Model Mayhem
Reviews and Complaints

Model Mayhem photographer, Zach Reynolds of Sarasota, whose username is ZR Media, is an old pervert. I wanted swimsuit shots for my boyfriend. The second time I worked with him, not in a studio, but his dad's creepy apartment, he asked me to do things my gynecologist would never ask. He's clearly not a real photographer, but an old guy wanting very explicit pictures for his own pleasure. Even the swimsuit photos were terrible. STAY AWAY from this guy. I've never felt so violated in my life.

I went into the hospital in late feb/2018 for some heart issues. Before I went in, I needed to take leave from my job and logged on to all sites that I have subscriptions to, and all that have auto bill pay because I knew my funds would be extremely limited. Modelmayhem was one of them. I changed my subscription to $10 monthly which I have proof of from them taking that out of my account. It is now april and I am home and on the mend, but have to take heart medication. I went to the pharmacy for my refill knowing that my account is super tight and that I just barely had enough to cover this. To my surprise it was declined. And even more of a surprise was the reason why. I logged into my bank account to see that mm had all of the sudden charged me $55, not $10. Wth? I then, go to mm and see that my subscription had been bumped from $10 to $55 while I was in the hospital sometime without my knowledge. No email notification, no "hey we are going to do this, is that ok?"... Nothing. And I sure as heck have not been doing anything while in the hospital.
So, I write to customer service about this matter explaining the situation, how it is not okay that they did that, and that I need this medication to save my life and they seem to have only one customer service person because I have dealt with this horrid person before..."brandi." the few times I have had to write them about pics not showing up or things not working properly... I get the most condescending/defensive/chip-on-her-shoulder responses from her. Every time. She doesn't look into anything, she doesn't help, she doesn't even care about whatever is going wrong. And this time she claims that I am lying and that they never change people's status for them. Well, brandi dear, I was in a hospital bed and would have no reason to ever change it, nor was I even able to, but thanks for your response insinuating that I am a liar.
I wrote her back letting her know that I have had it with them/her and included a screenshot of my proof that I was charged $10 before and now out of the blue $55, along with an actual picture of me in the hospital, and that I would be letting everyone know about her and mm's unethical business practices.
In my original attempt at reaching out I asked them to reverse their unauthorized charge asap so I could return to the pharmacy and get my medicine. Her response was letting me know by as I mentioned, insinuating that I am lying, and not reversing their unauthorized change.

I have deleted my membership with them despite being vip since about 2007, and plan to share this story everywhere so that others do not have this happen as well.

“models beware! Many of these so-called mm photographers are nothing more than old lonely creepy freaks! Hiding behind cameras. This is their version of peek shows like on old times square in nyc, they are paying to view women's sometimes nude bodies. Don't be fooled! Check their credits closely, many are copying and pasting information into credits, under the fictitious professional models names. Most can differentiate legitimate photographers from fake photographers. Always keep in mind legitimate photographers have many followers sometimes in the thousands, fakes only have a couple, because they are not legit in the industry. Be very careful of one from brooklyn new york. He is straight up fake! He is not involved with any magazines company like he claims, or modeling projects anywhere in this country or in any other country we've checked. His mo is an articulate, trustworthy, and a nice individual, however be extremely careful!

MM portfolio website is a Global portfolio modeling site, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Unfortunately, MM does not vet their subscribers. Anyone can join claiming to be a photographer there aren't any background checks done.
Many of MM photographers are nothing more than sexual predators preying on YOUNG and vulnerable aspiring models. These photographers are offering these young vulnerable women monetary compensation for what they call "photo shoots" These photo shoots usually takes place in hotel rooms, or an old warehouses, some of these so called photographer have been known to set up shoots at their homes, which shows the level of desperation. These pseudo photographers are doing nothing more than obtaining sexual pleasure viewing women's bodies behind a lens of a camera. These young women are risking their lives for what they see as a chance to become another "America's Top Model."Some of the MM photographers pretend to know the modeling business, and claim to be affiliated with some of our major magazine companies telling them how they could make these women famous.
There have been several young women who have disappeared, after setting out to meet photographers they hooked up with on MM. there has also been countless sexual, physical assaults and rapes which have taken place, many have not been reported, due to fear and the embarrassment of these victims.
I will say, that this doesn't describe all of the photographers on MM, there are a handful of legitimate Photographers on MM. But for the most part a great deal of them are nothing more than sexual predators, YOUNG and OLD trying to sexually exploit young women and, others are desperate men trying to hook up with vulnerable women. Beware! Of the photographers who parading around as so "nice guys" and the ones who only have a couple of followers, legit photographers have hundreds to thousands of followers and likes!

