Worst wedding photography vendor ever? Thanks (no thanks) Ashton Wong, Ztage and Ztagewedding!

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi everyone, my name's Kevin. I created this account just to vent and highlight a vendor that I'll like everyone to avoid (like the plague, except that this in in SG and still active, according to CASE). Please do not make a stupid mistake like we did and vet through your wedding photographers properly.

After my then-girlfriend agreed to my proposal in 2018, we were busy planning our marriage. My fiancee and I wanted a nice little wedding complete with wedding photos and we were searching online for a wedding photography company.

Being young, our finances were limited but we were still searching for something that we'd both like - preferably something simple and with outdoor and indoor photos. Therefore we searched online for some budget friendly options.

After searching for weeks, lo and behold, we encountered this Facebook group with a unique name - Ztage, and a pretty substantial portfolio of pictures from Korea and beyond. We were immediately entranced and after contacting them and heading down to their office in Paya Lebar, we paid the deposit, over 2k to book their services for a photoshoot in both Singapore and Korea.

This was the start of the rollercoaster of frustration.

Ztage contacted us a month later to confirm the booking and asked us for payment of the remaining more than 2k as confirmation of their services. On hindsight, paying the 2k plus when no services had yet to be rendered was a stupid decision, but we were young and dumb, plus we wanted to arrange for the wedding photo. We started contacting them to arrange both the dates to when we wanted the photoshoots to be done but after a few weeks of contact, they went silent.

After a month or two, we started trying to contact them. At first, they replied after a while, but the replies became more and more sparse. We managed to settle on a photoshoot date on 17 March 2019 for our Singapore photoshoot and May for the overseas photoshoot, but when the date neared the company stated that there would be an expo and they wanted to push the date forward to the 28th of February. We contacted them to say that, no, we were not able to push it forward as we would have to apply for leave, and whether they could have it in April.

No reply.

Come January, we tried contacting them again. They only replied in February. We started having a bad feeling about this. But there are no brakes on this rollercoaster.

After a couple of months came and went and lots of ignored messages and sparse anemic replies later, we finally managed to contact the overseas branches and arranged to head to our May Korea photoshoot, to our relief. When we arrived however, there were problems with our lodging and we had to stay in a different arranged lodging to the one that was promised to us. Also, we had a translator accompanying us for the photoshoot but the cameraman promised to us, Ashton, was not around for the photoshoot.

The photoshoot went well and we were promised by the translator that she had contacted the company, and that we would be reviewing the photos in roughly 1 to 2 weeks later. Guess what?

It did not come.

May went by with us trying to contact the company and getting increasingly frustrated. Weeks could go by before a reply to our messages came, calls went unanswered and even calls to their overseas branches went ignored at times. A person we contacted said that the company that we went to in Paya Lebar no longer exists. We had no choice but to engage CASE in order to demand for a partial refund of the SG portion as our wedding date was nearing.

It is now August and they still are not replying. No whiff of any pictures was seen. We have initiated for CASE to get a full refund from them, pictures be damned.

So, all in all, this is a short story about vetting through your wedding photographers. It has happened to us, let it not happen to you.

TLDR: always check your photography company.

P.S. Ztage, CASE has informed me of your office in Chinatown Point. You sneaky little unmentionables, I shall find you soon.
 


mandanst

New Member
Hi Kevin,

Can i ask on how is the progress with CASE? Ztagewedding is also not replying me and my wedding is on 19th Oct. Worse still, i took my photos way back in 28 Dec 2018 and they have been MIA for a very long time.
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi Kevin,

Can i ask on how is the progress with CASE? Ztagewedding is also not replying me and my wedding is on 19th Oct. Worse still, i took my photos way back in 28 Dec 2018 and they have been MIA for a very long time.

Hi Mandanst,

It's both jarring and frustrating to see a fellow victim of Ztage. From my experience, I am sad to say that you might have to give up on your photos.

CASE has closed the case without any resolution. Initially, they were able to make contact with the listed director of the company, Ashton Wong. He did reply that he will initiate a refund for my packages, but when CASE attempted to contact him in order to pursue the refund on my behalf, there was and has been no further reply. I have had to escalate the issue to the Small Claims Tribunal.

I have submitted the court orders to both the listed addresses of the director, his company and the phone/e-mail addresses that have been provided to me; but it's frustrating to say that till now, there has been no reply from anyone.

I am sincerely sorry that you do not have your photos available too. They really have screwed you over on this too, eh? I do hope your wedding is not adversely affected, please do help me say sorry to your significant other on my behalf.

My court date with the director Ashton Wong will be on the 24th of October at 9.45 am at the Small Claims Tribunal. If you can PM me regarding your details I can keep a lookout for you with regards to your plight.

