Im really annoyed

[Twinspin]

Ive had bad feedback from a bride today and im really disheartened by it because i havent had any bad feedback from anyone before.


Hi john just wanted to give you some feedback on my wedding disco you did on 22nd may. I just wanted to say I felt let down I chose you because you did a great disco for my engagement few years ago and I recommended you to people. This time the play list of music that I spent hours on got lost, I asked for first dance at a certain time
And this wasn't done then you announced us with the wrong name. This might not seem a problem to you but it was my worst nightmare. I have to use scrowston legally but everyone knows me by my step dads name so when you said that everyone was shocked and outragged. Luckily the rest of my wedding was perfect just thought you might like to know for the future thanks Leigh

some parts of this make me very mad :mad:

But heres my side of the story and im been well and truly honest with this.

On the night of that disco. I was told by the manager that we could not setup at the arranged access time because the wedding was still in the room at the time.

The agreed access time was 6:30pm for a 7:30pm start. I arrived in the venue car park at 6:15pm and i went straight to the reception to tell the manager id arrived and asked if the room was available for me to go in.

"Manager im afraid the room will not be available for an hour yet 15 minutes before the manager said you can go in now. I had emptied my box trailer and put all my disco kit onto dollyboards and sack trolleys so it was a very quick load in. by the time we could even start to load in was 7:15pm

only the wedding was planned to start 15 minutes prior to the time we got in.
it takes me an hour to setup. It states that in my terms and conditions that we need 1 hour.

The disco was up and running by just gone 8pm and i got the bride and grooms first dance track ready to play. They wanted it for half past 8.

As for the names... we went by the names that the bride had stated on the booking form.... her married name!!! the question on the booking form asked.
we double checked with the brides dad and he told me the same thing because the bride and groom had popped back to their room.

I call the bride and groom for the first dance and i get their married name wrong and its the surname they provided me with.

They complain about the music because half of the songs on their list wasnt played. But the problem is.... How can you play fifty songs in 3 hours. She wanted her guests to have requests as well

We did tell the bride if there was anything else she wanted playing that she should come and see me... all the songs she did come and see me about got played straight away.

I am very angry and hurt by this.... they said they had a good night and said thanks....and 2 weeks later now this.

[STEVE HANLEY]

You can only go off the information you've been given and I don't blame you for being :Censored: off. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Have you spoke to her since this email?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I would reply politely with your side of the story John.

[soundtracker]

I would e-mail her back, and deal with each criticism individually, logically and professionally.

[JTRS]

I would e-mail her back, and deal with each criticism individually, logically and professionally.


I'd do that as well.

She's obviously a genuine person, she has recommeded you to others and her feedback letter was polite and succinct (she doesn't come across as a complainer or someone looking for a refund, it reads like it is just giving you some feedback)

Having read your side of the story I see things in there that I suspect she was not aware of and once you have dealt with each of her points she may well accept it wasn't your fault and carry on recommending you.

JTRS

[Twinspin]

that was my plan. Because im sure there is somethings that this bride and groom did not know.

But. If its their way of asking for a discounted rate through complaining its not going to happen.

[STEVE HANLEY]

that was my plan. Because im sure there is somethings that this bride and groom did not know.

But. If its their way of asking for a discounted rate through complaining its not going to happen.

You won't know until you speak to her mate. End of.

[Twinspin]

I thought id log onto my dj intelligence system and check the request list there is actually more than 50 requests and the time of all those songs is



