An educational evening

[Excalibur]

Turned up to local village hall/social club, set up for a surprise 40th party, with a nice looking crowd. Few records in, playing for the small persons, pressed smoke machine, and cut off the electric to 450 homes ! :(
Actually it wasn't me who did it, so total darkness, power company no idea of reconnection, desperation, go home for generator. Fire it up, switch on, and hallelujah, everything works! I suspect we weren't at 100% voltage, but I made a noise, and shone light, so what more could you ask for? End of night, every building lit up, except one, yes you guessed it.:bang: Back in morning for gear, couldn't see to get it out.
First time I have ever powered it from my 2.2Kva genny,now at least I know it is possible:D You can guess how happy my customers were at the rescue.

[DMX Will]

Nice work that man, I hope you charged them for the diesel!

[Tom]

that was so lucky. i was thinking about getting one as a total back up. but still the night went out with a bang. lol

[Excalibur]

Nice work that man, I hope you charged them for the diesel!

I was too worried about not being paid if I didn't play! :D

On a serious note, ( another first) how would anyone here take a stance if they turned up, and had no electric at all? Would you ask for full payment, reduced fee, or none? Reasons please, I'm interested.

[Danno13]

Full fee. Theres a term in my contract to say we can't be held responsible for any interuptions in the power supply. The client could probably claim the money back off the venue or insurance (if its a wedding), but i'd still be down a nights wage if I couldn't work through no fault of my own.

[DJWayne]

Have to agree with the above one of the prerequisites for us as DJ's is electricity we have no control over the supply of it so shouldnt lose out when the power goes off. :)

[Corabar Steve]

Well done thet man!

Full fee, not your fault.

[rob1963]

Full fee. Theres a term in my contract to say we can't be held responsible for any interuptions in the power supply.

Same here.

[CRAZY K]

I was too worried about not being paid if I didn't play! :D

On a serious note, ( another first) how would anyone here take a stance if they turned up, and had no electric at all? Would you ask for full payment, reduced fee, or none? Reasons please, I'm interested.

Full fee--I FULFIL MY PART OF THE CONTRACT IN TURNING UP READY TO PLAY--I DONT SUPPLY ELECTRICITY THE CLIENT DOES.

But of course a lot of people on here collect the money before the event---smarter than me:eek:

Makes me think though--an extra clause in my Contract wouldnt hurt on this point--maybe you could argue its covered under--Cancellation of the event 30 days or less beforehand:D

What does your clause say Rob? probably a no brainer:)

CRAZY K

[Twinspin]

2 weeks ago now i did a wedding in a marquee and when packing up the marquee generator shut down. The area i worked in was lined with black fibre optic cloth. Still with a torch i couldnt see anything that was before the lights went off.

Was without power for at least 30 minutes. After leaving the marquee that night (2 days later when sorting all the cables out i had noticed missing

Powercon - Mains leads (Connects the subs to the mains)
double plug 10 metre extension lead
2x Van Damme / Neutrik XLR - XLR cables

So had a whale of a time replacing them.

One lesson learnt for me Get a stronger light when packing up

But its a pain about the light

[rob1963]

What does your clause say Rob? probably a no brainer:)
CRAZY K

Here it is, Crazy:

12) In the event of a delay or loss of performance due to events beyond our control, the client is still liable for the full outstanding balance.

[Penfold42]

Well done...show must go on and all that...



Have to agree with the above one of the prerequisites for us as DJ's is electricity we have no control over the supply of it so shouldnt lose out when the power goes off. :)


Full fee, not your fault.


Same here.


Full fee--I FULFIL MY PART OF THE CONTRACT IN TURNING UP READY TO PLAY--I DONT SUPPLY ELECTRICITY THE CLIENT DOES.

What they say....

Interesting point Crazy....:)

[Excalibur]

Full fee--I FULFIL MY PART OF THE CONTRACT IN TURNING UP READY TO PLAY--I DONT SUPPLY ELECTRICITY THE CLIENT DOES.

But of course a lot of people on here collect the money before the event---smarter than me:eek:

Makes me think though--an extra clause in my Contract wouldnt hurt on this point--maybe you could argue its covered under--Cancellation of the event 30 days or less beforehand:D

What does your clause say Rob? probably a no brainer:)

CRAZY K

Thank you all for your input, but I still have misgivings about a full fee. If it were a marquee, and the genny was down, or unsuitable then no problem,
BUT, put yourself in the customer's place. They book a venue( club, pub, hall, whatever). A widespread cut occurs, so they blame the venue. The venue blame the suppliers. The suppliers point to their Tand C ( which by the way don't sem to actually require them to supply power, they're that loosely worded!). Nobody will accept responsibility for devastating their big night, and to top it off, some insensitive pillock of a DJ is demanding full whack for doing nothing, and sloping off to the pub early with a pocket full of their hard-earned! Sorry, but I wouldn't be happy with that scenario.

My thoughts would be half fee/ expenses

[rob1963]

Excalibur,

If you load up your van, drive to a function, lug in & set up all the gear, and then at some point there's a power cut & you therefore finish early...if you're happy with just your petrol money or even 50% of your fee, then good luck to you.