If Ashton Wong does not attend on that day, I will have no choice but to pursue it in civil court. I hope that you will be a party of interest in this.

Edit: Grammer/phrasing/additional pertinent information.
 
Last edited:

mandanst

New Member
Hi Kevin,

I feel your frustrations. I've been chasing them since July for retouched photos, and after confirming the photos I've began chasing for the album in September.
The only recent progression with them was that they first told me that my album was stuck at their customs in Hongkong.
As of today morning, they said they would take a photo of my album as a proof that it have reached them but yep.. as you would have expected, they just mentioned :" items have reached" but after i started chasing for the photos, there are no replies anymore.
 

Levvvvvv

New Member
Hi everyone, my name's Kevin. I created this account just to vent and highlight a vendor that I'll like everyone to avoid (like the plague, except that this in in SG and still active, according to CASE). Please do not make a stupid mistake like we did and vet through your wedding photographers properly.

After my then-girlfriend agreed to my proposal in 2018, we were busy planning our marriage. My fiancee and I wanted a nice little wedding complete with wedding photos and we were searching online for a wedding photography company.

Being young, our finances were limited but we were still searching for something that we'd both like - preferably something simple and with outdoor and indoor photos. Therefore we searched online for some budget friendly options.

After searching for weeks, lo and behold, we encountered this Facebook group with a unique name - Ztage, and a pretty substantial portfolio of pictures from Korea and beyond. We were immediately entranced and after contacting them and heading down to their office in Paya Lebar, we paid the deposit, over 2k to book their services for a photoshoot in both Singapore and Korea.

This was the start of the rollercoaster of frustration.

Ztage contacted us a month later to confirm the booking and asked us for payment of the remaining more than 2k as confirmation of their services. On hindsight, paying the 2k plus when no services had yet to be rendered was a stupid decision, but we were young and dumb, plus we wanted to arrange for the wedding photo. We started contacting them to arrange both the dates to when we wanted the photoshoots to be done but after a few weeks of contact, they went silent.

After a month or two, we started trying to contact them. At first, they replied after a while, but the replies became more and more sparse. We managed to settle on a photoshoot date on 17 March 2019 for our Singapore photoshoot and May for the overseas photoshoot, but when the date neared the company stated that there would be an expo and they wanted to push the date forward to the 28th of February. We contacted them to say that, no, we were not able to push it forward as we would have to apply for leave, and whether they could have it in April.

No reply.

Come January, we tried contacting them again. They only replied in February. We started having a bad feeling about this. But there are no brakes on this rollercoaster.

After a couple of months came and went and lots of ignored messages and sparse anemic replies later, we finally managed to contact the overseas branches and arranged to head to our May Korea photoshoot, to our relief. When we arrived however, there were problems with our lodging and we had to stay in a different arranged lodging to the one that was promised to us. Also, we had a translator accompanying us for the photoshoot but the cameraman promised to us, Ashton, was not around for the photoshoot.

The photoshoot went well and we were promised by the translator that she had contacted the company, and that we would be reviewing the photos in roughly 1 to 2 weeks later. Guess what?

It did not come.

May went by with us trying to contact the company and getting increasingly frustrated. Weeks could go by before a reply to our messages came, calls went unanswered and even calls to their overseas branches went ignored at times. A person we contacted said that the company that we went to in Paya Lebar no longer exists. We had no choice but to engage CASE in order to demand for a partial refund of the SG portion as our wedding date was nearing.

It is now August and they still are not replying. No whiff of any pictures was seen. We have initiated for CASE to get a full refund from them, pictures be damned.

So, all in all, this is a short story about vetting through your wedding photographers. It has happened to us, let it not happen to you.

TLDR: always check your photography company.

P.S. Ztage, CASE has informed me of your office in Chinatown Point. You sneaky little unmentionables, I shall find you soon.
Hi everyone, my name's Kevin. I created this account just to vent and highlight a vendor that I'll like everyone to avoid (like the plague, except that this in in SG and still active, according to CASE). Please do not make a stupid mistake like we did and vet through your wedding photographers properly.

After my then-girlfriend agreed to my proposal in 2018, we were busy planning our marriage. My fiancee and I wanted a nice little wedding complete with wedding photos and we were searching online for a wedding photography company.

Being young, our finances were limited but we were still searching for something that we'd both like - preferably something simple and with outdoor and indoor photos. Therefore we searched online for some budget friendly options.

After searching for weeks, lo and behold, we encountered this Facebook group with a unique name - Ztage, and a pretty substantial portfolio of pictures from Korea and beyond. We were immediately entranced and after contacting them and heading down to their office in Paya Lebar, we paid the deposit, over 2k to book their services for a photoshoot in both Singapore and Korea.

This was the start of the rollercoaster of frustration.

