There are dozens of Need a Last Minute DJ groups on Facebook
There are dozens of Need a Last Minute DJ groups on Facebook
www.retrodisco.co.uk Mobile Disco and 80s Night Specialists, Devon
Any links as they are usually title sensitive so not easy to find.
I don't frequent any groups other than the DJ buy and sell ones, so don't know of them
Something specific to the South Central region would be ideal.
Well, despite posting this 3 times now and emailing them i have not heard back from NAD yet and have not had any form of other correspondence to the adverts? I have however booked a premium DJ from Dorset, so am dead happy with that as I would hate to supply sub standard entertainment. I got this from placing an ad of the DJ Network Facebook Group and got a reply in 30 mins so that was a result.
Last edited by yourdj; 04-12-2017 at 05:41 PM.
Your DJ - Mobile DJ The New Forest, Southampton & Hampshire. Toby
https://yourdj.co.uk/
Okay Toby here's the story from our perspective...
Lead reference 13545037 was opened by you on 16th October. Had you checked the status page immediately after posting you would have seen that we did not share the details with 26 of our members (13 of these were unavailable, 3 didn't cover the type of venue/event, 8 had no current PLI and/or PAT, and 2 had minimum price filters set), however we DID share the details with 23 members (12 of which clicked 'No Bid' for whatever reason, 3 didn't read your details and the other 8 said they responded to your enquiry via whatever means you requested).
Despite a bunch of reminder emails (we send these approximately weekly) the enquiry remained open until you re-posted it on Friday night/Saturday morning.
Because the second enquiry matched the first in terms of venue, date etc. it was not accepted and you were emailed with a link to the details for the original enquiry as a reminder. From this link you would have been presented with contact details for the 8 who had previously responded to you (actually this could potentially have been more if members had hit 'Responded' and then subsequently changed to 'No Bid' as they became booked over the 6/7 week period the enquiry was open).
You then chose to close the original enquiry and re-post the same details again a third time, rather than go back to the 8 members who had responded.
To avoid member dissatisfaction, we will not accept duplicate enquiries where the original has only just been closed unless there is evidence of a failed transaction (e.g. client and member both confirm they are contracting, then for some reason one backs out).
Hope this clears things up.
Have you won any work, Andy? The reason I'm asking is that I am aware of several of these sites that use fake leads to generate income for themselves. The user bids on leads, paying for the privilage, but will never win as there is no real client. I'm not for one minute suggesting that this is case with Add To Event as I've never heard of them but I know it does happen and I know several sites have cases open on them where the powers that be are collecting data on them. So I'm just interested to know your experiences of this service especially in light of what MBP has posted.
UPDATE:
Me being me, I've done a quick look in to reviews on this service and they are clearly split in to two different camps. The first one is the consumer where all the reviews appear to be positive (although none seem to be from a Claire!). However, there appears to a fair number of poor reviews from suppliers, several of who actually accuse the service of providing fake leads, which, obviously, the service strongly denies. But it does make you wonder. It's a pretty easy way to make money for some unscrupulous operators and it happens in every industry. Again, I'm not accusing Add To Event of anything just stating general facts and describing the results of my limited research!
Last edited by DazzyD; 05-12-2017 at 07:31 AM.
Dazzy D
Lightning Disco & Entertainment
Born to make you party!
OK thanks Martin for getting back to me.
I was not really referring to the original enquiry as that was brilliant (heard from NAD, NAD members and subsequent follow ups - which I clearly did not respond too). I heard from a few members and booked one persons because of that. No problems with that at all as the reason I choose NAD was because i know it keeps standards high and I have a good chance of finding a good DJ. Totally my fault for not closing the enquiry, so apologies for that. Had I closed the original one and listed the same date and location would it have still gone through however and would i have been able to have sorted that out myself as last min cancellations happen quite often? Well not for me usually.
After posting the 1st duplicated enquiry (same date different venue) i realised this was the problem & deleted the original enquiry (16th Oct) and reposted. I then got a duplicate listing email and it was closed beyond being able to do anything with it. I appreciate that you need to safeguard from people posting the same enquiries, but I had a last minute cancellation and then they rebooked (DJ got a new gig overnight), so needed to find someone very quickly, hence why i needed confirmation. Perhaps I was being far too keen?
I though it might be the email or venue so reposted with a different email and location. I then emailed to explain the situation and I have not had any confirmation or communication to what has happened. Since then I have not had any correspondence art all for the two of the enquiries I opened. As far as i can see I have an event to fill at a reasonable rate of pay and not one open enquiry for it at present?
