The American Mall Model Search review: SCAM! 108

I find they are nice like every company now. sorry but if you don't have it you ugly then don't get in front of the camera. for the few that fall into the 20 % chance way to go keep it up.

Ryan
Sincityworld.Com &
Extremefusiondanceteam.com

I personaly think it is not a scam...because where i went you didn't have to pay at all to compete and you weren't forced to pay for the proffesional pictures. I didn't do any and got a three year contract with gucci. so as you can see its not a scam and some people that didn't win knew they had to take that chance..and some aren't so pretty and dont deserve to be in a modeling career

i paid the money. i spend more than 150 on books in a month so i though id take a shot. if its a scam its a cheap one. i did kinda think it was a scam but then what if its not then ill feel like a coward for not havin tried. i made it past the first round. so did a lot of other people. but its not like doing nothing is getting me anywhere right now so maybe a coupld of head shots and a little exposure and fun will work. and NO before any of you smarta$$'s say anything i DONT work for the company. i signed up as a joke kinda. im just saying if you dont want to pay then dont pay but just because YOU think its not worth it doesnt make it a scam.

actually i auditioned for amms and it went great and i was toold from a acting coah if yuh gotta pay for pics its not a sigh of its a sceem it just mean yuh need to pay for yur own pics...but... if they say well yuh need to go through our classes yESSS RUN FOR YUR LIFE... BUT OVERRAL I LOVE AMMS.

I pray that the lord will hear your complaints a bless those that feel betrayed. My son won a contract (wichita, ks) an have yet to get a job I am not upset. I will pray for them. However acting ugly and cursing is not going to change the outcome. Keep your head up . The devil have a plan but god have a purpose for your life. BE ENCOURAGED!

I do not think AMMS is a scam at all. Just for reference, I am 6'0" tall, skinny, can walk in heels, and can deliver a line to a T. I actually just went to an audition a couple days ago, and they loved me. I then saw that I was going to have to pay, and I told the Photographer's assistant that I was not going to be able to follow through with the finals if I had to pay 150 dollars. She told me that she thought I was a great candidate for the Exclusive Models, which means that you have photo shoot unlike in the actual finals competition, and then the photos are sent out to the four largest modeling agencies in New York. My photoshoot was today, and they were even more excited to send my pics out to the agencies. I am supposed to hear back from them within the next two weeks to see if any of the agencies are interested to see more of me. If the agencies are interested, I am going to have another photoshoot that is primarily swimwear. Those pics will be sent again to the agency/agencies that are interested, and then if they are still interested, they will contact me and set up a formal dinner to discuss future possibilities with the agency like monetary issues, contracts, location, etc. So now, I am waiting to hear back from them, and if I have not within the next couple weeks, I will re-post on this discussion board and honestly state whether or not AMMS is a scam. Anyone who is reading these posts needs to read this one and not some of the more biast former posts. I will be truthful if something does, or doesn't, come out of this AMMS experience.

P.S. I did not mention that AMMS sponsored our dance team with $200.00 off a few dancers we took to them. We love them for what they do and no company that is a SCAM is never going to be that caring towards a parent with money issues. To us they are better than most businesses in the same field out there.

Ryan Hernandez
ExtremeFusionDanceTeam.Com

well my daughter is there now and me and her mom thought it was a scam because we didn't see the pics but they did provide a link and a password to get in and we saw the pics will let you know what happens after that

Signed up this fall did the photoshoot the talent show and even the tshirt, paid $150.00 thought if anything i would get good pics out of it of my daughter, well here it is 2 weeks later with NO pics and no way to call anyone. they tell you they will email them to you that night after the talent show well they dont. Quent was our photographer and all the interns. but was really funny and odd, when it was all over and i was paying my final envelope, they were in such a hurry to get out the city...hmmmmm. if for reason you get suckered like i did you might want to take the extra step in getting some kind of proof before putting out this money for nothing but a disappointed child.