Ztage contacted us a month later to confirm the booking and asked us for payment of the remaining more than 2k as confirmation of their services. On hindsight, paying the 2k plus when no services had yet to be rendered was a stupid decision, but we were young and dumb, plus we wanted to arrange for the wedding photo. We started contacting them to arrange both the dates to when we wanted the photoshoots to be done but after a few weeks of contact, they went silent.

After a month or two, we started trying to contact them. At first, they replied after a while, but the replies became more and more sparse. We managed to settle on a photoshoot date on 17 March 2019 for our Singapore photoshoot and May for the overseas photoshoot, but when the date neared the company stated that there would be an expo and they wanted to push the date forward to the 28th of February. We contacted them to say that, no, we were not able to push it forward as we would have to apply for leave, and whether they could have it in April.

No reply.

Come January, we tried contacting them again. They only replied in February. We started having a bad feeling about this. But there are no brakes on this rollercoaster.

After a couple of months came and went and lots of ignored messages and sparse anemic replies later, we finally managed to contact the overseas branches and arranged to head to our May Korea photoshoot, to our relief. When we arrived however, there were problems with our lodging and we had to stay in a different arranged lodging to the one that was promised to us. Also, we had a translator accompanying us for the photoshoot but the cameraman promised to us, Ashton, was not around for the photoshoot.

The photoshoot went well and we were promised by the translator that she had contacted the company, and that we would be reviewing the photos in roughly 1 to 2 weeks later. Guess what?

It did not come.

May went by with us trying to contact the company and getting increasingly frustrated. Weeks could go by before a reply to our messages came, calls went unanswered and even calls to their overseas branches went ignored at times. A person we contacted said that the company that we went to in Paya Lebar no longer exists. We had no choice but to engage CASE in order to demand for a partial refund of the SG portion as our wedding date was nearing.

It is now August and they still are not replying. No whiff of any pictures was seen. We have initiated for CASE to get a full refund from them, pictures be damned.

So, all in all, this is a short story about vetting through your wedding photographers. It has happened to us, let it not happen to you.

TLDR: always check your photography company.

P.S. Ztage, CASE has informed me of your office in Chinatown Point. You sneaky little unmentionables, I shall find you soon.

Hi Kevin,

Do you mind sharing their new address? I’ve been trying to contact them for my actual day video for a year (yes, I haven’t received it after more than a year). They’re so ridiculous and I can totally understanding how frustrating it is especially having gone through this whole thing myself.

I’ve filed a claim against them at the small claims tribunal as well, but Ashton did not attend the consult. I’m actually now on my way to the second consult, fingers crossed that this would work.

Wishing you all the best with the rest of the wedding!

Best,
Lev
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi Kevin,

Do you mind sharing their new address? I’ve been trying to contact them for my actual day video for a year (yes, I haven’t received it after more than a year). They’re so ridiculous and I can totally understanding how frustrating it is especially having gone through this whole thing myself.

I’ve filed a claim against them at the small claims tribunal as well, but Ashton did not attend the consult. I’m actually now on my way to the second consult, fingers crossed that this would work.

Wishing you all the best with the rest of the wedding!

Best,
Lev

Hi Lev,

May I know if you have any outcomes? I am facing problems as well. I tried contacted Mr. Ashton since 28 July 2018 for my full day video, till now it's still in production.

Thank you.

Tian Guan
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi everyone, my name's Kevin. I created this account just to vent and highlight a vendor that I'll like everyone to avoid (like the plague, except that this in in SG and still active, according to CASE). Please do not make a stupid mistake like we did and vet through your wedding photographers properly.

After my then-girlfriend agreed to my proposal in 2018, we were busy planning our marriage. My fiancee and I wanted a nice little wedding complete with wedding photos and we were searching online for a wedding photography company.

Being young, our finances were limited but we were still searching for something that we'd both like - preferably something simple and with outdoor and indoor photos. Therefore we searched online for some budget friendly options.

After searching for weeks, lo and behold, we encountered this Facebook group with a unique name - Ztage, and a pretty substantial portfolio of pictures from Korea and beyond. We were immediately entranced and after contacting them and heading down to their office in Paya Lebar, we paid the deposit, over 2k to book their services for a photoshoot in both Singapore and Korea.

This was the start of the rollercoaster of frustration.

Ztage contacted us a month later to confirm the booking and asked us for payment of the remaining more than 2k as confirmation of their services. On hindsight, paying the 2k plus when no services had yet to be rendered was a stupid decision, but we were young and dumb, plus we wanted to arrange for the wedding photo. We started contacting them to arrange both the dates to when we wanted the photoshoots to be done but after a few weeks of contact, they went silent.

