[Editor's note on Feb. 16, 10.12pm: Tan's Instagram Stories have been removed.]

On Feb. 15, 2019, a Singaporean bride known as Domenica Tan wrote about an "extremely distressing & distasteful" experience she had with wedding photography company French Toast Productions.

The lengthy post has since garnered more than 2,500 shares and 700 comments.

Throughout the year-long collaboration, Tan and her husband engaged Shawn Yip (photographer) and Jonathan Han (videographer) for multiple projects.

However, according to Tan, both Shawn and Jonathan have failed to deliver what was promised.

Tan first acknowledged that there were acceptable photos from the engagements:

However, Tan felt that these are not enough to make up for the "repeated mistakes and poor attitudes" from the company.

Here's a summary of what happened.

Context

The couple signed a promotional package with French Toast Productions in late 2017 after a mutual agreement on the price and deliverables.

This includes actual day photography and videography, an overseas shoot in Hokkaido, as well as a complimentary Golden Hour session that includes both video and photo shoots.

The couple had their Golden Hour session at Coney Island in the first half of 2018.

As it went well, they decided to engage the company for their ROM photo and video shoots as well. 

 

First incident: Misquoting the price for overseas shoot

At S$3,500, the company also agreed to cover an overseas photoshoot in Hokkaido.

The service itself costs S$2,000, while the other S$1,500 covers the photographer and make-up artist's flight and accommodation.

At this point, we have to note that S$3,500 for an overseas shoot, including the employees' flight and accommodation, is a very reasonable rate.

However, in Jan 2018, photographer Shawn found out that the price of the flight tickets to Sapporo, Hokkaido was out of his budget.

The couple then received "accusatory WhatsApp messages" from Shawn, who claimed that the couple did not inform him that they were going to Sapporo.

However, Tan claims to have informed the photographer of the destination several times before, including this email with a detailed plan dated Dec. 4, 2017.

The couple believes that Shawn might have misquoted them, which prompted the photographer to offer a refund and a new quote.

Out of goodwill, the couple offered to pay for the hotel accommodation for Shawn and the make-up artist.

The trip eventually took place in July 2018.

Second incident: Disagreement on deliverables

As part of the deliverables for the overseas shoot, Shawn had contractually agreed to produce 50 hard copies of the photos, placed in a wooden memento box.

However, in Sep. 2018 after the overseas shoot, Shawn informed the couple that the number of photos would be reduced to 30, apparently without prior discussion.

Shawn eventually honoured the contract.

Third incident: Losing video footage from golden hour shoot

Following that, videographer Jonathan confessed to the couple in Oct 2018 about losing the video footages of their local shoot at Coney Island.

The photos, however, remained intact.

Jonathan offered a reshoot at Coney Island, but Tan requested him to cover ROM videography and photography for free instead, to which Jonathan agreed. 

Jonathan also offered to refund the additional money that the couple paid for the Hokkaido trip (S$326.45).

The couple accepted the compensation as Jonathan appeared to be sincere in making up for his mistakes.

In one of the replies to Tan, Jon also promised to "spare no cost in making a good one".

Despite the unpleasant experience thus far, the couple continued their collaboration with French Toast Productions as it was too late to find a replacement with the banquet happening in two months' time.

Last incident: Actual day photos lost

On Jan. 19, the couple received their photos and videos six weeks after their wedding banquet.

However, they were informed that "a small amount of photo files" were corrupted due to a virus attack and as such, cannot be delivered as promised.

These included about 80 percent of the table shots with their guests, according to Tan's husband.

Shawn told them that nothing could be done.

Furthermore, Tan wrote that Shawn appeared unwilling to try out any suggested solutions, including engaging an external company to retrieve the files.

In response to Tan's questions, Shawn replied that they had already bought new memory cards and hard drives to prevent it from happening again.

Baby shoot as compensation?

The corrupted photos mark the second time French Toast has failed to deliver on their promise.

However, both employees implied that the couple was rude, as well as "shaming/scolding" them over text.

The duo then offered baby shoot as compensation.

However, Tan and her husband found it a poor compensation for the following reasons:

"1) [...] A gross assumption of what married life is.

2) Means we have to wait for however long we decide to have a baby, before we can get a compensation?"

Additionally, Tan expressed that she would prefer not to entrust another milestone to the photography company.

The couple therefore declined the baby shoot.

Response from French Toast Productions

In a Facebook post on Feb. 15, French Toast Productions wrote an apology on their Facebook page.

The company also admitted their failure in delivering what was promised and in handling this incident better.

They are in touch with the affected couple and promised to work on a fuller explanation to account for what happened.

With that, they also assured future clients that such hiccups will not happen again.

Here's the full post:

Top photo collage edited from screenshots from Domenica Tan's Facebook and Instagram, @frenchtoast and @Tracyimhmua

 

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