Sunday, May 2, 2010

Deon Taylor Enterprises / Roxanne Avent / Deon Taylor

Mod update 07/11/10: Payment has now been made thanks to this blog

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I just wanted to share this tale with you. It's from a job in Sacramento, but the company hires out of LA from time to time too.

The company name is Deon Taylor Enterprises and the hiring party is Roxanne Avent and Deon Taylor.

On February 9th and 10th Deon Taylor Enterprises rented one Canon 5D camera package from me, and one identical package from my associate Devin Doyle at a rate of $350.00 a day per camera package. On February 11th we both sent in invoices for $700.00 a piece to their representative Roxanne Avent. After the standard 30 days had passed and we still had not received our payment we started to call and inquire as to what the issue was with not receiving our payment and what the status of such payments were. Since then we have spoken to two accountants, one of which I believe was explained to me as having been fired (and I've now as of today 4-28-10 discovered that the new accountant was fired as well), who both at first promised our payments were being processed immediately. After waiting for several more weeks we started calling again and were told that our payment was pending. I began to try to ask to speak with Roxanne who was always "busy" as the accountant Yen told me. So I called Roxanne's cell number and left messages asking for her to return my call to discuss the status of the payment, which were all never returned. Eventually after waiting months past due on the payment I sent in a formal letter asking for the payment and for some sort of contact from the company to please explain what was going on. Since then I have heard nothing from either Roxanne or Yen and have since decided that this should best be settled with the help of a mediator. To date I still have not been able to get in touch with Roxanne or have been told by Yen when our payments would be made.

Just figured it would help others if you added these cheapskates to the list.

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07/11/10

Hey,
So I just wanted to say thank you again for posting the thing on Deon Taylor as I'm pretty sure the reason they paid me was because of your posting on the site as they called about two weeks ago asking me to take the 'blog' down now that I had been paid. Bastards.

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10/07/11

To Whom It May Concern;

I wish I had seen your blog before working for Deon Taylor
Enterprises. They got me too, and I am STILL waiting on my payment.

21 comments:

Stephanie said...

Deon Taylor is a scamming company. They pay themselves first before paying any of their bills (which they rarely do anyway). I have 2 friends who have filed complaints with the labor board after having not been paid for 8+ months. One was finally paid with the help of the labor board. The other has a labor board meeting next week and has received 2 checks from Deon Taylor that bounced. While the labor board process can be long, it's well worth the wait because you will be paid and perhaps even accrue penalties if Deon Taylor Enterprises fails to pay on time. I wish that more people would speak out against this company. I am still amazed that with such a horrible reputation behind-the-scenes, Deon Taylor Enterprises continues to receive positive press. Thank you for speaking out.

spider said...

well good luck getting your hard working $$$$$ they owe as over 500,00. same situation never return calls, accountant or attorney had being fire, they never have the responsibility to say what is going on,almost like they want to get away with, owe $$$to people no shame....in my book that have a name so you r not alone...we will do something about it....

MaMaStarZ said...

This is interesting... I've been involved with Deon Taylor for over 5 years and have always been paid. They also helped launch my career as an artist. Deon Taylor is the first independent film director that was able to obtain an official theatrical release in Sacramento. He is bringing a lot of opportunities to this area that no one else is bringing.

Stephanie said...

So glad to hear that you were finally paid. I posted a link to this blog on the Deon Taylor Enterprises Facebook page a couple months ago. They deleted the link recently, but I have reposted it. Please don't delete this post. Deon Taylor Enterprises' ways need to be known as to not continue to scam others. Plus, my friends are still awaiting payment. Thanks again for your post.

Angela R. said...

I've been working for Deon Taylor, too, and I've never encountered any problems with them. We're also not a scamming company. That is not part of our job description.

DS Pictures said...

I've had problems with them as well.. I worked as a PA on set for 3 days, worked my ass off, and still got a bounced check, which I then had to pay for. Essentially I worked 3 days and paid my bank over $300 to do so...

Anonymous said...

dspictures have you tried calling the office and talking to someone? I think you and I worked together. I didn't have a problem and I'm sorry to hear you did. I highly recommend calling them up and explaining your situation. They seemed pretty friendly to me and I'm helping them out again on set February.

Unknown said...