After a month or two, we started trying to contact them. At first, they replied after a while, but the replies became more and more sparse. We managed to settle on a photoshoot date on 17 March 2019 for our Singapore photoshoot and May for the overseas photoshoot, but when the date neared the company stated that there would be an expo and they wanted to push the date forward to the 28th of February. We contacted them to say that, no, we were not able to push it forward as we would have to apply for leave, and whether they could have it in April.

No reply.

Come January, we tried contacting them again. They only replied in February. We started having a bad feeling about this. But there are no brakes on this rollercoaster.

After a couple of months came and went and lots of ignored messages and sparse anemic replies later, we finally managed to contact the overseas branches and arranged to head to our May Korea photoshoot, to our relief. When we arrived however, there were problems with our lodging and we had to stay in a different arranged lodging to the one that was promised to us. Also, we had a translator accompanying us for the photoshoot but the cameraman promised to us, Ashton, was not around for the photoshoot.

The photoshoot went well and we were promised by the translator that she had contacted the company, and that we would be reviewing the photos in roughly 1 to 2 weeks later. Guess what?

It did not come.

May went by with us trying to contact the company and getting increasingly frustrated. Weeks could go by before a reply to our messages came, calls went unanswered and even calls to their overseas branches went ignored at times. A person we contacted said that the company that we went to in Paya Lebar no longer exists. We had no choice but to engage CASE in order to demand for a partial refund of the SG portion as our wedding date was nearing.

It is now August and they still are not replying. No whiff of any pictures was seen. We have initiated for CASE to get a full refund from them, pictures be damned.

So, all in all, this is a short story about vetting through your wedding photographers. It has happened to us, let it not happen to you.

TLDR: always check your photography company.

P.S. Ztage, CASE has informed me of your office in Chinatown Point. You sneaky little unmentionables, I shall find you soon.

Hi Kevin,

May I know if you have any outcomes? Did you bring them to civil court? I am facing problems as well. I tried contacted Mr. Ashton since 28 July 2018 for my full day video, till now it's still in production.

Thank you.

Tian Guan
 

greenylove

New Member
Hello everyone,

Sharing our experiences here too. My husband and I have managed to obtain our retouched photos (lucky us?), but no sign of our album, and no replies to our email, messages and calls too.

We've tried FB, text message, whatsapp messages/calls (interestingly, their Singapore number is no longer on WhatsApp, and left the wedding group chat lol). We also went down to 3 different addresses that were listed on their email, website, etc. All these are no longer valid (don't waste your time guys):

21 Tan Quee Lan Street, #02-04 Heritage Place, Singapore 188108
60 Paya Lebar Road, #05-47, Paya Lebar Square, Singapore (409051) (We met them once here, later they informed us that they had moved to Toa Payoh)
Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, #01-06 S, 319261 (Met them once here, a sparse warehouse, with dresses loosely hanged around, etc. They told us that they were in the midst of moving offices. Lol.)
133 New Bridge Road, #20-09/10, Chinatown Point, Singapore(059413)

We managed to find one more address, but it seems to be the home address of the director. (We are undecided if we should march down there to confront him. It is likely that he's not even there, but his family members might be instead.. :l)

We're still holding on to hope, but if all else fails, we are similarly going to lodge a report with CASE.
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hello everyone,

Sharing our experiences here too. My husband and I have managed to obtain our retouched photos (lucky us?), but no sign of our album, and no replies to our email, messages and calls too.

We've tried FB, text message, whatsapp messages/calls (interestingly, their Singapore number is no longer on WhatsApp, and left the wedding group chat lol). We also went down to 3 different addresses that were listed on their email, website, etc. All these are no longer valid (don't waste your time guys):

21 Tan Quee Lan Street, #02-04 Heritage Place, Singapore 188108
60 Paya Lebar Road, #05-47, Paya Lebar Square, Singapore (409051) (We met them once here, later they informed us that they had moved to Toa Payoh)
Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, #01-06 S, 319261 (Met them once here, a sparse warehouse, with dresses loosely hanged around, etc. They told us that they were in the midst of moving offices. Lol.)
133 New Bridge Road, #20-09/10, Chinatown Point, Singapore(059413)

We managed to find one more address, but it seems to be the home address of the director. (We are undecided if we should march down there to confront him. It is likely that he's not even there, but his family members might be instead.. :l)

We're still holding on to hope, but if all else fails, we are similarly going to lodge a report with CASE.
Hi greenylove, I have just went down to their 'office' at Chinatown Point last weekend (office wasn't belong to them either). I have heard from a photographer that the director has moved to HongKong to venture, however, there are also feedbacks about Ztagewedding in HongKong.

I am not sure if it's nice to go directly to the home address.

I am trying my best to gather all victims of Ztagewedding so that we can make a better report against them. .

Thank you.
 

