Be Careful ! Singapore Fashion Expo (14-16 June 2013) - Page 5

mspown

Any update on this cheater cabin/ice or whoever?
i am victim and he text me yesterday asking refund as he is in police station, after 3 hours text him but no reply already and tried calling the Investigating officer but noone answer.
went to his office today at 540 sims avenue #04-02 but is locked.

Mystech

It is people like these that gives events organisers a bad name. Hope everything turn up roses for you guys.

Peace88

To all the unfortunate victims in S'pore Fashion Expo,

I just signed up the registration to offer my humble advice.

Yes you can make your claims to Small Claims Tribunal.
But to those people out there, for Pte Ltd companies, you can suing against the company itself. Only for Sole Proprietor companies that you can sue till the owner go bankrupt. If he's staying in HDB, his house is safe. If he stays in private property, you can sue till his house is put on auction.

The most likely outcome is this company is likely to close down so that he don't need to pay the venue owner Expo and the disgruntled exhibitors.

The cost to book this venue + ads space + contractor cost to set up booth space will work out to about more than $70K

So think hard my dear, how can he even break even if he gets 150 vendors. When things get too good to be true, don't fall for it. There's always a market rate.

We are all in biz so should out for such traps.

I don't know if this can help to console you. He can't have earn anything out of it as his deposit with the venue owner would have been forfeited.

mamaflea

Hi,may I know which police station did you go to make the report and who is the IO incharge of this case? I'm a victim myself and I'm thinking of going down tomorrow to make the report. I wattsapp that Cabin yesterday in the afternoon and he only read the message yesterday nite and did not even reply me back..

cottonshopz

anyone got refund already? please update

et1957

He message me asking me if I was at the expo and if I gave my name to the police I m wondering what is he trying to do, when I asked if he has made the deposit he kept mum!

cottonshopz

so what is he trying to do now? did he reply to you all?

Sunshine2323

asiaone just reported that he charged $200 a table, that is daylight robbery

princessabigail7

I was unfortunately to be a victim of IDEAL SOLUTION PTE LTD too..

We were supposed to have a bazaar in Changi Expo June 14-16 however, on the same day of supposedly set up day, The organizer just sms that the event was cancelled!

pillowcase

Hi everyone!

First time posting in this forum, actually signed up specially for an account just to post in this forum.

I am very sorry to hear about what the vendors have went through and hope that the police are working to hunt Cabin down.

Anyway, the company i was working for (did an internship with them) actually participated in a fashion expo event in May 2012 this year with a company called [promotional mention removed] (they have a website - [commercial link removed] - does not look like a events company but a fashion website as they do not specialize in events, just organize it about once a year during sales period) and the event went well.

Here are a few things that you can do to ensure that it was a legit event and hope that this few pointers will help vendors in future.

1. Always meet up with the organizer face to face - you can get a lot out of it. building trust, accountability etc. And if the organizer is out to scam you, you may get a vibe from it. I heard that none of the vendors actually had a chance to meet Cabin and only spoke to him via the phone

2. Do a google search - its amazing how much information you can get. Unless its the organizer's first event, there should definitely be information about their previous events such as photos taken or information in blogs/forums

3. If nothing comes up, immediately ask organizer for photos. They should be able to give you their youtube channel, facebook page, facebook album w photos from previous events or something at least.

4. Ask about previous brands who participated. Singapore is a very small country so there is a high chance that you may know the owner/employee of other brands who worked with the organizer. Ask the organizer for their portfolio, and get in touch with those people and ask about their previous experience.

5. Never pay the full amount! we only had to make a 50% deposit and we made the other 50% payment only at the event day itself.

6. Get all the information possible - proposal, marketing plan, floor plan, layout. To run a proper event the organizer will need to work with logistic companies to draw out the floor plan that day. A scammer will not have that as it is additional cost and effort. If something is amiss, do not commit till you get all the materials!

Hopefully, all this information will help brand owners make a informed decision and not get cheated again in the future.

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on a side note, if you're interested to check out the company i was working for, its [commercial link removed] - they have pretty dresses!