Double booked and bored

[Andy Goodtimes]

Bit of a mess tonight, I arrived at my job to find it was cancelled back in March but the hotel never told me. I was at the same hotel 2 weeks ago and when I said to the manager “see you on the 16th” she didn’t say anything but in all fairness she never knew as she only gets the function sheets a week prior and then it doesn’t always say where the DJ has been sourced from.

It was a 21st and the mother of the girl who was 21 was rude to me when I arrived and later she was almost begging me to stay but by that time I had had enough of her and the other middle aged ladies who were with her. It all started off with the Mother having a go at me as if it was my fault, I had a contract and she wouldn’t have it that I never knew it was cancelled, apparently the hotel knew back in March as the girls mate’s boyfriend was a DJ and was doing it cheap as a present. I said not to worry as it obviously wasn’t her fault and I didn’t want to cause her any stress or upset and I would take it up with the hotel office staff on Monday, she still kept on at me and I said “look why would I travel 38 miles to a job I knew was cancelled”?

The manageress said I might as well leave my trailer in the staff car park which is all covered by cameras and secure and fenced save towing it home and back again tomorrow for the Wedding I have there. She offered to make me a coffee while I was un-hooking it so I did that and then went back into the little service area between the kitchen and the function room for a coffee and a chat to the staff. Anyway next thing the DJ arrived and it was a bit of a contrast, I have a 2 week old Insignia SRI Sports tourer with a 6 month old purpose built very smart looking trailer, and he had a ‘T’ reg Escort estate which had obviously been worked hard. As this chap knew some of the younger ones he stood by the fire doors smoking with them and swearing his head off loudly even though he was late, the older Mother and her circle of older mates were noticeably getting annoyed by this. After about 15 minutes he decided it was time to set-up, he argued with the hotel staff about the siting of the cake table and a table for him and they were struggling to keep cool with him. He had a hotel table with one of their white cloths on it which he wasn’t going to have but they suggested the cloth to him, and he put his laptop on that. The speakers were weird looking things…Behringer Europort EPA or something like that…they had funny bulges at the top where the handles were…I’ve never seen them before and he put them on some old tarnished stands with missing feet and a biro to hold one of them up. He had 2 LED lights like Impossableds but smaller dimmer ones and basically that was it and it sounded awful and the lights were not effective at all and he never even wired them master/slave…mind you dunno if they could be wired like that, I’m not just saying it, honestly it was bad. One of the girls took him another white cloth and asked him to cover his pile of old cardboard boxes that he had stacked in a corner behind him and he started moaning and swearing about her being fussy.

I spent about 45 minutes chatting to the staff and I must admit we were quietly taking the mick. As I was leaving the Father appeared from out of nowhere, dunno where he was earlier…prob keeping out of the Mother’s way, he was a nice chap and he asked me how much for me to stay. I declined totally and said it would cause too much bother to tell the other to strip down and take too long for me to set-up as the room was getting pretty full. The father said that this chap obviously wasn’t a professional DJ and it couldn’t hardly be heard and his daughter and her friends were party animals and keen dancers and later on he wouldn’t cope as they were already asking him to turn it up and he couldn’t as it was distorted and hissing. I felt a bit awkward but stuck to my guns and came home.

Shame really as I like the up to date stuff played loud and I look forward to the odd 18th and 21st.

I was in at about 9.30pm started to watch “Catch Me If You Can” which I recorded the other night and it was obviously very good as I went to sleep half way through, wide awake now and bored.

[Charlie Brown]

Maybe you'll take payment a month in advance next time?

I understand this wasn't a private booking but the same rule still applies IMO.

[Creature]

Maybe you'll take payment a month in advance next time?

how do you know he hadn't taken a booking fee !!

but gotta admit probally the senario we dread happening the most

[Andy Goodtimes]

Not that easy with hotels.

They take payment in advance but try and get them to pay you in advance. Thing is there are lots of DJs and agencies waiting to get in there and the hotels know it and take advantage, they won't pay up front, they are very reluctant to pay cancellation fees and also for party nights and tribute nights and at times like Christmas they will book the dates they think they want and then cancel them later if they don't sell. I get the same old thing...they'll make it up to me, or they give me x amount of bookings throughout the year. Other thing is that an agency will charge £350 and pay the DJ £200 if they're lucky but I get the whole fee as I do it direct.

I know what will happen, I will phone the office on Monday and they will either apoligise and say they have just had a couple of others in and give me them to make up for it or if not they will reluctantly pay me £100 for fuel and inconvenience. If I make a fuss they will bring up on the PC how many jobs I have had off them in the past year and start quoting the value of them...I already know those figures and don't want to risk loosing their business.

I live in the real world, its all very well to start keeping deposits and charging full fees for canceled private work but when you rely on the business as a source of income you have to give and take.

Another example; I have a young farmers do on 7 January, I do about 15-20 for this particular group and spin offs from them each year, they are all worth over £500 and some of them go longer than 1am and therefore worth more. Wehn they booked this latest one they asked about cancelation fees as they are way up in the hills on the way to Buxton and that road is always the first to go in the bad snow etc. I said I would keep the £50 deposit but knock it off when they re-booked and would not charge a cancelation fee. I would much rather keep their work rather than fall out over £500.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Maybe you'll take payment a month in advance next time?

I understand this wasn't a private booking but the same rule still applies IMO.

In your opinion CB?

You are a little naive sometimes.