However, It's no problems as i found someone (a premium supplier) on a Facebook group so am very much relived as i would hate to supply second rate entertainment.
I have not heard anything yet, I shall let you know. Its probably one of the worst dates this year to find anyone though, hence the above.
Last edited by yourdj; 05-12-2017 at 09:27 AM.
Your DJ - Mobile DJ The New Forest, Southampton & Hampshire. Toby
https://yourdj.co.uk/
Toby I think you just fell foul of the logic we have built to spot and block duplicate enquiries as well as the fact that you tried this on an evening/weekend when we rely more on automation and rulesets to keep the enquiries flowing. During office hours it *should* have been picked up for what it actually was and the subsequent enquiry manually allowed through.
When you're dealing with the volume of enquiries and related transactions that we do, there need to be various safeguards in place because there are sadly a lot of idiots out there that cannot follow simple instructions, not to mention spambots that like nothing more than auto-filling contact forms. In the past members have told us they don't want to be contacted multiple times for the same enquiry unless it is a genuine 'second chance' opportunity, and we have to tread a fine line between the two extremes.
I'm glad you appear to have sourced cover from elsewhere on this occasion but if it doesn't pan out feel free to try again. Sufficient time has passed now that it shouldn't be trapped as a duplicate.
Hi folks
Does just a quick question anyone feel they are not getting value for money on this site very few leads have come in recently.
My other complaint is the help section is very ineffective
other day I discovered email for one enquiry was wrong as someone from the Netherlands told me they hadn't a clue what I was on about and didn't need a disco.
I informed the help section I may aswell not bothered as I was told I hadn't won the job (no one likely either as that was only means of contact).
I'm sure administration on this site could have rectified this.
Anyone else had similar experiences?
I'm sure our own Vectis will come up with answers for this including stats and figures to prove otherwise.
Please Mods - don't ban me for this. The comment below is my personal opinion and a true reflection of my own experiences.
My personal opinion as someone who used to do very well out of NaD and supported everything they did until I started charging a fee which actually made me a profit...
I left NaD as a Diamond DJMark Award holder earlier this year as have several others I know, due to the lack of quality leads (and yes...I'm talking price and expectations). It really had gone downhill and I'd got to the stage where I couldn't win a gig from there for love nor money (well I could have won....if I wanted to go out for less than it actually costs to put the show on the road). It was costing me more in time to keep hitting the "No Bid" button than it was worth. In short.....it was frustrating.
On the flip-side, there are those among our numbers who do very well out of NaD - so it must work somewhere.
As for the admin - we used to be able to contact Martin and his "Martinions" (and even have a natter/laugh with him) on the FB group - that all disappeared as well in favour of the faceless admin panel method. Poor customer service I'm afraid and as a BIG believer in customer service, that was one of the big nails in the coffin for me after the lack of quality leads.
My personal opinion? I feel the days of sites like NaD (and others of a similar ilk including Bark, AddToEvent etc.) are numbered....unless you're looking to go out for peanuts. Sorry - those customers AREN'T my customers.
Top tip? Spend your money on your own SEO and marketing....you'll get a better return.
For anyone who hasn't realised, I've merged Simon's thread with an earlier one bearing the same title, and subject matter almost exactly.
My thoughts? Well, firstly that the market is becoming saturated ( and thus diluted ) with lead generation sites. Once upon a time, NaD provided me with a lot of my work, at reasonable rates. ( And a few diary fillers at lower rates ). Now, with a slightly larger catchment area specified, Add to Event is providing many more leads. Many people are looking for Disco and Karaoke for twelve hours for the outrageously high sum of £100 for " just pressing play", granted, but there are pearls in there.
I sympathise with Simon and Wayne in many ways, and can understand their views. Vectis will still continue to receive my hard-earned for the foreseeable future, though.
I think this is the issue.
For those who have been increasing their fees, sites like NeedADisco will becoming increasingly less relevant as by their nature they usually attract customers who are more price conscious. Not always, but usually.
But for NeedADisco specifically, new entrants to the market like Bark will have sapped away a number of enquiries. The challenge is that NeedADisco only has a market of djs. For Bark, djs is one very small part its business. It covers multiple services and has a big team and buying power to source leads.
I think Martin has done amazingly with creating the NeedADisco concept. Personally I feel the front end design has fallen behind times a bit and that may put off the more attractive leads. However, if Martin were to invest in revamping this would it generate a return for him considering the might of the likes of Bark. It's certainly now a very challenging market.