CRS Chasing for payment after Photo Studio scam 2 years later

[catanida]

I am being chased by the CRS for a payment of a service that I did not receive and a service from a  collective “Photo Studio” scam.

In 2018 I came to London.

As a way to make extra money, I send my details to a couple of agencies. ' GT models’ was one of them.

 

Shortly after, I called them back to get to know more about them and see what the following steps would be.

The representative that talked to me said that I would need to go to an all-paid mock photoshoot to see how well I performed in photos and directions from the photographer. I said I would be happy to do that and take it from there. 

 

Afterwards, they said that they would book me for an appointment but I needed to pay a refundable fee of £100.

This money would only be a way to guarantee that I did make it to my appointment and after the shoot they would refund it to me.

I said that I could not pay 100 pounds and that I did not have that kind of money, they said that they would accept £50.

 

I wanted to make sure that they would refund me and they assured me on the phone that they would after the mock photoshoot and told me again is a refundable fee that we take just as a security that the applicant would get to the appointment because otherwise they would have hired the makeup artist and the photographer and have wasted an hour of time. 

 

I tried to find more information on this company but unfortunately couldn’t find anything good or bad so I decided to take a leap and see how the situation unfolded.   I paid the £50 from my parent’s PayPal account that way I could issue a complaint if they didn’t refund me.

 

I went prepared with the different outfits as they asked.

I waited on a mini reception as they were some other people before me.

There were also a couple of kids with their parents.  

First, they called me to get my makeup done and put the first outfit on. 

I did their photoshoot to the best of my capacity taking different pictures in different locations and with different outfits.

 

The makeup artist would change the makeup a little before each outfit.

 I was a little worried about the situation and something seemed off.

I felt I created a good rapport with the photographer and I asked the photographer if this was a scam and to please help me out if it was.

I explained that I was in no position to lose time or money.

He first laughed and dismissed my questions but after some questions he told me “You are a smart girl; you will figure this out”.

I don’t know why that didn’t click until after the situation unfolded. 

 

After the photoshoot, I waited and then a representative called me into his office.

He took my passport and said I performed really well and that he saw a lot of potential in me.

He said I would probably have to go the commercial route due to not being tall enough for other outlooks.

He said he had the position in his hands to pass me or not and that he would invest a lot of time in my career and continue to ask me what I could do for him.

I said I would be very responsible and always arrive on time and that I have a good work ethic, that I learn quickly. 

 

He seemed displeased as if he was expecting something more saying “you are a very beautiful girl what else could you do for me” I felt uncomfortable but still continued to talk about my work ethic. I feel he was insinuating sexual favours, however he never said it explicitly. 

 

He understood that this was not going anywhere and he said I am going to bet on you and I am going to accept you. He explained that this company was not a model agency but a middleman agency that connects you to a model agency and that the model agency pays them a fee for every applicant that is accepted. 

 

However, he said that if I wanted to move forward, I needed to buy the pictures from my mock shoot so I could start building my portfolio and then they can use them to connect me with other agencies. I was confused and asked him why I would have to pay after being told the mock shoot session was free.

He showed me different packages and try to convince me to buy it but I said I don't have any money  and that I was looking to earn some extra cash with modelling.

 

I explained my parents help me financially until I can start getting acting jobs and I don’t have any disposable income.

He said he can put me into the lowest plan and I could have monthly up to a year.

I said I wanted to review it home but he continues pressuring me saying I would not get this deal if I did it later.

 

I read the contract to my best capacity it mentioned that they would send me a hard drive with the pictures that they would use to connect me with other agencies and from there I would pay monthly for the physical copy of the pictures. I was scared that they wouldn’t give me my passport back and that he was pressuring me, so I signed but only put my street name and not my full address as I was scared they would follow me home.

 

I asked if I could pay via PayPal, he said no so I gave my bank details and try to end the conversation and get out of his office as soon as I could. 

I believe he gave me a copy of the contract but I haven’t been able to find it and think I lost it when I moved houses.

 

I went home and researched the new name they were using, since it wasn’t previously shown in any documents up to the photoshoot.

There I found out  that they had made a lot of people pay for things and never connected them to any real agencies.

I got this email from them:

 

I got scared and angry, I reported my card missing (so they couldn’t get any money from it ) and issued a report in PayPal to get the 50 pounds back. In my PayPal report I told them to give me my money back that I didn’t want to be scammed and to please stop contacting me. 

