ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

JB, The Piercer! Over 8 years experience scamming his apprentices.

Updated on July 11, 2015

It's time for me to disclose the truth about James Bernard, more commonly known as JB, the owner of Professional Piercers Of Maine in Lewiston, Maine and Ocean Blue Tattoo in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I apprenticed with JB for ten months after working out my plan with him as far back as 2011. I understand that this complaint may not resolve my issues with James Bernard, but I hope it will prevent others from falling for the same deception.

This man has done nothing but take advantage of people by promising a full training program and apprenticeship in the body piercing profession. He has scammed me, and several others out of thousands of dollars. His sixteen hundred hour program is marketed as teaching everything from the sterility of a body-piercing studio to educating the apprentice about the tools, techniques, anatomy, and jewelry options involved in the business.

I wanted to become an educated, skilled professional piercer. I approached my time with JB in a serious manner. I began my training in good faith and I was kicked to the curb before I had the chance to complete our agreed upon training program. The biggest issue for me was money. After struggling to find the $5,000 in funds for JB's program I was able to start my training at his studio on September 11, of 2013.

I completed 947 hours of the 1,600 hours needed to complete my training. I did not receive any form of payment for any of the work I had done. I was used as a cleaning women for the ten months. I was treated poorly the entire time, but I sucked it up because I wanted to finish my training and move forward. In this case it didn't pay off.

JB continued making promises to me regarding my obtaining the body-piercing license and my blood borne pathogens certification the entire ten months. These documents were supposed to be included in the cost for his program and JB received my fee up front. I was under the impression that after six months of working for him I would move forward and obtain my license and begin practicing body piercing.

It became obvious to me that once JB realized he was running out of time and excuses to honor our agreement, he came up with a reason to let me go. He would yell at me and make rude remarks towards me in front of others. He eventually kicked me out of the shop and refused to give me an answer as to why he was doing so, and if he intended to have me back to finish my training. At this time a new student came forward with her payment for this so called training program, and because of this JB decided he could cut me loose. I haven't received any form of refund or certification as promised. Unfortunately, I am not the first person to run into this problem with JB.

Since this occurred I have learned about several other people that he has done this to. I've also learned that the cost for a piercing apprenticeship should not be more than $2,500, especially if the "training" is only going to involve cleaning up after everyone in the shop and being treated abusively.

JB was barely ever at the shop. After receiving the $5,000 payment he claimed he couldn't provide my licensing, blood borne pathogen test, or the rest of the training that was promised. Sadly I spent almost a year working at JB's shop in good faith and all I did was take care of his equipment, clean, and watch over his establishment while everyone else was "on call" (shopping, eating, drinking, and doing drugs).

Something needs to be done about people like this, and the public should be aware of scam artists like James Bernard before their time and money is wasted as mine has been. Unfortunately I have learned the hard way, as have several others. I hope that this communication will play a part in bringing such behaviors to an end.


SunJournal Article: http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2015/05/18/students-say-lewiston-piercer-not-following-through-training/1704706

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)