Kelli Leslie Photography Scam Photographer and Terrible Photography Mesa Arizona

Karma,

Perhaps you could follow-up with the City of Mesa to see that this "business person" has the proper Transaction Taxes Permit to allow her to operate a business in the City and show that she is ACTUALLY paying the proper amount of taxes that her business is earning in CASH each year. Having been a past business owner/operated in Mesa I know that you have to get a license to operate in the City. Maybe you won't recover the pictures or your money but a tax audit could be time consuming and  I would imagine, quite grueling when you only operate with CASH. No paper trail would not fair-well with the IRS.

Just an FYI, best of luck with your career.

Probably because I PAID FOR THE PICTURES! I would at least want something back since she wouldn't refund my money. So, it's okay for her to keep $250 and me basically let her "practice" taking pictures of me. You don't know anything about the industry.

I've heard bad things about her reputation and I'm not the only one dissatisfied with the way she handled this. I'm just trying to help others by not wasting their money as I have. But my guess is you're someone that knows her personally by the way you tried to defend her.

A business person wouldn't only accept cash so there is no proof that money was ever recieved for the work. I'm not a happy client and this scamming needs to stop. All I wanted was for a refund or at least my pictures no matter if they were bad or not. I PAID THAT WOMAN and I recieved NOTHING.

So, that's my dispute. And you can defend her all you want because the same thing probably happened to you, but this isn't fair to me and I won't allow her to keep doing this sort of "business". 

Ok.  They might be bad photos, and they might have scammed you into believing they are a talent scout…  Your first clue they were scamming you is the fact you’re paying them. 

But your gullibility and naivety aside:

WHY IF THE PHOTOS WERE BAD WOULD YOU WANT THEM?!

You do realize that the fact you ASKED for them implies that you were satisfied right?  And they are her property, so you need to pay her for them.  But again why do you want them if they are bad?

People like you are why photographers are so b*****.

I was recommended to use Kelli Leslie for my headshots by Deborah Maddox. Another scam talent agency in the valley that only takes your money. Kelli is very unprofessional.

She took my pictures inside her own home, most of them had her dog in the background, not to mention I saw how they turned out and they looked nothing like me. It has been over 2 months and I never got my pictures.

She sent them to Deborah Maddox without my permission. I had to beg Kelli to send me at least a few pictures to see how they turned out months later. And they were terrible quality. 

I asked her to send me the pictures and she wanted to charge me an extra $100 for a DVD for my pictures after I already paid her $250 for her terrible photography.

I have been nothing but polite to her asking for my pictures, which I still never recieved. So, I asked for a refund which she argued with me and I also never recieved.

To all future actors/models etc..I'd highly recommend doing your research first because not all photographer's websites are what their work really looks like.

Also, if the photographer works from home and asks you to stand in the doorway for natural sunlight I wouldn't pay him/her even $10.

And beware of this "talent agency" as well. A real agency that is SAG franchised won't ever send you to a specific photographer.

The only reason this happened to me is because Deborah Maddox isn't with SAG, so she sent me to Kelli. They have a business going on. And if you want good quality pictures, there are many other great photographers for HALF the price who own their own studios!

Good luck and I hope you won't lose money and get scammed like I did. Do your research!

PS! Kelli only takes cash! So there is no record of you doing business with her. Now I see why she prefers cash.