I wish I had read all your comments before I brought my son to the preliminary audition. It was a waste of time. When my husband and I noticed that everyone passed the audition and moving onto the next step which is the photo shoot...(involves money of course), we decided to leave.

http://poksart.blogspot.com/

Scam.
When my son did the preliminary audition...all of them PASSED...and were moving to the next step which is the photo shoot..(involves money of course). Good thing we left right after the audition.

http://poksart.blogspot.com/

Tyra Banks will tell you that you are never suppose to pay for your pictures. NEVER EVER ! She made that comment on her show. And Trya knows what she is talking about because she has been modeling for a long time, plus she has her own show about modeling

Just remembered that EVERYTIME I have ever filled out information and put it in a box, I have been taken advantage of. Same here, I knew that I should have paid attention to my intuition at the initial audition when I saw the photo shoot "deposit" that had to be paid that night. I have been in this same situation before and it has NEVER turned out to my advantage. This has SCAM written all over it.

Yes and I would like to know why I paid $150 dollars and still have my receipts for my pictures and yet to receive them!

I wish I had found this site 3 weeks ago. We have 3 children signed up for this model search and have paid $225 for pictures that are crap. My son is a photographer in his last stage of college to get his degree and he took head shots of the kids which they took with there applications. My sons photos were twice as good as the ones taken by there so called professional. They actually cut off part of the head on 1/4 of the pictures that we received. One packet of pictures has never been received. They are going for the talent portion since we have already paid for it. They won't be getting any more money from us though.

They just left Atlanta. This Fugly female was taking pics. Her hair was not done and they talked about her soon as she was out of hearing distance. The guy who was taking pics needed a potty break, so he handed the camera to one of random workers walking around. He had to show here how to operate the camera...SCAM! DUH! RUN!

Hi! AMMS isn't a scam. I won a one-year contract with Model Productions USA Inc. I'm not very photogenic, but my pictures turned out amazing without any retouching! I paid $300. And because I get the copyrate for the pictures, I was able to use the pictures as my Senior Portraits, which were considerably more expensive and not even half as good as my AMMS pics. Yes, if you win, you do have to pay more for CompCards. But they are very useful. Say that you live near Annapolis like me, but there is an audition in LA that I want to try out for. I mail the casting director my CompCard and resume and they act as my audition. NEVER travel far away for an audition. You ONLY travel when you book a job. Thats also restated in my contract. The small cards are used as IDs in auditions, the large colored ones are used as mailable modeling "auditions", and the large black and white (with attached resume) are used as mailable acting "auditions". It is pretty convenient. It is worth the money, ($1 per card) because the model is expected to send CompCards to 2 auditions a week. And 10 of each type of card are sent to Model Productions so they can send them to big casting directors (Thanks to them I have an audition for Breaking Dawn and Pirates of the Caribbean 4) For every job that I book, Model Productions adds 3 months to my contract. After 3 bookings I am considered a professional model/actress and am upgraded to a more stable, exclusive contract for bigger and better jobs. Totally legit =) hope you win too! Good luck!

It's called Business! Not all kids make it! I got a contract and am extremely happy! IT IS NOT A SCAM!

I say keep in mind that not everyone will make it. i have modeled professionally for 17yrs. I have paid for pictures up front and also for traveling for auditions. In this world no one will invest in someone right up front. There is no promising future in all talents. I do feel bad for the young children that come into this business with high hopes and are disappointed, but I have learned that most of the frustrations are not that of the child but of the parents that have invested there time, money and personal hopes into what they see as a great opportunity for the child(ren). For the teens, don't let one situation crush your hopes. You won't always get a yes or the platinum opportunity to make millions but why let that stop you. I say this because I have a young son that has entered the modeling world and I expalin to him that I have experienced a piece of every aspect of the modeling industry. No to mention I have experience a lot of what is being commented on. Modeling is a cut throat industry. You become a product of a company, if you don't make money for this industry you are discontinued. You may not have that look that the industries are looking for. That does not make you not model material just not what they are looking for. I did not give up I kept going and it paid off. You have to invest in something to get something rather time or money. You set your limits. Composition Cards (comp cards) are a must have in the industry as well as a full portfolio. Any agency that does not ask for this or offer is not professional. That is your personal marketing tool. And from that point on you will be updating photos every 3-6mo. If the financial side is an issue then I will be the first to say that this is just the beginning. Look at yourself as a business that you have to invest in to get off the ground. No one is interested in a business that has no promotion. So for all inspiring models I wish you all the best of luck! And my son also went through AMMS, was selected after all the auditions. We also purchased the photos that I did recieve and have had printed. Will he make it? Well that is not up to AMMS it is up to my son and myself as to makeing sure that I educate him and encourage him to never give up if this is what he wants to do. I encourage you all as well!

