VIP Talent Connect / VIP Ignite review: contract scam 31

If you actually try you'll have a chance to succeed. Don't be a pansy and actually work for something.

They definitely ARE a scam and anyone on here refuting that is part of the company and acting undercover. I had that very same experience and I've talked to many others who have as well, not to mention the plethora of online complaints that discuss these same experiences and have reported this company to the Federal Better Business Bureau for their suspicious activity.

They pull you into a room and "fast-talk" you, which is always red flag number 1. It's a tactic so you don't have any moments to think for yourself about what information they are presenting you. They talk to you in a manner that makes you feel that you CANNOT succeed without their help to get you to make impulsive decisions and act hastily on any offers or "deals" they throw at you afterwards.

I was in a room with this Russian lady discussing music. She drew on a piece of paper two circled and drew a line that swiggled all over from one to the other. She said that was me trying to get a record deal. Then she drew a straight line from one to the other and said that with VIP's help that was how fast I'd get there. As she continued fast talking me, she would also not allow me to ask questions without interrupting fast to ask if I was serious about my career etc. This was red flag number 2. This is a tactic used to make you submit to their preying, to silence your own doubts about them by turning your questions on you and questioning your commitment to your dream. Any real business welcomes questions, concerns, and doubts, because they're happy to answer them and assure you that their service is going to deliver 100% great customer service.

So then, she took lyrics of my music that I had printed out and left the room to photocopy them. This was odd because she never listened to my actual music or even asked for a CD of it either. She said she wanted to put them on a file, but how could they have a file of me, especially since I haven't given them any information yet?

Then she said I had to pay something around $750 for an event held in August. She said big entertainment record labels attend this event looking for talent and that I could perform and network. Red flag number 3: she refused to give me any names of these "promised" record labels and people in attendance. We also discussed a payment plan after I mentioned I only had $70 on me at the time. She said I had to pay $100 today in order to go any further, which was RED FLAG NUMBER 4. No real company will demand an immediate payment. They will allow you to take the contract home for a few days to look over it and review it with your lawyer, but not VIP Talent Connect, because they're a scam. So she took my $70 in cash and demanded I give her my debit card for the other $30. After I did that, I signed the contract AND THEN she told me I had only 7 days to pay the full $750 or whatever ridiculous price it was. My stomach dropped. I felt tricked, but she seemed unconcerned about what she had just done. Immediately after paying, she said goodbye and pushed me out of the office. There was no further information provided, no handshake, no connection established. She was cold, firm, and definitely a scam artist. I left feeling sick and started crying. I called my parents and explained what happened and that's when we found something on the contract where it said we had 24 hours to cancel via phone or email. Of course, NO ONE answers the phone. I don't remember how exactly I got out of the contract, but I did that day.

There's no way that this company could NOT be a scam, and if it is, after all the information I've provided including countless other's experiences, how could they let any of their agents operate in this manner? Is there no training programs, seminars, customer service, etc? I refuse to believe anything VIP Talent stands for and says, and anyone who defends them, is part of the company in some way, shape, or form and should not be trusted either. Their reputation in Philadelphia with most of the music and entertainment community here is exactly that: That they'e SCAMMERS.

Beware.

Hello all.

So, I am one of the idiots who has fallen for this. I just paid today, and was shown the error of my ways by my much smarter wife. Has anyone been able to dispute this after the fact? If so, could you please offer advice?

I'm in their "training" class right now. This fat, unkempt, uneducated 24-year-old named Ashley who can barely speak English was "training" me. Alycia's speech to the group was hyper-narcissistic, profanity-laden, and self-obsessed. Mike Fomkin's speech was so rambling and incoherent, determining its purpose was impossible. He must have said, "I like to talk", a half-dozen times in his insufferable monologue. Goldie is another self-obsessed, ineffective, impertinent, incompetent individual. I wouldn't trust the four people I've met to run a shift at a small child's lemonade stand, even if provided adult supervision.

http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/13d1001p.pdf

They are the Biggest SCAM Ever! They hire Talent Scouts telling them in their Craiglist Ad they will pay $900.00 a week salary plus medical benefits. They pay only $75.00 commission after a talent you scout signs with VIP and pays $600.00 to $1, 200. They need to be shut down, in Bucks County and on South Street.

TOTAL SCAM ARTISTS.

They are absolute ###. Their new Feastersville-Trevose office only looks nice because it used to be a spa, beyond that they're fooling every person who works for them. Most people in staff have only been there for a few weeks, aside from Goldie and her oscar-[censored] speech about "being somebody!" in the business. It's a f***ing joke. Alyica is getting played by Mike Fomkin now "Mike James" aka "Add fifty pounds", who is NOTORIOUS for running photomills. They're getting away with it this time because Alycia's mommy and daddy are big lawyers from Florida (don't worry, they don't let you forget) who will sue the ### out of any website they find to be "slanderous".

If you want to sign up, make sure you have your credit card out when you go in for second interview! The ads they place on Craigslist target jobless youngsters who are lured in with the promise of salary, when in reality, you're only paid once someone gets suckered into buying into their ### website. They work with Ryan Colby? Who the f*** is that to anyone? And why is it that you can just sign with him if you meet him and pay no tech fee, but if you do it thru the "It Factor" you have to pay some lavish expense?

They say they don't table troll like other talent scams in malls, when in reality its because if they could, they would. The problem is, they'd be under investigation so fast they'd be shut down AGAIN. Alycia thinks she's cute because she talked to some guy she met on Craigslist about "being in the industry" and then they have the audacity to boast about how hard it is to be BACKGROUND in a film. What a joke.

As people mentioned, her and mike bought out all the bad mentions of their name so only pretty feedback comes up if you google their new venture. I'll be the first to laugh when they get shut down again.

The "beauty" in their system is that they actually create a profile and events with a portion of the income and invite the talents to attend and so you can never say that you got nothing in return to your money. But those events are nothing but a party for the team behind the fraud.

VIP talent just plain and simple blows with their fat owner

I recently responded to an open call, office looked the part and everything seemed okay, at first. on their card they say no agency should ask for money, one of the first things they say is they are not an agency. strike one. during the presentation there was a "scam or no scam" exercise where the presenter made statements about other talent companys and asked "scam or no scam?" she threw out there some very reputable names including barbazon (forgive the spelling if incorrect) and asked if there service is "scam or no scam". she said it wasn't a scam but the services were not worth what you pay. fact: if you must belittle another to validate your own statements you're hiding something. strike two. when the subject of fees came in we were quickly led through a series of scenarios why you must pay to play. she said they had two packages $1495 & $1695, she also said they have a model management company also if you can't afford the vip connect party. she was moving so fast all the information she wrote on the board was scribbled chicken scratch. by the way the "usher" who greeted everyone looked fresh off a weekend drug binge (and very unkept to be in entertainment). I was reminded of a similar styled meeting. if you've ever waisted your time with a network marketing/mlm company than you know what this was like. strike three! but I would like to point out that i'm sure somebody gets work through this company, but those individuals were going to get work regardless, no need to pay $1700. to say it's a complete scam would be unfair because they do actually throw the party complete with panel. but they knew 98% of the people they sent won't get a job, it's unavoidable, they have to fill seats for the panel to show up so most applicants become cattle pushed along. fyi there are many social networks just for actors and models, join them all and stand out!