Ladies, if you are aspiring to be a model go to a reputable modeling agency. Please think twice! before risking your reputation, safety and your LIFE! with these so called photographers who are nothing short of sexual predators...

This site is dying and is not even liked by people in this industry for the most part. They are currently being sued in court for protecting rapists and knowingly withholding that information and continuing to allow those people to use the site and thus have more victims, while the admins play God against paying customers and kick out and block reputable users for silly reasons.

I was a high school graduate who wanted to try the site when I was 18, so while I had no professional photos I had shot myself yet I just posted some that I wanted to emulate, as well as some shots from my travels. Of course, according to their rules if you don't apparently have shots you yourself took of models they will not allow the profile. That's fine. The thing to do is convey that to the person politely and then allow them to rectify it at some point. Instead they were completely rude, did not adequately explain anything to me, and blocked my account from all future use, when I was only 18. Fast forward four years later as I forgot about it and got a college degree, and wanted to begin using the site again and this time I actually owned my own equipment and knew what I was doing and was ready to actually shoot professionally...I emailed them asking them why I can't use my profile and again...after 4 years of doing nothing wrong they rudely told me the same response in an email from 4 years before and said I could not use a profile with them. This was A. insane and B. Rude and C. in violation of their own terms of service which states they will allow someone 2x attempts for their profile to be accepted.

I then attempted to rectify the situation politely with them explaining the situation and how I am now an award-winning creative professional that did not understand the site when I was younger and have never had an issue with the law, a model, with my work, with anything in my entire life and they still not only refused me use of the site, but 3 different admins gave me curt and rude responses and would not change their stance or allow me to use the site.

This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced from any website and completely changed my mind on this site. I then read about these other allegations they are facing as well as seeing other users having also received unfair treatment and I have learned that this is not a reputable business that I do NOT even want to be associated with now that I know the truth.

Just use craigslist and if you are a pro, PortBox and avoid Model Mayhem at all costs. There are undoubtedly rapists and criminals currently using their site who are probably some of these same admins who treat customers poorly, with attitude, and do not even allow upstanding citizens to use the site based on a minor issue years previous. Treating people this way, and with the current safety issues and hypocrisy means...your business will become extinct as people do not want to be associated with such a dubious and poorly run "service". People see the truth, they see when they are treated properly and well, and Model Mayhem is not it.

I am actually glad they treated me this way so that I learned of all this and can inform others about their terrible behavior and prevent other people from using such an untrustworthy and possibly even dangerous site.

I can't say anything good about ModelMayhem website. There are many profiles there but most of them are not active users.
There are also a lot of so called models which don't look like models at all, they don't have any experience, they don't have the correct looks and shape, and know nothing about modeling. I say that as a professional photographer. I wanted to try this site but was very disappointed. I found no one who would be suitable for high modeling business. ModelMayhem is place for amateurs and that's all.

I am a photographer and I was searching for some models for my new project. I found ModelMayhem website and was really impressed that they had so many models on their site. I spent hours viewing profiles and found some really interesting models and decided to invite them to my project. I sent them messages but no one ever replied. Two profiles disappeared after a week after I sent them a message. Very strange site, I believe that most of the profiles are fake and pictures are stolen. I would not recommend ModelMayhem to anyone.

I had been a member for over five years! I am a well known photographer, had over a thousand friends on my page. Few weeks ago I noticed that my account was shut down for no reason. I sent them an email asking what was going on and they told that one model complained about me. Actually I just asked a model if she would be interested in "explicit" work. When I asked why, they said that the word "explicit" meant "adult networking", which is supposedly against their rules. I replied that I didn't even know what "adult networking" is. But they do have an "erotic" category on their site. They actually deleted my account because I used the word "explicit" instead of "erotic"! These people are beyond ridiculous.

