If you have been a victim or know someone who has had the following experiences with Kingsman Tailors formerly known as K-Tailors, you can share, tag others, or leave a comment below.
Have I got a scoop for you. The tailor in question is Kingsman Tailors which has a sizeable following on Facebook with slick marketing. They used to be known as K Tailors but was closed down and then reopened and rebranded as Kingsman Tailors due to a rumoured incident of “embezzlement”. A quick search on the internet will show that countless customers were affected in that incident.
Fast forward to the present. Kingman Tailors is now open and rebranded, taking over the page of K Tailors. It’s now located at 78b Boat Quay and run by a certain individual by the name of Zackary Gay Shi Cai. He claims to be the current owner when you meet him to get items tailored but conveniently denies to be the owner once problems arise. There is no form of payment for nets or credit card. He takes payment only in the form of Cash, Paylah/Paynow, or bank transfer to a personal savings account instead of the DBS Current Account listed on the receipt, whereupon he will show you his other talent “Magician” besides being a “Tailor”. He will pull a disappearing act.
Another quick Google Search shows disgruntled customers giving low reviews on Google. There’s also a story available on reddit of how one customer didn’t get his suit in time for his wedding (insert link). It seems that Kingsman Tailors is very good at culling bad pr on their Facebook page. All negative reviews and comments have been deleted but, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
My own story began when a close friend of mine was getting married in September. Having put on 30kg over the course of 2 years, almost nothing in my closet fit me. Having seen Kingsman Tailor’s slick marketing and honestly, really good looking and sharp suits for men of different shapes and size and with 30 of my friends being part of their following of 25,000 on Facebook, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. And boy was I wrong.
I ordered a three piece suit, a double vested suit and an additional vest using the same material, two extra pairs of pants, two bermudas in the same material as the suits each and six formal shirts. He missed my fitting date, ghosted me, and when I went down to his shop to check things out I told his neighbour that I’m considering making a police report. He suddenly called me that night and said “all my stuff was ready and arrived in his shop for collection” (right smack on my friend’s wedding day) I happily went to his shop to do a collection. Well, we probably had very different definitions of “all my stuff” as he only had “one jacket and one shirt” ready. No pants to go with the jacket. The shirt didn’t fit me.
What followed up was delays and more delays, not replying messages, not taking calls then suddenly giving excuses about trying to start a hotel in Vietnam on how he’s having problems with his staff with his hotel etc. He finally calls me in for fitting after a month for my final suit and promises that I will get my items within a week as he’s settled all his problems in Vietnam… yada yada.
Suit Material is wrong. 2nd shirt also doesn’t fit. Tells me he will have to take away darts from shirt and most shirts are “on their way” so he’ll have to remove darts from all shirts. What the heck? I know his stuff is cheap but I shouldn’t accept defective stuff just because it’s cheap. The money I handed to him sure as heck wasn’t defective, but after all that waiting and being worried that he ran away I decided that I wanted him to deliver all the items and if there were any further problems I’d just go to another tailor for alterations.
Cue disappearing act once more. 3 weeks without responding. Another disgruntled customer contacted me and after he called Zackary’s wife (who conveniently said “sorry wrong number”), Zackary finally started responding to all our messages.
I also posted on Facebook asking friends if anyone else had problems with this same tailor and true enough there were.
Things started to stink. I found out that Kingsman Tailors had several private settlements with many customers. There were customers who had no choice but to accept substandard and/or defective clothing fearing that he would run and they wanted to take whatever they could get.
In my opinion, either this guy had a cash flow issue and was using new customers money to pay for old customer’s orders and then repeating the cycle, disappearing when it suited him. There’s even a possible money laundering risk when patronising an operation that only collects cash and monies to personal account. Who cares if refunds are made? The invoice and receipts can be used for ‘other purposes’, both the placement and integration steps of money laundering can be achieved from this alone (compliance and audit friends please weigh in on this).
After kicking up a fuss and telling him that we’re going to social media, Kingsman Tailors has agreed to refund us. So far he’s only refunded one individual. He’s yet to refund me and cites the need to maintain a business balance so that his business can remain operational (stinks of my first theory). He’s tried to knock down what he owes me to $1k citing that the cost of the jacket is $250 when the agreement was $299 for a three piece, after debating with him he said he can do $1.05k. Keep in mind, I have no pants that match the jacket and, I might not be able to find another tailor who carries the same fabric design. Incessant delays and incomplete work but charging me 2/3 of the agreed price without providing the vest and the pants.
By writing this post and having it be shared all around, I know that my $1.05k has very little chance of coming back since this reduces the likelihood of anyone else becoming another victim. I don’t want the next patsy to pay for my refund and have to suffer the same experience.
All in all, his modus operandi is taking your money and disappearing on you for weeks, sometimes months on end; ghosting the victim, ignoring messages and calls. Some customers have chosen to write it off as a loss because the amount of energy taken to get their items or money back isn’t worth the effort. Some do chase him down, and do a pretty good job of it I guess (among several former and existing customers, this man’s full name, nric, address, even his car plate and a pic of it are available.)
I have too many screen shots of my and other customers’ interactions with the man. I also have recordings of personal interactions with Zackary (Kingsman Tailors) upon the advice of another lawyer buddy who was similarly scammed by him but managed to get a refund and even claimed damages against him. I’m putting some of them up. If Mothership or Rice decides to contact me I can provide more and even direct you to the others affected.
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TLDR:
Kingsman Tailors formerly known as K Tailors
1) Always missed. Missed by customers. Goes mia for weeks and months after order. Ghosting, not replying messages or calls. Causing even one groom to take contingency measures (go google it there’s a thread) as he didn’t get his suit in time. Now another customer is also facing the same problem.
I’ve ordered 2 full suits, one double breasted tweed and wool blend, one normal wool blend, 2 additional pairs of pants, 2 berms and 6 egyptian cotton shirts. So far I’ve only got one shirt and one jacket top.
2) Very consistent. Consistent in delivering inferior products. Shirts do not fit, suits have defects. List goes on and on. My shirt doesn’t fit me.
3) Very accepting. Accepts only Paylah, Cash or Atm transfer into personal bank account. Does not accept nets or credit card. I don’t know what operation he’s running but patronising an establishment with such a practice is risky both in terms of protecting yourself and the financial system. If any other business out there has such a system first thing compliance will raise is a suspicion of money laundering – accept personal monies into personal account, but business still issues invoice for sale and there’s entry into accounts but where does that money come from?