed that all reservations for that event were cancelled.
I have not been able to reach anyone at MSA via phone nor email to get a refund. On top of the $2,200.00 MSA defrauded me of, I ended up going to Las Vegas to use the 2 airline tickets I already had, and paying hotel and food.

If anyone has the same experience and has information on how to recover my money from MSA please contact me via this post. I have done some research and found that there are many complaints against MSA and many other modeling agencies. There are also reports on the way BBBs add clients to their lists!! That call to Miami BBB was sure a waste of time since their clients PAY to be on their lists.

Carol
Charlotte, North Carolina
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/03/2008 01:57 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/model-search-america/internet/model-search-america-internet-fraud-scam-internet-369422. 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:
0Author
4Consumer
2Employee/Owner

#6 REBUTTAL Individual responds

THIS IS NOT ME!! SOMEBODY OWES ME AN APOLOGY!!!

AUTHOR: Dwight Agnor - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, August 04, 2009

THIS REPORT IS ABOUT MODEL SEARCH AMERICA! I HAVE NEVER HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT COMPANY! I SUED THAT COMPANY IN FEDERAL COURT FOR FALSELY CLAIMING THEY HAD DISCOVERED MODELS THAT WERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERDD BY MY COMPANY!

MODEL SEARCH AMERICA PAID MY COMPANY A SMALL FORTUNE AS A SETTLEMENT FOR CLAIMING TO DISCOVER MODELS THAT THEY DID NOT DISCOVER!

WHY IS MY NAME ATTACHED TO THESE PEOPLE? I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM OR THE CRAZY RIP OFF PRICES THEY CHARGED TO ATTEND THEIR REDICULOUS SONVENTIONS IN LAS VEGAS!! I HAVE NEVER EVER DONE A MODEL CONVENTION IN LAS VEGAS!!! I HAVE NEVER ATTENDED A MODEL CONVENTION IN LAS VEGAS!!! I THINK ALL OF THOSE EVENTS WERE ABSURD!!

I WAS A TOP MODEL SCOUT FOR 20 YEARS AND AM PROUD TO HAVE DISCOVERED AND PLACED MORE MODELS WITH MORE TOP MODEL AGENCIES THAN ANY OTHER MODEL SCOUT IN HISTORY.

MANY OF THOSE MODELS BECAME SOME OF THE HIGHEST PAID MODELS IN THE WORLD. NONE OF THOSE MODELS PAID MORE THAN A NOMINAL FEE ( A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS AT THE MOST ) TO ATTEND ONE OF MY MODEL CONVENTIONS.....AND SINCE 2005 NONE OF THEM PAID A DIME...BECAUSE ALL MY EVENTS WERE ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!!!!

I AM NOW RETIRED AND PEOPLE BEG ME TO COME BACK BECAUSE EVERYTHING OUT THERE TODAY SEEMS TO BE BIG SCAMS CHARGING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!!

THIS REPORT IS ABOUT A COMPANY I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH AND IT IS TERRIBLE THAT ON THE INTERNET PEOPLE CAN JUST SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT AND GET AWAY WITH IT....I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!!

SOMEBODY OWES ME AN APOLOGY!!!

DWIGHT

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#5 Consumer Comment

I was ripped off too...

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

POSTED: Thursday, June 18, 2009

I found the MSA ad to be in the Event for 2006. I attended the event, and it was the biggest waste of money ever. (the only thing good that came out of that event is I bought several new outfits to wear at the event. So a new addition to a very minimal wardrobe collection is the only thing that I got out it. Ended up paying like 500 total to get new outfits/shoes.) I stayed at the MGM Grand (which is a pretty cool hotel but it does not make up for the fact that MSA scams people. I didn't get any free food or anything. The only thing that came with the event was the Hotel. I live 4 hours away from Las Vegas so I didn't need airfare. The event was indeed a cool experience as far as experiencing an event, but that's it. They teach you how to walk the cat walk, and you DO meet agents face to face (well more like they make you walk in a line, smiling like a jackass, and walk fast by each agent, holding your modeling picture and that's it.) I saw Janice Dickinson there. But honestly? It's all a scam. I was very naive back then; but after the event, I learned: YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO PAY ANYTHING UP FRONT for modeling and acting!!!! Those kinds of events should be free. Because you have to think about it. It's not 2200 for a hotel for a weekend in Vegas. It's a rip off. If you do attend events like that, and hotel and airfare is involved, then pay for it yourself, unless they can get you a deal, but even then, they shouldn't ask for so much money! I just wish I realized this all before I attended the event, because all that money wasted could have gone to something more useful; like books, college classes, a car!!! I'm broke, and don't exactly have all the money in the world. So indeed, it was a loss for me and nothing came out of it.

