Review: The Keen Agency, Inc.

[Rachael]

I actually thought this was a legit agency, and I always wanted to try my hand at modeling. Unfortunately I'm not tall enough to be accepted to any of the well-known agencies, but my mom is a former model, so she also thought this was legit based on the research she did.

Not true!!! all they do is let you see the castings on their site and never call you once. And so much of it wasn't even in NY. Most of them are hair shows in the fall. Anyway, I called them a couple months ago saying it's been a year and I want another photo shoot (since they say it's free after a year; as long as you prove you were going to castings). The girl told me "Sure, we'll let you know when we'll be in NYC again." I highly, highly doubt they'll come back. I don't think they return to cities they've already been, otherwise they would have "models" pounding on their door asking for more photo shoots (which would cost them lots of $$$). They go to one city, take your money, and never return. I was only working PT at the time, so money was right. I'm pretty angry they took advantage of me.

[Keenmeme]

Dear Rachael;

I am very sorry that you are angry and I assure you that we "are" going to return to NYC. However, please keep in mind that you contacted us for your "free re-shoot" a couple of months ago.....As we explained, a couple of months ago NYC and the East Coast experienced Hurricane Sandy, which was quite devastating to NYC and many other areas on the coast. It was not the right time to hold an event or photo session as it would have been, quite honestly, in no ones best interest. Additionally, shortly after Hurricane Sandy, there was a large snow storm which also affected the area. Our open calls do cost our agency money for advertising, travel expense, meeting room rentals-which are very expensive in NYC, NY.
We are in the process of planning our next event in NYC, NY. We cannot control nature and we also have other factors to consider.

As for booking models in NYC... Ironically, we just booked a National skin care print ad for hand models with one of our models in NYC last week through Meltzger Media(if you matched what they were looking for 35-70 female--you would have been in our power point presentation which was submitted to their account executive. Also,we have had extensive opportunities for our models in NYC as well. The competition is very aggressive in NYC and we cannot control who companies hire or do not hire.

Yes, we do have models contacting us on facebook, telephone, twitter, email, etc.. daily wanting to sign with our agency. Also, we return to many cities every 2-12 months as needed. We are more concerned with booking the models we have and adding only when necessary, thus the reason why we offer a free photo session your second year upon request to give our models more of an opportunity.

I understand your frustration and when a person looks at a review from a competitor, angry model, etc... they tend to worry or become concerned. I truly wish you would have discussed this further with our agency and we would have been able to clear up any misconceptions which you may have had or still have.

Regardless of your posting, we are still more than willing and wanting to assist you in furthering your opportunities with our agency. Therefore, please do not feel any hesitation to call our office to communicate further.

We have only the very best intentions for all of our models and talent. Again, please feel comfortable contacting our office as I do know that many times people can write something negative out of frustration and it may not really be how they feel after our resolution to provide them with the attention we want to give to each person with our company.

Very Best,

Deborah L Keen
CEO
The Keen Agency, Inc.
1-877-781-3180

[Curious]

I resently attended a casting call with the Keen Agency. We were selected, during the call to the agency we were informed that there would be a $75.00 fee to upload the photos onto their website,$50.00 for a portfolio book and the rest I guess if for the photographer. If we decide to use our own photos and there accepted by your agency what is the total cost to be registered on your site?

[Rachael]

Well, to be fair, I'm still able to log in well after a year when I signed, so I'll give credit for that. They need to update the listings way more often. A week ago the most recent casting was about 2 weeks expired. Just logged on now (2/10) and the most recent casting was from 5 days ago. The rest from January. They used to update it way more often.

I was gone with the military for a while, so I was unable to try and go to castings and/or contact them about a photo shoot.

Deborah: Hurricane Sandy was 4 months ago, and I haven't heard anything about you guys coming back to NYC. It's been about a year and a half. 2-12 months does not seem accurate at all. NYC recovers quickly, and after about 2-3 weeks was back to normal after the hurricane, so you can't really use that as an excuse.

[Injunglenow]

Keen is a rip off scam and the positive reviews on here that claim to be someone else are in fact made from Deborah herself. My opinion is she is a flaming bitch, rude, arragant and greedy. Rips people off for photos joke saying if they are done somewhere else they are no good. Puts down every agency except her own. This woman. Is a liar and had the worst case of God complex I've ever seen

[Injunglenow]

If anyone should be sued it is Deborah keen herself. Go to one of her sales pitches and laugh while she does nothing but talk highly of herself over and over, bashes all other agencies, says no possible way anyone could get a good photo unless you use her person, who convienently only charges under 400 bucks when it would normally be 1100. Also she talks about all the bad reviews on the Internet actually claiming a company places the bad reviews than tries to mske her pay 11 grand to remove them! This woman is truly insane.

[anonymous1029384 7465]

Deborah L Keen wrote:

<quoted text>
Dear Scammed and Scared;
Let me ask: Why are you scared? Scared of being held liable for your false statements which I have already contacted our corporate attorney to being the process of finding out your name to take legal action against you? Scared? As you sit behind a computer without giving your name and you chose to falsely accuse my agency of being a scam?
Your email does not even deserve an educated response as I do know that intelligent persons would not bother to pay attention to such ridiculousness.
Very Truly Yours,
Deborah L. Keen
CEO
The Keen Agency,Inc.

Dear Deborah,

First of all, if you read properly, it says "scarred," not "scared." You made yourself sound unintelligent. Secondly, I agree with this post. My wife applied for your agency and got accepted. She and I paid 350.00 to basically get some good pictures taken. No promotion, no calls, nothing. To any who read this post, it is a scam and nothing more.

Very sincerely,

Disappointed Husband of Customer