 

Since they never responded back to the claim in Paypal,

Paypal voted in our favour:

 

I never received the physical photos and they never called to tell me to get my full address, saying that I was missing the apartment number.

They never sent me another email or called me up.

 

Every once in a while, I would get this text and I assumed it was automated and ignored it:

Eventually even the texts stopped coming in September 2019. 

I moved houses but never received any mail to the apartment I was, I check once in a while with previous flatmate but apart from the odd Tesco mail I haven’t gotten anything else.

 

Then this year I got this text on Friday and then they sent it back on Saturday 29/08/2020. 

I don’t want to get in any legal problems and I don’t understand how I would ever owe money since we never spoke back and haven’t received anything.

I checked their website and they changed it since I am pretty sure it was because they got into legal problems.

 

 

What should I do in regards to the CRS contacting me with the following text? :

“balance due to Photo Studio Group has been passed to CRS” (£1182.89 !)
 

Thank you in advance for your time and help,

 

Regards,

Catanida
 

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that we have heard of this kind of thing very often. I don't know if it's the same company going by different names or if it is different companies – but the story is always broadly the same. They take some money to get you to go along to the photo shoot. They then give you lots of encouraging comments and try to sell you the photos with other promises of contacts and contracts et cetera.

Maybe there are some people who succeed – but we certainly see lots of complaints here and around the Internet about people who walk out extremely disappointed and simply with a bunch of digital photographs.

I understand from you that they don't have your old address. They only have a street name. Normally we would encourage people to keep their address details up to date in order to prevent "back door" judgements – but if they are only communicating with you by SMS then for the moment I don't think you need to worry.

How much of your old address to they have? You said it was only the street name. Do they have the postcode as well?

As you have already been advised by my site team colleague @dx100uk CRS have no special powers and you shouldn't worry – but you should keep us updated as to any further communications.

 

[BankFodder]

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5786254

 

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5622238

 

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5657544

 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/modelsdirect.com?languages=en&stars=1

 

 

[catanida]

Update.

 

As advised I ignored them but yesterday I received a phone call from CRS, an Automated voice.

It  instructed me to not ignore the call and to press 1 to transfer me to one of the representatives.

I hung up the call. 

 

My question is, next time they call should I go through with the representatives?

If the answer is yes is there anything specific I should say? 

 

Today I got another text from CRS saying that they made it super easy to get my account sorted and just the click the link and enter my case’s number.

 

Thank all for your advice and time! 

[BankFodder]

No, I would ignore them completely. I think the fact that they are relying on telephone calls this because they don't have your address.

How badly do you need that particular telephone number? Maybe it's time to move to a different provider but not put your telephone number over.

If you went to GiffGaff, you could get very good-contract – month by month – mobile phone service and with the new number. Afterwards if you wanted to move somewhere else then you could give one months notice and move elsewhere and take your new number with you

[dx100uk]

ignore!

 

dx

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Definitely ignore the clowns.

 

Any text messages they send then FORWARD them to 7726, and block their number from ringing you.

[BankFodder]

Please will you explain what 7726 is

[dx100uk]

been around for a good few years 

spells spam ..

 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-texts

[Bazooka Boo]

Yes apologies, it's spam (7726) on your keypad and it forwards the message to your network provider who log it presumably?

[catanida]

Update:

 

They have moved from please contact us/enter the link to the following messages:

 

Monday - Failure to contact us regarding .... may result in further action being taken against you.

 

Tuesday - The photo company has authorised us to offer a substantial discount on the 1182.89 owed to them. Call this number ...

 

Friday- The outstanding balance due to photo studio may negatively impact your credit rating. 

 

Following the advice of Bank Fodder I am applying for Royal mail re-direct. However, up to this date my previous flatmate has not received any mail from them. 

 

They haven't call, just text. Should I continue to ignore? If I should ignore, if they call should I hang up? 

 

Thank you for your time and help!

Edited October 3, 2020 by catanida

[BankFodder]

Carry on ignoring them. Don't block any messages because you need to know what is going on. Keep us updated

[dx100uk]

begging

 

read the red bits below

 

dx

[London1971]

CRS are Powerless. Ignore their calls. If you do accidentally end up speaking to a real person, just be polite ' Sorry I don't know who you are, please write to me if it's important'.