I believe you may have run into someone who was pretending to be MSA because I actually attended the event. They did not cancel my event. It was really all a scam anyway, even though I did get to attend the event. The girl I was sharing my room with, I believe was in on the scam as well! She got SEVERAL offers from many agencies, and the whole time before the major event night even happened, she was bragging how she wasn't even interested in being a model and she did not care if she got a modeling contract or not. (yet she did get a few offers) She kept stating she was there just because it was something to do. That just seemed very weird and suspicious, especially with how much money it cost to attend! So I bet she was in on the scam as well.

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#4 REBUTTAL Owner of company

DWIGHT AGNOR HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MSA!!

AUTHOR: Dwight Agnor - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, June 06, 2009

My name is Dwight Agnor. The person who wrote this is either a phoney who is trying to attack me or is retarded!!

The fact is that DWIGHT AGNOR NEVER HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH MODEL SEARCH AMERICA...( MSA ). Model Search America was a competitior copied all my ideas and started their own company.

I HATED MODEL SEARCH AMERICA!! IN FACT I SUED MODLE SEARCH AMERICA AND THE OWNER IN FEDERAL COURT FOR TAKING CREDIT FOR MODELS WHO WERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED BY MY COMPANY!!

HERE ARE THE FACTS ABOUT DWIGHT AGNOR:
I spent 20 long years living in hotel rooms from coast to coast interviewing OVER 100,000 ASPIRING MODELS EVERY YEAR!!

Over ONE MILLION "wannabee models" were turned down by me. Thousands of others were invited to attend my MOdel Expo events to meet all the top model agencies in the world, who respected me enough to fly in just to meet the models I had discovered.

In this manner, over 2,000 models were discovered and signed to top model agencies...many went on th become the highest paid and most successful models in the world.

Before believing postings like this one, you should ask yourself a few questions:

1) If anything like this was true, do you really believe that every top model agency in the world would do business with me and endorse me and publicly put their names behind me?

2) What is this site? It's a place where anybody can make a phoney email address and then come to this site and say anything about anybody and never get caught.

3) If any of these nasty accusations were true, why are there not hundreds of complaints fled with the Better Business Bureau in cll the many cities I scouted over the past 20 years...why are there no complaints to any consumer affairs groups....and out of over a million interviews with models, why are there only a small handful of these types of postings and not thousands of them all over the internet?

THE ANSWERS ARE OBVIOUS!! These postings are from a small group of people who have a personal vandetta against me and waht to try to embarrass me int this cowardly manner...BECAUSE THEY KNOW IF I EVER FOUND OUT WHO THEY WERE I WOULD SUE THE CRAP OUT OF THEM FOR LIBEL AND DEFAMMATION OF CHARACTER!!

I did finally close the business in 2008, SHORTLY AFTER BEING AWARDED THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE FASHION PHOTOGRAPHERS INDUSTRY!!

Does that sound like a scam to you??

If you have any real questions about my good name in the industry, I invite you to contact ANY top model agency in NYC, LA, MIMAI, PARIS OR MILAN!! Tehy will tell you the truth...DWIGHT AGNOR SINGLE HANDEDLY REVOLUTIONIZED THE MODELING INDUSTRY, DISCOVERED MORE MODELS THAN ANY OTHER SCOUT IN HISTORY, AND WS RESPONSIBLE FOR GENERATING OVER $200 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE MODELING INDUSTRY!!

SINCERELY,

DWIGHT AGNOR

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#3 Consumer Comment

This Dwight Agnor at his finest.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 19, 2009

Unfortunately, this is Dwight Agnor at his finest. It would appear that he is one of the biggest rip-off artists in the fashion industry. My daughter attended one of his casting calls in Denver. I noticed that the selection process seem to based upon which individuals appeared to Dwight and company to be best able to pay the "Photography Fees" his agency was charging. I have to give it to him it was a slick setup, right down to the snotty model with her little dog, never Paris Hilton like. My daughter made the decision to pay 500.00 dollars for photos and upon arrival to the photo shoot was placed into a room with other hopefuls and forced to listen to Dwight push his new discovery, a weight loss powder. That lasted for 20 minutes. She got decent pictures but nothing she could not have gotten from a local photographer. She then got an e-mail a couple of weeks later that Dwight wanted to discuss the pictures these young people had posted to his so called website. She attended that meeting as well, it was a few moments with Dwight, I refuse to call him Mr. Agnor as he does not deserve that respect, followed by him once again pushing his new weight loss powder. My daughter was to have attended a model search on March 14th; on March 7th we'd heard nothing. I sent several e-mails to the addressed she'd been corresponding with, and finally received the response that because of the economy no modeling agencies were taking on new talent and as such the company was closing their doors and cancelling the show. I called the convention center the event ws supposedly scheduled for and they informed me that NYCmodelsearch had not made any reservations for the event. I did some research and found that Dwight has had to close his door due to 9/11, hurricane Katrina and any other disaster that just happens to happen around the time of his casting calls. My daughter paid 500.00 dollars to this low life of a man, but others have paid thousands! He is praying on the dreams of the young, giving them false hope and crushing their dreams. I think that we as parents, grandparents, and loved ones should get together and file a class action suit against this man. I don't ever think we'll get our money back but perhaps a judge could ban him from the modeling industry for life. At the least I think this type of activity should be bought to the attention of real modeling agencies, perhaps they have the ability to stop this man.

