I've searched the net and looked at all the forums looking at which agencies to sign my child too.. they are now signed to a reputable agency however I was unfortunate to come across the Alba website which I found most sites recommended.. including branded sites where they listed Alba as a reliable source of where to get information from. Saying it was the watchdog of the model agency.
I sent a photo of my youngest daughter in via their website for a facebook promotion they had going on, and I received an email and a text saying I had won a competition for something else, saying it was the best photo of the week and that we had won a free photo shoot, a free photo and a free pack worth £20 that we would receive on the day should we go for the shoot.
I called to enquire and was told to confirm this.. I would have to pay a £50 deposit as so many people had booked and not turned up but this was fully refundable on the day.
On the day we arrived at the location, it said on an A4 sheet on paper stuck to the door Zest Portfolios, no where at all did it mention alba, nor did the lady who was shall we say the host mention Alba at all through out the day, who apparently turned out to be the owner of Alba.
The only time it did get mentioned was when we were disputing later on over buying the images.
My daughter had her shoot, and we picked our one photo saying we were already paying for a portfolio for our chosen agency at which the man got a bit shirty and tried the hard sell. When we asked for our refund we were told it would be refunded on the Monday and the pack sent to us along with the photograph.
Instead of refunding several days later and after a few reminding phone calls he took another £50 out instead of refunding it. We still have not received the model pack which was part of the prize that should have been given on the day.
We have looked into this man and found he has had 22 dissolved companies most of which are childrens model agencies, my main concern is that people including branded companies are recommending Alba as the model watchdog. and they are really a huge scam.
I then sent a photo of my eldest daughter in under a different name... just to enquire about agency's not about any competitions and guess what she won too...
companycheck.co.uk/director/908357247