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You've been scammed - can you get your money back?

As from 1st April 2008, new (and in our view totally inadequate) regulations require agencies and others who act, or claim to act on behalf of models, actors etc and who have charged an upfront fee have to give the money back if asked to do so within 7 days - in other words the government has introduced a 7-day 'Cooling off period'.

Please click here for details

Our advice throughout this site is 'Don't pay money to a model agency' (but see the info on child modelling agencies)

But maybe you didn't find this site until you'd already been scammed...
Well, if you paid by credit card you should get in touch with the credit card Company and complain that you've been scammed. Most will refund your money immediately and without any questions, and they will also grab the money back from the scammers.

It's a crime. Report it to the police.
If you've been scammed by an 'agency' set up specifically to scam people (and there are plenty of those) then it's a matter for the police, because a crime has been committed.

Unfortunately though, there are still police officers who regard regard this type of fraud as nothing more than a civil dispute. They take the view that it's nothing to do with them and that you should try the civil courts...
If you encounter this attitude you need to point out that fraud is a crime and that the scammer is running a fraud, not a real business. If that doesn't work it may be worth insisting that you speak to a senior officer.

In theory, the police can't get your money back for you (although a Criminal Court can order the scammer to refund you) but the police can have a quiet word with the fraudster and suggest that they should refund your money.

The Small Claims Court
A lot of people threaten to sue scam agencies but unfortunately very few of them actually go through with it, and the scammers know this - you can't win unless you're prepared to follow the Court process through!

If you've been scammed by one of the small 'agencies' you may find that getting a Small Claims Court to decide in your favour is the easy bit - it can be much harder to actually get the money!

But if you've been ripped off by one of the larger firms it can be much easier to get your money back.
First, you must give them written notice of your intention to issue proceedings against them, sent by recorded delivery. If you don't give Written Notice the Court will not be able to award costs against them. Here is an example letter: Fill in the blanks and change it as necessary. Referring to statements made by their sales staff is important - their sales literature will have been checked by their lawyers and will probably not contain any firm promises, but they won't know exactly what their sales staff said to you.

1st January 2006.

Dear Sirs,

On 1st October 2005 I paid you the sum of £... by personal cheque, which you paid through your bank account. This payment was in respect of a modelling contract for a period of ... years between yourselves and my daughter, Jane Smith.

I paid the money to you after seeing your advertisment in .... and after reading your sales literature and listening to the statements made by your staff. I have now discovered that both your literature and verbal statements contained serious misreprentations of fact and it was these misrepresentations that persuaded me to pay the money.

My daughter is a minor and I now cancel the contract on her behalf (my daughter is aged over 18 and has authorised me to cancel the contract on her behalf).

I require you to refund the full amount of £... within the next ten days. If you fail to do so I will issue proceedings in my local County Court for recovery of the full amount plus Court issue costs and interest, and will do so without further warning.

Yours faithfully,

 

John Smith

They will probably ignore the letter. If they do reply they will probably tell you that they have done nothing wrong and that they will defend any case that you bring. Or that they have tried to find your daughter work and have submitted her details to 20,000 people who asked for a model in her area but nobody has booked her yet and they've done everything they can to find her work.

After 10 days, go to your Local County Court and issue a Summons for the full amount in their Small Claims Court. This is a simple procedure and the Court staff will help you with it. You will have to pay a fee, which will be added on to the amount of your claim.

The Court will issue the Summons. They are likely to file a Defence because if they don't they will lose their right to defend the case. The Court will set a date for the hearing.

Before the case comes up you will very likely hear from their solicitors. They will almost certainly deny liability but will offer to pay part of the money back. Send this reply:

1st January 2006

Your ref xxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter dated 31st December 2005. The amount owed to me by your clients is £... plus Court Fees of .... and interest. If you pay this money I will withdraw the action, otherwise I will proceed to a full hearing.

Yours faithfully,

 

John Smith

Now just sit back and wait for your cheque.
A lot of people threaten legal action against these scam agencies but unfortunately very few of them actually carry it out. I've been told by a lot of people that if you do issue proceedings against the larger firms they will refund your money - they don't want County Court Judgements against them and they don't want the hassle and legal expense of fighting the case either. However, things may have changed because we've heard that our 'favourite' dodgy agency recently fought a case brought against them.

We're waiting for the case documentation to arrive from the claimant. The Defendants in this case, who don't seem to like our website very much and who are threatening all sorts of action against us, have themselves supplied us with some of the case documents. If we are given permission to do so by the claimaints we will make the documents available on this page.

Before you issue the Summons
You need to know who it is that you're suing and where they papers should be served.
If it's a Limited Company then the Summons must be in the name of the Company and the Court must be given the Registered Office address for service. Easy.

If you're suing an individual the Summons must be in the name of the person 'trading as' - for example, John Smith T/A dodgy models. And you need a real address. Sometimes the address given on websites, stationery etc isn't real, it's just an accommodation address. If you can't find out the real address then don't bother suing because if a bailiff ends up having to call at an accommodation address it won't do any good.

Your local County Court will help you with the paperwork, although they're not able to provide legal advice.