Hotel chains and even privately owned Hotels don't pay in advance. 30 days is generally the rule.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Exactly!
Not sure what planet you are on sometimes Charlie!?
I totally agree with the OP regarding payments with hotels. Sometimes you have to be a bit leanient (sp?). When a venue is giving you lots of work throughout the year, sometimes cancellation charges go out of the window. It's not always the case. If it was, I wouldn't deal with hotels.

One in particular, which I don't do anymore cancelled 9 christmas gigs on me one year. They got very narked when they realised that they had to pay cancellation fees for the inconvenience. 4 of them had a 50% charge and 3 had 100% charge. I even had the General Manager on the phone to me asking if I could give them a break. Bearing in mind that this hotel was part of a massive chain and also that the GM never made himself accessible. He was always tucked away in his office. I think in 4 years, I met him once and spoke to him once (when he wanted me to waive the cancellation charges).

It's true that some venues (not all of them) like to be seen to be pulling all the strings and don't take you seriously. They see it as giving you 20 gigs a year and potential good earnings. You never let them down and do a good job yet when they cancel on you, they expect you to just take it.

As I said, not all of them are like it thankfully. I have a couple of residencies and one of them is a great little number with a brilliant Manager who is a good friend now.

Andy - I know exactly where you are coming from. Some others may disagree but I'm with you mate.

[Ecstatic Events]

Bit of a mess tonight, I arrived at my job to find it was cancelled back in March but the hotel never told me. I was at the same hotel 2 weeks ago and when I said to the manager “see you on the 16th” she didn’t say anything but in all fairness she never knew as she only gets the function sheets a week prior and then it doesn’t always say where the DJ has been sourced from.

It was a 21st and the mother of the girl who was 21 was rude to me when I arrived and later she was almost begging me to stay but by that time I had had enough of her and the other middle aged ladies who were with her. It all started off with the Mother having a go at me as if it was my fault, I had a contract and she wouldn’t have it that I never knew it was cancelled, apparently the hotel knew back in March as the girls mate’s boyfriend was a DJ and was doing it cheap as a present. I said not to worry as it obviously wasn’t her fault and I didn’t want to cause her any stress or upset and I would take it up with the hotel office staff on Monday, she still kept on at me and I said “look why would I travel 38 miles to a job I knew was cancelled”?

The manageress said I might as well leave my trailer in the staff car park which is all covered by cameras and secure and fenced save towing it home and back again tomorrow for the Wedding I have there. She offered to make me a coffee while I was un-hooking it so I did that and then went back into the little service area between the kitchen and the function room for a coffee and a chat to the staff. Anyway next thing the DJ arrived and it was a bit of a contrast, I have a 2 week old Insignia SRI Sports tourer with a 6 month old purpose built very smart looking trailer, and he had a ‘T’ reg Escort estate which had obviously been worked hard. As this chap knew some of the younger ones he stood by the fire doors smoking with them and swearing his head off loudly even though he was late, the older Mother and her circle of older mates were noticeably getting annoyed by this. After about 15 minutes he decided it was time to set-up, he argued with the hotel staff about the siting of the cake table and a table for him and they were struggling to keep cool with him. He had a hotel table with one of their white cloths on it which he wasn’t going to have but they suggested the cloth to him, and he put his laptop on that. The speakers were weird looking things…Behringer Europort EPA or something like that…they had funny bulges at the top where the handles were…I’ve never seen them before and he put them on some old tarnished stands with missing feet and a biro to hold one of them up. He had 2 LED lights like Impossableds but smaller dimmer ones and basically that was it and it sounded awful and the lights were not effective at all and he never even wired them master/slave…mind you dunno if they could be wired like that, I’m not just saying it, honestly it was bad. One of the girls took him another white cloth and asked him to cover his pile of old cardboard boxes that he had stacked in a corner behind him and he started moaning and swearing about her being fussy.

I spent about 45 minutes chatting to the staff and I must admit we were quietly taking the mick. As I was leaving the Father appeared from out of nowhere, dunno where he was earlier…prob keeping out of the Mother’s way, he was a nice chap and he asked me how much for me to stay. I declined totally and said it would cause too much bother to tell the other to strip down and take too long for me to set-up as the room was getting pretty full. The father said that this chap obviously wasn’t a professional DJ and it couldn’t hardly be heard and his daughter and her friends were party animals and keen dancers and later on he wouldn’t cope as they were already asking him to turn it up and he couldn’t as it was distorted and hissing. I felt a bit awkward but stuck to my guns and came home.

Shame really as I like the up to date stuff played loud and I look forward to the odd 18th and 21st.

I was in at about 9.30pm started to watch “Catch Me If You Can” which I recorded the other night and it was obviously very good as I went to sleep half way through, wide awake now and bored.

Oh dear - Not good. I had this reply from a quotation just this week.

Hi Mike,

I must apologise for not getting back to you sooner, I will not be able to proceed with the disco booking for 01/10/11, the other family in this joint event have managed to secure a friend of friend for free, (at the last minute), so sorry we couldn't compete with your quote.

I must thank you for all your help and assistance with my enquiry and maybe sometime in the future we can book you again.

Do you think it may go the same way? When will people realise??

As for Charlies comments about payments???????? You need to join us in the real world buddy

[Charlie Brown]

Well I get paid in advance when I work for my regular hotel.

I wonder whether Paul does at shottle hall?

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Your regular hotel must be one in a million then Charlie because it's a very rare occurence (in my experience).

[Ecstatic Events]

Your regular hotel must be one in a million then Charlie because it's a very rare occurence (in my experience).

He has a point - I've just secured a Christmas Contract with the Hilton (well known for being late payers) for 16 bookings @ £450 each, they paid me in full last week