I work as a freelance photographer for special events, and was hired on by Deon Taylor Enterprises to shoot for one of their Halloween events, and I had absolutely no problems. In fact, I absolutely loved the time I spent with Deon and his crew. Very down to earth people from all walks of life. Got my check right after the event and had no trouble cashing it.

I'm looking forward to getting a call for their next event.

Unknown said...

Scamming company? Please. Accidents happen and mistakes are made. Bashing a company because of one mix-up is hardly professional. I wonder how you got hired on in the first place, with that attitude. I am an interior design student and was recommended to Deon by a friend, so he invited me to come work on a set of his and for a Halloween event he organized. Both of them went off without a hitch, and I greatly enjoyed my time working on both. One of the first project managers I've had that really let's you explore your own creativity while doing work. Not to mention it's a great addition to my resume. I hear Deon is starting to shoot again in Feb and am crossing my fingers for a call.

Jasper said...

I've worked with DTE for over two years and have absolutely no major issues with them. There was only one delayed check back about a year ago when they were switching banks, but after that everything has run smoothly. I have heard many complaints from outsourced work, and I can understand how these issues arise. Whenever Deon hears that someone has not been paid, he gets on the phone ASAP to solve the issue. He doesn't take these things lightly at all. He is very apologetic regarding issues in payments. You must realize that running a film production company is very difficult work, and Deon has a million and one things going at the same time... yet he stops everything and looks into the issue.

Here's the real issue with this website: Nobody has actually called the DTE office before posting here on this website. They don't receive payment and instantly go online to complain about it. Whenever we get complaints, which is very very rare, they are dealt with on that SAME DAY. The issues that appear on this website never reached the office. How can Deon handle issues and discrepancies without hearing about them?

If you have an issue with payment, contact the office.

Vertigo778 said...

as of today, they owe me several thousand dollars. I've been calling and emailing them for over 8 months, with many, many assurances that my calls would be returned, to no avail. they seem very nice on the phone, but clearly don't have a sustainable business model, as we did a big favor for them. best to avoid at all costs.

FilmCrewBoy said...

The people on here that leave positive comments are so funny. Deon Taylor Ent. has paid "bloggers" that write fake positive bloggers on films and places like this all o over the Internet. Every positive film revue you read is a paid blogger. They are scammers for sure. Most film people in Sacramento and beyond have experience this.

The Humor Mill Magazine said...

Filmcrewboy said it best- they do pay bloggers to write positive reviews. AND they NEVER pay their folks who they have "hired"... And I am one of them. I just wish I had listened to the people who were telling me to avoid them.

Anonymous said...

looks like this is an ex-dte employee reunion. hi guys how ya been.

i rendered dte services for over a year, and all of the stuff the other guys are sayin about the bloggers is true, ive seen the blogging department and its a bunch of kids online posting on blogs and forums and websites saying how amazing deon taylors movies are. piece of filth company. not only were their checks to me late , half of the ones i got BOUNCED!!! took them more time tryin to get me back my money , man!

anyways what i seen was they be getting loans to pay off other loans. investors gave em money and they bought fancy ass cars. tryin to call it a business expense.

i saw FIVE receptionists quit the company because they kept getting calls from ppl who were owed money. the stress was to much for them because roxanne and velma kept sayin 'tell them were in a meeting and well call them back'.. they be sitting on their asses not in meetings they just pushing it off. i seen this from my own eyes n i shoulda left before but i didnt.

oh ya they also be payin off this jacky jasper guy from some big website who was exposing the filth. they payed him like several thousand dollars to take off the expose. OMG thats just sick.

anyways i thought i let u know hollywood crew blacklist that they been tryin for years to get this website offline. thats why all the positive comments on this page are from deon taylors blogger kids lol.

take care.

Vertigo778 said...

Hey guys,

At the moment I work for a VFX company that Deon Taylor Enterprises owes $20,000+ dollars to, and has for over a year. Unfortunately, thats a small enough amount of money that suing them may not be that effective unfortunately, but we may still sue just on principal.

Its unfortunate this company is so unscrupulous and shady to deal with, I've heard nothing but horrible things about them.

They also post their address on the website, so we may just send someone up there to just wait in their offices until they respond.

Stephanie said...

For anyone trying to track down Deon Taylor Enterprises, the company now goes by the name of Hidden Empire Film Group. http://hiddenempirefilmgroup.com/
New name, same staff, same shady dealings.