This website has no regard for its customers. After that reply I sent a lengthy but respectful response to the moderator and she was completely unmoved. This is my first time encountering this webpage and I heard it had benefits of joining but if this is what you want to deal with, than its up to you.

This was my response to them: So because of some random information that only your company knows about I'm not allowed to join or even know what that information is? I understand your need for prudence but I find that a bit rude, and poor customer service I might add. I would recommend you treat your next future customers with a little more humanity; especially considerationg the prestige around your website. You can easily start build a bad name for yourself. But thank you for your time in answering all of my questions.

“Mayhem” means a life-diminishing injury like putting out an eye or severing a hand.

Despite the dark connotation of its name, Model Mayhem presents on the surface as a lighthearted, informal place for models and photographers. Scratch that surface and you find North Korea in microcosm. I know someone on the inside. With the aid of a few free drinks, I have learned many disturbing truths about this site.

Users are the subject of FBI-style dossiers written by self-appointed “moderators” and killer “admins”. None of this is disclosed to those users. The gruppenfuherer Admin is Dean Johnson, a man with a history of rudeness and disrespect for his peers. He hides in Minneapolis. Johnson and other admins remain anonymous and communicate their messages of death using a black logo that has a curious resemblance to the ISIS terror banner.

The “mods” often rely on outside gossip taken from Internet scandal sites to target photographers. Photos that displease the mods are noted like prior arrests under a three strikes law. Some of the site “rules” are unknown - one user was canned because he uploaded 4 public domain photos of animals and the mods treated that as equivalent to stealing someone’s copyrighted pictures.

The list never expires. When someone accumulates enough demerits, they are summarily canned without warning. Portfolios that took years of work and thousands of dollars to build are erased with a single mouse click. There is no appeal from the death sentence; any complaint is met by an insulting rebuke.

Continuing with the “secret police” approach to users, a skilled technical staff searches through ISP data, metadata from pictures and private messages to sniff out and eliminate persons on their significantly-sized enemies list. All in all, it’s just no fun at all.

This site needs to be taken down and restarted from scratch. Until it is, I would avoid it like the plague.

I have been a member of modelmayhem.com for over two months and in that time I have gotten ZERO legitimate modeling opportunities! All I have gotten is perverts asking for nude pictures, creeps wanting to chat with me and sleezy porn people trying to get me to have sex on camera for 300 dollars! I have even had some sort of pimp try to convince me to be a prostitute! This site is disgusting and should really be taken down. I even read articles about girls who were drugged, raped and murdered by the weirdos on this site. I strongly suggest that any real aspiring models with even an ounce of self respect stay far far away form this site.

I had multiple profiles for many years since 2008 before booted out by the childish, so called "mods". I had multiple 18+ picture of the day winners so I am an above average photographer who worked with 10s if not 100s of models. A few weeks after on of my 18+ winners it got deleted from my profile despite it stayed on the potd site. I put the picture back up to my site since it met all 18+ requirements with "M" Mature Material disclaimer. One of these so called "mods" started picking on me and threatening me. The next day my profile was deleted. This was a paying profile not a free one so I was offered not a penny refund. Basically, they stole my money. I would primarily blame the IB "Internet Brands" for such a miss conduct. I sent multiple pictures of Models as examples of pure PORN comparison to my deleted picture and no logical explanation was offered. This site administrated by absolute psychos. I don't know their age or credentials but when I reviewed some of their work, I was shocked to see how poor of photographer or model they were. I would strongly suggest no one to pay for this site. Get your free 15 picture profile and you'll be done. Use their data base and do not pay a penny. Or just stay away!

I joined ModelMayhem and payed their annual membership fee. Two weeks after charging my card, they closed my account, claiming MY Photos which I took myself were owned by another photographer. I was NOT permitted to show proof that they were my images. I asked for the account to either be reinstated or a refund given. They refused stating that it is in their terms and conditions that they do not give refunds EVER.