Wei230

New Member
Hi greenylove, I have just went down to their 'office' at Chinatown Point last weekend (office wasn't belong to them either). I have heard from a photographer that the director has moved to HongKong to venture, however, there are also feedbacks about Ztagewedding in HongKong.

I am not sure if it's nice to go directly to the home address.

I am trying my best to gather all victims of Ztagewedding so that we can make a better report against them. .

Thank you.



Hi Tian Guan,

I'm also a victim of ztagewedding. I had my pre-wedding photoshoot in Korea Apr this year and had my raw copies back a few weeks after. But our retouched copies and 30pg album and 20r portrait as agreed upon in the contract is nowhere to be seen and the HK side have not been responding since a few months back. My package also includes actual day wedding gown and suit and this is also not delivered as per the contract. My wedding is in next month and we have decided to lodge a report against them once our wedding is over. Do let me know if we need more people to come together to lodge a complain against them. Thanks!
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi Tian Guan,

I'm also a victim of ztagewedding. I had my pre-wedding photoshoot in Korea Apr this year and had my raw copies back a few weeks after. But our retouched copies and 30pg album and 20r portrait as agreed upon in the contract is nowhere to be seen and the HK side have not been responding since a few months back. My package also includes actual day wedding gown and suit and this is also not delivered as per the contract. My wedding is in next month and we have decided to lodge a report against them once our wedding is over. Do let me know if we need more people to come together to lodge a complain against them. Thanks!
Hi Wei230,

I am sorry to know that. I think you have to standby another photographer just in case.

For now, just pray that they will reply your messages and turn out on your big day. And, make sure they give you the videos inclusive of the Full Day video before they leave. If you dont mind, you may want to share with us your banquet location and maybe we will all turn up together and ask nicely directly from Ashton for the things which he promised us.

I am still trying to know who are the victims and if ready, we can lodge a complain.

Thank you.
 

Wei230

New Member
Hi Wei230,

I am sorry to know that. I think you have to standby another photographer just in case.

For now, just pray that they will reply your messages and turn out on your big day. And, make sure they give you the videos inclusive of the Full Day video before they leave. If you dont mind, you may want to share with us your banquet location and maybe we will all turn up together and ask nicely directly from Ashton for the things which he promised us.

I am still trying to know who are the victims and if ready, we can lodge a complain.

Thank you.

Hi Tian Guan,

Thanks. I was lucky I didn't get the actual day photography from them. I did have the vouchers to engage them for my actual day at a discount. But after seeing how unresponsive they are when we contact them to arrange for our pre wedding shoot, we decided not to engage them for our actual day shoot in case they didn't turn up. So it is just the pre wedding shoot contract that they didn't honour which is already causing us much trouble to find alternatives, etc. And not to mention I have to engage another bridal shop for rental of my gown and suit. So we will want to at least get a respond from them and see how they are going to settle this.
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi Tian Guan,

Thanks. I was lucky I didn't get the actual day photography from them. I did have the vouchers to engage them for my actual day at a discount. But after seeing how unresponsive they are when we contact them to arrange for our pre wedding shoot, we decided not to engage them for our actual day shoot in case they didn't turn up. So it is just the pre wedding shoot contract that they didn't honour which is already causing us much trouble to find alternatives, etc. And not to mention I have to engage another bridal shop for rental of my gown and suit. So we will want to at least get a respond from them and see how they are going to settle this.
Hi Wei230,

Lucky you. I really wonder will they honour their words to me either. I just hope that they stop going around and cause more problems to other couples. I have been asking them for my AD video for nearly 1.5years.
 

Wei230

New Member
Hi Wei230,

Lucky you. I really wonder will they honour their words to me either. I just hope that they stop going around and cause more problems to other couples. I have been asking them for my AD video for nearly 1.5years.


Yes and I still see them advertising on their fb and Instagram but when I fb msg or msg them through Instagram they ignored me. Do keep us updated on your case and I will update again once I start complain with case.. Thanks!
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Yes and I still see them advertising on their fb and Instagram but when I fb msg or msg them through Instagram they ignored me. Do keep us updated on your case and I will update again once I start complain with case.. Thanks!
Wei230, thank you. I will update whenever I have any news on them. Till now I have sent numerous test messages to them but to no avail. You may also try to ask them via social media.
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi Kevin,

May I know if you have any outcomes? Did you bring them to civil court? I am facing problems as well. I tried contacted Mr. Ashton since 28 July 2018 for my full day video, till now it's still in production.

Thank you.

Tian Guan

Hi, Tian Guan.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having troubles with obtaining your video.

Currently I have brought it up to Small Claims Tribunal and have served the notice to Ashton's family. I have went in person to the three locations where his companies' addresses are registered in ACRA and suffice it to say that I have not been able to trace where the companies have disappeared to.

