LONDON FASHION MODEL 

In 2016 my daughter then being 16 applied online got a phone call not to long after and invited us to a shoot in London so we agreed to go after securing a deposit of £50 over phone got there the next week was greeted by which seemed a nice professional person asked to wait until called had photo shoots she was so excited as this was always what she wanted to do and her self esteem wasn’t great so to have this opportunity was amazing for her after a very long day we were asked to come into this room where explained to us the promises that were made different packages bronze silver gold etc we handed over £2700 for something that never happened I have chased this for nearly 2 years and got no where my daughter was devasted do they not realise or care what they are doing to these poor kids giving hope then taking it all away again got us into debt it’s discusting they should be prosecuted I tried to claim my money back but no luck as I had signed an agreement for cd pics AVIOD

My 15 year old son was invited for his photoshoot last year at Oxford Street. We did our research first and the company seemed authentic. How wrong we were! After his makeup, hair and photoshoot we were persuaded to hand over £4000, which sounds incredibly naive but the woman was very plausible and assured us that my son would be the face of Armani Junior... she said ‘he has the face of a Disney Prince’ and proceeded to quote huge success stories and promises of bespoke support and guidance from LFM. We quickly realised they are crooks and appealed through the Financial Ombudsman. Eventually after months of stress we won our case and were refunded the majority of our £4000. Those of you who have been victims of these crooks, keep detailed notes and go to the Financial Ombudsman for help... good luck x

I don't like writing reviews if I have nothing good to say, however, I don't want someone to go through the same hassle as I did. Firstly, I would recommend not paying the deposit. I had to call my bank to get it back because they didn't want to refund me.

On the day of the shoot, after they took the photos, they took me to this dark dim lit room which I found slightly weird. Anyway...the offers they made after the shoot were 'too good to be true' which were red flags for me. For example, after a 2 minute phone call (not taken inside the room), I was confirmed to be the next face of Primark - I did not believe this.

Overall, I personally didn't trust this company at all and I chose to walk away.

The company is an absolute scam. Do not go there, otherwise, you will lose your money for receiving nothing!

Ps; to anyone who had a bad experience and reviewed here concerning LFM company, would you please contact me. I'm here by my FB, you can contact me there! There is a solution for all of us.

PLEASE READ!!!!!!

DON'T BE FOOLED BY THESE RIP OFF MERCHANTS. THEY PROMISE YOU GUARANTEED WORK, THEN THEY TAKE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY AND FOB YOU OFF AND IGNORE YOU. THEY HAVE BROKEN THE LINK TO MY SON'S WEBSITE NOW AS WELL.

THEY HAVE NOW CHANGED THEIR NUMBERS, EMAIL ADDRESSES AND WEBSITE. REMEMBER LONDON FASHION MODELS ARE A FAKE!

"DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AS EVERYONE ELSE".

I WILL BE TAKING THIS FURTHER!!!!!!!

I was sent to this nest of vipers by Ikon Models (Not the US agency of the same name) and told this was their chosen photography studio it is also called Studio Works. (It's upstairs behind a souvenir gift shop in Oxford Circus). I found them after I Googled model agency Newcastle upon Tyne. It was a Google Adsword Advert. When we arrived we suspected it was dodgy as the music was blaring and the place was really run down. THE SIGN IN THEIR WINDOW READS LONDON FASHION MODELS. My son went through the whole make up, photo shoot process to check out what we suspected was a scam and after we ended up trapped in a room with a girl who told us Jude had been selected. They only had 9 models on their books and he would be the 9th. They tried to scam us out of 8 thousand pounds! She told my son they had emailed his pictures to Ralph Lauren and they were going to use him for Milan Fashion Week but we had to pay and sign the contract first.. They told us they had contracts with Top Man, Next, Boohoo and many others and that work was guaranteed. My son was starting to wonder if it was genuine and neary gave them his life savings. It was obviously a pack of lies and we actually had to escape in the end as felt totally held to ransom. Liars, thieves, the breakers of hearts. The whole lot of them need sending to prison. I am sure they will argue they are selling portfolios of photos but they tell a whole lot of lies to get your money off you. They are very convincing but every person employed by them is in on it. Don't fall for it.

I was contacted by Studio Works (41 Oxford Street) One of my pictures had been used on the ‘simplybe’ forum so when I was called I was thrilled to think the call might be genuine. I was going to be in London for my partners birthday and she said why not! Lets try it.

On the 17th February 2018 we turned up to a studio that was at the back of a shop (I now think I should have taken this as a warning but I have NO experience in this industry and I was greeted by some one that was professional and seemed to know what they were talking about. I had my makeup done and had pictures taken with a couple of different people so it all felt very real.