Additionally, there is no phone number you can call nor no method of disputing. So now I have to go through the hassle of doing a chargeback with the bank to get my money back, as no services are being rendered for the funds. If they were a UK company, the SFO states this is Theft by Deception and would be able to prosecute; however, as they are a foreign company, we have no rights.

Thank you for listening, and I hope this helps someone else to not lose their money.

Best Regards
Christopher

The website as idea is good. But the team working on this website are horrible. If you have a questions they will take between month - 2 months to get back to you. If you have issue ofcourse it will not be solved and the last thing they will say "it's your problem". They are so un-professional.

They will ask you for money even though the website is free but the money will asked for to add you on vip so you can send and receive or contact more models. They just closed my account and they didn't return the money back. The reason of closing as they are saying it "that I was denied before by modelmayhem.com" which never ever happened.

This site is a waste of time. 95% of the models are not really models and many of the photographers are not really photographers.

Most of the 'models' are silly, narcissistic attention-seekers and their behaviour has given me a massive respect for the actual 'real' models I have met and photographed that have had nothing to do with Model Mayhem.

The function of MM then is, like EVERYTHING ON THE WEB, to give people a 'fake' sense of their own empowerment and to socially control people by forcing them to look at computer screens all day.

Want a model? Go to a real modelling agency. Want a Photographer? Find a good one and pay him/her for their work as you would pay for a plumber.

This is not really a complaint. I just noticed a lot people shared their stories about why they were banned from Model Mayhem, so I just wanted to share mine. My story is lengthy:

In February of 2010, I joined a social networking site called Model Mayhem. It’s a site for models, photographers, photo editors, make-up artists, and stylists to get together and create photos. I was really excited when my profile was accepted, but then…

I started posting on the discussion forums. I never made any friends... except one. This friendship began on March 31 and ended on Memorial Day in the most ugly way.

On March 31, after reading a post I had written in The Suicide and Violence Help Thread, a photographer from the east coast wrote me this message:

“…I just want you to know I’ve followed your recent posts with great interest and complete sympathy. I hope you’ll continue to have access to a community of online friends. On MM, via email, on the phone, you have access to me as well.

…I encourage you to believe you’re more than capable of self support. You’re also unusually pretty, which never hinders finding work or friends in a shallow world.

I was fascinated by the sheer volume of images you’ve put up on your myspace page. I committed myself to looking at each of the first hundred pages and did so. Happily. It’s a painful, beautiful exercise you’ve undertaken that way – modeling for yourself in isolation.

It seems music is your closest friend. I don’t recall a time when, despite “real world” attachments of all types, it wasn’t mine. Talk to me about it or anything you wish, as you wish. I’d enjoy knowing you.

Email is easier for me (I log on here less and less). But whatever is comfortable for you. I prefer actual conversation, minus the typing, so let me know if you’d prefer it as well.”

That was the beginning of our friendship. He asked me to look at his portfolio and he very much wanted my opinions. I happily went through his port as he asked, and left comments. From there, we exchanged private messages on Model Mayhem every day. He hinted at dating me. He gave me his phone number and email address, and constantly told me how pretty I was, among other great things. He encouraged me to move our conversations to email & phone. He even strongly encouraged me to move in with him, and get out of my home which he referred to as “a toxic pond I was swimming in”. I made the mistake of publicly venting about my isolation and very protective family, so tried to use my own family against me.

The conversation moved to email when I gave him my email address so he could send me a photo of himself. We were emailing each other every day, and quickly getting to know each other…or so I thought. The conversations got increasingly flirty, and he was constantly praising me, and offering encouragement and support. He replied so sweetly to every single email I sent, complimented every photo...in private. He kept inviting me to move in with him, and always flirted with the idea of us dating and living together. I very kindly and thankfully declined to move in with him, and he was cool with it.

One night, I surprised him with a phone call instead of an email response. He was delighted to hear my voice. We chatted & flirted for about three hours. We shared our histories and personal tastes. We talked about Model Mayhem and the people on the forums. He vented about how he was tired & jaded with MM, among other things. He trash talked some of the members, lol. We had about three or four phone conversations like that over the course of our friendship. The phone call he gave me on my birthday was the most fun. When we learned we had a lot of the same tastes in food, he became intensely flirtatious and even joked about our “wedding cake”. I really liked the younger "Tyson Ritter" photo of himself he sent to impress me.