I have also informed Ashton of the notice that I have served to him, in order to attend the court case in February (long story). He has acknowledged it and has sent a message saying that he will pay me back when he reaches Singapore. I however, do not hold high hopes for this outcome.
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi everyone, my name's Kevin. I created this account just to vent and highlight a vendor that I'll like everyone to avoid (like the plague, except that this in in SG and still active, according to CASE). Please do not make a stupid mistake like we did and vet through your wedding photographers properly.

After my then-girlfriend agreed to my proposal in 2018, we were busy planning our marriage. My fiancee and I wanted a nice little wedding complete with wedding photos and we were searching online for a wedding photography company.

Being young, our finances were limited but we were still searching for something that we'd both like - preferably something simple and with outdoor and indoor photos. Therefore we searched online for some budget friendly options.

After searching for weeks, lo and behold, we encountered this Facebook group with a unique name - Ztage, and a pretty substantial portfolio of pictures from Korea and beyond. We were immediately entranced and after contacting them and heading down to their office in Paya Lebar, we paid the deposit, over 2k to book their services for a photoshoot in both Singapore and Korea.

This was the start of the rollercoaster of frustration.

Ztage contacted us a month later to confirm the booking and asked us for payment of the remaining more than 2k as confirmation of their services. On hindsight, paying the 2k plus when no services had yet to be rendered was a stupid decision, but we were young and dumb, plus we wanted to arrange for the wedding photo. We started contacting them to arrange both the dates to when we wanted the photoshoots to be done but after a few weeks of contact, they went silent.

After a month or two, we started trying to contact them. At first, they replied after a while, but the replies became more and more sparse. We managed to settle on a photoshoot date on 17 March 2019 for our Singapore photoshoot and May for the overseas photoshoot, but when the date neared the company stated that there would be an expo and they wanted to push the date forward to the 28th of February. We contacted them to say that, no, we were not able to push it forward as we would have to apply for leave, and whether they could have it in April.

No reply.

Come January, we tried contacting them again. They only replied in February. We started having a bad feeling about this. But there are no brakes on this rollercoaster.

After a couple of months came and went and lots of ignored messages and sparse anemic replies later, we finally managed to contact the overseas branches and arranged to head to our May Korea photoshoot, to our relief. When we arrived however, there were problems with our lodging and we had to stay in a different arranged lodging to the one that was promised to us. Also, we had a translator accompanying us for the photoshoot but the cameraman promised to us, Ashton, was not around for the photoshoot.

The photoshoot went well and we were promised by the translator that she had contacted the company, and that we would be reviewing the photos in roughly 1 to 2 weeks later. Guess what?

It did not come.

May went by with us trying to contact the company and getting increasingly frustrated. Weeks could go by before a reply to our messages came, calls went unanswered and even calls to their overseas branches went ignored at times. A person we contacted said that the company that we went to in Paya Lebar no longer exists. We had no choice but to engage CASE in order to demand for a partial refund of the SG portion as our wedding date was nearing.

It is now August and they still are not replying. No whiff of any pictures was seen. We have initiated for CASE to get a full refund from them, pictures be damned.

So, all in all, this is a short story about vetting through your wedding photographers. It has happened to us, let it not happen to you.

TLDR: always check your photography company.

P.S. Ztage, CASE has informed me of your office in Chinatown Point. You sneaky little unmentionables, I shall find you soon.

Okay, it has been a long time since I have posted a reply to this. So, this reply, dated the 12th of December 2019, is my follow up to the ongoing situation with Ztage.

Firstly, the court case in August had to be withdrawn from my side due to technicalities. Apparently, according to the judge, I am supposed to file a court case against the company, and not the director of the company, Ashton Wong. Therefore I withdrew my case and resubmitted a court case against ZtageWedding.

Doing as such, I headed down with the court notice to the three addresses listed for both ZtageWedding and Backztage: one being in Braddell Tech, one in Chinatown Point, And the last being in Paya Lebar Square. However, all three addresses were now defunct, with other companies being at their side. I questioned the guard offices in their respective locations as to where to find the companies but they were not able to give me a clue.

Going by that dead end, I followed the other thread I had, which was reporting it to the police. This is also a step that I currently recommend to each of you. However, for me, since the case has been escalated to the civil courts, my case was deemed a civil case and not a criminal case, which would be under the jurisdiction of the police and the commerical crimes division to investigate. Therefore I was unable to enlist their assistance.

Finally, since I had no other avenue to go to, I called the helpline at Small Claims Tribunal in order to highlight that I was having difficulty in sending my court order. I told them that since I had applied for a previous court order against the director of the company, I had the director's (Ashton's) address, so they told me to submit the court order over to Ashton's house in person and record the difficulty l had in serving said court order.

