ExploreTalent
reviews and complaints

ami shafrir and ben navon are thieves. Worked with them before, and they are ###

Ami Shafrir and Ben Navon prey on people, through Explore Talent constantly. They steal peoples money. I worked for them, and can testify about their ongoing frauds.

Just a tip of advice, when it comes to company's legibility, the most reliable source of information is the Better Business Bureau. Go to: www.bbb.org - and then type-in the certain company's name if it's legit or not. When you see it there that it is accredited with BBB then that only means that it's legit. DO NOT JUST LISTEN OR BELIEVE TO SOME OF THOSE AUTOMATED MESSAGES BECAUSE SOME OF THOSE ARE JUST DETRACTORS FROM OTHER CASTING COMPANY ASWELL. It is still a business after all. I hope this will help you guys.

I signed as a paid pro member back in august, september of
2010. They told me as soon as I became a pro member I would
start getting work. I recieved no work at all. I feel like I been scamed
and it's been 3-4 months now.

Just received a call from Johm Paul telling me I was chosen for a role working with Tina Faye paying 826.00 and another gig paying 2, 000. Yea right I didn't even buy this crap. I told him have a good day and save those lies for someone else.

Just got a call too... Said I was chosen for a TV show with Jennifer Anniston. Then she asked me for my credit card to activate my account, $119. I told her I could not do that right now. She politely said OK and hung up.

exprloretalent called me 2 days after i entered the initial website.when they called me a man that said his name was "herb" said there was a justin timberlake movie in my area that wanted me to be an extra in.pay was $826 a day, for 3 days.that made me excited at first, until i remembered that they didn't have 1 picture or any "real" info about me.then immediately, herb push me into getting me to pay there fee's, and wanted my credit card number NOW or the role would be gone.sorry, but i'm not buying it.it seems way to good to be true.oh, by the way, i'm a musician mostly, and that's what i entered on the web site.so why a cast me as an actor with no idea what i look like or who i am.i call B.S.!

I received three texts from explore talent regarding my 5yr old son. One was for an audition for a modeling gig with National Apparel Company, and the other was for casting extras for the new Wolverine movie with Hugh Jackman. At first, I ignored the text messages bc they sounded too good to be true. I finally decided to call them back and spoke with a representative by the name of Rita. (ph: [protected], ext. 3095). She advised me that my son had been chosen for another audition for Disney's Good Luck Charlie. She specifically stated that all auditions would be held in my hometown of San Antonio, Tx. She also played suck up and started gushing about how adorable my son looked in his photos. Then she eagerly prompted me to set up a 6mth membership for $119 or an annual membership for $199. I asked her why the membership was required and she stated that casting directors do not have access to view my son's profile. All they see is his one picture (I have about 15 posted plus his bio). She also stated that with the membership, the casting directors can contact me directly. I didn't have the funds available & explained that I would not have money for another 2 days. She was so eager to set up the membership, she offered to post date the payment. My dumb self fell in to her trap, and I gave her my credit card information. I was at work, and after the call I immediately felt like something wasn't right. I called my bank to cancel my credit card. I then called Rita back & advised her that I was going to do more research on the company before I made my decision. She quickly interrupted me and stated Explore Talent was on BBB as an accredited business with an A+ rating. I said I understood, but there was more research I needed to do so I asked her to cancel the automatic debit. She continued to be persistent about it, so I finally told her she can try to run the credit card all she wants, but it has been deactivated. After I said this, her response was "Ok, no problem. I'll just have to call another little boy that was next in line after your son and he will probably get the role."
Lesson learned on my end. I work for a fortune 500 company that strives to provide superb customer service. This talent agency wannabe is extremely unprofessional.
...and just a little fyi on BBB, there was an investigation done by 20/20 in 2010---
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-money-buy/story?id=12123843
..so, don't let these bozos throw this in your face. Please read these blogs and use them as a guide so you don't make the same mistakes.

I have contemplated using explore talent for over a year and this helps my decision making. Thank you!

I also keep receiving unwanted text messages from this company and have asked them to remove me from thier spam lists, without any luck. In order to block them from sending me texts, I have to pay a monthly fee to my cellular provider for the service. I may have to do that, but in the meantime, I have contacted the Better Business Bureau with this company's information. Hopefully that will stop them!

I've never sought out acting or modeling gigs. Ever. I'm a computer nerd - a very security conscious type, too, who was not born yesterday - not an actor. I'm not even on social media save for a Twitter account I use largely as a news feed, using no personal face photos or other easily identifiable information in either profile or feed. I hate Facebook and would never use them for a personal profile. Ever. They are just as evil as Google.

I guard my personal information like it was solid platinum and rare diamonds. Still, SOMEHOW these clowns - Explore Talent - got my very closely guarded second cell phone number that I do not give out for anything other than beyond-a-doubt legitimate business. "Tiffany" from [protected] left a message on this line that she was "following up on my interest in acting and modeling opportunities". Again, this is an "interest" I have never had nor expressed. Perhaps they have this number from a previous assignee. But my gut instinct is that my NOT BEING AN ACTOR OR MODEL along with my online research convinces me this is just an elaborate scam designed to aggregate personal information and basically steal money from the gullible. Imagine people from the Internet not being honest. :-/

DON'T FALL FOR IT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU REALLY ARE SOMEONE LOOKING FOR ACTING AND/OR MODELING OPPORTUNITIES. THIS IS NOT THE BEHAVIOR OF A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS! DO NOT PAY TO WORK!

Always do your due diligence, lest ###s like these make off with your money and your identity.

Viva Lost Wages, if you don't look out!

Peace.