If all they are asking you to do is pay for pictures of your child how is it a scam?! BE serious EVERY model has to have a head shot photo to bring with them to any kind of audition & if you guys would google prices for a photo shoots you'll see that you are getting a good deal. STOP with all the SCAM talk you all just all sound ignorant to the entertainment business & bitter! If you don't want to pay for the pictures don't sign your child up but don't bad mouth a legit business. smh

hello I also paid money for the 3 look which is 300 I also brought the dvd of my performance. I had five friends who entered with me they got their contracts but I didn't ge mines so 2 months later I still was calling they said that I got the contract and they couldn't understand why I didn't recieve everything and that they would send out another contract and my portfolio book and dvd. But everytime I call they act as if they do not know who I am and quickly forget what I am calling about keep this in mind I called 12 times it is january 2011 and I still have not recieved anything I even called them yesterday the lady got an attitude and then just gave me my user name which was my phone number and my password something is definatly fishy after I talked to the lady over the phone she said make sure I call her back when I recieve everything so she won't have to be worried about me calling about anymore it is a scam and all of you who think it's not your dumb as a box of rocks.

Well we are on our way to paying the 300 for my daughter and I think she has a real chance...she is beautiful! and only 15! We'll see though I will defintely blog back after further research. They did indicate that things would be a bit more personable than they have been but for 300 - I think the pictures alone should be worth it! Kristina / Fort Worth Hulen Mall

Right Now, Im Being Involved With It. & They Said That iWon A Contractt For A Year But We Still Havent Signed It We Have 60 Days...Shuld iDo It...My Uncle/Godfather Is A Lawyer...Hes Going To Look Over It...Shuld iDo It?

I must respectfully disagree my daughter did this at a mall and I paid 300.00 dollars. I was very concerned about all the things I read but decided to pay it anyway(I mean you can spend that much at walmart if you buy all the extra pictures they try to sell you) and she won a contract immediatly. We have not had to pay out one single more penny for anything. The company that contracted her pays for everything just like a legit company is sopposed to. I can garantee you that I am in no way affiliated with this company I am a widowed mother of 2 and work for my money like everyone else. Dreams do come true and if you read their book they promise nothing you pay for photos like you would anywhere you had them done, then they let you do the runway and talent. If anyone will pay attention to all of these complaints on here calling them a scam they all come from people that DID NOT MAKE IT or did not want to pay ( nothing is free). I can honestly say that I am proud of my child but even if all I would have got was the pics, t-shirt, and oppurtunity of her trying I could not have said anything bad. Due to the fact that I was not promised anything else. I hope this helps anyone. If you have a dream sometimes it takes money to make money or make your dream come true.

My daughter, who is 12, just finished her taltent and runway part of the AMMS process. I too had to pay for the pictures. But, I have spent just as much at Olan Mills many times in her life for pictures. My daughter has had a great time, learned a lot and has realized that being 12 and 5'9" is not a bad thing. I have been very please with the entire process and all the staff has been extreamly nice and supportive. You do have to finish paying for your pictures before they give you the disc. Her pictures came out excellent. Last night when we finished she cried, not because of contracts or all the other things people are talking about, because it was over and she had such a great time. Will she get a contract out of it? Will she get any work from it? I don't know, but reguardless it was a great learning experience for her. Know what you are getting into before you do it and enjoy the process, you may just have a great time like my family did.

i dont think everyone on this website has their facts strait paying for the pics is no big deal they come out great and if you dont want to go through you can walk away right then and there with perfectly good photos and do whatever you want to do and of you want you can go to the next round which i did and it is working out perfectly fine for me, , i just got my contract and though i have to pay for a few things its worth it and its not alot of money that i have to pay and i think this is a very good thing for anyone who wants to start out a good career because if you get the photos it can be a great start and the people that work there are very friendly for example at first i wasnt to happy with my photos so they offered to take them again free of charge i think AMMS is a great way to start out a career!

