Contracts - how many?

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I have separate contracts and T&Cs for disco and DJ hire, equipment hire, then photo booth and candy cart hire and as some people are starting to book more than one service, I am having to send out several contracts. It is necessary because of the T&Cs, but there must be something simpler or easier to do?

What does everyone else do?

[Corabar Entertainment]

You can combine all in to one contract with general T&Cs applicable across the board, followed by sections for each service (ie the following T&Cs are applicable if...). The downside of this is that it makes for a very long contract.

If you are doing them all electronically, rather than having all the T&Cs in the main contract, you could just have links to the separate T&Cs (ie Additional T&Cs applicable to x may be viewed at ... and form part of this contract)

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I've literally just sent out 2 lots of forms today for 2 Disco Hire bookings in November.
I generally (might have to re-think this so thanks for the prompt as I never really thought about it)....do a separate booking form for the actual booking (if that makes sense) which will have what the service is (Disco, Disco Hire, Uplighting, Dance Floor etc...) and then if there is a Disco Hire I will have a separate form for that which will list the customers details etc and the individual bits of kit that they are getting. Both forms have extensive Terms & Conditions on the back of them and there are 2 copies of each. Both get signed by me and kept by the customer and they return a copy of each signed too.

[Vectis]

there are 2 copies of each. Both get signed by me and kept by the customer and they return a copy of each signed too.

Ooh! Slap wrists!!

NEVER sign first! Bad move...

[CRAZY K]

You can combine all in to one contract with general T&Cs applicable across the board, followed by sections for each service (ie the following T&Cs are applicable if...). The downside of this is that it makes for a very long contract.

If you are doing them all electronically, rather than having all the T&Cs in the main contract, you could just have links to the separate T&Cs (ie Additional T&Cs applicable to x may be viewed at ... and form part of this contract)



That sounds sensible to avoid dupication of hirer and venue --linking sounds good as you must have different cancellation conditions and requirements for each individual business as we do here.

Here we have 3 different businesses Barn Dance Caller Hire ( me) Barn Dance Caller Agency and Rodeo Bull all with different T and Cs but as owned and operated by 3 different people( me, my wife and my son) we have to issue separate Contracts even though we often supply 2 of the services to the same person/ organisation.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Ooh! Slap wrists!!

NEVER sign first! Bad move...

Why?

I have been doing that for 25 years and never had a problem.

[CRAZY K]

Why?

I have been doing that for 25 years and never had a problem.

I am sure Martin has a very good reason for making that comment which I am waiting to hear with similar interest--but I guess unless there was a dispute/claim it would never have come to light for any of us and the validity of the Contract questioned.

I have always got the client to sign first and then signed afterwards sending a copy to the client:confused:--I really dont know why:confused:

Fascinated of Denford;)

[Corabar Entertainment]

Why?

I have been doing that for 25 years and never had a problem.
To an extent, it does depend on how your contract is worded as there are ways and means around the problem, but I have previously mentioned on here NEVER to sign the contract until you've got the deposit and contract signed from the client. Reason being, you are binding yourself to the contract without the client being bound by anything!

[Vectis]

Why?

I am waiting to hear with similar interest


I have previously mentioned on here NEVER to sign the contract until you've got the deposit and contract signed from the client. Reason being, you are binding yourself to the contract without the client being bound by anything!

:agree:

Wot she said :)

What's to stop the client striking out or changing some of your terms, then countersigning and returning the modified form? To any third party after the event, it will appear that you've agreed to the modified terms.

[Corabar Entertainment]

:agree:

Wot she said :)

What's to stop the client striking out or changing some of your terms, then countersigning and returning the modified form? To any third party after the event, it will appear that you've agreed to the modified terms.Not quite, Martin: Any amendments should be initialled by the signatory, or at the very least, separate written evidence (eg an email) agreeing to an amendment.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Interesting that this has cropped up.

I used to sign my copies then send them out....until this happened to a local operator:

He took a booking, sent out the paperwork with his signature on first. They phoned up and cancelled. After the party, he got a nice letter stating that he had failed to turn up at their party, and had subsequently ruined the whole thing...so they were seeking legal advice. They produced one fully signed copy of the contract as proof of booking!

He was ready to fight it in court if necessary...but the "client" bottled it in the end and admitted they had gone cheaper, who was a no-show, and because they had the original contract lying around...thought they could make a few quid off of it.

Had they not bottled it and gone through with it then god knows what would have happened. On the face of it, he was a no show to their contracted gig...

[Excalibur]

:agree:

Wot she said :)

What's to stop the client striking out or changing some of your terms, then countersigning and returning the modified form? To any third party after the event, it will appear that you've agreed to the modified terms.

I've got to hold my hands up to this one. :o:o Angela was aghast when I said I did this to save one trip in the post for the contracts. And I once did have a customer do exactly what Vectis alludes to!! :eek::eek::eek:












Fortunately, it was to shorten the gig by an hour, so I decided that in this case, I would not contest it. :D:D:D

[Leicester Ben]

We just have a standard terms and conditions page (well 2 pages) that cover everything that we want and these get attached to a contract regardless of whats on it (floor, dj, furniture etc).

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Interesting that this has cropped up.

I used to sign my copies then send them out....until this happened to a local operator:

He took a booking, sent out the paperwork with his signature on first. They phoned up and cancelled. After the party, he got a nice letter stating that he had failed to turn up at their party, and had subsequently ruined the whole thing...so they were seeking legal advice. They produced one fully signed copy of the contract as proof of booking!

He was ready to fight it in court if necessary...but the "client" bottled it in the end and admitted they had gone cheaper, who was a no-show, and because they had the original contract lying around...thought they could make a few quid off of it.

Had they not bottled it and gone through with it then god knows what would have happened. On the face of it, he was a no show to their contracted gig...

Thanks for posting that example.
I'll re-think how I go about doing this just incase.

[CRAZY K]

:agree:

Wot she said :)

What's to stop the client striking out or changing some of your terms, then countersigning and returning the modified form? To any third party after the event, it will appear that you've agreed to the modified terms.

Hang on !!!!

Dont you read signed Contracts?

Sorry---didnt you used to?

If I got the Contract back with anything changed there would be a conversation with two possible outcomes--

1. Agree the change because it was what had been agreed subsequent to issue of documents--times etc.

2. Immediate cancellation of the Contract as I had not agreed and the client was taking the :Censored:

I still cant remember why I have always asked for the client to sign first--Angela has kindly reminded me.

I add my signature when receiving signed Contract and copy the client back for good measure.

The Dynamic story is illustrating what a bunch of chancers we sometimes have to deal with:daft:

[Vectis]

Hang on !!!!

Dont you read signed Contracts?

Sorry---didnt you used to?



When I wrote


To any third party after the event, it will appear that you've agreed to the modified terms.

the event I was referring to was the signing and dating of the terms by the client, not the gig. Sorry for the confusion.