Barbizon Modeling School
Reviews and Complaints

Barbizon is definitely a rip off. If you took theatre in school then you already learned everything there is to know about acting.

They taught me all the basics i already knew since middle school. And at the end for the photshoot omg dont get ne started the manager rushed the make up artists and they didnt do a good job one of the make up ladies wasnt even a professional she was a teacher at barbizon!my mom paid them 895 for the whole class including hair and makeup. They didnt even do my hair -_- i got so pissed i left and rescheduled. Do not go to barbizon.

Everything you learn can already be taught at school its a waste of money and time and the people there don't care about you all they care about is the money theyre making. I would never recommended it.

Trust me everything they promised were lies and the success rate is like 5% for confidence. You wont go anywhere with this agency.

Conversation on went like this after meeting with them. My daughter got the phone call from Barbizon and this is the way they speak to you in person.

The agreement I was wanting to make with Barbizon was this: As a parent I want to see my child become something they like to do, there passion , so I told them that as a parent I have little money but for the contract we can make I think it will make everyone happy. if you believe in my child 150% invest in her and give her the training and the job you agree on giving her through your company and I will Double or even Triple the money and give that to you. Barbizon denied the deal and this is what they had to say instead.

Barbizon: B Me and My Daughter: MMD

B: I would love more than anything for you to be in the program I believe in you 150%. It just seems like your parent wants you to be rich and just cares for the money. I do not have any doubt or hesitation that you will be able to work. You're beautiful girl with an enormous amount to offer and I think if you SPENT the time getting the Training that you need you could be very successful.

MMD: Seems like all you want is the money. Cause I have no money. I am in a position that I can't afford that kind of amount for my child, I am sorry.

B: If that is the attutude that you have and you want to limit yourself to the level of success you to achieve that you're probably not the right fit for this company. And if that is the case I wish you all the luck in the world.

B: However if you really do want to be as successful as you told me you wanted to be your going to have to put in the time and get that because right now you're not ready to work with my agents and managers.

B: They wouldn't even waste their time meeting with you. You're not ready.

B: And Excuse me . I gain nothing from signing up for these classes. My success in the company comes from when you're ready to start working and you book with agents managers and casting directors.

MMD: I don't have the money so if you we can't stand on a deal so I can help my child then thank you for your time.

B: Just because you the parent put together a few photo shoots for your child doesn't mean you're ready to start working with the biggest people in the industry. I'm sorry and I hate being the one to break it to you, I don't think you MMD: (Barbizon said this directly to my child) as a (txt on her Phone) B: I do think you have the potential to do this and can be very successful. But you have a long way to go. I think you're beautiful girl and I'm 100% believe in you. But I'm sorry. You are not ready to work with my team.

B: Money is the easiest solution if it's something you want to do I can help you financially if it's something you don't recognize that you need well then there's nothing we can do about that. Just let me know. :)

MMD: Money is not the easiest thing, I want to make my child happy and if you think my child has it in her then help her please, Invest in her and support her, the money she makes i will double or event triple for you, please.

B: Wow. It breaks my heart that you feel that way. Like I said you paying tuition for the program dose not benefit me in anyway. If you researched every other company in the world what you get for their program and how much it is we are the cheapest in the entire industry. If money were the goal of our company then that would not be true.

B: If that is the way you feel that I wish you all the best in the world. Good luck to you.

MMD: MY child response to barbizon: I have no money so for me to go through training and then getting a job from your company like you are saying , the money I will make I will give it to you, I just want to go after my passion of what I love, it's not about the money for me it's my dream.

B: As of right now you're not ready to work with my agents and managers SO there will be no getting a job from us or anything of any kind.

MMD: I appreciate you for trying to get me in and to pay but I have no money. Thank you

B: I'm not interested in money and I'm not interested in this kind of offer. I'm sorry but I do not think you understand how things work. And if you don't have the money for the tuition how can you afford to double it. I'm not interested in the money or you doubling, I'm not sure heart is in the right place and if this is something you really want. If you decide that it is you can call me. But until then good luck to you. I have others who come up to me with a dream I put them in school to get them up and ready to start working some of them are paying for college I have already bought their first car and they're not even 12 years old. If you want this and your heart is in the right place let me know if your heart is not in the right place and this is not the right thing for you and Move on.