I did this model mall crap and it is a scam i won but my mom had a ut feeling that we shoudnt go on witht he process.I went back for the photo shoot, the pix that were taken were very unprofessional in one shot it got the tore behind us!it was a fun experience but not worth the money!the people that were running it were very unorginized

AMMS is at the mall in my town. Last week I asked about the age limits. They told me it starts from two months old and up. Today my 3 1/2 month old did the audition (I obvisiously had to hold her down the runway). They didn't pick her, which was fine. They told me the reasons why they didn't pick her: needs better choreography (what?!), was stiff and needs to relax (she didn't cry, was calm and she's a baby... her body is still pretty limp), and she's too young and isn't ready. I said, "What?! She's too young? But you people told me the age limit starts at two months old?" They didn't say anything to that. On top of this, they picked some idiot guy who messed up his ONE small line 3 times...he wasn't able to say the line at all. I really didn't care that my kid didn't get picked. I only did it for fun. My kid is in the lead with a few other kids for a contest for Parents Magazine. It annoyed me that they told me one thing and then later contradicted that statement. That gave me another red flag about this company.
P.S. Before the auditions started, they told me they wanted to see how well she followed directions from a photographer or director (only one guy acted as the photographer, director, and the one and only judge). I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me? My kid has only been in this world for 3 months. Like other 3 month old babies, all she is really capable of doing is eating and pooping and a few other things." My [censored] radar definately went up when they contradicted themselves and was unable to answer my questions and unable to respond to my comments.

FOR EVERYBODY ON HERE THAT DOESNT BELIEVE IT IS A SCAM...I HAVE ONE QUESTION FOR YOU...DID YOU EVER RECIEVE THE HARD COPY OF YOURS OR YOUR CHILDS PORTFOLIO? AND IF YOU PAID FOR A COPY OF THE SHOW DID YOU EVER RECIEVE THAT? ANNNNNNNNND HAVE YOU GONE TO THE WEBPAGE LATELY? ITS NO LONGER THERE...SO YEA I'VE BEEN EMAILING THE PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR MONTHS AND STILL HAVE NOT RECIEVED ANYTHING I PAID FOR.

SCAM! Please don't trust in that company.. I'm a mother of 2.. I pay them 150.00dls that suppose to include pictures.. That agree to send them to my email.. GUESS WHAT?! I'm still waiting for the pic and it's been like 3 months.. Now they(AMMS) send me a package, of course they ask for more $$$$$ something about printing pic with different sizes .. DON'T TRUST THEM!

i dont know if this was a scam or not. sucks if it is. but what can you do. [censor] happens. and you people are GROWN ADULTS. you are the PARENTS of children. please, someone explain, how can a child lead a child in life? you "grown mothers" are pathetic. and ridiculous. grow the [censor] up. you're so immature you're arguing with someone over the internet and talking [censor] to eachother. im 17. i stopped doing that when i graduated from middle school. get some class.

well [censor] somebody tell me whats up cuz i got the contract and i paid my money so is this gonna be real cuz i aint printing no casting cards if it aint legit.

well [censor] i got my pics and my contract so far im good...

My 14YO daughter desperately wanted to enter, so I allowed her to do so. First off, the staff at our local mall were VERY professional and efficient. Second, not everybody who auditioned was selected. Third, they suggested that we purchase a photo package but did not require it (we ended up taking the three-outfit package). Fourth, their website is STILL active. Fifth, they have kept in communication with us during the entire time since the competition. Sixth, we did get the photo DVD as well as the hardcover book, and it is very professional-looking. Seventh, my daughter has been selected to receive a contract, which we will go over once it arrives and will decide then if it is worth pursuing. I saw absolutely NOTHING that screamed "Hey, this is a scam!" to me, and was quite comfortable with the entire process.

From what I understand, AMMS is located in Ft. Lauderdale FL and currently has a B- rating with the Better Business Bureau. Considering the volume of business they must be doing, a B- is really pretty darn good. It seems to me that a lot of the complaints on here (as well as those filed with the BBB) are from disgruntled wanna-be's who really have no clue what the industry is like. I'm sorry, I do understand that you should never PAY an agency in order for them to market you; however, you DO need to put some time, money and effort into it if you want to get anywhere. You will need professional photos, and not everybody knows a professional photographer that can put a good portfolio together for you on the cheap. You will need casting cards/business cards, and not all of us want to go to VistaPrint and have something that looks like we cobbled it together at home. You need to invest in YOURSELF in order to market yourself effectively. Also, just because you have won a contract does not mean you have to sign that contract! The first thing we will be doing is having our attorney review it for us; after that, we will decide if it is to my daughter's benefit to sign it. There are literally THOUSANDS of agencies across the country; in my opinion, doing the mall talent competition is simply one good indicator of whether or not my daughter can handle herself in public. She's not locked into the contract until and unless we sign it; we can always go elsewhere if we think she would be better off.

