Complaint from a customer

[funkymook]

I would say just the sheer fact Karaoke was asked for I would expect the DJ to be a little more interactive than normal.
.

I must admit it was only a little while ago that I realised not all karaoke hosts sung themselves, I thought that was an essential part of their role.
So I can understand a member of the public taking it for granted and not expect to have to request a singer as well.

Josh replied to that part of the complaint with:

'If you had stated when booking that you wanted a Singer at your party or a DJ that also sung on karaoke we could have catered for this, unfortunately this was not communicated to us at any time until after the service was provided.’

which I think is unreasonable.

[Benny Smyth]

I have acctually already said that when this client was booking i told them i might not be the DJ.

Why?

Throughout this whole thread, this is the bit that's niggling me the most. Now before I go further, I'm not questioning the way you run your business or having a go - I genuinely want to know the answer to this question. When the booking came in, you had the option of looking in the diary and giving a definitive answer. It would either be:

Yes, I can take your booking personally

or

No, I can't take it personally but your DJ will be John Smith, who is a valued member of out team.

I'm not asking what you were doing instead, as that is none of my business. I'm not even looking into getting a specific answer. I'm just curious to know whether there was a specific reason why you couldn't give the name of their DJ at the time of the booking - be it yourself or someone else. From what I can tell, that simple definitive answer would have gone a long way to avoid all of this.

[Excalibur]

It is always difficult to deal with complaints.

I would say just the sheer fact Karaoke was asked for I would expect the DJ to be a little more interactive than normal.
I am very selective in who I send for any job I can not do, but I would ensure they were capable of handling 99% of any client requirements head on. (99.9% in Peter's case).

Rather than court cases why not offer a free/discounted party for her next booking?
A person who enjoys what you do may tell 2 or 3 people a person who has a bad experience will tell 20 - 30.

I agree with all the above, and thanks for the vote of confidence Dave.

When I booked my people I made sure it was going to be the same person starting and finishing the job, but that’s obviously my prerogative as a client when choosing who to hire.

I guess the client wanted that as well, but obviously it got lost in translation.

Perhaps this is where I get my particular angle on customer service from? It’s a very personal service and you really have to bond with your clients in that trade.

And in this one too, if done correctly. ( Although I accept that from time to time, we get clients who we would never wish to bond with in any way. )

I must admit it was only a little while ago that I realised not all karaoke hosts sung themselves, I thought that was an essential part of their role.

You've not heard me sing, have you? I'm never going to win X Factor.

So I can understand a member of the public taking it for granted and not expect to have to request a singer as well.

Josh replied to that part of the complaint with:

'If you had stated when booking that you wanted a Singer at your party or a DJ that also sung on karaoke we could have catered for this, unfortunately this was not communicated to us at any time until after the service was provided.’

which I think is unreasonable.

We come back to that old chestnut, Communication.

Why?

Throughout this whole thread, this is the bit that's niggling me the most. Now before I go further, I'm not questioning the way you run your business or having a go - I genuinely want to know the answer to this question. When the booking came in, you had the option of looking in the diary and giving a definitive answer. It would either be:

Yes, I can take your booking personally

or

No, I can't take it personally but your DJ will be John Smith, who is a valued member of out team.

I'm not asking what you were doing instead, as that is none of my business. I'm not even looking into getting a specific answer. I'm just curious to know whether there was a specific reason why you couldn't give the name of their DJ at the time of the booking - be it yourself or someone else. From what I can tell, that simple definitive answer would have gone a long way to avoid all of this.

With you all the way on that, Benny.

[ukpartydj]

When I booked my people I made sure it was going to be the same person starting and finishing the job, but that’s obviously my prerogative as a client when choosing who to hire.

So if your carpet fitter, plasterer etc did the first part of the job and you were happy with it but you weren’t happy with the second person they sent you wouldn’t mention it when you complained as it’s common practice? I’d have thought it would be a major part of the complaint and you’d want to know why the original tradesman wasn’t available to finish what they started even if you were advised beforehand someone else was coming. You’d certainly want first person back to put things right rather than yet another stranger.


And I trained as a hairstylist so I know a little bit about that, regular female customers usually rebooked with a particular stylist, men on the other hand were generally happy to go with whoever was available, though there were exceptions. As a stylist it was in your interest to build a relationship with your clients as you relied on their repeat business.

Perhaps this is where I get my particular angle on customer service from? It’s a very personal service and you really have to bond with your clients in that trade.