B: Looks like this program is not right for you. I'm sorry.

My child , response to this is tears and as a parent who can't afford I was in tears myself. That day we went I saw many like us who just couldn't afford it and they were so sad that they can't make there child happy and smile.

I decided I wanted to get back into Modeling in May 2013. Through my research of modeling agencies in Philly I contacted Barbizon.

In spite of allll the negative reviews I saw online, I decided to go check it out for myself. When I got there, the 2 young ladies I met with pumped my head up sooo good, they pretty much suckered me into paying my money. They offered me to go on some cruise that was gonna cost me another whopping $4000 HA!!! I'm not rich.

lol They told me a specific photographer that shot some famous celebrities was going to be in town the following weekend and if I wanted to, I can shoot with him. So I was extra hype to do it. So I paid a good ole $1050 (shaking my head) for this *** photo shoot. I was promised hair (did my own), makeup (i could have did what she did myself), 2 8'10 photos, 100 comp cards and the CD of the images.

Ask me what have I received. (NOTHING)When they finally contacted me in early July, I was not too impressed with a lot of the pictures they allowed me to do another look. So I did another photo shoot. It's now August 7th and I have not heard a thing.

I have not had an update. They haven't called me about an audition. I haven't received one picture/cd or any good news about my comp cards. SMH I knew I should have went with my 1st thought about Barbizon.

PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE do not waist your time supporting them. They have always been known to scam since the 1990's.

I signed up for a Barbizon audition at an event in September of 2012. In January of 2013, they finally contacted me with an audition time and location.

I went in (Feb. 3) with about 10 other kids and teens, and their families, sat through a presentation, and auditioned. After my audition, a Barbizon staff member took me out into the hall, where there were tables sent up, sat me down, and told me that she thought I'd do well in their program. Barbizon is NOT a modelling agency, they are a modelling school, however their Toronto office has connections to ICE Modeling, and they promise a contract with ICE to each participant who completes their program.

I paid over $1000 to Brabizon for an 8 week modelling course, and was promised by the staff member that classes would be starting on Saturday, in 2 weeks (Feb. 16), and that I would be registered with ICE, earning back my $1000 by the end of May (May 25 would be the last class). Up to this point, Barbizon had stuck me as professional, and above board. Was I ever wrong!

During the week, I received a call from someone at Barbizon, telling me that there was a class the coming weekend (Feb. 9), and that they wanted me to go to it. When I expressed my surprise that the class was this week, not next week (as I had been told at my audition), the woman told me that they "saw potential in [me] and wanted [me] to start early". I went to the class that weekend, and met about 10 other girls there, of varying ages.

As I talked to them, I realized that this class was week 6 of the 8 week program! I assumed that I would speak to the teacher when she arrived, and get things sorted out...but she never showed up! We were in the conference room of a hotel, and about a half hour after the class was supposed to start, one of the younger girls went across the hall to the lounge where her mom was waiting for her, to tell her the teacher wasn't there. This mother proceeded to call Barbizon, who didn't know were the instructor was.

When they finally called her back (15 minutes later) they informed her that the teacher had been in a car accident, so she wouldn't be coming. I chalked this up to the instructor being irresponsible (as she should have notified her work as soon as she knew she wasn't coming in), and hoped I didn't get her again. That same day, I called Barbizon Toronto, to ask them what the situation was with my classes (I was assuming that I would just go to the set of classes beginning on Feb. 16, my original start date).

The receptionist claimed that no one should have called me to come to the class on the 9th, but that I couldn't go to the class on the 16th because there wasn't one! Apparently they were no longer able to hold classes in the hotel, so they were having to find a different venue. She claimed I would get a call when the new venue had been set up. A few weeks went by with no call, so my mother called Barbizon Toronto.