1. Abba Dancing Queen
2. Abba Mamma Mia
3. Aerosmith I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing
4. Alexandra Burke Broken Heels (0)
5. Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (0)
6. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (I've Had) the Time of My Life
7. Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling (0)
8. Black Eyed Peas My Humps
9. Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer
10. Bryan Adams Summerof '69
11. Chesney Hawkes The One And Only
12. Christina Aguilera Feat Redman Dirty
13. Damien The Timewarp
14. David Guetta Feat. Akon Sexy Chick (0/Rock)
15. David Guetta Feat. Kid Cudi Memories (0)
16. Dj Casper Cha Cha Slide
17. Gabriella Cilmi On A Mission (2008/Rock)
18. Girls Aloud Jump (0)
19. Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine
20. Jason Derulo In My Head (0)
21. Journey Don't Stop Believin' (0/Rock)
22. Katy Perry Hot 'N' Cold (0)
23. Killers Mr Brightside (0)
24. Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire (0)
25. Kylie Minogue The Locomotion
26. Lady Gaga Bad Romance (0)
27. Lady Gaga Just Dance (0)
28. Los Del Rio The Macarena
29. Mary J Blige Family Affair
30. Mc Hammer U Cant Touch This
31. Michael Jackson Thriller
32. Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta The Grease Megamix (You're the One That I Want/Greased Lightning/Summer Nights)
33. Pixie Lott Mama Do (Uh Oh Uh Oh) (0)
34. Prodigy Breathe (0)
35. Prodigy Warrior's Dance (0)
36. Queen Don't Stop Me Now
37. Rihanna Don't Stop The Music (0)
38. Rihanna Rude Boy (0)
39. Robbie Williams Angels
40. Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You
41. Saturdays Ego (0)
42. Sister Sledge We Are Family
43. Snap! Rhythm is a Dancer
44. Status Quo Rockin' All Over the World
45. Steps 5, 6, 7, 8
46. Take That Greatest Day (0)
47. Taylor Swift Love Story (0)
48. The Foundations Build Me Up Buttercup
49. The Killers Somebody Told Me
50. The Village People Y.M.C.a.
51. Timbaland Feat. Katy Perry If We Ever Meet Again (2009/Pop)
52. Tony Christie Is This the Way to Amarillo
53. Westlife Tonight
54. Westlife Uptown Girl
55. Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
56. Whigfield Saturday Night
57. alexandra burke all night long
58. bob sinclair rock this party (everybody dance now)
59. chicane ft tom jones stoned in love
60. Chipmunk feat. Esmee Denters Until You Were Gone
61. nickelback rockstar
62. plan b she said
63. scouting for girls this aint a love song
64. timbaland carry out
65. Usher feat. Will I Am omg
66. Artist Song Note Location
67. Faithless Insomnia

those requests.... 4 hours long.... and of course guests requests. (problem been the party was supposed to be finishing at 12:30am) yet the bride and groom didnt pay for the extension till 12:30am which was stated on the booking form. so due to late setup and early finish that was 2 hours of playing time lost otherwise it would have been do-able.

[Vectis]

I would reply politely with your side of the story John.

:agree:

I'd leave it until Monday. Calm down a bit and see things logically :o

Don't let it get to you. There are a couple of things you can take from this experience though for the future:

1. Don't rely on the information on the booking form. Specifically ask the B+G how they wish to be addressed - both formally and informally. If it's David and Rebecca but their friends & family call them Dave & Becky then ask if it's alright to call them that (these are the types of questions for pre-event meetings). I always ask them to specify their married names because this is one area I was caught out a while ago when the bride decided to do a deed poll on the day of the wedding and double-barrel up with her dead grandmothers maiden name :bang:

2. You must have known way in advance that you weren't going to get through all the requests, so IMHO you should have flagged this at an early stage and asked the B+G to either nominate maybe a dozen special songs or ask them to mark up the ones they most wanted to hear. I don't use DJI but is there a way of fixing the maximum? Most gigs are 3-5 hours so maybe set a limit of 6/7 requests per hour so 20-30 overall perhaps?

HTH and I'm not trying to teach you to suck eggs :p

[WWDJ]

I would reply politely with your side of the story John.

This is the best course of action. If you are in the wrong, admit it, learn from it, move on.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like getting the name wrong is main cause of their complaint and the request thing is something to pad it out with. It looks like a good request list so I assume you didn't deviate too far from it, but as you say you would have needed to cherry pick because of the delayed start time.

[Twinspin]

I admit i am definetely responsible for letting people choose so many requests and thats one thing. I will change immediately.

My booking form does ask for the married name. Ive got a consultation coming up with a bride in 6 days time and i will definetely mention that to them about the married surname and how they would like to be introduced altogether.

The one thing that is very strange the bride danced most of the night at her wedding. But if they arent happy with something i wish... they wouldnt leave it while 2 weeks later.

after i got the name wrong after they had done the first dance the bride come to see me and i explained to her then about me getting the name wrong.

The thing what did hurt me. Was the fact that they thought me getting the name wrong didnt matter to me. But it did matter to me i was extremely dissapointed and i felt awful.

[WWDJ]

The one thing that is very strange the bride danced most of the night at her wedding. But if they arent happy with something i wish... they wouldnt leave it while 2 weeks later.

after i got the name wrong after they had done the first dance the bride come to see me and i explained to her then about me getting the name wrong.

The thing what did hurt me. Was the fact that they thought me getting the name wrong didnt matter to me. But it did matter to me i was extremely dissapointed and i felt awful.

They have probably had time to think about whilst doing nothing on honeymoon.

Also devils advocate here ... it may have been difficult to convey your own disappointment when you are working and trying to cue the next records etc, so now is the time to do it.

it may be prudent to speak to her on the phone if necessary.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

But if they arent happy with something i wish... they wouldnt leave it while 2 weeks later.



I'm guessing they were on their honeymoon John.

[DazzyD]

I'd agree with the advice on here to reply to each of her concerns individually. If you are honest and put your side across honestly, I really believe that people do understand but they get annoyed, and can tell, when they're being fobbed off. Oh, and tell her you value her opinions as this can have the effect of making the situation constructive rather than negative.

Also, I personally wouldn't allow a client to choose so many songs. I set a limit of 30 pre-requests for my highest priced show and I build the show around those tracks and use generic (but still good!) tracks inbetween which can be switched by requests on the night. It's all in the planning with me!

You've already admitted you made a couple of mistakes on the night but, let's face it, who doesn't? We're only human. What I would do, though, in the interests of good customer relations, I would send some (cheap-ish) flowers after you've explained your side of things (never before - the client will think you're trying to butter them up if you do!). Just a cheap bouquet for about a tenner. The client will appreciate the thought and this, along with explaining your side of things, shows the customer that you don't just brush their concerns aside.

It's all good customer service!

[ppentertainments]

This is where client meetings prove invaluable for myself.

I have a checklist, which I also use even if not having a meeting, which includes married surname and even how the B&G would like to be introduced for their first dance.

Request lists are also discussed here. Take my meeting this evening. I was handed a list of almost 200 songs. We discussed must-plays and I pointed out that I would cherry pick the rest from the list unless they would like to shorten down the list. TBH I like long lists as it helps give me an idea of what songs 'generally' people like.

I don't think she is after a discount as money has never been mentioned, but getting her name wrong would just cast a shadow over the whole evening no doubt.

Getting into the room late - always happens, so again I prepare for this beforehand. Obviously I explain that the whole day is important to the B&G, however as weddings do over run, if I am late into the room I may be late in starting, or will have to use a reduced 'show' which will reflect on the evening. I have never had anyone query this, and people respect honesty. Also if it does run late I try and have a word with the best man to explain.

What to do now - as said leave it a few days then reply by email. One thing not to do is get into an argument over it. I would not mention money etc as she has never brought that up. If you did make any mistakes, own up, nothing worse than trying to cover yourself. I also would not offer any gifts, refund of any kind as this would give the impression you were totally in the wrong and may cause complications.

[mike8863]

chin up. follow the advice and speak to her, and i'm sure she'll understand, and as you have said, this obviously won't happen again if you can help it, not that it appears to be all your fault anyway.
You're rigs are always well presented, and you always appear professional in your threads, keep doin what you're doin.....

[CRAZY K]

:agree:

I'd leave it until Monday. Calm down a bit and see things logically :o

Don't let it get to you. There are a couple of things you can take from this experience though for the future:

1. Don't rely on the information on the booking form. Specifically ask the B+G how they wish to be addressed - both formally and informally. If it's David and Rebecca but their friends & family call them Dave & Becky then ask if it's alright to call them that (these are the types of questions for pre-event meetings). I always ask them to specify their married names because this is one area I was caught out a while ago when the bride decided to do a deed poll on the day of the wedding and double-barrel up with her dead grandmothers maiden name :bang:

2. You must have known way in advance that you weren't going to get through all the requests, so IMHO you should have flagged this at an early stage and asked the B+G to either nominate maybe a dozen special songs or ask them to mark up the ones they most wanted to hear. I don't use DJI but is there a way of fixing the maximum? Most gigs are 3-5 hours so maybe set a limit of 6/7 requests per hour so 20-30 overall perhaps?