Afterwards I was brought into a meeting room where I was met by a young woman She congratulated me on the fact that I had been successful and they wished to take me on to their books! I was excited but dubious but Yasmine continued to go onto the benefits and cost of being with them:

· Fortnightly Catch Ups
· Dietary routines and advice
· Practice sessions
· Group chats with other models similar to myself
· An aftercare programme for before and after castings
· My Name listed in all of their modelling castings sites.
· A casting with ASOS being paid £3900
They also promised a nutritionist and and personal trainer

The cost for this varied from £3,900 to £9,800. I explained countless times that I was not in a position to involve myself that heavily financially to which she stopped me and said:

“well I have been looking and there is a casting that I have booked you onto with ‘ASOS’ next week and the pay for this would be £3800!”

Obviously I was dumbstruck. I asked her five to 6 times to guarantee this and she did, even shaking my hand and promising… she even said “this is not a con”. My partner and I confirmed with her that as long as she could guarantee this then we were happy to give it a go. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course because there are no details of the discussion or services I was promised on the contract.

This was on the Saturday. I was then sent a ‘starter’ email asking for my measurements and of course I obliged. Since then I have called bi weekly emailed and even turned up at the office in London (which is always closed. I have been cut off, ignored and rebuffed. People always saying that they will back to me and no one ever does, it has now been 5 months and this has been absolutely devastating for me.

I then looked online and have found dozens of people in the same situation and it is just heart-breaking that this can be allowed to happen.

I must explain the delay in me getting hold of you. You will remember that I was completely hysterical when I called back in February 2018. This incident has greatly affected my mental health and I have been struggling to manage my thought process. My partner has been very supportive and I have explained to my bosses, after all I took some time off to try and deal with how I was feeling. I have been prescribed anti-depressants

I feel embarrassed to have been conned, foolish to have thought that it was genuine and now lost at the thought of trying to pay it all back. I have spent countless nights crying myself to sleep.

I have even considered going to the press as I have now seen articles about Studio Works but, although I a 31 year old woman, I still can’t bear the thought of my parents finding out because I know that they will be distraught and try and help me when they cant.

I have always had an exceptional financial record, from buying my first house by myself and owning my own car.

I feel desperate, not just because of the financial aspect but because it is just so unjust.

24th July
I am a 46 year old woman who worked for a bank for 25 years who still fell for this massive scam!!
DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR MONEY--- Now disputing the £150 quid deposit left with them to get back through credit card company.
I was lucky a small amount compared with most but they insisted on having a direct debit set up also which I have since cancelled.
Watch out for Naomi who tried to sweet talk my husband and then acted all genuine in interview saying how well Id done but wanted £650 for photo's. Since spoken to her by telephone and said No can't have photo's til end of direct debit then changed her mind and said can send you samples but you won't get work til direct debit has been all paid up. Then called me back to say yes you will but just TV extra work no modelling. This woman is the worst liar out and changes her story all the time. WALK OUT DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR HARD EARNED CASH!!! BTW photo's are awful too...

Taken for a ride to the tune of £2500!

OMG! I have just read with huge disdain and that gut-wrenching sickening feeling of many others who have been through what we are experiencing now and my poor son's life savings (such was his passion for this) clearly looking as if they've gone down the toilet! I am disgusted and mortified about this - EVERYthing that the comments below has had stated is true - employee name after employee name after employee name, different email addresses, different company names (The Studio, Black Rose Collection, LFM model, even personal email addresses, phone lines that never pick up or go to answer machines and calls never returned, it's all true and absolutely is a job for WatchDog! Disgraceful, dark & devious goings-on like this HAVE to be stopped!

Scammers unfair what they are doing to people taking thier well earned money so many people have been scammed by this company!! Also they keep changing there name doesn't add up avoid this company

They scamed me for £700 after i 'signed up' my son. Don't truat them for 1p of your money tgey aren't even a modelling agency, wgat they do they create tou a portfolio of your photos which are worthless as any pro photographer can do that fpr a fraction of LFM cost

I took my son to London fashion models last July and received the same outcome as everybody else that reviewed. Terrible scam. In the meeting at the end of the shoot, we were told that they had contacts with big brands and he could be working within 4 weeks. We went ahead but only the basic photos on cd and 12 month aftercare service (500 pounds). Have never heard from them since. I have read lots of reviews about people loosing thousands and getting into debt ( the student room ). Why haven’t they been investigated?????