The receptionist explained that they still didn't have a venue in our town, but that I could come into Toronto (just over an hours drive) for one of the classes (acting). I went to the class and was appalled! I'm 20, and although there were some people my age, the majority of people at the class were kids. There were some kids who were very well behaved, and I didn't mind having them there, but there were a few kids with behaviour issues, and it ruined the class for me.

I wasn't able to learn anything because a few little girls were acting up (one in particular was bullying her older sister, shouting out silly things in class, and smashing her fists and feet in things when she wasn't getting attention). When my mom dropped me off, she spoke to the receptionist and explained the situation. The receptionist rudely told her that no one would have called me to come to the class on the 9th, and cut her off when she told her that yes, someone had! Not knowing that my mom had spoken to her, I also went to speak to the receptionist that day on break, and she spoke very rudely to me as well, informing me that she had already spoken to my mother about this!

After another few weeks of hearing nothing from Barbizon, my mother called their head office. The woman at head office (Josie) tried her best to resolve the situation, offering to start me in classes in Toronto right away, and offering a few extras to me, free of charge. I decided that I needed my $1000 back as I was going back to school, and my mom couldn't afford the $50 for a tank of gas that it would take to get to Toronto every weekend. I thanked Josie, and explained that I'd rather have my money back.

She informed us that the refund would be the job of the Toronto office, not her, so she told us to mail them a formal letter, asking for my money back. We waited a few weeks, but didn't hear anything from them, so my mom called their office. They told us they "may or may not have received the letter" and also explained that it "may have been lost". My mother sent another letter, and an e-mail.

No response. After about five e-mails we had still heard NOTHING from Barbizon Toronto about getting my money back! My mother finally called Barbizon Toronto, and asked for the name of the owner. Lo and behold, later that day she got a rely from the woman in charge of the Toronto office.

I still, however, don't have the money back in my bank account.

DON'T get swindled by this company! They prey on the dreams of many children and teens to "be famous", "be on TV", or "be a model", taking money and giving NOTHING in return!

talent scout employees for showcase take hard earned money from older talent knowing there will be no call backs for them in L.A at showcase. they know this but yet still continue, WHY!

i myself carlos,teresa, veronica, irina and many others were shocked with no call backs, our only hope now was open cll backs from 12-1:pm to our surprise every talent scout told us showcase is for children and young adults and they are not there for older adults. the lines were 30-45 long and at 2:00pm all the scouts were leaving and our opportunity to find a scout vanished befor our eyes, how can the be.so i then took my story to my cousin jane velez anchor women/news reporter and my actor/lawyer friend mario. they both advised me to first ask barbizon to allow me to particpate in showcase again at no charge or refund my $6,000. im asking barbizon to hire scouts who are looking for older talent at showcase.

make a change at showcase for adults for the years to come.

thank you barbizon. Carlos Velez Ipas participant #4109 june 2013

I was also promised that my daughter would start making her money back as soon as she graduated but it been a year and nothing i have call over 20 time and its lie after lie i was promised this and that for the confusion and never recieved *** the classes were taught by the most getto people ever all i have to say is dnt waste your time or money cause thats all they are out for not to help just dont let it go if you already paid fight it complain complain till uour blue in the face cause for me i will do what i need to do to get my money back cause that was all my savings and im a single mom of 3 and money dnt come easy BARBIZON IS A SCAM!

