Black Bear Gallery & Life Casting Studio

By no means you should use this came to do a cast of my wife's top half after her getting topples he said he would be in touch never heard from him again also took some steam punk art from me and told me he had sold some and over a year later still waiting owes over 100 to ke
Sep 15th, 2022

Loved the experience, both Michael and nikky were fantastic. Will be back! L & P xxx
Feb 5th, 2018

BUYER BEWARE Horrendous experience. This man takes money but fails to deliver the goods. He reneges on his promises, written and verbal. He owes me money and goods but now refuses to respond to my emails. I would advise that you do not make any payments to this man, or his staff, unless you know that you can leave his premises with your goods and that you have checked them very carefully before you hand over any payment (which he always insisted to me must be made in cash). Interestingly, several of the 5 star reviews on here are either his (Mike Barton) or done by his staff and friends. The other reviews speak for themselves. Unfortunately, it is not possible to leave a zero stars review, otherwise I would have! * Further to my posting this factually accurate review above, Michael Barton contacted me by email and threatened me, as follows: 'Obviously you coukdnt be bothered to wait to say your defence in a coyrt case againsnt you' Charming! Also typical of his approach to business, in my experience. He continues to ignore my enquiries following up the fact that he has taken money from me (cash, of course) for a picture which he is refusing to supply. * How interesting to see that others have now reviewed their experiences of this business. It is now November 2017 and I still haven't received the picture, for which I paid Michael Barton in May 2016. I expect he will now post, by way of reply to this, his customary tirade of abuse and will threaten me again with court action for posting a factual update regarding my own dealings with this business. What reputable business would treat its customers the way he does, threatening anyone who posts anything less than a 5* review. Oh, and by the way, a high proportion of the 5* reviews here were written by his 'staff' / personal friends / partner / girlfriend. At least he removed the 5* review which he gave himself - yes, he really did give himself a 5* review!
Oct 7th, 2017

Aug 19th, 2017

I will write this as factually as possible to avoid confusion. Mike contacted me asking me if I would like to pose for a casting as a paid model. We talked about what would be involved in this and what the payment would be etc etc. I was asked to provide photos of myself topless which were provided to mike via email and a contract was sent and signed by myself. On the day of the casting mike messaged me to cancel the appointment as his team had not turned into work although this was an inconvenience to me it was not the end of the world. I was however relying on the payment from the modelling which was set at 350. Mike said he would as a good will gesture pay me in advance of the casting which I thought was a nice thing to do, he also said he would pay the Cancellation fee of 80 as per his contract if he was to cancel which he did. Now after much waiting and many promises to pay no money has ever arrivied in my account which is around 2-3 months later. Mike also asked for my mobile phone number and asked to call me on numerous occasions for which there was no reasons. He also requested further pictures from me to book me for more castings at 550 a time. Some I did provide. Still no money arrived in my account which was when I started to get suspicious after many promises that it would. I asked him to please delete my pictures that he had and he said he had, then sent a message a few days later stating he was looking at my pictures (I have proof of this) which was very unsettling to me. I asked him to please just pay me the Cancellation fee of 80 and forget the rest at this point I no longer felt safe. I went on to find out that the address on his website is not his place of work, neither is the one on his Facebook business page which is currently closed. There is an address but it is a residential address not a commercial one. Mike will now threaten me with court action and he will also say I have broken my contract except there is no confidentiality clause in my contract and I am fully entitled to leave this review as I have the evidence to back up what I am saying. Please, please avoid using this man, I still have no idea what he is doing with my photos and I am not the only victim there is more of us. We are taking further action on this. Please avoid at all costs. Edited to reply: I did not contact you about casting mike, we had a conversation at which you mentioned the casting business you now run and asked if I would be interested. There is no investigation against me or gwen or any one else you have mentioned I have checked this. I am not able disclose any information regarding any action I may have taken against you at this time. Yes I did post on your page a review that was fair and balanced as is this one. I dispute that any of my friends have contacted you since they do not know who you are but if you can provide evidence of this please do. I hold vast amounts of evidence against you at this point mike which will be dealt with by the appropriate authorities. You do not have my number which is why you have been unable to call me though you did try to force me to send it to by cutting all communications any other way. This is not a campaign against you at all, it is a valid and legal review of my experience with you and your business which has been appallingly bad. Please do not make unsubstantiated accusations based on fantasy rather than actuality. As for contracts you sent one mike and promised to send others while asking for yet more images of a very intimate nature of which I declined to send. You cancelled the first casting appointment and failed to say it would be conducted in a residential building leading me to believe it was an actual gallery. I have many screen shots available Should anyone wish to view them. They are evidence against you and how you operate. I have evidence available showing that you asked me. I will say the actual time may be 1-2 months not 2-3, as you may be aware I have been quite seriously ill in hospital this last week so yes it may be 1-2 months.
Sep 5th, 2017