I had the "pleasure" of interacting with Alycia Kaback and her company recently. My sister was one of the "few" that was selected for the open casting call and then brought back because she was selected to be signed with the company. When we walked in, they claimed we would be part of the company if we bought the "package"---a $1200 ticket to a party to network.
After mulling it over, we decided it wasn't the right move for our family and decided to respectfully return to the company and explain in person that we were not financially able to complete the process.
WHAT A MISTAKE. Alycia Kaback when NUTS on me. She belittled me, questioned my educational background and character. Told me my marriage was "no guarantee." Told my sister her college education was no guarantee and she was wasting her time with elementary ed. because she would never get a mansion on a hill. CRAZY. She also claimed she read body language for a living and we gave off negative body language.
Please check the better business bureau before you interact with this company. Also, if you try and research any information including reviews and complaints, you will find that she has purchased all "keywords" for google searches and all websites with reviews for her name so that they filter back to her personal webpages. It's difficult to find reviews, but if you do your research you won't find a single positive mention of her name, expect on her websites...written by her. Stay away from this woman. She is crazy and will leave you with a huge knot in your stomach and broke. She needs major psychological help.

I was just contacted my VIP saying I was hand picked to do an audition with them. I told the lady to never call me again.

hahaha awww whats the matter alycia a.k.a bunnyrabbit, are you feeling threatened?well you should!you obviously are a looser if besides scamming people and stealing their money your searching the web for people who are bringing ur fraud and scam to light.im really surprised that noone went after you physically hope you thanked john s. for throwing you out because of threats made to you.keep hiding sweety...keep runningyoull get tired eventually to slack off and mess up and get caught

So you advertising for other companies ? WTF is this a complaint board or FREE LEADS for suckers board? Those links are all scams - actorsconnections wanted to charge me 2. WTF - I WANT FREE is you want me you pay me - peace out!

They are a scam they just got me and my girlfriend for our money.They had are daughter in and was choosen. They said put $20.00 dollars down to hold the spot why we figure out how to come up with the money.Well a couple of days goes by my girlfriend calls and says we cant afford it right now. So the next day they charged her card again for $1675 and it was our debit card so now we are negitive in our account.I call them up and they gave been making excuses for 3 days now about what happened but wont give the money back even though we didnt agree to the payment. So watch your money from this fake company who wants your money.

ya al i guess your right its more to it then people people scammed .i dont think they are fully capable of understanding that i have no choice but to take their money because of the cost of having to set up at these clubs that we have to put money down to use for the events...oh well to each your own

Alycea k... don't waste your time with haters

They haven't even been there... (at the events)
There very inspirational... and enlightening...
It's cost to have people come out and speak...in and nice clean environment...
Especially in nyc...

signed miss aly-see-ya k

If you dont feel like being scammed and robbed by us then do yourselves all a favor and keep yourselves all from coming to see my fat ugly [censor]! we are a god fearing agency and we work for the lord. some of you may not like to think of us in this way but we only do what the koran I mean I mean torah I mean I mean bible wants us to do. if you feel were not meeting your financial needs then please keep me and mike fomkin covered in prayer. we will continue to scam and rob you and get away with it. not come on everyone get with it you know how I like to help you become famous and meet fake wannabe's because im fake. and I come as an angel of light I am satan himself.

Thank you... thank you... thank you...

Wtf? hey jesus lover - are you sniffing the holy water a little 2 much!