The Good:

Send a photo of my 9 year old through their website, which was easy. Got a call right away asking us to come in. Offices are nice, people were nice and treated us well. Didn't wait long. The rep I dealt with was good and answered all my questions. Told me about how everything works and was accurate. They said we would get tickets to a live taping of a Disney show and be able to try out for a Showcase where agents and managers show up to scout young talent (I'll describe the experience for that and the show taping later). For my son, as a first timer, the classes were easy and straight forward. Teachers were okay. A little repetitive but didn't bother me since it's my son's first time trying something like this. He had fun and the classes were 2 weeks apart which helped by not getting tired of driving there every weekend. Parents were not kept in the dark in terms of watching kids perform and practice. After 4 months of classes we were invited to a graduation ceremony at a hotel and that was well done

The Bad:

Once we PAID to get in, the classes were held in old run down offices. No high-tech gear or real props to work with when the studied acting or modeling. Only one teacher for 14 kids. After graduation we were told we would get info in the mail about trying out for the Showcase. Waited very long and finally called. The office in charge of that were completely disorganized. They had the wrong address and I ended up having to call the rep that admitted my son to crack a whip on them and get them to send me the info for the Showcase via email since the were not capable of getting it in the mail. Once I got info, the Showcase would be a week later which we couldn't make because of prior commitments so we missed out on auditioning for potential new shows for the fall. We had to wait 2 months for the next tryout which, if you passed the showcase tryout, it would be 6 months later for pilot auditions only. Totally messed us up. As for the Disney show taping, they signed 30 people up to go but when we got to the studio there was only room for 20. The rep in charge ended taking her family inside and left 10 people stranded outside in the rain to wait for any extra seats to become available via the studio and not Barbizon. She didn't even care. My wife and son got in only because there were 2 tickets left and the group in front of them were 4 and they didn't want to split up. I complained and Barbizon promised me tickets for the next opportunity but I have yet to hear back from them, going on 6 months after that ordeal.

The Ugly:

As for the Showcase, we finally got to one and they did some head shots that were straight forward and no where near what they should be like compared to industry standards. The company in charge of the Showcase made us wait for over an hour before talking to us and selling how great of an opportunity this is and how we need to do this. The woman talked for an hour showing off what they do with a huge ego and name dropping as if this was the greatest thing in the world. Thats when I got suspicious. They showed a video, which was horribly produced, of what the Showcase was like. They said they would put on a red carpet night out, a black tie dinner, we would be at a hotel for 4 days with seminars and classes before the auditions on the last day. Why you ask do they do this? Because if you make the Showcase YOU HAVE TO PAY $6,000 to them to cover the cost for your child to attend the 4 days in the hotel. And on top of that, you have to accompany your child and you have to PAY $2,000!

$8,000 to stay at a hotel with a bunch of parties that a 10 year old doesn't need and share a room with 2 strangers. Why not just let my kid audition and see what happens? I'll pay a few buck for that! My son auditioned and, of course they accepted him. They called us back for a "consultation" the next day while asking us to bring a deposit for the 4 day bash. I arrived the next day because I wanted to at least get the head shots and of course, they were running an hour behind. I took the head shots and left. No way I was paying them money after my son had only done 4 months of into to acting and modeling.

A complete scam!

MY GRANDDAUGHTER WANTED TO GO TO MODELING SCHOOL THEY GAVE MY HUSBAND THIS BIG SPIOLLLO ABOUT MODELING AND HOW THE GIRLS CAN BE WORKING all the time enough to pay the ot rest of the money from there jobs not true lies of course the very , next day he canceled today they called and said he didn't put it in writing. which he did ts because the time has almost ran out and he will be stuck paying.

when he took the letter in the recp. told him she would email him a receipt but never did what can we do

They are a group of fake people ,who try to boost the parents ego about how great their kids are and push them into signing a contract and assuring them that they can pull out with a total refund .....then you discover that its all a scam to rip you off of your money.....they keep stalling and not answering ur messages until it is a convenient time for them and its late for you..... ripped me off of more than 1700$ ,money that we have worked so hard to provide for our Family......This is an organized theft by Barbizon.... SO DISAPPOINTING.....

This woman is such a fake. She says the same speech every single Sunday and tells you what you want to hear to sign you up for modeling and acting classes at Barbizon.

She is not genuine or sincere.

She even treats her employees like ***. She is manipulative and REALLY GOOD AT BEING FAKE WITH YOU! I bet she hates her life because deep down she is depressed, insecure, and her man cheats on her.