Great Article. suggestions - I am thankful for the details . Does someone know if my company can get a fillable a form form to type on ?

name of the office in cebu...universal tech...google it if you like. rip off...i was once an agent for them for 2 weeks...couldnt stand the scam.

its such a big scam.. 2 offices one in las vegas on in cebu philippines...ceo and flyer attached ...name of ceo mikhael cook

Its a call center run in Cebu Philippines...Led by a CEO named Mikhael Cook...They have 2 offices, one in las vegas nevada and another in Cebu Philipines...the name of the call center is universal Tech.

as i mentioned before ...what a big scam.
Google the company yourself...attached are pics of Mikhael and the company flyer.

We called the better business burrow and asked if this site is real. It's not real!

I AM a Casting Director
I have used Explore Talent numerous years to recruit my talent and I ALWAYS turn out satisfied with the talent.

Regarding THIS particular complaint, there really doesn't seem to be any MERIT in the NATURE of her complaint. Maybe I missed something in her complaint but that what I DID read, made me think she actually DID get what Explore Talent offers - she was given an offer from a company (just not the company E.P told her about) and as a director, maybe once she appeared in person (if that were the case) she just wasn't what the company was looking for.

This is the status of being an ASPIRING talent. You WILL GO THROUGH the status!
You will get called to an audition if your profile meets the initial criteria and there is a chance you could make it in front of the casting agent or the director and you're just not what they expected. In my casting I've had some who aren't what they were in their profile - sometimes they're BETTER than expected and sometimes their in person appearance just isn't enough.

Like one of the responses said, AS THE ASPIRING TALENT YOU MUST PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE AND NETWORK.

If you don't put in the work, don't expect Explore Talent to do all the work for you!

Having been in the entertainment business at one level or another all of my life, I am familiar with this scam. One of the posters made a very good comment. Never, Never pay an agency to book you etc.

I feel really stupid now after reading another report about Exploretalent.com. I had signed up on a free membership a while back and in late January/early February received an email saying that a casting director was interested in me. When looking to see what it was, it turned out to be for a local hair show and it paid $100. I was really excited about the audition and I looked up the company and they were legit. When I had called Explore Talent to get the information, they looked on my page and said, 'oh you're not a pro-member, I can't give you that information unless you sign up as a pro-member.' I asked how much it was and they had said something around $33 a month or I can get a 'deal' and pay around $70-75 for three months and that I'd have more of a chance getting more work with a longer period of time. I thought it was kind of weird that I had to pay to get information and told him I'd have to call back because my funds were low so I'd have to ask my boyfriend if he can spot me the money. He then said 'you have to ask your boyfriend?' So I then told him yeah and explained again because I had no money at the time. My boyfriend said to save money I should do the three month thing and when I had called back, the guy took my information and 'set up' my pro-membership and started giving me all these compliments like 'you have some pretty pictures' and even told me once that 'did you know you have other casting directors interested in you too?' I thought he meant I had others who had sent me emails that I hadn't gotten or something. So this made me even more excited. Well I didn't end up modeling for the one company that emailed their interest to me, but did model for another one I met at the show anyway. When I was looking at my 'pro-member' casting page, I saw that they had these pretty 'generic' casting that you would find in a newspaper or on a theater website or something. Another thing I found odd and I didn't appreciate was that the 'booking department' would 'submit' me for these roles that I didn't even fit! One that I remember was for an MTV True-Life that wanted lesbians and another MTV True-Life that wanted people going off to war or coming home from war. First of all, I see these castings already on the MTV.com website. Second of all, I'm not a lesbian and I haven't been to war nor come home from any kind of war so I was wondering 'why am I being submitted for these?' I felt mad because I didn't know before reading the other response to this rip-off that they don't actually submit anything to anyone. I was thinking that they were submitting me to these and that I would be getting calls or emails or something and have to explain that no I don't actually fit their criteria they want. Another thing I didn't like was that they had me list three cities that I prefer working in. I live in the Midwest and had locations such as Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. I was getting casting calls for New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc. I feel totally ripped off and wish I would've just turned down the offer to become a 'pro-member' so that I could get that audition information. I hope that something gets done about it like a class-action lawsuit or somebody puts their foot down that has a powerful say in the matter because Explore Talent don't care about their 'models' and just worry about how much money they can rake in.

im against exploretalent there was a child predator on their and young girls were falling victim to him and i called and told them and they said we do not interfere with are talents. Later i was bullied by a fifty something woman and she reported me and i woke up to see my page and hard work gone. Waste of time. I was trying to be a good person and in this business theirs anough bullying and hate to go around that you have to put up with, without it being where im trying to get help. Quite honestly the traditional meet an agent in person is the only 100% way to get better life long results. Explore talent operates on time for money. If you think about it look honestly at the talent on there you can tell that anyone can be on their, meaning anyone and everyone will be given " casting oppurtunities", not because they have an actual chance but to keep you on there website. They had nothing against me to take down a 15 year olds profile because a fifty year old woman became intimidated by a younger girl because how quick i recieved votes in there little contests and stuff, and oppurtunities. Total crap i could have been spending my time hanging out with friends like people my age should but no i wanted to better my career but thankyou explore talent for all the awesome things you have to offer, whatever, Ok someone not right for a part and not talented can be "submitted" to a transformer audition, Now lets think dont you think that for such big auditions they already have in mind people already famous for the parts. Big movies get big actors, to make Big money because when you see you favorite actor in a movie you want to see it. Explore talent is glorified craigslist. At least craiglist knows theirs few morals but exploretalent llike to put out that their the most respected online talent site. RESPECTED SCAM.. Also if paying a company for your talent is seen as the number one sign of a Scam what makes you think that sign is different online... i apoligise for spelling and grammatical errors my keyboard isnt working correctly sorry.