Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/20/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have asked this company over, over and over again to stop calling my phone about a previous modeling thought by my then 16 years old daughter, each time this company calls I continue to ask to remove my number and my husband from the list and they refuse to, I blocked each number they call from, so they would call me from a different number. I asked this last person to stop calling me, and she apparently got an attitude because I was expressing my frustration and told her I needed to be removed.This company calls my phone while I am at work, while I am on conference calls, I would ignore their calls so then they would call my husband, we have told them over and over that our child is no longer interested in their program and they refuse to stop calling. This is beyond frustrating and annoying

  Business Response

  Date: 02/20/2024

  The telephone number she provided is not in out database, so it must be a different company calling her - not us

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/13/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  SCAM ALERT! Hi, I signed my daughter up for Barbizon modeling and it has been a nightmare. One of the reasons we signed her up for the modeling school was so that she could get pictures to use in a portfolio as they promised. The headshots they provided were not of professional quality or anything that could be used for a portfolio. My second and more pressing issue is that weve had a financial hardship in the family that will require us to cancel the passport to discovery trip in *******. Ive paid over $4000 and Im not going to be taking the trip so I told them I need a refund. They are refusing to give me my money back. I need my money back immediately and for them to stop payments on future deductions from my bank account. They have predatory and scam like practice and people need to be warned.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/15/2023

  We are sorry to hear you are having an issue with your local Barbizon. Unfortunately, we are a separate franchise and do not have access to your account for the competition that you have signed up for. We have reached out to our corporate office to ask that they have someone from your local center reach out to you to see if there is any way they can assist.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/28/2023

   
  Complaint: 20103238
  
  I am rejecting this response because: It is not resolved and I'm awaiting a local branch to address my concern. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/03/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Once you sign a contract and give them your payment method you can't get a hold of anyone anymore. You send emails and call the numbers they give and no one returns your call or email.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/14/2023

  Hello,

   

  May we please have the students first and last name so we can look into this matter. We have all of our contact information on our paperwork and new talent agreement for enrolled students. We are sorry to hear that you have not been able to reach us, we are opened 7 days a week and have employees answering the school number as well as the education department email.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/07/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for Barbizon Modeling School and attended approximately 1 month of classes. I realized it wasn't for me and tried to cancel but the school made it very difficult to cancel. I verbally told the instructor. I called to talk to the owner. My mom, *****************************, called then to talk to the owner and the owner said she would like to talk to me and try to convince me to stay. When I called her, I left a message twice and didn't receive a call back. I continued to get bills in the mail for the sessions I missed. I mailed a letter canceling to the address on the website. The letter was returned saying there was no delivery at that address. So, I DROVE the letter down and left it under the door in the office. Since I go to school during the day and work at night, by the time I got down there, the door was locked and there is no dropbox. I tried EVERYTHING to cancel this class. Now, they sent me to a collections agency for $1,582.50 which is the remaining amount of the class if I had stayed. I paid for all the classes I attended. I have tried to call the center twice now to talk to the owner again, and today ***** was told to contact our attorney to fight it because Barbizon didn't get my letter in time for the window of cancellation! This is a scam. I have also reached out to our attorney for support but this is unacceptable and someone need to stop this business practice of making it impossible to cancel and then charge because you are outside the cancellation window. Both ******* AND ***** contacted the center immediately when ******* decided he didn't want to move forward. We were sold on the fact that he could stop at any time with no repercussions. This should be illegal prey on young 18 year olds like this and then threatened their credit at such a young age.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/15/2023

  To Whom it May ***************** have looked into this matter and see that this student was not enrolled into our school location. This is the ********** school and it appears that this student is enrollment into a location in ******* which we are not affiliated with. We are sorry to hear about your troubles and recommend contacting the location you were enrolled with to help solve the issue. 

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/07/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Basically it's a acting school and I try to sign my son up. But the money they were asking for was so much for me and I was unable to pay it so they gave me the option to pay different payment smaller payments to be able to start his acting and modeling but due to personal issues I just recently told the lady to unsubscribe us they took money off my card I called and contacted her about it and then she blocked me

  Business Response

  Date: 01/19/2023

  To whom it may concern,
  
  Can you please provide us with the name of the student so we are able to assist further.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/25/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  October 28th, 2022 Barbizon Modeling randomly deducted approximately $700 out of my account in three different transactions. This was rent money...and totally unexpected! I was unaware that they were going to do this because 1) My daughter has not attended any trainings in 3 months. 2)I let several staff know she would not be returning due to her anxiety (she had been healing from paternal abuse; I wanted to help her pursue her modeling dream, build confidence, etc). 3)She only attended one training on July 17th, 2022...and she left early on that day.Afterwards, we received several phone calls and messages from the company staff, insisting that she return. I kept telling them that she would not be. She's been to two mental health hospitals and she gets anxious around groups of people. I wanted it for her but she has to be ready and willing. Disregarding her experiences and condition, they seize the chance to clean out my bank account on October 28th 2022. It was that day that I called Ms. ***** in the accounts department and she informs me that a cancellation letter must be written to close the account and it is in the contract. I replied, where is it written in contract that you must withdraw three payments at once? She said, the system automatically does that until it's paid. Then, she said I could dispute it at my bank but they (Barbizon) would come back and fight it and get the funds. I immediately wrote the letter (November 7th, 2022 they received it) and dispute it at my bank on Oct 28th, 2022. But because there was a contract the bank would not refund me. I was without money to pay my rent this month. This company just randomly took half my check! For services not rendered! A staff named ****** from Barbizon was my last contact person who said they could not refund me but would look into scholarships for my daughter considering her past trauma. She has not called back. (November 16th 2022) was our last conversation. Looking for justice???************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/21/2022

