A mother who paid more than $2,000 to a Toronto-based talent agency to help kick-start her son's modelling career, only to be asked for more money despite her son not getting any gigs, has received a refund.

Last fall, Karon Small was approached by a representative from Barbizon Modeling and Acting at the Canadian National Exhibition. She said a talent scout was amazed by her 10-year-old son’s "look" and convinced her to audition him.

"She just kept saying, 'Oh, he's such a handsome young man,'" Small told CTV Toronto.

Small filled out some forms and her son, Caleb, later auditioned for the company.

The single mother then signed a $2,100 contract.

"I thought it was a good idea," she said.

Small's son took a number of classes, however, that didn't help him land any modelling gigs. Small also claims her son was promised acting classes, but he was never enrolled in any programs.

"He hasn’t gotten any work," Small said. "He hasn't gotten any acting classes. He's just been told that he's cute."

Barbizon later asked Small for more money and to book a flight to Florida. That was the last straw for Small, who asked Barbizon for a refund.

"It's not easy to just take $2,000 out of my pocket and hand it over to anybody," she said.

CTV Toronto contacted Barbizon, which has been in business for more than 75 years. A representative said their goal is to help their young clients become actors, models or to learn life skills.

"While we cannot guarantee employment … many of our graduates have gone on to find success in modeling, acting and many different industries," Barbizon International marketing director Kelly Friar said in a statement.

"We are very sorry to hear Ms. Small was not satisfied with the Barbizon program. We have been able to resolve this with a full refund back to the customer."

Small says she's thankful for the refund, and plans to use the money to help pay for her son’s baseball activities.

"It means a lot," she said. "I know definitely there are a couple of baseball camps that this summer that I can put him into and also some new equipment that would help him out a lot."

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran