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Thread: Help, my DJ has cancelled/let me down!

  1. #1
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Default Help, my DJ has cancelled/let me down!

    As many of you know, I'm signed up to various sites like NaD to gain work. I'm seeing sooo many enquiries claiming that the DJ has pulled out at the last minute. Are others seeing this as well? I know we're only surmising, but is it perhaps a function of people choosing the lowest cost option, and being dumped for a higher paying gig?

    What do you think?
    Excalibur. Older than the average DJ.

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  2. #2

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    I don't see that through NaD, but I do get them all the time through facebook, through my website and by text.
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  3. #3

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    There are all kinds of reasons a DJ can pull out of a gig but when I see so many such messages in a short space of time I always think either a) the dj dumped them for more money or b) the dj overstretched themselves thinking they could cover the gig & failed.

  4. #4
    Dinosaur Excalibur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nakatomi View Post
    There are all kinds of reasons a DJ can pull out of a gig but when I see so many such messages in a short space of time I always think either a) the dj dumped them for more money or b) the dj overstretched themselves thinking they could cover the gig & failed.
    Are more people acting as multi-ops when they aren't? As agents? There were a clutch of these pleas for help on Facebook forums this weekend.
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  5. #5

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    I know loads of multiops who aren't & one I know can have up to 6 'rigs' out at one time - he doesn't even own a van!
    He's often scrabbling around to get things covered.

    I don't understand the whole gig dumping thing. If you took a gig & a better prospect comes along, TOUGH!

  6. #6
    Resident Antagonist Benny Smyth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nakatomi View Post
    ...or b) the dj overstretched themselves thinking they could cover the gig & failed.
    I had a call yesterday from a hotel in Birmingham asking if I'd be interested in being their resident. If I'm honest, I have a list as long as my arm as to why I don't want to be a resident but the main reason is because that I, as one DJ, cannot be certain that I can cover all the gigs that they want. I work on the basis of "I'm not available, but I'll introduce you to John Doe who could be of help" and then step away. I don't handle the booking, and I don't expect a 'drink' from it (Karma will work itself out eventually). To be frank, anything more than that I cannot be arsed with.

    A lot of DJs take on the role of an agent with the best intentions in mind, but this industry has too many unreliable folk involved for it to be an easy job and as a result, it's the client who loses out. I don't think that it is a 'High end/low end' conversation (although common perception tells us that the low end of the market is more likely to let someone down) - I think it's more to do with biting off more than one can chew.

  7. #7
    Jim - Scotland's Party DJ's Avatar
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    I think you'll find this sort of thing is directly proportionate to the amount of beer garden weather you get around this time of year

    I don't know how people can look at themselves in the mirror if they wilfully let people down - my wife inadvertently booked us to go on holiday at Easter there on the same day I had a booked. I realised this when I was in Vegas at Christmas and sat up on my phone and laptop until about 4am until I had squared it off with the client, refunded them plus £100 as a sorry and put them in touch with someone they were happy to move the booking over to.

    Even at that I still felt sick to my stomach for days.

  8. #8

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    I've never dumped a job for a better payer. I have on the odd occasion taken a private booking when my residency had no work on, only to get a very short notice request from them. So I tell them that I am not available (usually away visiting family) and arrange cover for the job myself.

    The only other time was when I was incapacitated by my heart attack and even then I rang the hotel manager and a DJ colleague from my hospital bed to cover my own demise.

  9. #9
    Imagine's Avatar
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    Get a lot of them over here at the moment and 99% of them I'm sorry to say are down to booking the budget operators.
    It's not unusual to get a call/FB message/Email along the lines of "help I've been let down for this weekend", only to quote them my fee if I AM available, and be told I'm about three times more expensive than the one who'd let them down.

    Sorry - I don't understand how they do it. Once a client's booked - that's it. I've often had the opportunity for a higher paying night in the past and it's always been a case of "sorry - already booked".

  10. #10

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    I don't actually do gigs myself these days, but it's not at all unusual to get a panic call at 6/7 o'clock wanting to hire equipment after being let down on the actual day, and a few occasions they were wedding bookings! It's bad enough to be let down on any event, but to let anyone down on their wedding is totally inexcusable, they should be Like some have observed in the posts already made I find it does seem to affect the low budget bookings over the more profitable ones, I wonder why that is.
    Last edited by Pe7e; 31-05-2018 at 05:48 PM.
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