I told Ashton through the group chat that was still open that I was submitting the court order to his address. He messaged back that he was not in Singapore and that since I have already sent him a virtual copy (I did earlier) I did not need to go to his house. Undeterred, I went on ahead with the guidance of the law. Sad to say, he was not at home and his parents said that he was always not home for long periods of time, which corroborated with Ashton's own words that he was not in Singapore.

As such, I have submitted the court order over to Ashton's family. I am currently waiting for February. However, it seems like too much trouble in order to proceed with a simple reimbursement request. Therefore I suggest just making the police report and saving yourself some trouble. If you are like me, a persistent little roach, then follow my steps and watch for my pitfalls.

As for me? I'll blunder on ahead through this bureaucratic red tape and whack a path through, if you so wish to follow this story, I'll update when I have any significant updates.
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi Kevin,

Do you mind sharing their new address? I’ve been trying to contact them for my actual day video for a year (yes, I haven’t received it after more than a year). They’re so ridiculous and I can totally understanding how frustrating it is especially having gone through this whole thing myself.

I’ve filed a claim against them at the small claims tribunal as well, but Ashton did not attend the consult. I’m actually now on my way to the second consult, fingers crossed that this would work.

Wishing you all the best with the rest of the wedding!

Best,
Lev

Hi Lev,

I'm sorry, I was not able to find their address. I'm sorry you are stuck in the red tape with me, and you can trace my path in order to submit your court order. PM me for details, and I'll get back to you in a bit.

I hope you get your video at least, all the best to you and your significant other!
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hi Kevin,

I feel your frustrations. I've been chasing them since July for retouched photos, and after confirming the photos I've began chasing for the album in September.
The only recent progression with them was that they first told me that my album was stuck at their customs in Hongkong.
As of today morning, they said they would take a photo of my album as a proof that it have reached them but yep.. as you would have expected, they just mentioned :" items have reached" but after i started chasing for the photos, there are no replies anymore.


So sorry for the late reply Mandanst,

I would recommend for you to file a police report too. I have waddled through enough red tape that I have no wish to drag any other party through this mess of a court case. In all honesty, if I could make a police report, I would do it but alas, my fingers are tied.

All the best wishes to you and your significant other!
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Hello everyone,

Sharing our experiences here too. My husband and I have managed to obtain our retouched photos (lucky us?), but no sign of our album, and no replies to our email, messages and calls too.

We've tried FB, text message, whatsapp messages/calls (interestingly, their Singapore number is no longer on WhatsApp, and left the wedding group chat lol). We also went down to 3 different addresses that were listed on their email, website, etc. All these are no longer valid (don't waste your time guys):

21 Tan Quee Lan Street, #02-04 Heritage Place, Singapore 188108
60 Paya Lebar Road, #05-47, Paya Lebar Square, Singapore (409051) (We met them once here, later they informed us that they had moved to Toa Payoh)
Lorong 8 Toa Payoh, #01-06 S, 319261 (Met them once here, a sparse warehouse, with dresses loosely hanged around, etc. They told us that they were in the midst of moving offices. Lol.)
133 New Bridge Road, #20-09/10, Chinatown Point, Singapore(059413)

We managed to find one more address, but it seems to be the home address of the director. (We are undecided if we should march down there to confront him. It is likely that he's not even there, but his family members might be instead.. :l)

We're still holding on to hope, but if all else fails, we are similarly going to lodge a report with CASE.


Hi Greenylove,

I'm sorry that you have not gotten your album or the rest of the items promised to you. Thankfully, you have your retouched photos for all your troubles.

I would recommend going the criminal route rather than the civil route. According to the police personnel that I spoke to, if we engage CASE and go down the civil route, the police will be unable to assist in their investigations. But seeing as to how many of us have been affected, I would think that reporting it to the police would help in expediting any process of refunding or getting the rest of your items.

I wish you all the best!
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi, Tian Guan.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having troubles with obtaining your video.

Currently I have brought it up to Small Claims Tribunal and have served the notice to Ashton's family. I have went in person to the three locations where his companies' addresses are registered in ACRA and suffice it to say that I have not been able to trace where the companies have disappeared to.

I have also informed Ashton of the notice that I have served to him, in order to attend the court case in February (long story). He has acknowledged it and has sent a message saying that he will pay me back when he reaches Singapore. I however, do not hold high hopes for this outcome.
Hi Kevin Keong,

Thank you for getting back to us. I will make a police report, and moving on to CASE and lastly to serve the notice to his family. He replies was ridiculous and unacceptable.

I have went down all 3 different addresses as well, all were no longer Ztagewedding. Recently, arca has reflected that Chinatown point address was invalid and no updates was done to it.
 