I got an audition with the amms, i am a twin which they said they needed. Me and my sister forced my mom (she is a single parent) to pay all of this money which she was very upset about. we made it all they way threw the fanally but they never called us back. they would always call us back but this was before we started this whole thing. Now they never answer and when ever i leave them a voice mail they never call me back... my recomendations are that if you truly want to be a model dont go here.

at least it is not as bad as John Robert Powers modeling and acting.
these so called business cards are called "Comp Cards"
I am a professional model From Monterey California
and Models are Paid to take pictures. Any and every model should know
that you need to have a Zed (comp) Card and headshot with resume for any actual casting.
beware of Fraud. I my self signed up for this at my mall in Salinas County and of course they called me
the lady on the phone seamed disturbed to know i was already a model. maybe because i know whats up!
so what im thinking is going down their to the runway do my thing and tell them
"thank you for the opportunity this was fun, but time to get back to my real modeling life"
honestly people its not easy becoming famous!

My 9 year old daughter was in AMMS last year. I paid for the photos, 2 poses. I received 1 of the poses but had to call several times over several weeks to get the other photos. My daughter did receive a 1yr model contract. I just want every one to know what their 1 yr contract is. They want you to first pay more money for photo cards. Then they want you to go to their web site to see what jobs are available on their listings. They are not an agency...they do not find you jobs. It is only an on-line listing that you look up yourself. My daughter has had contracts with 2 miami model agencies in the past. Real model agencies will call you when they have a job that fits your description. There are plenty of on-line model listings, you dont have to waste your poor single moms hard earned money on AMMS. I did finally get all the pics, and they were pretty good pics..and my daughter did have fun..but I will not be signing the contract.

I've done The American Mall Model Search at the Concord mall in New Hampshire. The guy Nick seems to be a nice guy but his photographer Peter alittle creepy. Honestly i've done so many different things to perform to figure out that this place is a scam. I've never once had to pay 1 cent to perform or try out for other competitions until after i won. I dont think that it right that u need to pay 150 dollars with no clue if your going to win at the end or not.

i tried out for the american mall model search, and made it to the next round where you do the photoshoot etc. well anyways, i paid the first payment there at the mall not really thinking about it (my bad) 99$ for the 3 outfits and 15 poses each. i never went to the photoshoot cuz i looked them up after and found out they arent really that great of a company to go with. so i called the corprate office to see how i could get my money back since i CLEARLY DID NOT WANT THE PICTURES DONE! the lady i was talking to i told her how i didnt wanna do it and i needed the money back, and the only reply she had to that was "well it holds your place in the competition so you can call them back and reschedule"... ok well, i didnt want to take the pictures i just simply want my money back (any real, good, experienced company wouldve gave me the money back no problem!) but of course she went on and on about how if you spend more than 50$ you dont get the refund. also, i forgot to mention, while i was there trying out the scout and the director i guess were dating or something and they had there little kids there running around screaming and what not. well, the little boy fell split his eye open and the director and scout were behind the stage literally screaming at each other! im not exaggerating! me and the other two people that passed were just looking at each other like... what the heck?! they are very unproffessional. that shouldve been my sign to not go through with them! well, obviously this is a good lesson for me! look into something before you ever spend money on it! hopefully, this will help someone not to get ###ed over...

My daughter wanted to do the runway walk and get as far as she could. They were desperate to get some money that the lady even asked for just $5.00 to get her registered. Of course I said, "NO". But I offered to to meet up at the next show - knowing it was a scam. She told me that they were going to another city close by on a certain date but when I went to reconfirm about this city and date with a gentleman coworker of hers - he said, "No we will not be going to this city on that date - that city is not even on our schedule". My daughter was happy just walking the runway. We took our business to GapKids and paid nothing and my daughter is making her way happily.