Personally, I'm not..which is why (like most others here) I'd still charge my full fee.

I appreciate that a power cut is not the clients fault...but it's not mine either, and I'm running a business, not a charity.

[Steve 'B']

In my oppinion, setting up and taking down accounts for 90% of the fee I charge. It is without doubt the hardest part of the night so I would expect full payement.

My T&C's say:

We as a company can not be held responsible for power cuts within the premises of the event. If power cuts persist and this is due to un-maintained electrics within a building the entertainer has the right to stop the party until the problem is resolved as start/stop power damages the entertainer kit every time it occurs. It is also the responsibility of the booking party to ensure that the exact location of the DJ entertainer is within 10m’s of two mains (240v ac) power out lets. If you require our DJ to power all equipment from a generator, please note we need to be informed prior to the event and we will also require full safety and test certificates from the person signing this form no less than seven days prior to the event.

[rob1963]

In my opinion, setting up and taking down accounts for 90% of the fee I charge.

Absolutely!

That's why I charge the same for a 5 hour gig as I do for one where there's also a band & I'm only playing for a couple of hours.

In October I have a gig where I'm working with a band. I'll probably be playing for about 2 hours, and the gig finishes at 10.30pm...but I'm still charging my standard rate...simply because the REAL hard work of lugging in & setting up the gear is still the same.

[PropellerHeadCase]

In my oppinion, setting up and taking down accounts for 90% of the fee I charge. It is without doubt the hardest part of the night so I would expect full payement.

My T&C's say:

We as a company can not be held responsible for power cuts within the premises of the event. If power cuts persist and this is due to un-maintained electrics within a building the entertainer has the right to stop the party until the problem is resolved as start/stop power damages the entertainer kit every time it occurs. It is also the responsibility of the booking party to ensure that the exact location of the DJ entertainer is within 10m’s of two mains (240v ac) power out lets. If you require our DJ to power all equipment from a generator, please note we need to be informed prior to the event and we will also require full safety and test certificates from the person signing this form no less than seven days prior to the event.

I appreciate what you're doing here but be careful not to over-stipulate...

What if the power-cut is not due to "un-maintained electrics", merely an unexpected fault. By enforcing your contract, as written, the 8 year-old sticking a set of keys into a power point and taking down the whole building would void your contract and the client wouldn't be liable

Also, what happens if the fault is due to a failure in power supply to the building, like a brown-out/black-out? Again, not due to "un-maintained electrics", or at least not "un-maintained electrics within a building", un-maintained electrics on the national grid, however... ;)

On the point about setting up - my contract states that once set-up the equipment will not be moved.

[A1DL]

My T&C's say:

....If you require our DJ to power all equipment from a generator, please note we need to be informed prior to the event and we will also require full safety and test certificates from the person signing this form no less than seven days prior to the event.

Steve,

if a temporary system is signed off to BS7909, how often is this done seven or more days prior to the event?

rarely, I would have thought :confused:

Tony

[Steve 'B']

Steve,

if a temporary system is signed off to BS7909, how often is this done seven or more days prior to the event?

rarely, I would have thought :confused:

Tony

To be honest Tony, I am not too sure on the rules and regs for safety testing of a generator? Obviously I would assume that checks would need to be done every time it is set up?? I state what I said so that people are aware that when it comes to using mobile power, I will no way plug my gear direct in to a rubbish source. Past certification and test certs would be fine for me. I would obviously look at the gene model as well. If its £50 from BnQ I know to run a mile. If it costs £1000's and the spec seems good to me I will be happy.

[rob1963]

Luckily I've only had to run on a generator once in 24 years, and that when I was in the middle of a field providing the music & PA system for a charity fete.

Generators are more trouble than they're worth.

I sincerely hope I don't have to use one for another 24 years...by which time I'll be long retired!

[Excalibur]

Excalibur,

If you load up your van, drive to a function, lug in & set up all the gear, and then at some point there's a power cut & you therefore finish early...if you're happy with just your petrol money or even 50% of your fee, then good luck to you.

Personally, I'm not..which is why (like most others here) I'd still charge my full fee.

I appreciate that a power cut is not the clients fault...but it's not mine either, and I'm running a business, not a charity.

I completely understand your views, and accept them as logical. However, I still could not have taken a full fee for a gig where I had played five records, and the birthday girl had heard none of them. Maybe I'm in a minority here, and could easily be wrong, but that's just my views.

[flatliners]

i hate generators broke the compression drivers on my jbl eons
and as for payment if power cut off i would take full payment as it wasnt your fault

[Arnold_disco]

i hate generators broke the compression drivers on my jbl eons
and as for payment if power cut off i would take full payment as it wasnt your fault

Not all genarators are the same.

[Arnold_disco]

I completely understand your views, and accept them as logical. However, I still could not have taken a full fee for a gig where I had played five records, and the birthday girl had heard none of them. Maybe I'm in a minority here, and could easily be wrong, but that's just my views.

I agree.