9-8-22
Written by: Cynthia Lester
It is no surprise that once again, Supermodels Unlimited (SU) is being questioned about alleged scams against this company. Upon a google search, you will find pages of bad reviews and scams alleged against SU, starting from the early 2000s to present day. They have been accused of not providing promised services or products that have been paid for, deceptively advertising events, misleading the public about their opportunities, keeping profits that they lead consumers to believe was going to charities.
They seems to have a recipe to mask these scam allegations, by continuing to create hype and credibility by paying to have “has been” celebrities appear at their events where they take pictures and circulate announcements where yet more consumers put their trust in this business.
Unfortunately for Mary Ward, from Georgia, she fell victim to deceptive advertising when she placed money in a competition to win a title, photography session, & walk down the catwalk in NYC from Supermodels Unlimited (SU). Mary Ward ended up winning the title, photography session, & walk down the catwalk in NYC, which she had to rearrange her entire work schedule, investing money in costly airfare & hotel accommodations, relying on SU to provide this opportunity as they stated they would.
One week prior to attending SU’s event in NYC, Mary Ward discovered that SU’s event was not linked to CDFA & IMG’s schedule of events. CDFA & IMG are the two organizations that are known to the public as New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Thus, Mary began to question why SU was advertising their event as connected to NYFW. Mary further began to hear from other women that they were being told by SU that GUESS has partnered with them for a photoshoot during NYFW & could not find anything on this “so called” business partnership between SU and GUESS. Women relied on what had been told to them by SU, when they decided to hand money over to SU to be a part of these experiences to further their career in the modeling industry.
On 9-6-22, SU called Mary Ward, accusing her to spreading slander about their organization simply because she had been affiliated in a satiric comedy calling out and questioning businesses who were claiming to be connected to certain large companies and leading consumers to believe they could make someone famous if they paid enough money. At no point did Mary Ward ever make reference to SU by their name.
During the phone call between Mary Ward & SU on 9-6-22, SU asked Mary Ward if she still planned to attend the NYC event and keep her title. She verbally told them yes, as she has already made accommodations with her job and invested money to attend. SU unliterally decided to require Mary Ward to confirm in text after she already verbally told them she planned to attend. Mary Ward, was advised by her attorney to not put any response in text and unless Mary agreed to the modification of contract requiring this written text, that she was in no obligation to write anything to them.
On 9-8-22, Mary and her husband flew from Georgia to NYC for Mary to attend this event that was promised by SU. Upon arriving at the airport, she received a text from SU, that because she did not confirm anything in writing that they unilaterally requested & never agreed to by Mary, that Mary has forfeited her title and therefore was taken out of the fashion show and photoshoot.
Contracts can be verbal and if someone is going to modify a contract after a verbal contract has already been relied on by the parties, BOTH parties must be in agreement. Thus, SU had no right to impose this requirement on Mary and take back what Mary had paid for and had been promised.
Mary’s attorney will be reaching out to SU to demand reimbursement of costs put out for the trip and if SU does not refund her, she will be filing a lawsuit against SU, along with another women who lost several thousand dollars based on deceptive advertising.
The Investigative Reporter 