Characters for Hire ℠Reviews of charactersforhire.com

My interaction with the company was in Austin, Texas. They were professional, realistic and very responsive. I would highly recommend them. The character was very enthusiastic and the attendees loved it! 10/10

Had issues with payment after working a gig. After reading many reviews from people who mentioned they hadn’t been paid, I became paranoid and a bit agitated. But they actually worked with me to ensure that I was paid in spite of the payment processing challenges.

I have worked a couple of projects with this team and it has been a pleasant experience! Being in this industry, patience is required and communication. They are transparent and if there's a misunderstanding, they are quick to respond and talk through... I do my job as expected and stay in touch with them through the process, if any changes they are quick to inform. I look forward to working with them again in future projects.

Great talent - they provided exactly what we needed for a very niche booking in California under a tight time frame! Character actors were great performers and talented, overall great service.

Great team of people who responded quickly with clear communication, warm welcome and fast payment! All good 👍

Absolutely terrible charged me over £2000 for a performance at my wedding the costumes were wrong the performance was very amature and after admitting it was poor and only offering £600 back they are now ignoring my emails!

Kevin Mack and Nancy hired myself as handler, and another performer as mascot, for an event in Toronto, Canada for October 14, 2023. Via Craigslist. The mascot and I completed the first shift of our job from 10:45am to 2:00pm at Toys 'R Us at 1440 Lawrence Avenue East, in Toronto. The third person on the scene was the Canadian marketing company's team lead / vice president. During this time, in my text and phone communication with Mr. Mack, we were told payment would be remitted via the Revolut app, but it is not operational for Canada. Mr. Mack responded by telling us to call tech support. We responded by asking for an alternative means. Mr. Mack suggested Western Union. Later, he said we would be paid be eCheck. Even later in the evening, after this incident, Nancy texted me a screenshot of a Google search result claiming that Revolut can be used in Canada. That's for app users who already signed up, in the US or elsewhere. This app withdrew from the Canadian market 2 years ago. Mr. Mack had claimed that his company has paid hundreds of performers in Canada via Revolut. That was clearly a falsehood. Just prior to the mascot beginning, the first call I received from Mr. Mack - never having spoken, interviewed or worked with him before - he launched into a tirade berating me about asking the marketing VP onsite how our fee was intended to be issued. Here's where my bad feeling kicked in, because, in fact I had read these TrustPilot reviews before taking on this job, and stupidly I overrode my instincts. Then, while the mascot was in costume, I texted Mr. Mack to ask for partial - not full - payment in good faith to both myself and the mascot to ensure we would be secured for the afternoon's events, and all of the next day. This, considering that we had shown up already and were doing the job. The Canadian marketing company onsite could attest to that. This was to establish the payment means, it was not a demand for full payment. We didn't hear anything back. Once the mascot and I had completed this event, we helped pack and load the costume back into the marketing lead's car. When the marketing lead got Mr. Mack on speakerphone telling him he needed to pay the performers, he was hostile, abrasive and berated all of us, and simply hung up. She then advised us, at 2:00pm, to simply go home rather than proceed to the next event. We did so. The second Canadian marketing company that hired Characters for Hire stated on the phone that they had already paid Mr. Mack his fee. Those are the facts. My opinion: There was zero intention up front to issue payment to the performers. Except that in our case, we caught Mr. Mack in the act and cut our losses by leaving. I also believe both Canadian marketing companies who hired Characters for Hire wised up to the fact that they had engaged with, and already paid, a very bad actor. Myself and mascot were not asked further to complete Saturday or Sunday. Please don't ignore these reviews. I trust they are accurate. In response, Mr. Mack issues fictional replies with baseless accusations. Addendum based on the response of the company: no, we were not told anything of Revolut the day before, and no, of course we weren't taken off the job. We walked. Why would Mr. Mack remove us from a job that we had started, and was anticipating we would complete naively in good faith so that he could fulfill his own contract but pocket our wages? Last, since Mr. Mack was offsite, he is welcome to back up his assertion that we "embarrassed him" with facts. The Mascot did a good job and interacted with many of the kids who saw him wave, dance and give high-fives and hugs. Myself and the marketing company also have photos of the mascot, in costume onsite. Conclusion: You've been warned. I filed my own complaint with the New York Better Business Bureau.

the absolute worse company ever. RUDE. UNPROFESSIONAL. They avoid paying people AFTER services were carried out. STAY AWAY.