HTH and I'm not trying to teach you to suck eggs :p

Exactly the two points I would have made---there are some here including me who constantly refer to the Bride and Groom or the Birthday boy/girl because you may not have the correct information.

Bit of Insurance for you against mistakes or memory loss;)

Lets be fair--if your invited to a Wedding or Birthday--your going to know the name of the people concerned--you wont be relying on the DJ to tell you:bang:

Must plays is always a must ask

[JTRS]

It could have been worse.

I was a guest at a wedding a few years ago and the DJ invited the bride and groom on to the dance floor for their first dance..........

"Right it's time for the first dance, so lets have <looks around his set-up for a piece of paper, picks up piece of paper, squints to read the writing on piece of paper> Lynne and Phillip on to the dance floor"

Everyone looks around the room expectantly

DJ repeats his request

Someone shouts out 'Who's Lynne and Phillip?'

DJ looks at his piece of paper again and then swops it for another piece of paper and then invites 'Angela and Mark' on to the dance floor for their first dance.

Bride and Groom take to the dance floor and the music starts to play, Groom goes to the DJ, music stops, DJ starts frantically looking through his CD collection, loads a different CD and starts to play a different track. Groom rushes over from the DJ to the Bride and starts to dance.

It turned out the DJ had picked up the wrong booking sheet, and had loaded the first dance requested by the other couple and not the one for the wedding he was doing.

JTRS

[Megamix]

From what I've read it wasn’t a disaster but she is trying to make it sound like one. Whilst I know the demands of customers are important do bear in mind that everyone is different and another bride and groom would not have been so punctilious.
Your side of things are just as important as hers.

[StarZSoundS]

punctilious.



MaY I nominate this for Forum...Word of the Day.


Excalibur is exempted from making any entries in Word of the Day....

As most of what he says is Garbage....and in Olde English anyway!!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[MikeW]

Regarding playlists at weddings, or any other parties.

Playlists of between 50 and 200 songs have been mentioned on this thread. If a list of a large amount of music has been requested it can obviously work both ways. Yes the Bride and Groom or birthday boy/girl get the music of their choice and if it does not go as well as it should, who get's the blame?
Does everyone at the party know who chose the music?

What about other guests at the wedding/party who may not have similar tastes?

I played at a 40th recently,(70s/80s music) where the guy had a list of over 100 songs and also the order in which they had to be played. The night was ok, but could have been better. This may have been down to his playlist. Not sure.

Just a thought.

[Larry B Entertainment]

I thought id log onto my dj intelligence system and check the request list there is actually more than 50 requests and the time of all those songs is



