Wedding Planner Shuts Down With $108K Deposits, Allegedly Said ‘Sorry It’s Not Our Fault’

2018-08-01 , 10:00 am

Your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and nobody wants it to be screwed up.

Yet for six soon-to-be-married couples, that was what exactly happened to them.

In the second-worst way possible, by having their wedding planner run away with their cash.

For those who are wondering what’s the worst, it’s your bride or groom running away from the wedding…and you guys have already BTO-ed. #SingaporeanProblems

For You Wedding Services Suddenly Shuts Down

Image: For You Wedding Services Facebook Page

On 31 July, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) alerted the public to this particular wedding planner.

Between 22 to 30 July, Case received six complaints about the company.

The complainants claimed that they’ve been making monthly instalments to For You Wedding Services, amounting to about $108,000 in total.

Then, the company abruptly shut down and cancelled their packages, leaving these couples hanging.

The money was, of course, gone and the couples were unable to contact the company.

Years of Saving Up Lost in a Moment To A Heartless Person

Facebook user Firdaus Jan is one of the victims of For You Wedding Services.

“To Idham Salehuddien (the boss), you think you are smart & good with your words. You can’t run & hide for the rest of your freaking disgusting life. I had worked so hard to save up for my wedding. It took me years to save up, but you happily took my $14k and run. You have given me & my family a hard time, because of your heartless actions. Now we need to find alternatives & I need to find more money to engage new vendors, all within a month!”

He had hired For You for their wedding which is happening in a month’s time and agreed to make an 80% downpayment.

In total, he paid $14,000 to the company, then the boss and his assistant became uncontactable.

Not The First Time For You Wedding Services Got Into Trouble

You’d be surprised (okay, maybe you won’t be) but this isn’t the first time For You Wedding Services made the internet news.

Back in February 2018, another unhappy customer took to the internet to vent against the wedding planning company.

In the form of a lengthy blog post.

Image: Screengrab from weddingcheat.wordpress.com

In the blog post, Erli Elfira detailed her nightmarish experience with For You Wedding Services.

The staff at For You Wedding Services were rude, hard to contact and generally unreliable. Two months before her wedding, the wedding venue, decor and food weren’t booked yet.

And when she tried to play hardball.

She was told to leave the work to the professionals.

And told to mind their tone. But that’s not the best part.

Erli Elfira and her husband decided to bring their business to another wedding planner and asked for a refund of their deposits.

But they were ignored.

Eventually, they managed to get back part of the money, around $1,500 of the $3,500 paid.

The Man Who Runs For You Wedding Services

As with every incident that happens, netizens just had to CSI. And this is pretty easy to find, considering that he had proclaimed himself the boss of For You Wedding Services on his own Facebook page.

Netizens have taken to his page to leave unflattering comments.

For You Wedding Services Responded To The Saga

According to mothership.sg, For You Wedding Services allegedly responded to the saga by sending messages to affected couples.

The message claimed that For You Wedding Services had run out of funds.

They blamed suppliers for increasing their costs since Dec 2017 and delayed payments by couples whom they’ve completed their wedding for.

In addition, they alleged that a viral post made in Feb 2018 (presumed to be Ms Erli’s blog post) has resulted in many cancelled packages.

And they recommended other companies that might be able to help these couples save their wedding.

So, What’s Going To Happen From Now On?

If you’re one of the affected couples, then I’d have to say look for another wedding planner asap.

Because judging by the situation in Singapore right now, you’re not able to get your money back anytime soon (think oBike incident).

And if you’re not affected, remember that just because you pay upfront doesn’t mean the other party’s going to honour their side of the agreement.

After all, we’ve been seeing plenty of such cases happening in Singapore for these past few years.

And just to be safe, you might want to opt for wedding insurances.

These useful buggers prepare you for the worst case scenarios, including your wedding planner running away from you with your money.

But of course lah, wedding insurance doesn’t cover a change of heart. In other words, if you or your partner decide to run away from the wedding…

…Sorry hor, cannot claim.