‘Slap in the face’: Employees owed up to $18,000
Young Australians are being forced to chase thousands of dollars owed to them as the business takes drastic steps in the face of huge fallout.
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Brides have been left “stressed” and scrambling to find a wedding photographer after claims a company became uncontactable, while people who worked for the business are chasing unpaid invoices worth thousands.
News.com.au broke the story about a group of more than 50 brides that have banded together after discovering they were all chasing photos or videos months after their weddings from Andres & Co.
Photographers and videographers who worked as subcontractors for Andres & Co have revealed their increasingly desperate attempts to get the money owed to them and the reasons why they were told the business faced troubles.
Couples who booked Andres & Co last year have also been left scrambling to find a replacement photographer.
Shannon Ford and Jared Keens are set to get married in just three days, yet have been forced to fork out an extra $4000 to secure a photographer for one of the biggest days of their lives.
In August, Ms Ford was alarmed when her wedding celebrant got in touch and said she must be “panicking” as there had been negative online feedback regarding Andres & Co.
But the 31-year-old had no idea and said she felt sick after she had used her tax return to pay off Andres & Co’s bill in full just three weeks earlier. The couple had paid $2250 to the company as part of a special deal.
Ms Ford said she emailed requesting a refund from Andres & Co, although it meant losing a $672 deposit, and went to extraordinary lengths to get in touch with the company for two weeks.
She believed the company was “ignoring” her as other brides she was in touch with had heard from Andres & Co.
“I sent emails, I got Jared to call and pretend to be an interested customer. It was just radio silence,” she told news.com.au.
“I tried calling their phone line it was disconnected, calling their mobile, texting, commenting on Instagram and Facebook. All the while I was receiving their automated marketing emails which I felt was a real slap in the face.
“I booked a call on their website and they failed to show up and then I booked every single call slot available for the next two months.”
Finally on 19 August, she heard from Andres & Co reassuring her they were “fully operational” and rumours they were going under were not true.
Ms Ford still requested a refund of $1500 but no money has been returned and she hasn’t heard from the company despite more attempts to contact them.
“We have scrambled to find a last minute photographer but that’s an extra $4000 we didn’t budget for,” she said.
“I have been required to take on additional on call shifts as a hospital social worker – having worked 18 hour shifts lately to recuperate finances.
“I feel for people who aren’t in financial positions to pay another $4000. We work really hard for our money, my partner and I, but its had a huge strain on us, in terms of how we are looking at our spending on our honeymoon and our mortgage. It’s one of the happiest days of your life and I’ve been feeling sick over it for the last six weeks.”
Do you have a similar story? Contact sarah.sharples@news.com.au
Ms Ford said the couple had lodged a chargeback request with their bank and have luckily found a new photographer.
The Central Coast woman added it has been disappointing seeing the company seemingly trying to manage the fallout by hiding negative comments on social media and deleting its business profile which would remove critical Google reviews.
“I had seen the reviews on Google and within a week they were gone and then new page has gone up and they had gone again,” she added.
Another bride, who did not want to be identified, said she had put a deposit down of $1500 for her December wedding. She was warned about the troubles brewing from her make up artist.
But she also could not get in contact with Andres & Co, with emails bouncing back and phone calls going straight to voicemail. The 28-year-old has also lodged a dispute with her bank.
But it’s not just brides that have been impacted.
In a text message from the director of Andres & Co to one photographer, he admits its been a “tough last six months and I completely wear it on my sleeve that I’ve upset people”.
He adds he “will do absolutely everything in my power to get back in a position” where he has moved past this.
But now Andres & Co subcontractors are speaking out too.
Paul Mandap is part of a team of around 10 photographers and videographers who worked for Andres & Co for a number of years.
But he’s now in the “horrible” situation of being owed $18,000 in unpaid invoices, he claimed.
The 32-year-old said things started to go wrong with Andres & Co in September last year when payments were late. He said he hasn’t been paid for invoices from December onwards.
Then in January, brides started to reach out to the subcontractors about their photos and videos, Mr Mandap claimed.
The team of subcontractors organised a crisis call with Andres & Co’s owner in February.
“He told us the reasons why he couldn’t pay us and why he was having a hard time paying us now was he has ATO repayments and he has been funnelling all the money he’s been making to pay taxes as he made a mistake doing it all himself,” he said.
“I was understanding but I also didn’t understand why in December 2023 he went to the US for a holiday for a few weeks.”
The Sydneysider said some of the subcontractors left but others like him wanted to help and give the owner a “second chance” with up to 50 weddings scheduled in between January and April this year.
“I did my last wedding on April 20 as he owed me over $18,000 and there has been couples contacting me and the team about their photos and videos and why hasn’t it been delivered,” he added.
“It’s a bit concerning and that’s why I stopped in April. I was meant to be at a wedding in May and I said I couldn’t make it and I didn’t send the files for the last wedding … This triggered (the owner) to contact me and he thought he was going to lose me. He called me around the middle of May and he told me had paid an invoice of $4000.
“I told him I couldn’t work for him anymore as it was all adding up. The money paid for was for money to November to early December 2023, so still have invoices from December to April this year.”
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He added it was “a lot of money” to be owed and it was “really devastating”
He also noted that Andres & Co had been deleting their negative Google reviews and at one stage they changed the company name to Sydney Photography and Videography.
Shenae Taiarol is another photographer who worked as a subcontractor for Andres & Co. She said she is owed $8000 by the company.
The 25-year-old said many of the subcontractors, including her, weren’t paid from October last year.
“In February this year we did a Zoom call with (the owner) to find out what is happening. He explained he was in trouble with the tax department due to debt but he promised us the world and that everything would get fixed and be paid and none of us has seen a payment since that chat,” she told news.com.au.
“In the meantime, we were all getting messages from our couples we were shooting that their photos or videos were delayed. We had some couples messaging that some crucial pictures were missing from their gallery so I was editing photos that I was technically not getting paid for.
“People were reaching out asking if had information but we are basically in the same position as they stopped talking to us and stopped communicating with us.”
Ms Taiarol said it was lucky she had savings to fall back on but described the situation as “frustrating”.
“I’m quite angry to be honest just at the whole thing. We deserve that money, we worked hard and did all those hours, it’s quite disappointing,” she said.
“A wedding day is the most happy and memorable time of your life and we don’t want anyone else to go through this.”
One subcontractor from the Philippines told news.com.au that he was owed around $2600 for eight projects.
News.com.au has approached Andres & Co for comment.
NSW Fair Trading confirmed there had been 46 complaints about Andres & Co since October 2023.
It said issues raised by consumers included paying for photography and video services for their wedding but after paying, the business becomes non-responsive.
“Others say the business attended their wedding but have not supplied all of the product paid for,” a spokesperson said.
“NSW Fair Trading has attempted to contact the business to resolve these issues, but the business has not responded. As a result, NSW Fair Trading is currently investigating Andres & Co. As the matter is ongoing, no further comment can be made.”
sarah.sharples@news.com.au
Originally published as ‘Slap in the face’: Employees owed up to $18,000
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