They refuse to give me back the 2 pictures of my 7 year old boy I have provided to them at the so called "talent auditon", which resulted to be a scam to try to make us enrol in their school for a lump sum of $5, 900 prior to receiving any classes. As I could not come up with the money, they asked me for, they said over the phone they do not give back any pictures of kids that attended the "audition"
Luckily for me, thanks to the shocking information I could obtain from internet about the John Robert Powers Academy, I was able to act just in time to avoid losing my money with this JRP Academy scam.
Last tuesday september 25th I took my son to a what I was told it would be a "talent search exclusive audition" in Montreal. This "exclusive audition" was announced on our local Q92 radio station in Montreal as a big great event happening in Montreal and held by JRP Academy, one of the agencies that has worked with the most talented and important producers and directors. They offered the chance of your life by working side to side with major stars such as Angelina Jolie and Reese Whiterspoon... Impressive, right? makes you want to call and book an audition appointment too! right?
Well, as all the other people attending the audition that night, I was asked to provide 2 pictures of my kid. After a 20 minute speech about the agency and their impressive role in the show business, and after visioning some videos and huge posters naming and showing all those stars that were suposedly found and recruted by the John Robert Powers agency (which happens to be false information and misrepresentation too), each kid was called to answer 3 or 4 questions in an individual interview about their desire to appear in TV commercials, movies, magazines, etc. They said they would choose only 20 kids out of the dozens attending.
The next day, I called, as I was told, to receive the results of the "audition". They congratulate me for the talent of my son and said I should bring him that night for the second round audition. They asked me over the phone if I was able to come up with the money for my son to be part of their academy. They said to me, that, if I wanted my son to be part of their "lucky and exclusive modeling elite", I would need to come up with a lump sum of $5, 900 in order for them to enrol my son for their 1 year acting and modeling program.
As I said I could not come up with the full amount right away, and I offered to pay a monthly tuition as we do at any normal legal school, they said I would then need to call back in a year when my "financial possibilities" allow me to enrol my son in their school. Their so called "talent auditon", resulted to be a scam to try to make us enrol in their school for a lump sum of $5, 900 prior to receiving any classes. Right away I searched on the internet about this JRP school and there are out there a handful of complaints for scaming and rip off all over the world from this John Robert Powers school.
I then called to see if I could then stop by and pick up my son's pictures (as a parent I am concerned about safety of my son's pictures being on these people's hands). They refused to give me back the 2 pictures of my 7 year old boy I have provided to them at the audition stating that it is a policy of the company to keep all kids' pictures received during the auditions. The person I spoke to first was extremely rude when I explained the reason of my call. As I insisted on talking to someone that could help me, she transferred my call to someone else, another woman, who was just as rude as the first one, and, after refusing several times to give me a logic and clear explanation on why would they want to keep my son's pictures if I have no money to enrol him in their academy now, finally she said I should not call back nor insist in recuperating my son's pictures. The call ended there.
I would like to warn all parents of all of those kids that attend or are considering to attend any of the JRP academy auditions. This is not a decent agency that will help your kids to achieve their dreams, nor to put you in contact with any serious talent search agent in the business. All they want is your money and if you don't come up with it, they treat you like you are garbage and you are waisting their time. The names they use to impress you such as Josh Duhamel, AJ Traut, Dani DeVito, Angelina Jolie, etc. as being stars having graduated form JRP Academy is false!!! none of them actually attended this academy at all. You can read this too throught the BBB. Confirmed by one of the complaints filed to the BBB about JRP Academy I found while searching on google about this "academy". I am disgusted of all that I have read about them on the net. All these parents, students, hopeful teens, etc. that lost their money because of these thiefs!!! And I just wander how the police or some other authority in capacity of doing so, do not act against these people. They are there, they are real and they should be easy to catch!
Most important of all, please do not hand out pictures of your kids out to them, God knows why they want to keep them for. You never know with all that's going on around the internet about child pornography. I am hoping this is not what they want to keep my son's pictures for, but as I said, you never know. It is very important for me to get help to try to get those 2 school pictures of my son back. For safety. If someone knows what ressource can I use to force them to give them back to me, please let me know.
I learned A LOT about them through internet (google search: john robert powers). Found that their school have riped off hundreds of people, they give out 2 or 3 bad quality acting courses to the kids and then they disappear without notice, keeping of course everyone's money and hopes. Please read all of this on internet. It was very easy for me to access all this shocking information on the net, so it will be for you too if you want to learn more and read by yourself what you could be exposed to.
Thank you and good luck avoiding these so popular scamers.
Anonymous
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
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