Victim of Premiere Productions Inc. Training Scam and Ripoff. What should I do?

Question

I am currently enrolled in the Events and Wedding Planning training program offered by Premiere Productions Inc. There are a lot of negative reviews and press about this company's business practices. I have been in the their training program for 9 weeks now and I feel that my experiences with Premiere Productions Inc. is very similar to the many unhappy students and clients who have preceded me.

First of all, there is absolutely no personal and direct interaction with any formal instructors which was promised when I was sold on their 12 week training packages. Much to my surprise all of their so called training is done exclusively online through webinars that are conducted once a week. On multiple occasions, the instructor had to cancel the webinar at the very last minute without any advance notice. Very unprofessional.

Furthermore, there are no opportunities to shadow or work with any experienced event and wedding planners which seems very suspect to me since Premiere Productions Inc. is supposed to be an event and wedding planning company. It turns out that a lot of vendors, brides, and couples will not work with Premiere Productions Inc. because of their bad track record and reputation in the industry.

I have also been disappointed by the lack of training materials. There are no textbooks, workbooks, guides, manuals, etc... Overall the quality of the webinars have been terrible. In addition, the content of the instructor led webinars lack depth and educational value. I also get the impression that the instructor lacks formal knowledge and practical experience in Event and Wedding Planning. The training and webinars offered by Premiere Productions Inc. have been a big disappointment and waste of money. The instructor is always unprepared and doesn't seem to know what she's doing or talking about most of the time.

I have completed about half of the training program with Premiere Productions Inc. and it is nothing like what they advertised. All of my emails to the instructor and Executive Director have gone unanswered. The one time that I track down Maria Cook the Executive Director, she told me that should would discuss my concerns with the corporate office. She did not seem very sincere about addressing my concerns. I followed with her several times, but she kept on giving me a lot of excuses and told me that they would make me happy. As it turns out I recently discovered that she is the President and owner of the company. I feel that I have fallen victim to their suspect and deceptive business practices. I would like to quit the training program and recover the money that I have already paid them. Now I understand why I forced to sign a non-refundable payment agreement at the time of payment. Everything about the training packages, program, and school were completely misrepresented.

What do you recommend I do? Should I hire an attorney? Should I sue them for fraud since everything about the company was grossly misrepresented to me?

Answer 1

Do me a favor.

Make sure you report it to complaints board.com

and rip-off report. com

Protect others first.

/

Answer 2

If you take a closer look at Premiere Productions Inc. you will see a lot of inconsistencies and anomalies that will certainly make you question this company's business practices as well as credibility.



For example, the small business license for Premiere Productions Inc. was registered by Maria Cook to an apartment in Santa Monica. However, you will see that they have used different business addresses all over the city of Los Angeles in their ads and postings on the Internet. Here are just a few...



520 Broadway Santa Monica, CA 90401

125 Montana Ave Santa Monica, CA

11400 Olympic Blvd. Suite 200. Los Angeles, CA 90064



If you call the 1-877 number for Premiere Productions Inc. it's virtually impossible to get in touch and speak with an actual person as it always go to voicemail.



If you take a look at the ads they place on Craigslist under the jobs section, they make no attempt to even mention that you have to pay for training. However, as others have noted once you get to the interview you will be asked to pay for training and the job that you are there to interview for does not actually exist.



If Maria Cook claims she is not the primary operator and owner of Premiere Productions Inc. then why does she list herself as the President of the company on her own LinkedIn profile and and numerous other self-promotional articles on sites all over the Internet. Seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors to me.



If I were you I would severe all ties and affiliation with this company immediately. You don't want to associate yourself with something of this nature. Go get an attorney tomorrow and seek financial restitution for the training you have not received while this company is still in business.

Answer 3

This is a scam that they are running across the country. They rent space at a virtual office for a week to meet with people that responded to their job ads for event and wedding planners only to try to get you to sign up and pay for their illegitimate training school. I live in New York and Premiere Productions Inc. did the same thing here.



For all of you that have been taken for a ride by Premier Productions, please contact the Attorney General of Santa Monica. I sent a complaint but they can’t investigate until people who have lost money to them contact. If enough of you do they will shut down this shady operation, put these scam artists in jail, and hopefully get your money back.



My experience with Premiere Productions Inc. They posted ad for Event and Wedding Planners. I responded. I was so excited because the office was right next to my apt building. So cool right? I go to interview and as I was heading up in the elevator, a man says to me “what is on the 28th floor?” I thought he was hitting on me but I answered him. He told me he has worked in that building for 30 years and has never heard of them. Which got me wondering why an event planner would be in the financial district on wall street anyway?



I go to interview with the whole personality assessment. They tell me how wonderful I am blah blah. I wait a week to finally hear from them. Then some chick named Elena calls me and asks me what program I want. I was like? What do you mean program? She said something about the platinum program is somewhere around 11k. I said to her “let me guess, you want me to wire the money” and I laughed. She said yes and acted like nothing was up. I said I would get back to her and never did. I was so pissed that I even wasted my time with them and knew others were getting scammed. I wrote to everyone but b/c I didn’t give them money they would just keep my information and complaint on file. The only way decent human beings can protect each other is if we stick together against those with no conscience. Start with the Attorney General in Santa Monica or Los Angeles and then the Attorney General in your city.



Good luck everyone and I hope you all get your money back!

Answer 4

Get a lawyer and sue the heck out of them. Ask them to refund you what they charged you for the training scam and as much as the law allows in small claims court for stress and aggravation. Also demand all legal fees be paid by them.



Contact and file complaints with the BBB, FTC Consumer Affairs, and Attorney General's Office. You may also want to get together with others who have been victimized and file a class action lawsuit.I'd imagine that you would have a strong case given the number of people who have already complained about this company.



Do whatever it takes to seek justice and don't let them take advantage of you. Good luck to you and best regards.

Answer 5

Most people would have done the internet research before driving 250 miles for the "interview." You are not the first person who as asked about this company on Y!A so you could have searched this site alone and found out it was a scam. Now your question is also in the data base so maybe the next person thinking about joining the company will look at your question and decide to go somewhere else.

Answer 6

Here's a sample of comments from students, couples, and brides who have been burned and ripped off by Maria Cook and her company Premiere Productions Inc.





http://www.ripoff-scam.com/ripoff-scam/is-premiere-productions-inc-training-program-for-wedding-planners-a-rip-off-and-scam



http://www.yelp.com/biz/premiere-productions-inc-santa-monica



http://www.weddingwire.com/reviews/premiere-productions-inc-santa-monica/2a4411ca108bebc3.html



http://www.projectwedding.com/vendor/show/premiere-productions-inc



http://www.complaintsboard.com/byurl/premiere-productionsinc.com.html



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20100127114935AAC9qkR

Answer 7

Check them out at http://www.bbb.org/