No surprises when you book a dj based on price

[leelive]

I have been doing follow-ups with people who asked for quotes to see why they didn't book me.

Most are saying it is because they wanted a band..... the occasional one due to a cancellation.

This one was because of cost. I had quoted £280 as it was for a Thursday night with a small system for just 60 guests.

"Our choice was based on price and to perfectly honest it was a bad choice. The dj we had was £125 we needed to cut back some where, and the end result was nothing but stress and he wasn't at all professional eg struggling to confirm his attendance 5 days before the wedding and not providing the venue with the documentation that they needed until the very last minute. If I were to do it again I would use a more experienced and well known dj like yourself. When anyone asks about djs I do suggested looking at you as you were also recommended by a bridal shop too me. Hey we live and learn"

Lee

[Excalibur]

Hey we live and learn

Ah yes, but the realisation has come a bit late to save the function. And nobody will be surprised when I reiterate ( ad nauseam ) that the price charged by the DJ is not necessarily directly proportional to the quality of service provided.

Brides viewing us merely as "and disco", because "they're all the same, aren't they? " makes me think we may be shovelling sand against the tide.

[Sapphire Disco]

Quality is rarely cheap and cheap is rarely quality.

Maybe we should have a sticky place on the forum where these genuine feed back posts can be displayed, so they might be found on the inter webb more easily by potential customers.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Quality is rarely cheap and cheap is rarely quality.

Maybe we should have a sticky place on the forum where these genuine feed back posts can be displayed, so they might be found on the inter webb more easily by potential customers.

That sounds like a good idea. I don't hard sell to wedding couples but I do mention the fact that although I'm not going to be the cheapest quote, getting someone on Gumtree who hasn't gone to the bother of setting up even a free website or posting any pictures is crazy. Why would you trust someone who shows so little enthusiasm or gumption for their work with such an important part of your wedding?

Unfortunately as Lee has pointed out, a lot of them don't appreciate this until it's too late. There's a guy on my local Gumtree just now offering to do weddings for £80. Now I'm not saying that a good DJ has to be expensive and a cheap DJ is going to be bad but what are they really expecting for £80 and can they complain when it turns out it's someone in jeans and trainers with an iPhone plugged into a tiny Maplin PA? You wouldn't pay bottom price for a wedding cake and expect it to be great so why is it going to be any different for your music?

I assume I'm not the only one who gets frustrated when the cost of your average wedding now rocks in at over £20k (£22k according to something I recently read) yet they decide that the thing they really want to cut back on is the entertainment aka the one part of the event every single guest will see, judge and talk about after the wedding.

If I were getting married and spending more on chair sashes than the guy responsible for making everyone enjoy their evenings entertainment, I'd be a bit worried...

[TONYTIGER]

I agree with all the above posts but how do you solve this age old problem ,answers on a postcard please

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I agree with all the above posts but how do you solve this age old problem ,answers on a postcard please

Undercut them even more, don't turn up and then people will start paying good money for a reliable DJ?

If there was a viable solution to it, one of us would have figured it out by now.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I've had a number of customer meetings this week and the bookings have all been for weddings.
All of the bookings are priced the same and it has been interesting hearing what the customers think about pricing.
A couple of them said that my price was slightly over what they had initially budgeted for the Disco Entertainment but it was important to them that they had quality and they seemed to like the fact that this job is all I do (Ok, that's yet again another thread altogether so lets not go down that avenue eh!).
The others were adamant that they would not even acknowledge any quotes under a certain price. Whether it's right or wrong it doesn't matter really but I got the impression that they thought that the cheaper quotes didn't mean quality (again, it's not the case really is it?).

It's down to the customers expectations really at the end of the day isn't it? What they want and what they expect from the Disco Entertainment.
I do agree though that it does get frustrating sometimes when you know they have paid over inflated prices for Cakes, Chair Covers etc yet some think that the Disco isn't as important (or so it would seem).

I'm glad to say that the quality of my enquiries has improved over the past couple of years but every now and then I will get someone looking for the cheapest thing possible or a 'deal'. I had one come in this week. It was for a 4 hour Disco a few miles outside town. Music to start at 9.00pm after a 3 course meal for a large number of guests. I quoted for it as I would normally do and as usual I provided the information as to what the price included (Early set up etc). The customer came back almost instantly by email and queried the price. I explained everything as clearly as I could and also said to give me a call if they needed more information. The customer asked if I could reduce the price because of the late start but I said that it was still 4 hours playing time no matter what time I started and that an early set up was required to avoid any disruptions to their evening. Did they really want me travelling backwards and forwards with equipment whilst they are all sat down eating? What were they doing for background music during the meal?
"We'll use an Ipod if that reduces the price" they said. Ok, fair enough. Did they have speakers? (The party was in a large venue). Answer = No. By the end of the conversation they'd realised what was included and why the price was what it was. I got the impression that they booked rather reluctantly but nevermind.

A few years ago I may have budged on price just to get the gig. That's all changed now.

[Corabar Entertainment]

...when you know they have paid over inflated prices for...

..or do you think that maybe you're not considering what may be involved with other services?

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Possibly yes. I may be contradicting myself and not appreciating exactly what goes in to things like Cakes, Chair Covers etc.
That's probably the thing (and another thread?). Maybe some of the public have this perception that what we do is easy and therefore not as important as making a cake?
I didn't think of it like that.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

..or do you think that maybe you're not considering what may be involved with other services?

I'm not saying that all wedding services have their prices over inflated but many do. My brother is getting married in the Summer and has experienced a lot of this first hand.

He phoned up for busses. He got a quote for a much cheaper price from the same company when he phoned back and said he needed the bus for a football team. I may be wrong here but is there any difference in a bus being used to shuttle a football team or a bunch of wedding guests to a venue? It's probably more bother if a football team are going to be boisterous and manky on the way home too...

Same with their honeymoon. His fiance queried a few holidays saying it was their honeymoon and the prices were ridiculous. When he phoned up saying he wanted to go on holiday, the exact same holiday (minus a complimentary fruit basket and a bottle of "champagne" mind you) was over £500 cheaper in every case.

Stuff like wedding cakes are obviously a speciality item so are priced accordingly but a lot of things like hair, make up, catering up their prices with (to me) no visible increase in their service provided. I could be wrong.