1. Abba Dancing Queen
2. Abba Mamma Mia
3. Aerosmith I Dont Wanna Miss A Thing
4. Alexandra Burke Broken Heels (0)
5. Beyonce Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (0)
6. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes (I've Had) the Time of My Life
7. Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling (0)
8. Black Eyed Peas My Humps
9. Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer
10. Bryan Adams Summerof '69
11. Chesney Hawkes The One And Only
12. Christina Aguilera Feat Redman Dirty
13. Damien The Timewarp
14. David Guetta Feat. Akon Sexy Chick (0/Rock)
15. David Guetta Feat. Kid Cudi Memories (0)
16. Dj Casper Cha Cha Slide
17. Gabriella Cilmi On A Mission (2008/Rock)
18. Girls Aloud Jump (0)
19. Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine
20. Jason Derulo In My Head (0)
21. Journey Don't Stop Believin' (0/Rock)
22. Katy Perry Hot 'N' Cold (0)
23. Killers Mr Brightside (0)
24. Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire (0)
25. Kylie Minogue The Locomotion
26. Lady Gaga Bad Romance (0)
27. Lady Gaga Just Dance (0)
28. Los Del Rio The Macarena
29. Mary J Blige Family Affair
30. Mc Hammer U Cant Touch This
31. Michael Jackson Thriller
32. Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta The Grease Megamix (You're the One That I Want/Greased Lightning/Summer Nights)
33. Pixie Lott Mama Do (Uh Oh Uh Oh) (0)
34. Prodigy Breathe (0)
35. Prodigy Warrior's Dance (0)
36. Queen Don't Stop Me Now
37. Rihanna Don't Stop The Music (0)
38. Rihanna Rude Boy (0)
39. Robbie Williams Angels
40. Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You
41. Saturdays Ego (0)
42. Sister Sledge We Are Family
43. Snap! Rhythm is a Dancer
44. Status Quo Rockin' All Over the World
45. Steps 5, 6, 7, 8
46. Take That Greatest Day (0)
47. Taylor Swift Love Story (0)
48. The Foundations Build Me Up Buttercup
49. The Killers Somebody Told Me
50. The Village People Y.M.C.a.
51. Timbaland Feat. Katy Perry If We Ever Meet Again (2009/Pop)
52. Tony Christie Is This the Way to Amarillo
53. Westlife Tonight
54. Westlife Uptown Girl
55. Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
56. Whigfield Saturday Night
57. alexandra burke all night long
58. bob sinclair rock this party (everybody dance now)
59. chicane ft tom jones stoned in love
60. Chipmunk feat. Esmee Denters Until You Were Gone
61. nickelback rockstar
62. plan b she said
63. scouting for girls this aint a love song
64. timbaland carry out
65. Usher feat. Will I Am omg
66. Artist Song Note Location
67. Faithless Insomnia

those requests.... 4 hours long.... and of course guests requests. (problem been the party was supposed to be finishing at 12:30am) yet the bride and groom didnt pay for the extension till 12:30am which was stated on the booking form. so due to late setup and early finish that was 2 hours of playing time lost otherwise it would have been do-able.

Jesus :confused: ...........You would have had to play them all at at least +50% pitch to fit all those into 4 hours :eek:

[CRAZY K]

It could have been worse.

I was a guest at a wedding a few years ago and the DJ invited the bride and groom on to the dance floor for their first dance..........

"Right it's time for the first dance, so lets have <looks around his set-up for a piece of paper, picks up piece of paper, squints to read the writing on piece of paper> Lynne and Phillip on to the dance floor"

Everyone looks around the room expectantly

DJ repeats his request

Someone shouts out 'Who's Lynne and Phillip?'

DJ looks at his piece of paper again and then swops it for another piece of paper and then invites 'Angela and Mark' on to the dance floor for their first dance.

Bride and Groom take to the dance floor and the music starts to play, Groom goes to the DJ, music stops, DJ starts frantically looking through his CD collection, loads a different CD and starts to play a different track. Groom rushes over from the DJ to the Bride and starts to dance.

It turned out the DJ had picked up the wrong booking sheet, and had loaded the first dance requested by the other couple and not the one for the wedding he was doing.

JTRS

Easily avoided--call them Bride and Groom:D

The only time I got the wrong track--they handed me a CD to play and I got the wrong track-- :eek: the audience thought it was :Censored: brilliant, so I smiled at the B and G and then played the correct track--another good reaction-

phew--- lucky break;)

[CRAZY K]

Regarding playlists at weddings, or any other parties.

Playlists of between 50 and 200 songs have been mentioned on this thread. If a list of a large amount of music has been requested it can obviously work both ways. Yes the Bride and Groom or birthday boy/girl get the music of their choice and if it does not go as well as it should, who get's the blame?
Does everyone at the party know who chose the music?

What about other guests at the wedding/party who may not have similar tastes?

I played at a 40th recently,(70s/80s music) where the guy had a list of over 100 songs and also the order in which they had to be played. The night was ok, but could have been better. This may have been down to his playlist. Not sure.

Just a thought.

Martin will give you the same answer as me--you clearly announce you are playing a list of tracks CAREFULLY BY CHOSEN BY THE BRIDE AND GROOM.

No doubt then whose fault it is if it bombs--hopefullly it doesnt go that badly on the night with some timely intervention or advice to the client over suitability from the DJ.