I think karma will get her for what she's doing to people.

Barbizon is crawling with sneaky, mean, and fake employees...and Laura Collazo is their QUEEN.

My daughter was chosen to be "accepted" to the Barbizon modelling school in Toronto. I thought this would be a great opportunity to give her confidence etc.

They basically guranteed that she would recoup the $1800 tuition fee once they started calling her for modelling shoots. A further $400 was spent to buy "head shots" done by their photographer. Three years have passed and she wasn't called once.....I know what you are all thinking....she is a good looking girl.....5' 4" at 12 years old.....Barbizon was very elusive each time I spoke with them.

Don't fall for it..they accept everyone who auditions. They'll take your money and never call you for a job....save your money!!

The directors are very racist against the applicants of color. They make comments and disparage the clients of color who are interested in barbizon New York.

All the directors/sales persons of color have left due to the blatant racism of the staff. The directors lie to the applicants about being accepted into the school, when the only goal is to make applicants and parents pay for expensive programs.The hard sell frequently causes the parents to get very upset with Barbizon demanding a credit card on the spot or to leave the number so barbizon can debit the payments weekly.

On August 19, 2012 I took my daughter to your auditions you in Concord, CA at the Crown Plaza Hotel. I was told that the Movie – TV program will be a 40 hour workshop held over a standard duration of 20 weeks every other Sunday. I was told the program tuition will be a total of $2395.00, and I could make monthly payments. I was told I had to pay $495.00 by 8/22/12 if I wanted my daughter in their next workshop which was scheduled for 8/25/12 from 2pm-6pm in San Francisco.

I brought in $495 cash and I have RECEIPT#14499 to their San Francisco office on 8/21/12 which was a financial hardship around this time of the year with school starting back buying school clothes, and school supplies etc. They had to have the $495 by 8/22/12, and I asked them could I bring the money in on 8/24/12 which was my pay day. They informed me that would be too late, so I got a couple of pay day loans to pay the $495 deposit. I am a father of 4 children, and I don’t have money to throw away in today’s economy.

My wife and daughter attended your workshop in San Francisco on 8/25/12 from 2pm – 6pm. At the workshop my wife was told that going forward the workshops will be every other Saturday starting 9/15/12 and ending in January of 2013. If I was told the workshops will be every other Saturday during the auditions in Concord on 8/19/12 I wouldn’t signed my daughter up for this Movie-TV program, because I knew I wouldn’t been able to make it to her auditions. On Saturdays during this time I was coaching my son’s Pop Warner Team in Alameda who games were held every Saturday from 9/1/12 – 10/27/12 when the season ended.

My wife sent you an email back in September 2012 explaining to you that my daughter wouldn't be able to attend Barbizon, and we never heard anything back from anyone. My wife just informed me this past week that we haven’t received a refund or heard back from you.

To resolve my problem I would like my $495 refunded to me immediately. It seems like it was a lot of misleading information given to me at the time of the auditions, and the workshops. This is the actual email that I sent to them requesting my refund $495on 1/3/13. This is the response they sent back to me below on 1/3/13 telling me about another one of their misleading and misinform auditions tryouts. Barbizon you should be ashamed of yourself ripping of hard working parents who just wants what’s best for their kids at the end of the day. I guess this is how you stay in business 70 years stealing people money. Way to go Barbizon........

"Barbizon San Francisco" On: Jan 01/03/13 3:06 PM

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First Audition Date: FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2013 at 10:00 A.M**Models chosen at the first audition will be required to stay for prep and should bring a change of clothes.

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MORNING TO LATE AFTERNOON

My Daughter is in barbizon school now. paid 3000.00 dollars.

for the classes. She has been going for the last three months. In her last class her coach encourage her to go to this audition in December. Her audition did not go so well, she froze on stage.

I did not think she would be chosen, but she was. They said she did wonderful just a little nervous and wanted 3000.00 dollars more. Even though we have paid barbizon 300.00 dollars.

So yes I think it is a scam. All they want is your hard earn money.