  To whom it may concern,
  
  May we please have the students name so that we can look into this? Also which Barbizon Location did this student attend? This is the Barbizon of ******** and we are not seeing this in our system. Please let ** know so we can look into it further. Thank you!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/17/2023

  This matter has NOT been resolved! Barbizon of *** does not answer the phone when you call their headquarters. I have not gotten a person of contact just yet. Please reopen this matter for further investigation.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/25/2023

  Please provide us with the students name so we can look into the matter. We do not have any staff named ***** or ****** that work at our ************* Location. Please contact our Education Director directly at *************************.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/23/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed******* to fit the modeling classes. They went into ******* incorrectly 4 days in a row. After canceling the service due to this issue, I was told I couldn't get any money back as a refund because I never paid for the entire class. They said they would gave someone call me to talk about it but no one calls or answers the phone.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/18/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/10/01) */ Hello, We please need the students name so we can assist and look into this matter further. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/10/04) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) No resolution yet. His name is ************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/17/2022

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I joined ************** Barbizon modeling and acting school and after signing the agreement they didn't followed what we're agreed for They changed the classes dates without notification or our approval ( as usual we missed those classes) They faked promised ********************** to have a chance to meet with some producer to be star, I had very hard time to come over her disappointing, that's need help of a therapist They didn't provide her the photo shot that we were include. In the agreement I emailed them all my concern and asked either to fix that or stop the service yet they ignored my email Lastly when I refused to continue paying and they stopped taking the payment, then they resumed taking the payment

  Business Response

  Date: 10/06/2022

  To whom it may concern,
  
  *********************** was signed up with ** on 1/21/22 and attended classes with us all the way through 6/12/22. Our agreement states "Barbizon reserves the rights to change class dates and/ or times". We have also sent her headshot that she took with ** as well. Barbizon does not promise jobs we are a school, what we do promise is education and opportunity to our graduates. ***** needed to take one more class and then have her graduation ceremony but unfortunately did not come to her graduation ceremony or finish paying off the tuition for the program even though the entirety of the program was taken besides her last missed class. ***** was taking classes in person and we also offered zoom classes as well to complete the course and graduate. We do hope that ***** will one day be able to complete the program and graduate with ** since she was doing a great job and so close to her graduation ceremony.
  See Attachment/File: *********************** - Enrollment Agreement 2022

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2022

  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I understand that they giving education not job opportunities, but they responsible about they employee actions,
  Here they mentioned that ***** missing only one class but I shared their emails that proof that she missed three condensed classes which equivalent to 6 regular classes
  They mentioned that changed in schedule was shared with ** but the facts and my cancelation letter pass to them in the office in LA was because we just informed about the changes and we have to accept it or move to visual classes where through signing the agreement we rejected as it's not applicable
  Lastly they still charging me although I canceled the service

  Business Response

  Date: 10/18/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/10/06) */ To whom it may concern, ************ was signed up with us on 1/21/22 and attended classes with us all the way through 6/12/22. Our agreement states "Barbizon reserves the rights to change class dates and/ or times". We have also sent her headshot that she took with us as well. Barbizon does not promise jobs we are a school, what we do promise is education and opportunity to our graduates. ***** needed to take one more class and then have her graduation ceremony but unfortunately did not come to her graduation ceremony or finish paying off the tuition for the program even though the entirety of the program was taken besides her last missed class. ***** was taking classes in person and we also offered zoom classes as well to complete the course and graduate. We do hope that ***** will one day be able to complete the program and graduate with us since she was doing a great job and so close to her graduation ceremony. Consumer Response /* (3000, 10, 2022/10/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I understand that they giving education not job opportunities, but they responsible about they employee actions, Here they mentioned that ***** missing only one class but I shared their emails that proof that she missed three condensed classes which equivalent to 6 regular classes They mentioned that changed in schedule was shared with us but the facts and my cancelation letter pass to them in the office ***** was because we just informed about the changes and we have to accept it or move to visual classes where through signing the agreement we rejected as it's not applicable Lastly they still charging me although I canceled the service

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/16/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Everytime I call and no matter the time of day during your business hours no one answers the phone. I have left a voice message and contacted ****** via text message to her cell phone as well. I have been trying to contact someone anyone to verify that the letter of termination was received. I also, sent proof of it being sent and received to the address listed on the enrollment form to all their listed emails.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/21/2022

  Consumer Response /* (2000, 5, 2022/06/21) */ I received a phone call and my refund back. Thank you for your time and consideration.