Beware of Dodgy Modelling Agencies

About seven months ago I was walking through Waterloo and got stopped by a small Spanish woman with a big digital SLR. At first I thought she was a tourist asking for directions, but she explained to me that her job was to head hunt 'talent' on the streets of London. She was from a modeling company called Zebra. Heard of them? No? Then you're lucky.

I had never been described as 'talent' before and to be quite honest, I was flattered. I had on my best coat and best leather boots and after having my photo taken and her card given to me, I had a smile on my face for the next hour. Oh how naive I was.

After slightly smugly telling a few friends and family that I was going to earn a packet from work as a TV extra and modeling posh jeans, I began to realise it was sounding too good to be true.

So I got a call the next week. An extremely friendly woman asked if I would like to come down to their studios for a few head-shots. She did make it sound good, I have to admit... Hair and makeup professionally done and an amazing photographer, bla bla bla. I wondered how much this might cost - but she assured me all I would have to fork out is £100 for copy-writing of the images... Surely this couldn't be a con?

I did my homework... discovered some juicy forums where I found the exact same thing had happened to hundreds of girls. They all explained how they went to the studio and were asked to pay a hell of a lot more than a hundred quid! But there were also some good comments...

So I ended up going to my appointment to see what all the fuss was about. I hadn't signed anything yet either, so what did I have to loose? (Apart from £16 for parking for an hour in central london!) So we got there (I took my big sister for moral and vocal support, in case it got nasty!) and there were lots of other young girls wandering about - each with their three outfits, clean hair, no makeup and excitable faces. We went to the reception with a 'we're not mugs' attitude and found that the photos actually cost an outrageous 750 quid!

Oh dear. We were not happy and we made it very clear to the idiot behind the desk, and also everyone else in the room. Well, I suppose that's the media, darling! I'm just glad that I didn't get sucked in any further!