Is voice123 a scam, or misleading people?

Hail Wilson · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 78

This is to advise that I just got off the chat room with Charlie, on the voice talent end. I told him in no uncertain terms, that unless voice123 is willing to give me the name, and phone number of the last ten (10) clients I submitted auditions to, I expect a refund of any money due at the time of immediate cancellation of my membership. I also told him I was prepared to file a complaint with New York's office of consumer affairs, the better busines bureau, and get WCBS 2's investigative team to look into the matter. Without talent(s) being able to have contact with the client directly for verification that auditions are getting through, how do we know for sure that voice123 isn't a scam like the clients??????

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

People we know and love on this forum land these gigs all the time....so we know those are not scams....and we are just a small percentage of the v123 members...very few post here.....so the gigs we're not landing are going to other non posting members or to someone on TOS...sometimes the leads are duplicated here and over there. No....most leads are not scams....not to say everyone isn't...but most are not.

Kevin Miller · **Voice Talent** Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 142

Hail Wilson · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 78

Thanks Tom:
But without being able to check with a client directly to confirm they received my audition, how do I know they get it. So far the only thing I see with voice 123 is webinars, that appear to be nothing more than an associated services way to get money out of us. The larger the membership roll at voice123, the larger the target for these services after our money. Ever heard of consumer reporter Clark Howard at WSB, Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta. Visit >clarkhoward.com<

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Whoa! Before you get the President on the phone, just look at the posts with people landing gigs through V123. They're out there. It's not a scam. Take a deep breath and look around the forum a bit more to see how it works. Competive does not equal scam.

Cheers,
Cameron

Cira Larkin - Studio 53 · **Voice Talent** Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 497

Cira Larkin - Studio 53 · **Voice Talent** Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 497

Joe J Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1521

First off... this should be in the Talkback forum, yes?

Second, I'd like to wish Hail a hearty farewell.
Seems like only yesterday he made his first posting here...
Oh, wait... my bad... it was at least a week ago!

Hail, bud, take 'er easy. You don't want to be a part of V123, that's fine. They offer a service. Many of us have made $$$ off gigs. Few if any have run into scam clients. It's a more likely scenario that you'd get a non-paying client, and even then, it's not up to V123 to collect payment - that's your job.

Was there something in particular that set this action in motion?

Deep breathely,
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com

Hail Wilson · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 78

Of the USA, or Voice123? I'm sure voice123 will keep enough of a talent pool that they choose from to grant gigs to, so as to make it look like they're on the up and up. I read enough concerns last night in the forum, that it's got me concerned now. Like how one lead script referenced gallerysite.com as a lighting fixture store. When one of the talents checked out the website, it was porn. There were other concerns raised as well.

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Yikes, Hail...you're clipping there, lad.

We've all moaned about the client confidentiality (among other gripes). But your tone there has me thinking you might be one of those talents who necessitated that secrecy in the first place.

Voice seekers do not want to (nor should they be expected to) receive calls from the talents. About anything.

Multiply your urge to call for assurances that your aud got through by hundreds of auditions per day. Bedlam, man.

The proof's in the pudding. We do get jobs. We do get TBYS'es. We do get e-mails and phone calls from clients.

They're real.
Your misgivings aren't.

Voice123 On!

Joe J Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 1521

These are humans doing the screening, Hail... and people make mistakes.

One of my favourite quotes is as follows:
"Never attibute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity"

I've seen and exposed my share of scams. This just doesn't have the hallmarks, earmarks, or groucho marks of one...

Read some more. Take it with a grain of salt (or a shot of vodka)
Joe

Hail Wilson · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 78

Yes!!!
The concerns I read last night from other talent in my shoes...who haven't gotten any gigs yet. No bang for their buck. And webinars, where in the end, all the vendors want is to get your money. I would think that voice123 would for the membership fee, since most DON'T get bookings, would offer some of the services that the vendors do. Furthermore, I said I'm concerned. Concerned that voice123 is not honoring any kind of fudicial obligation to the talent's. The talent's are clients too when they pay a fee for something they may or may not get.
I don't want to do anything rash!! But I think there should be some reason offered by v123 for us not getting any bookings to have faith.
If no one gave blood, unless they were paid $100 a pint, think how bad off we'd be. Do you think there would be a law eventually, that required all eligible donors to give blood at least once a year? My hat's off to those of you who have gotten jobs, you may not have as much reason as the rest of us to be concerned that you're throwing your money away. Not that I am throwing my money away, but at this juncture, I don't know. I do appreciate your comments pro, or con.

Lisa Zachary-Kent · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 453

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

It's like Joe said Hail. For every lead, there are hundreds of people that audition. there can be only one selected out of the 2 to 300 people that audition. That means there's one person that gets the gig and 2 to 300 that don't. We don't know why we didn't get picked.....bad audio? Bad audition? Not the right voice type? We don't even know if our audition was heard....the seeker might have listened to the first 5 and found the perfect voice for their project and stopped listening at that point. Most of us just assume that there are alot of times our auditions don't even get heard....either because by the time we submitted our audition there were already 200 people that submitted before us, or because they randomly listened to samples of auditions and skipped over ours, or they found the voice they wanted before getting to ours. With 200 or more auditions for each lead, it's a safe bet the seeker is not going to sit and listen to every single one of them. But in any event....V123 is not a scam.....when you pay your fee, you are not paying to get a gig....your paying for the ability to compete for whatever gig you choose. Let me tell you.....there are some top notch unbelievably good voice talent that are competing for these gigs.....so....numerically, your (mine or anyones) odds of landing the gig are slim with all that competition....and on top of that, the odds that your audition will not be heard are good. So hang in there bro....the stars and planets will align at some point.

Debbie Deutsch · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 1338

My Gawd, I come back from telling stories to sweet little children at a local bookstore and it looks like the Chit Chat Thread has exploded Exclamation

What did I miss??