I left a review in 2017 as we have thrown £1150 out of the window when we fell for this "agency" that never signs a contract, nor gives you a single job.

My experience:
My partner's daughter had a shooting in Feb 2017. Full of promises, and a "discount" when we felt unsure about paying the fee. So we made the deal at £1000!
Before this we already paid refundable deposit of £100 to secure our spot! We never saw that money:)!

1. The very same day the DVD we received was empty. I still have it.
2. Pictures came minimum 3 weeks after instead of what was promised.
3. The website I fought for by calling every single day, was of extremely poor quality and with wrong information about the model. It was promised 2 weeks after shooting, took me and the man who helped me (fb chat assistant) more than 1 month. Today the website is already deleted.
4. My first call from aftercare I received right after I left my first review on here to ask me to delete my review.
5. They said Trustpilot deleted my comment which is a lie obviously.
6. I proved I was legit and it was still removed for a while after.
7. You make peace with the loss, the anger, the disappointment that was caused for the whole family and decide to move on.
8. A lady claiming to be working for Daily Mail newspaper reached out allegedly to many of us victims, said she would gather enough information to "take LFM down". Now that person is unreachable, so do the math. Please note that Im naive, so this took me long time.

Few Details:
Names, I am not listing here, but it was 1 man that makes you sign the papers, giving you no contract (due to some excuse), and suggesting big brands names that will choose you for works in weeks.

Another man looking like a clown with excess tan and attitude while walked in demanding contracts loud in the shooting area where we all were.
Then 2 ladies "dealt" with aftercare, both sounding passionate doing exactly nothing (I regret strongly not recording our maximum of 4 conversations) with one of them, the only one I had the phone number for, months ago I tried calling and it was unavailable.

Its traumatising because that is when you realise first what you have got yourself into, and its scary.

Student room (and momsnet) has a group only for victims ("BEWARE - London Fashion Models Scam") and I can only hope that someone has enough connections and nerve to do something in the future because the stories are truly heartbreaking (most amount I saw was £10000 in loss).

Few of us reported them on official websites , police, BBC with no results.

Some could claim money back within 3 months, those were the lucky ones!

They also run under the names of : bespoke, mango, clinique!!
The only lesson which is universal and we all have succesfully ignored it:
REAL AGENCY NEVER ASKS MONEY and or photos.

Absolutely disgusted with this company! I took my son here last year they really talk you into giving them money! I told them i was in a difficult situation with money but because they promise you the world i used a credit card to fund a portfolio. They promised they would get him work and I'd here from them in a few weeks! Never heard anything and now I'm in debt!

Not worthy of even one star! My daughter had a photo shoot in March 2017 for her 18th birthday. We paid £3000 for the gold package and was assured that work would follow to easily cover this cost - nothing. I have been unable to contact the company, I have emailed and written numerous letters to no avail. Untrustworthy company!!!!

I had my shoot yesterday. Payed a lot of money and only now I read all these reviews!!!!

My son was a victim too. I have reported them to the police, Action Fraud, Trading Standards and Companies House. The more people that report them to these organisations the better! Something may eventually be done to stop these revolting people. The owner of this company and his daughter should be held accountable.

i think everyone had a bad experience with london fashion models company has reported them to action fraud
or we can sigh report together and send to them maybe we can refund our money

My 16 year old daughter has been involved with this and i stupidly agreed to pay £2,500 at their Oxford Street Studio for a photo shoot, website, 12 months hosting and 12 months aftercare and modelling co-ordination.

The photo shoot was completed on 26th August 2017 and we signed up to the gold package containing the above. Promising her work within a few months of the website going live and the aftercare and coordination will do all the running around for her to get her modelling work.

On the 8th September my daughter received a text informing her that her personal website was live, so she emailed LFM/The studio to ask what the next step was, she received an email stating the aftercare coordinator Dollie will arrange a telephone appointment and this was arranged for Thursday 12th September 2017 at 12 noon.

This call took place and on 19th September 2017 she received an email containing a form to complete, which was details for the website apparently. Height, weight, age etc. She completed this and sent it back to Dollie via email.

We have both tried numerous times to contact them as we heard nothing and then my daughter received an email on 10th October 2017 informing us that the aftercare coordinator Dollie was leaving and a new coordinator would be arranged, but to allow for some time for this to take place.

We started contacting them early November as we had heard nothing, we have tried through emails and telephone calls, but cannot never get a response. I then started doing some research and came across stories very similar to mine.

DO NOT TRUST THEM.
They took a huge amount of money and haven't found anything for my daughter. They make false promises. I want my money back.