[BankFodder]

14 minutes ago, simond1000 said:

Hi,

The same scam happened to me.  I ignored CRS texts now I am getting Pending Legal Action letters emailed and posted by a company called AJJB Law but I looked on Companies House web site and it has the same directors as CRS so I think its part of the scam. I phoned and told them they had to prove I owed the debt by sendiing the signed credit agreement etc. The action is now on hold while they send the documents. I hope I don't have to pay them as I know I won't get anything in return. 

 

Please will you start your own thread on this. It's the only way that people can advise you because otherwise if we get two stories intertwined, nobody has any idea of what is going on.

Please will you start a new thread and tell us your whole story

[catanida]

Hello everyone, 

 

I have also started getting text messages from AJJB law :

 

-October 16:

ACTION REQUIRED. Call AJJB today regarding Photo Studio Group   to stop this matter moving towards legal action. 

Saturday 

 

- October 17:

To avoid legal action you can set a repayment plan to address the balance due to Photo Studio Group.

 

- October 19:

You have not paid £1182.89 due to Photo Studio Group. The account is being reviewed for legal action.  

 

They also made a phone-call which which I did not answer this day.

 

- October 20:

AJJB Law can assist you to resolve the £1182.89 due to Photo Studio Group prior to legal action. 

 

 

Decided to I checked my spam mail just in case and found the following:

 

-October 14:

We have not received payment of the overdue balance and you have not made use of our online customer portal to set up a suitable and affordable payment arrangement.

 

Our client has authorised us to progress this matter to commence the formal process which may ultimately result in legal action being taken against you in the County Court. Therefore please contact us to discuss this matter so we can reach an appropriate resolution before that process is commenced.

 

A successful County Court Judgment will have an adverse impact on your credit file for up to 6 years and could affect any future lending decision. Including applications for loans, mortgages, tenancy agreements and the purchase of goods on credit (for example a mobile phone contract).

 

Please address this balance today or contact us accordingly to arrange a suitable way forward. You can make payment at our website or reply to this email.

 

-October 18:

We have still not received payment of the overdue balance and you have not made use of our online customer portal to set up a suitable and affordable payment arrangement.

 

We want to work with you to resolve this matter prior to formal Letter Before Claim being issued which may then result in action in the County Court.

 

You can manage the balance due online today via our customer payment portal or contact us via phone to discuss the options available to you.

Yours Sincerely,

AJJB Law

 

They still haven’t sent me any letters to my knowledge. 

 

Should I take any action? 

 

Thank you all for time!

 

Kind regards,

 

catanida 

[BankFodder]

Just keep ignoring – or if you wanted to send a shot across their bows, you could tell them to bring it on, you'll see them in court and so will the press who are sniffing around already.

[dx100uk]

report the texts as spam.

we are gonna jump

we are 

we really really are

 

dx

 

[catanida]

Thank you guys! 

 

Have a lovely day  

 

[London1971]

The only ACTION required, is two fingers up at them!

[fkofilee]

FWIW - Been doing my homework on these guys... 

 

CRS is based - : 3rd Floor West, Bowling Mill, Dean Clough HX3 5AX

AJJB law is based - : 3rd Floor West, Bowling Mill, Dean Clough HX3 5AX

 

Looks like another debt collector using different letterheads. 

[fkofilee]

https://www.creditstrategy.co.uk/news/news/new-debt-recovery-law-firm-launched-6811

 

Quote

AJJB Law, which has its roots in debt collection, will be a modern legal practice specialising in all aspects of financial debt recovery litigation.

 

Its parent company is Credit Resource Solutions, the debt collection agency.

 

Legal Case Study looks a bit ropey... Like figures just made up. 

LEGAL-Case-Study.pdf

[dx100uk]

same as dcbl and dcb(l)

and lowell and lowell solicitors.

they now have their own in house solicitors

[catanida]

Hi everyone, 

 

They started sending threats:

 

Wednesday: 

 

We have been instructed to proceed formally on this claim in 7 days in respect of the balance due to Photo Studio Group unless discharged or an arrangement made. This will result in a formal Letter Before Claim and Court Proceedings. 

 

Thursday :

 

 It's not too late to stop legal action. Settle the £1182.89 due to Photo Studio Group. 

 

Friday 8:23am :

 

The £1182.89 due to Photo Studio Group is overdue we are now instructed to proceed with a formal Letter Before Claim. 

 

Friday 6:28pm:

 

We are now considering whether to issue Court proceedings to recover £1182.89 owed to Photo Studio Group.

 

 

 

 

[dx100uk]

how are they sending these comms?