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#2 Consumer Comment

This Dwight Agnor at his finest.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 19, 2009

Unfortunately, this is Dwight Agnor at his finest. It would appear that he is one of the biggest rip-off artists in the fashion industry. My daughter attended one of his casting calls in Denver. I noticed that the selection process seem to based upon which individuals appeared to Dwight and company to be best able to pay the "Photography Fees" his agency was charging. I have to give it to him it was a slick setup, right down to the snotty model with her little dog, never Paris Hilton like. My daughter made the decision to pay 500.00 dollars for photos and upon arrival to the photo shoot was placed into a room with other hopefuls and forced to listen to Dwight push his new discovery, a weight loss powder. That lasted for 20 minutes. She got decent pictures but nothing she could not have gotten from a local photographer. She then got an e-mail a couple of weeks later that Dwight wanted to discuss the pictures these young people had posted to his so called website. She attended that meeting as well, it was a few moments with Dwight, I refuse to call him Mr. Agnor as he does not deserve that respect, followed by him once again pushing his new weight loss powder. My daughter was to have attended a model search on March 14th; on March 7th we'd heard nothing. I sent several e-mails to the addressed she'd been corresponding with, and finally received the response that because of the economy no modeling agencies were taking on new talent and as such the company was closing their doors and cancelling the show. I called the convention center the event ws supposedly scheduled for and they informed me that NYCmodelsearch had not made any reservations for the event. I did some research and found that Dwight has had to close his door due to 9/11, hurricane Katrina and any other disaster that just happens to happen around the time of his casting calls. My daughter paid 500.00 dollars to this low life of a man, but others have paid thousands! He is praying on the dreams of the young, giving them false hope and crushing their dreams. I think that we as parents, grandparents, and loved ones should get together and file a class action suit against this man. I don't ever think we'll get our money back but perhaps a judge could ban him from the modeling industry for life. At the least I think this type of activity should be bought to the attention of real modeling agencies, perhaps they have the ability to stop this man.

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#1 Consumer Comment

This Dwight Agnor at his finest.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 19, 2009

Unfortunately, this is Dwight Agnor at his finest. It would appear that he is one of the biggest rip-off artists in the fashion industry. My daughter attended one of his casting calls in Denver. I noticed that the selection process seem to based upon which individuals appeared to Dwight and company to be best able to pay the "Photography Fees" his agency was charging. I have to give it to him it was a slick setup, right down to the snotty model with her little dog, never Paris Hilton like. My daughter made the decision to pay 500.00 dollars for photos and upon arrival to the photo shoot was placed into a room with other hopefuls and forced to listen to Dwight push his new discovery, a weight loss powder. That lasted for 20 minutes. She got decent pictures but nothing she could not have gotten from a local photographer. She then got an e-mail a couple of weeks later that Dwight wanted to discuss the pictures these young people had posted to his so called website. She attended that meeting as well, it was a few moments with Dwight, I refuse to call him Mr. Agnor as he does not deserve that respect, followed by him once again pushing his new weight loss powder. My daughter was to have attended a model search on March 14th; on March 7th we'd heard nothing. I sent several e-mails to the addressed she'd been corresponding with, and finally received the response that because of the economy no modeling agencies were taking on new talent and as such the company was closing their doors and cancelling the show. I called the convention center the event ws supposedly scheduled for and they informed me that NYCmodelsearch had not made any reservations for the event. I did some research and found that Dwight has had to close his door due to 9/11, hurricane Katrina and any other disaster that just happens to happen around the time of his casting calls. My daughter paid 500.00 dollars to this low life of a man, but others have paid thousands! He is praying on the dreams of the young, giving them false hope and crushing their dreams. I think that we as parents, grandparents, and loved ones should get together and file a class action suit against this man. I don't ever think we'll get our money back but perhaps a judge could ban him from the modeling industry for life. At the least I think this type of activity should be bought to the attention of real modeling agencies, perhaps they have the ability to stop this man.

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