Honestly, as much as I enjoyed the flirting and the attention, It also worried me because I wanted to keep things platonic, and I wasn’t sure how serious he was about the flirting and the marriage jokes. I expressed that to him, and he assured me he was cool with being friends.

So we continued to email each other. Sometimes he would post on the forums, and a couple times he even stood up for me when others were rude to me. I really looked forward to his phone calls and emails, and his friendship really lifted my spirits and boosted my ego, but I sensed he was growing distant, so I sent him this good bye email for my own closure:

"Well, I just want you to know that I really enjoyed talking with you. Your words were a real comfort to me, and your emails, PMs & phone calls brightened my day. I still have them. If I never talk to you again, I’ll still remember your words whenever I’m feeling down or caught up in yet another ugly argument or critique."

But he replied that he wanted to continue our friendship.

As I looked at his portfolio, I wanted the friendship to be more public, like all of his other friendships, and because he was my only friend there. It also dawned on me that he never ever left public comments on my photos, and he rarely interacted with me publicly on Model Mayhem. All of his communication to me was private. I started to question our friendship and tried to make it public. That’s when it started to go downhill.

I tried to communicate with him in public by bumping his discussion threads with witty replies, commenting his photos, and leaving comments on his profile. He got annoyed with that and deleted them. It really felt like he didn’t want people to know we were friends, as if our friendship was a joke that he wanted to keep hidden. After I asked him about it, he explained it away and grew more distant. He stopped replying to my friendly emails.

The final blow was when I simply commented "Happy Memorial Day" on his profile the night before Memorial Day. He deleted it the next morning and then accused me of “stalking” him. After all the conversations and jokes about “living together”, I was really furious and hurt that he said that. I left it alone, thinking he’ll cool off and we’ll resolve it eventually. But I never heard from him.

Three days later, on June 3rd, I noticed he logged into his MM profile. I tried to reply to our original private conversation on MM, only to find that he blocked me and that was the end of our friendship. I was crushed and insulted that he called me a “stalker” and just totally cut me off without any closure.

I sent him another good bye email, this time it was angry. But that wasn’t enough closure for me. I wanted to be heard. So…without revealing his identity, I vented about him on the forums. I started a thread called “cheesy pickup lines…” and I posted every compliment and invitation he sent me from day one, to prove that I am not a “stalker”.

Everyone who read it got a good laugh out of it, and said whoever this guy was is a “master # artist”, “cheesy”, “creepy”, etc. The site moderators deleted the thread, and brigged me for violating the privacy rule.

Everyone else has laughed and moved on, but I’m still upset. Why did he go out of his way to reach out to me, act like he deeply cared about and empathized with me, and then abruptly cut me me off at the most difficult time? Did he mean any of the things he said? Or was he just amusing himself because he was bored? Has anyone else on The Suicide And Violence Thread been lied to by "supporters" on the forums?

I still have all his praise, glowing reviews, and everything he wrote to me in my in-boxes. I still have his final email to me: his lengthy, beautifully written attempt to cover up all of his flirtations, suggestive emails and phone conversations. That final letter was condescendingly sweet, as he used everything he learned about me against me, and to his own advantage. (In the video above, I present his most moving messages with matching images.)

After another month of posting on the forums, I realized that he and rest of the forum clique have always perceived me as nothing but a “forum [censored]” - not that their forum behavior is any better. I finally came to accept that he was no better than the rest of The Forum Clique, but in fact he was much worse.

The only difference between him and the rest of the site’s Forum Clique, is that he is the only one who actually went out of his way – for two whole months – to secretly pretend to care about “the forum [censored]” …and then abandoned me when he didn’t get what he wanted from me.

I will never understand why he did this only to me and no one else.

I went to him for a "trade" shoot. Here are his following lies...and what he really means:

1. No, I don't have a girlfriend...
I have a fiancee! But I tell people that I have a huge house that own because I am such a rich photographer, and somehow have kids toys laying around in the yard as well. This is the only way for me to schmooze my way with a new model because my tiny dark p**** wants to run around town.