Wei230

New Member
Yes and I still see them advertising on their fb and Instagram but when I fb msg or msg them through Instagram they ignored me. Do keep us updated on your case and I will update again once I start complain with case.. Thanks!


Hi just to update you guys, I had my wedding on 21st dec and I got my album and 20r portrait right on the day itself just 2hrs before my dinner starts! They started coming back to me 2 weeks before my wedding date with the retouched photos and I was shocked to hear from them and asked them to go ahead to develop the photos and send it to me before my wedding in 2 weeks them. After that there was no news from them again and I did not hold any hopes that it will reach me in such a short notice. 1 week before my wedding day they sent me the childhood montage video but every photo was tagged with their name on it and I didn't use it at all. Then just 2 days before my wedding, they start msging me on the WhatsApp grp which was silent for very long that the album and portrait will reach sg the next day and they will send it to me asap and were confident that it will definitely reach me before the wedding. I was still skeptical abt their promise but I started holding hopes that it can indeed reach me on time. 1 day before the wedding they told me they decided not to ship the products over as they were worried that it will be hold up at the customs so they are asking a colleague's father to bring the products back from Macau. I was given his no and flight detail and even agreed to go to the airport late at night the day before my wedding to collect the products to avoid anymore delay. However just hours before the flight I was informed by them that the person did not manage to get on the flight as it was full and he was transferred to the flight tml and will only reach sg at 2.40pm on my wedding day itself. But they promised to bring it over to my wedding venue straight after the person have arrived in sg. They are really running it till the last min and so in the end I got a pleasant surprise when I reached my venue as it was my first time seeing the album and portrait which was "fresh from the oven". To be honest I was quite satisfied with the end products and the quality. But the process is definitely too mind boggling and disrupted our wedding planning process. But still I was lucky everything turned out well at the last min. I do not think I will have anything to do with them anymore but I hope you all will also be able to close your case with them soon and be able to get your stuffs back too!
 

Tian Guan

New Member
Hi just to update you guys, I had my wedding on 21st dec and I got my album and 20r portrait right on the day itself just 2hrs before my dinner starts! They started coming back to me 2 weeks before my wedding date with the retouched photos and I was shocked to hear from them and asked them to go ahead to develop the photos and send it to me before my wedding in 2 weeks them. After that there was no news from them again and I did not hold any hopes that it will reach me in such a short notice. 1 week before my wedding day they sent me the childhood montage video but every photo was tagged with their name on it and I didn't use it at all. Then just 2 days before my wedding, they start msging me on the WhatsApp grp which was silent for very long that the album and portrait will reach sg the next day and they will send it to me asap and were confident that it will definitely reach me before the wedding. I was still skeptical abt their promise but I started holding hopes that it can indeed reach me on time. 1 day before the wedding they told me they decided not to ship the products over as they were worried that it will be hold up at the customs so they are asking a colleague's father to bring the products back from Macau. I was given his no and flight detail and even agreed to go to the airport late at night the day before my wedding to collect the products to avoid anymore delay. However just hours before the flight I was informed by them that the person did not manage to get on the flight as it was full and he was transferred to the flight tml and will only reach sg at 2.40pm on my wedding day itself. But they promised to bring it over to my wedding venue straight after the person have arrived in sg. They are really running it till the last min and so in the end I got a pleasant surprise when I reached my venue as it was my first time seeing the album and portrait which was "fresh from the oven". To be honest I was quite satisfied with the end products and the quality. But the process is definitely too mind boggling and disrupted our wedding planning process. But still I was lucky everything turned out well at the last min. I do not think I will have anything to do with them anymore but I hope you all will also be able to close your case with them soon and be able to get your stuffs back too!
Dear Wei230,

Congratulation on your wedding.

It's glad that you have all your items back and case closed with them. Many of us are still trying our best to get what they had promised us initially.

Thank you for your updates.
 

Kevin Keong

New Member
Just an update:

It's been a while since I wrote a message. I am in a legal quandary regarding Ztage currently. Essentially, I have had a ruling in my favor from CASE, for all the good it does. It's been more than a month and I have to claim from the company themselves, but the company premises do not exist anymore and the director of the company (Ashton Wong) is not paying me back. ACRA is twiddling their toes on answering me about whether the company still exists and I had to lodge a complaint with them too.

Trying to get back what I'm owed sucks. This shows the uselessness of the Singapore legal system. I'm stuck in a catch-22 while this asshat is still out there offering possibly fraudulent wedding packages to even more victims.

Will update once something changes in my favor.
 

squishysquishy

New Member
oh no, sorry to hear about all these vendors going MIA.

I am currently planning for my wedding and very afraid such things will happen.
Just wondering if anyone else face such similar situation especially during this covid-19 period?
 

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