My friend is still waiting for payment 3+ years after working for Deon. He was successful in his small claims case since nobody from Deon Taylor Enterprises showed up to court. Now, the matter of payment...when it was requested from Deon Taylor Enterprises' bank, the account had been closed. It's not really surprising since they regularly change their location, bank accounts, banks, and now company names.

HALA said...

Oh yes people...Deon Taylor is a HUGE scam and I don't know how he stay in business nor is supposedly big in the Sacramento area. Roxanne Avent (his right hand gal so to speak and live in whatever) go from one company to the next scamming everybody they work with. Why they are not in jail, I will never understand. We rented grip and electrical equipment to them on the Film "Chain Letter" and have a judgement on Deon taylor enterprises and Chain Letter Productions in excess of $58,000.00. Will we ever collect? I seriously doubt it due to the fact that as we all know, once the film is finished, they roll up the sidewalks, change bank accounts, start a new name and do another film under another name, and do the exact same thing. When I heard "Chain Letter" got a theatrical release, I nearly busted a gut! Another head up about them is they provide insurance certificates from people like Kelly Rubin from Signature Entertainment aka Kelly Co. whose insurance is not worth the paper it's printed on. Signature Entertainment has since been shut down by the insurance commissioner hence the new company Kelly Co.
From what I understand, Deon Taylor and Roxanne Avent always have lived well in large homes (with Deon's mother) so their scam continues. I've also researched them enough to know that we are not the only company who has judgements on them. I hope there's a special place in hell for Deon Taylor, Roxanne Avent, and his mom....you should be so proud at what a worthless excuse of a human being you've raised.

Unknown said...

To all fellow victims of Deon Taylor and Roxanne Advent, you have my deepest sympathy. I am a film editor who worked for them in 2008-2009 and was owed four weeks salary at one time. The more and more I enquired, the more they disappeared.

They use being based in Sacramento as a way of hiding from the obligations. Deon tends to avoid confrontation and conveniently disappears when money is owed. Roxanne has her avoidance role down pat. She only surfaces when the coast is clear.

In 30+ years I've worked for some unsavory characters but these two take the cake.

What's even more infuriating is these bottom feeders can con celebrity talent like Jamie Foxx into believing they are worth doing business with.

Unknown said...

I worked for Deon and Roxanne on several occasions. They win people over by offering them positions that would take several years to obtain in the typical industry setting but they work you to the bone! 16-18 hr days on a non-union wage, i.e. no overtime. I visited their house on a couple of occasions, whats bizarre is they seem like such nice people but they really are all about the money, and their CARS! Technically they are married but have an open relationship. I think what bothers me most is because its rare to see a black director he is able to get funding not based on talent but more on ethnic opportunity. Deon is a horrible director( watch any of his movies) but Deon is an excellent salesman. He has immense charisma and can talk you or anyone else up, case in point Jaime Foxx, who I have also met and is an extremely paranoid guy but even he fell for the Deon sales pitch. Bottom line, avoid Deon taylor and their new business"hiddenempirefilmgroup" because they will steal not only your hard earned wages but also your ideas. I wont say I regret working with them because in my case I was able to further my career from the experience and connections I made.

Stephanie said...

5 years later and my friend has finally been paid, with no help from Deon Taylor. In the past 5 years, my friend has gone to the labor board and also won a small claims suit 3 years ago against Deon Taylor. However, Deon Taylor still could not be bothered to pay up.

In the past 3 years, my friend had to find out the bank and account number of Deon Taylor Enterprises, which constantly changed, in order for the sheriff to be able to go to the bank and retrieve the money.

FINALLY, through a series of events and talking to the right people, my friend was able to obtain the correct bank info and has finally been paid (with interest)...again, with no help from Deon Taylor Enterprises (which would not return calls or take part in paying this former contract employee). It took the sheriff taking the money out of their account, without their knowledge, for payment to be made. RIDICULOUS! Deon Taylor Enterprises aka Hidden Empire Film Group is not to be trusted.

Bobski said...

Our company leased space to Deon, he didn't pay so we ended up in a mediated settlement of payment over time. He never said he didn't owe it. He never made the first payment and further litigation didn't work so we sent him to collections, a method often more effective. The collection agency wrote this: that “These people are ‘BIG TIME DEBTORS & CON ARTISTS We will handle it on a contingency fee of 50% but it will be a very difficult collection.”

The debt is over five years old.