2. My technique is an industry secret, don't tell anyone...
Because I might get sued for sexual harassment!

3. One time, an escort, who was the boyfriend of the model, got mad at my techniques to get poses from a model so I told him to leave. The model stayed and continued to model, and then broke up with him during a break. From that day on, no escorts are ever allowed, not even my girlfriend (yes, he's not following his own lies)...
Because the things I do as my "techniques" are to basically take advantage of a new model and stick my nasty, old man's, tongue down her throat (making sure to chew some gum before in a premeditated way), touching her wherever I may please, reaching under her shirt and into her bra, making her touch me and feel my boner, all so I can "get a good pose" because I believe that sexual is the only way to pose. Therefore, escorts wouldn't be very good for my legal image!

Yes, I fell for the new model trick because I figured he was an amazing photographer...but I felt so horrible afterward and S-T-U-P-I-D. He isn't that great, all his photos are over processed, all the poses are the same ### because once you've used his "technique" you see how it shows in ALL OF HIS PHOTOS, he rarely leaves his stupid garage studio which is probably why he over processes everything, and apparently he has carpal tunnel and studied massage therapy?! I guess the latter was his only way to touch other women before he became a "photographer"...

Beware of his INDUSTRY SECRET TECHNIQUES! -______-

Professional Photographer...MY ###.

I was also reffered to this site by a friend in the industry. I had done a little modeling before but with an agency. When I first joined this site I was self represented and and asked a couple questions in the forums about how to go about this since my previous modeling work had been done through an agency. The response to my question from many members was rude and unprofessional. I didn't know there was a 'clique ' going on in the forums and there are people who regularly gang up on 'newbies' just for the fun of it. I recieved many comments about how I must be a prostitute or a wh*e and even had one guy threaten to find where I live and shoot me because I 'reminded him of his ex wife' I complained to the site about this and they wouldn't do anything about it.

Incidentley I stopped posting on the forums for awhile but every time I went back I would be ganged up on by this 'clique' and the mods said that it was my fault for 'instigating ' them. (starting a post in the first place even though they were all friendly and genuine posts) I also had problems with a member of their site in person who works as a photographer. He touched me inappropriatley at a photoshoot and in the end I received no compensation or pictures for my time so I reported him to the site. They refused to do anything about it even though this guy became known on modelmayhem for this type of behaviour. Eventually my profile was deleted because one of the girls from the 'clique' on this site made some allegations that I was racist in my private life.

This wasn't fair because as someone else already mentioned about this company they have a set of rules stating that member disputes unless they are serious like the one I experienced are best dealt with by means of talking to the person involved and that mods don't like to get involved. I didn't pay to join this site but it is unfair that they should delete ones' profile without good reason as many people use this site for work. I actually missed out on several paying jobs because of this. The site rules state that they can kick anyone off for any reason which I think is especially unfair to customers who pay to use it.

It really bothers me that this site won't investigate complaints about safety concerns. these are mostly young women who use this site and the whole point is to meet photographers and get work. I think the site should take any complaints regarding safety seriously (especially if there are multiple ones as in my case) the also have a rule about not 'outing' as someone else mentioned. meaning that one cannot say anywhere on the site that they worked with a certain person and had a bad experience in case the site gets sued. this is illogical and doesn't make legal sense as a disclaimer stating members views are not modelmayhems views instead they would rather compromise their customers safety. I would not recommend using this site to anyone if you are serious about getting actual work and not being ripped off and harassed.

Its a wannabee site run by wannabee people who dont know a Ralph Lauren cover model from a Miss Luzon 1972.

After contributing to the site for months and months, members are brigged without warning, shouted down by the mods and their henchmen, and banned by the site for such things as disagreeing with a mod, talking about matters that are relevant to the fashion industry and trying to give advice to people who want to get into the industry, all in the name of jealousy.

There is no stronger evidence of this than in messages sent by the mods and those who run the site which include gems such as "My Dad was a Top Official in Hong Kong", "I am an Engineer by profession" and "You need to Chill Down a bit".

If the site were actually run by working pros who know the modeling and fashion industry, instead of headstrong idiots who want to talk about their fathers, professions and otherwise display that they have no connection with the industry, perhaps it would be a better place to do business.