WARNING 'Scottish Dj's: RESOLVED

[scotsguy]

Thought I'd give fellow Dj's the heads up on this.
I had nothing booked in for Saturday past and on Thursday I took a call from another local disco wondering if I could cover a gig on Saturday for him.
There is already a circle of us that do this and this was just another, as I thought.

So the disco was local and I knew the venue but something wasn't right because
he confirmed to me that he didn't have any paperwork and no money had been taken and no phone number.
He sounded he was sincere and was in need of help so I agreed I would cover it.

So Saturday came and I still felt sceptical so I phoned the venue and they confirmed they had a 40th birthday on so that gave me some assurance.
Saturday night all set up and the client arrives, she comes straight to me handing me an envelope with payment 'GREAT'!
After I informed her that I was not the disco she booked she was surprised because she had contacted them the night before and everything was confirmed that all was well.
No mention that another disco would be covering it.
I checked with her that the full payment was there and she went on to say she had paid a £30 deposit and it was the balance in the envelope.

So needless to say this guy was not answering phone or messages until halfway through the night when I received a message saying he had mistakenly
2 booking forms one with no deposit and one with. The client and myself agreed because she paid the deposit via PayPal that she would have more chance o sorting this out.
so the client was going to say that she paid me the deposit and she would like it paid back.

So the next day the messages start and after a while nothing was being concluded until he sent a final message to her saying that I was a respectful member of staff
and that he would make up the shortfall to me.
After I gave him my PayPal details he sent me a message saying something wrong with PayPal and it was pending, eventually 2 payments come through 1 for £10 and 1 for £4.89 I guess this is all he had. He then has the cheek to offer me another date at the end of the month
and my reply was where is the rest of the money you owe me and he still claimed there is a problem with PayPal do I want this gig as if I don't he will give it to someone else.

So this is just a word of warning to other fellow DJ's that this can happen. The disco in question here is *NAME REMOVED*

Hope this helps

Steve

[Excalibur]

Fife? Fife? Now if only we knew someone in that area to be a righter of wrongs, an arbiter of truth and justice, someone to stand up for the rights of the hard done by.

Hey Shaun, do you know anyone?

[Shaun]

Fife? Never heard of it.

[Shaun]

Steve, I've removed the name. We can't be too careful these days (see link below). If any Scottish member wishes to PM you direct for the information they may do so. I hope you manage to reach some resolution with the DJ in question.




http://www.forum.mobilediscodirector...and-defamation


P.s. I've never heard of him before.

[funkymook]

Perhaps giving them the benefit of the doubt and building a relationship would’ve been more constructive than trying to ‘name and shame’ over such a paltry amount!

[Excalibur]

Perhaps giving them the benefit of the doubt and building a relationship would’ve been more constructive than trying to ‘name and shame’ over such a paltry amount!

The size of the disputed part of the fee is irrelevant. There's a principle involved.

While I have forged business relationships with a few folk on here, they would soon have been soured by one of us indulging in sharp practice, or shortchanging the other. You are absolutely correct that it's far better to work with your neighbours than against them, and that naming and shaming isn't conducive to building bridges. Neither is witholding part of the fee, and being economical with the truth.

It's a two way street.

[funkymook]

The size of the disputed part of the fee is irrelevant. There's a principle involved.

While I have forged business relationships with a few folk on here, they would soon have been soured by one of us indulging in sharp practice, or shortchanging the other. You are absolutely correct that it's far better to work with your neighbours than against them, and that naming and shaming isn't conducive to building bridges. Neither is witholding part of the fee, and being economical with the truth.

It's a two way street.

True - but we’re only hearing one side of the story...

[Andy P]

I too work in a ring with a few other companies and we often throw jobs between us - however money is always correct and paid on-time as losing face could be quite costly to the person involved - we normally take a booking cut on such dealings.

[scotsguy]

Steve, I've removed the name. We can't be too careful these days (see link below). If any Scottish member wishes to PM you direct for the information they may do so. I hope you manage to reach some resolution with the DJ in question.




http://www.forum.mobilediscodirector...and-defamation


P.s. I've never heard of him before.

Thanks Shaun, He's not responding so I think i'll cut my losses but I hope I get the message out to others.

Cheers

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Perhaps giving them the benefit of the doubt and building a relationship would’ve been more constructive than trying to ‘name and shame’ over such a paltry amount!

It doesn't sound like the sort of thing I'd want to be tied up with but why not "name and shame"?

My brother and I got stung by booking a guy for a Christmas party night last year who it turned out was out working on an oil rig for the whole of December (despite being ont he phone to me personally several times in the week running right up to the gig telling me he was all set for it and everything was good at his end) only to have some random guy turn up on the night who was wearing branded gear, short sleeves with tattoos up his arm and no clue about the venue or client. I had to send my girlfriend away from her Xmas night out to get him a black shirt.

Not quite what you want when dealing with a massive corporate client.

We both (rightly so) named and shamed the culprit on various forums where it transpired that he'd actually taken on bookings from 2 other DJs for the same night.

We were then told:

1. We shouldn't be naming and shaming, it should be dealt with in private.

and

2. It's "DJ XYZ" everyone knows he's a flake

Had the usual modus operandi of the groups not be to do 1 and sweep any drama under the carpet, we'd have known he was a flake and gone nowhere near the guy in question. At present he's still doing his thing letting folk down left right and centre.

EDIT: So the point being, if we cover up for these guys actions and shady practices, we implicitly condone it whilst allowing them to continue doing it and stinging other people.