You can’t explain the existence or origin of something, so you believe god must have done it. once, we didn’t know the cause of a lot of things. today, the last few remaining questions seem to be “how did the universe come to be” and “what is the origin of life”. this is the god of the gaps, of course. much like ancient people believed that zeus or thor created lightning, and were wrong, it’s quite likely that these last two questions also have a natural explanation – and, yet, we still make the same mistake that our ancestors did: come up with supernatural explanations, instead of simply admitting that we don’t know, yet.
The universe seems too complex, too ordered, too beautiful, to have appeared naturally. a variant of the above, really. things seem much too interconnected to have appeared randomly, and we have everything we need in this world to survive; it almost seems like the universe was made for us. a universe with billions of stars, and we’re on this infinitesimal planet… made for us, indeed. I may write more about this point in the future; it would make this post too long.
You’ve been educated that way. I was, myself. but we shouldn’t accept “knowledge” on authority. parents and teachers can lie (e. g. santa claus) or simply be wrong (the earth being in the center of the universe, whites being superior to blacks, etc.). it’s always a bad idea to lose the ablity to question. besides, as richard dawkins says, most people have the religion of their parents, which makes one’s religion a matter of chance – if you’d been born in saudi arabia, you’d be a muslim; in india, you’d be a hindu, and so on. if you accept your parents’ religion, it was randomly selected, in a way – so why be so sure it’s the “real” one?
You feel that your faith in something greater than yourself gives your life purpose and meaning. this is a very common one. life seems so random, so ephemeral, and so pointless… surely, there’s got to be something more, doesn’t it? trouble is, this is no more than wishful thinking. we want it to be true, therefore it must be true. besides, life – wordly life, in our reality – is much more fascinating and meaningful than these people believe.
You’ve “felt” the presence / touch of god. another common one. feelings or sensations, as we know, are subjective. quite often, we feel what we expect to feel, or what we want to feel – it’s either a placebo effect, or wishful thinking, again. besides, if the only thing god does is to make us feel “warm inside” from time to time (if you believe in him for just this reason, that’s what you’re implying), then does such a god deserve worship? he’s no more than a “spiritual foot warmer”, after all…
It’s comforting to believe that someone is taking care of you. it is, indeed – but, if the reason for such comfort doesn’t exist, it can actually be dangerous. it’s like convincing yourself that you have superman-like powers, or that your (perfectly common) shirt is bullet-proof. if you behave according to those beliefs, you’ll probably injure yourself, or even die. if you don’t, then you don’t really believe, right? anyway, this is – once again – wishful thinking. believing (whether it’s true or not) feels good, so you believe.
You’re afraid of death, and want to believe that it’s not the end, that you simply go to a better place. wishful thinking, once again.in reality, things don’t become true just because we want them to be true. alternatively, it may not be about you: sometimes, the death of a loved one causes you to need to believe that the essential part of them isn’t really dead, it’s just gone to a better place, where there is no more suffering, and where you’ll meet them someday.
You feel that (finite) life in this world is meaningless unless there’s something afterwards.in other words, if, no matter what you do, you die and turn to dust, what difference does it make whatever you do in your life? so you have to believe that there’s something more. however, not only is this wishful thinking (again…), but it’s a limiting view of life. if you believe that the purpose of life is something “exterior”, then this view makes sense; however, if you instead believe that the purpose of life is life itself – that is, that life needs no external justification, and is worth it on its own – not to mention that it can be utterly enjoyable, and that you actually can make a difference while you’re here -, then you can easily see what’s wrong with this view of existence.
You want to believe that there’s some kind of absolute, perfect justice in the universe, even if only after death. i’d like that, too. really. you can’t imagine how strongly I wish that was true. i’ve seen monsters living in luxury their entire lives, and never paying for their crimes, and i’ve seen terrible things happen unfairly to good people – sometimes randomly, sometimes caused by the monsters I mentioned. I wish that both would get what they deserve. it would be so… comforting to believe so. unfortunately, wishing doesn’t make it so. the best thing we can do is try to make things better here, not resign ourselves and hope for some kind of “justice” later.
You’ve had some unusual experience that made you believe. not necessarily a miracle (that’s the next one), but an “amazing coincidence”. say, you prayed for something that was quite improbable, and it happened. the problem here is usually referred to as “counting the hits and ignoring the misses”. i’ll write more about it in the near future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x6_3ySjBYE

Take a look at this event

I def agree. they are a scam. they said there was no money involved and any agency that asks for money isnt a good one. they bascailly trap u into signing the contract and getting to pay the over the top fee just to go to an event in new york. and its per person and that dosent even include transportation or a place to stay. why is the fee so high? why shoud a person spend over $2000 just to get discovered. and to top it off its hell trying to get out of vip talent. why are you (vip talent) scamming these hopeful indiviauls for money. its not fair.

