Scammed and ripped off by Premiere Productions Inc and Maria Cook
March 8, 2010
Filed under People
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, but when I approached her about that she was like a deer in headlights and then completely denied it. 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.
Here are comments from others who have been victimized by Premiere Productions Inc. and Maria Cook.
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://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100116165403AAxAvUF
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100301152255AAWyB0n
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100212005034AAbooUe
http://www.complaints.com//2010/march/7/Premiere_Productions_Inc._Training_for_Event_and__229048.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100306161745AAB2HON
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100127114935AAC9qkR
http://www.ripoff-scam.com/ripoff-scam/is-premiere-productions-inc-training-program-for-wedding-planners-a-rip-off-and-scam
This post was submitted by May.
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 Premier. They post an ad and I respond. 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 then the Attorney General in your city. Good luck everyone and I hope you all get your money back!
Google “Premiere Productions Inc. Scam” and “Maria Cook Scam” and you will find a lot of negative commentary about Maria Cook and the scam she is running under Premiere Productions Inc.
The President and owner of Premiere Productions Inc. Maria Cook told us that the complaints and negative reviews on the Internet were false and probably from ex-employees.
That’s just baloney because my wife and I have experienced the exact same problems with Premiere Productions Inc. and Maria Cook as other have described. Just more lies and excuses from Maria.
Maria Cook and Premiere Productions Inc. have been outed on Ripoffreport.com too
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Company/Premiere-Productions-Inc.aspx
Bad boys. Baby boys. Whatcha gonna do when them come for you…
Hello I am so sorry this has happened to you. But your not alone. I have been a victim to these horrible people scamming me and so many other people. Maria Cook has partnered up with Michelle Farrell who I think now goes by Angie Shelly. I just want you guys to google her name as well so you know what kind of con artist you are dealing with. PLEASE DONT TRUST THESE PEOPLE WITH CONTRACTS, OR WITH GIVING THEM YOUR MONEY!!! Google their names and you will see various complaints. These are not by ex employees who are leaving these remarks these are brides, grooms, vendors, and innocent people who sign up for an internship program and get scammed. GO on better business website and you will see MARIA COOK IS THE CEO of premier productions. On better business you will see Michelle has owned FleursYours, planning house, and she has worked with good time group and toscana experience and they all have SCAMMED PEOPLE. MICHELLE IS CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE LOS ANGELES FRAUD DIVISION AND PLEASE PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND THE CONTACT INFORMATION OF THE DETECTIVE AND DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO PUT THESE TWO BEHIND BARS!!! Currently Michelle is being investigated. Email or call the detective and DA and tell them your story SAVE CONTRACTS EMAILS AND PHONE MESSAGES. The way they are advertising is CONSUMER FRAUD!!! YOU CAN GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THEM!!! but you need to contact the detective and DA!!! Here is their information please contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. Thank you! FOX 11 NEWS DID TWO SEGMENTS ON MICHELLE FARRELL BECAUSE SHE IS A CON ARTIST AND FRAUD OF A WEDDING PLANNER/INTERNSHIP PROGRAM!
Detective Martha Wetzel
Serial No. 24940
Commercial Crimes Division
Office: (213) 485-3795
Fax: (213) 473 -3574
EMAIL: 24940@lapd.lacity.org
The district attorney is Joy Roberts her email and contact info is: 213-974-7415 email: jroberts@da.lacounty.gov
Beware of Vertice Productions. Maria Cook, Tara Ward, and James Blackley are running the Premiere Productions Inc. SCAM and CON under the name Vertice Productions.
Do the math… Vertice Productions SCAM = Premiere Productions Inc. SCAM
Don’t buy Maria Cook’s hype, false promises, excuses, and lies. Here is a review on Ripoff Report with additional information on the Vertice Productions SCAM by Maria Cook who is a well known con-artist.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/event-planners-sites/vertice-productions/vertice-productions-premiere-p-87923.htm