Advice on this contract please!

lou0504

New Member
Apr 22, 2009
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Hi all, I dont know if ive fallen into a honey trap or not but heres what happend and id really appreciate some advice. I was contacted by a modelling agency saying they were very interested in my son joining their agency. I have been conned before into all these fees etc up front so immediately i asked are there any fees. She said only a £50 registration/admin fee to join place my son on there website. I thought fine thats ok. Travelled 2 hours up tp london to have his pictures done. Call me nieve but i thought as they were representing him they would use some of the pictures they took for theyre website. After being theyre 4 hours hanging around we were taken into a room to view the pictures and told it was £50 a picture as they only use quality pictures and they would have to be airbrushed. He then said he wont get anywhere without a portfolio and needs minimum of 10 pics. £500! I said ive been mislead theres no way we can afford that. He said i should have done my research and should have known no one can do model work with out a portfolio, he was very short and 'off' with us, basically giving the impression we were wasting his time. I asked if we could go away and think about it and he said no the descion had to be made there and then. After explaining numerous times we couldnt afford it he offered us to pay in instalments. By this time being there over 5 hours with 2 young children id had enough. he come across very patronsing in the end we agreed to pay instalments, if anything to get out of there, which i now realise was silly. The pictures were stunning and i did want them so thought id try to find the £100 a month he was asking. Any way it so happens this monday my partner has been made redundant. I work 16 hours a week on £5.73 and we have a £900 a month mortgage so as u can imagine, were in big trouble now of possibly losing our house. I contacted the agency straight away and explained my situation ( i have already paid £100 to them) and the manager said im sorry but you have now signed a contract and i cant cancel that! I said a bit of sympathy wouldnt go a miss, and I cant give you what i havent got. I said to her what about a 14 day cooling off period, she said she didnt know and would get back to me next week. I said thats not good enough as the cooling off period will be over then and the 1st instalments due next week and if they take that i wont even be able to feed my family let alone anything else. So she said she will look into it and get back to me friday. Does anyone know where i stand? many thanks
 

Witch consumer

Moderator
Sep 8, 2008
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Debtors retreat
This depends on the contract I think, the 14 day cooling off period only applies to the distance selling regulations, you could argue this applies because the first contact was by phone, however, this wasn't for the sale of the photos which they could argue is what the contract applies to and I don't think this would be covered as you were present when the photos were sold.

Doesn't alter the fact that you can't give them money you haven't got and this will be way down your list of priorities which are obviously your home and your secured debts plus your council tax etc. It may be worth contacting Payplan or CCCS for advice

Sorry I can't be any more helpful.