If vip talent connect is not a scam then why do they take it upon themselves to people checking accounts. my friend when she first signed up gave them her bank debit card for them to charge 500.00. she authorized that payment. she then was told when she was ready to call them to make a payment plan. she wasnt planning on using her debit card for next payments but was going to do money orders. well not only did she get a chance to call them back to work out s payment but they never called her either and took it upon themselves to withdraw 3000.00 from her account just like that.in the contract it clearly states that with a payment plan in place vip talent connect is suppose to call you a day before to ok any transaction to take place in the amount the victim I mean client says which they did not do. they wont give her back her money wont answer her calls or call her back or anser her emails. so... if this isnt a scam wtf is!

Alright.. the teen's responsibility is to provide enought talent to make their agency money not put out $2000 to get discovered. momager probably spent more than what she made. vip connect might work for some but the question is it worth it. there are others ways to get to where they want to be if they have the looks and/or talent without putting out thousands of dollars. I would not recommend this.
Fame from this side of the lens isn't everything it is cracked up to be. reach within and find your real purpose talentagencyhunt. it may include fame and maybe it will not. you could become a vp of a multi-billion dollar company or do something that saves lives. do not get wrapped up in this nonsense and missed out on life. it isn't for everyone.

Take it from me vip is not I repeat not a scam! they are a paid-for service providing networking opportunities that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else. they are not an agency! repeat : they are not an agency!
Trust me I have 2 children currently represented by 2 of the leading agencies in ny and there is no way on this earth I could have gotten them in to see these agents without vip talent connect.
Do your research, check out their website.
If you think the vip rep was cold then don't bother going any further in the entertainment industry! it is a very fast moving, no nonesense business. you are in it to win it or you are out! no coddling, no hand holding.
It's a business!
If it is your dream to be famous but you are just hoping that you will be plucked out of obscurity and you don't have to work for it I recommend you play the lottery. there's no responsibility on your part but to buy a ticket and hope your numbers come up! however, if you or your child is truly passionate about the entertainment industry your first step should be to go to the vip website and watch the videos. all of them! do your research!
Was a sceptical? hell yes! was I scammed - no way!
Even though my kids have agents I still network them and pursue opportunities and it's people like us that will succeed in this business. we are not waiting for something to come to us

wow friendofvip, you were real harsh, hostile to the teenager. Relax your emotions, Im not even going to reply to the racist remarks. White people grow up poor also you know.

Teenager.. get an education! leave these quickie stuff alone, your fishing in a sea full of jerks, rapist, abusers and whatever other wicked things will come your way. But a model in NY is like playing the lotto.

Of course it is a fee it is a event - did you look at the site at all? you are a teenage girl looking to get discovered on the internet? where are your parents? I see you are from jersey city - which mean not to be racist but you either are black or latino and grew up in an poor household - which leads to people like yourself looking on the internet for something for "free" be careful my love the road you are headed down is dark and dangerous.

Hi, i'm a teenage girl looking for a good talent agency online. I recently tried, talenthunter.com, jrpnewyork (wich by the way is almost the sam as vip) & just about 45 minutes ago I filled out the info form on vip. they called me ten minutes later.. seems to me like this is a scam because they seem way to eager. and I also got an email from them telling me they are free this wed and thu. I was already on google in the middle of a scam story at this time. so I decided to email her (jessica brooks) back and asked her if they were free on weekends, and if they had a fee to this.. which I know they did. and 14 minutes later, she said "we only have wed and thu available for you right now please tell me what you want to do" she never replied on the fee part.. so a few min ago I asked about the fee again. currently waiting for a reply. well, most likely vip is a scam : (i'm currently looking for a good talent agency as of now, hope your daughter succeeds though, best of luck :)

I am sorry to hear that, but I hope you get a valuable lesson. that was actually an investment for your lesson. some lessons are going to cost you something, time, money... but do not make the same mistake twice. if an agency wants money about anything... training, photographs, admission process... you are dealing with jerks who are after the money. oh my the way money is just a tool, it is not the real thing! keep these facts in mind!

Best,
Itzo