I'm starting to understand where you're coming from a lot more with your opinions. I guess it's just different personalities deal with different situations differently. I certainly wouldn't complain that the first person I contacted didn't finish the job if the second person wasn't as good, I would complain that the second person wasn't very good. The chances are if I hired your services and I had a niggle with something you might have done such as being "not interactive enough" I'd have left you a review or let you know afterwards perhaps but I'd accept blame for that one and in my review state "it could have been a bit clearer" or something like that. If I had asked for it beforehand - completely different matter.

Why?

Throughout this whole thread, this is the bit that's niggling me the most. Now before I go further, I'm not questioning the way you run your business or having a go - I genuinely want to know the answer to this question. When the booking came in, you had the option of looking in the diary and giving a definitive answer. It would either be:

Yes, I can take your booking personally

or

No, I can't take it personally but your DJ will be John Smith, who is a valued member of out team.

I'm not asking what you were doing instead, as that is none of my business. I'm not even looking into getting a specific answer. I'm just curious to know whether there was a specific reason why you couldn't give the name of their DJ at the time of the booking - be it yourself or someone else. From what I can tell, that simple definitive answer would have gone a long way to avoid all of this.

There is many reasons why I don't provide a name when a client books, I would assume it's not far different from jonezy this is the main reason for me though:

1a) I take the booking on in my own name.
1b) A higher paying better booking comes along! But I need to give it to somebody else

2a) I take the booking on and name a different DJ.
2b) I don't get any more bookings... So I'm not working that night

3a) My business takes on the booking, no names!
3b) I'm free to take on that better booking if it comes along and If I don't get booked personally I've got some work!

I always offer a discount for my booking "UK Party DJ" rather than "David Bessant" as the flexability is far greater. Of course if the client wants the personal side of things then they will be guided towards booking me or finding another supplier.

[Benny Smyth]

There is many reasons why I don't provide a name when a client books, I would assume it's not far different from jonezy this is the main reason for me though:

1a) I take the booking on in my own name.
1b) A higher paying better booking comes along! But I need to give it to somebody else

2a) I take the booking on and name a different DJ.
2b) I don't get any more bookings... So I'm not working that night

3a) My business takes on the booking, no names!
3b) I'm free to take on that better booking if it comes along and If I don't get booked personally I've got some work!

I always offer a discount for my booking "UK Party DJ" rather than "David Bessant" as the flexability is far greater. Of course if the client wants the personal side of things then they will be guided towards booking me or finding another supplier.

So...just to clarify, you don't name yourself just in case a better paying gig comes along?

As for the 'I may lose out' reason, I don't buy that. I surely can't be the only one who works like this:

I'm available. That booking is mine.

Or

I'm not available. John Smith, can you do this one? Yes, Benny I can. Sweetings! Mr/Mrs Client, sadly I'm not available but ol' John is. Does that work for you? Excellent. John, you're booked.

Now Mr & Mrs Client are happy that they know who their DJ is and may even Google him/her. The DJ also has time between now and the gig to build a rapport.

I'm not a 'proper' company, but regardless I think this is surely the best way? I handle the booking agreement and invoicing, the DJ handles the meetings and performance. An office/talent division if labour, if you will.

[funkymook]

I certainly wouldn't complain that the first person I contacted didn't finish the job if the second person wasn't as good, I would complain that the second person wasn't very good. .

I’d be asking both, why was the first person taken off the job and why was the second person not up to scratch? (and surely if there was another job on the go the second person could’ve gone and my original person stayed with me). And I know who I'd want back to put it right.


And remember in this particular case Josh was there at the start, collected the money, went away and then returned at the end of the night - if the client wasn’t happy with the DJ’s then they’re going to be wondering why he didn’t stay himself and will feel a bit fobbed off with a lesser service.

[jonezyr1]

Why?

Throughout this whole thread, this is the bit that's niggling me the most. Now before I go further, I'm not questioning the way you run your business or having a go - I genuinely want to know the answer to this question. When the booking came in, you had the option of looking in the diary and giving a definitive answer. It would either be:

Yes, I can take your booking personally

or

No, I can't take it personally but your DJ will be John Smith, who is a valued member of out team.

I'm not asking what you were doing instead, as that is none of my business. I'm not even looking into getting a specific answer. I'm just curious to know whether there was a specific reason why you couldn't give the name of their DJ at the time of the booking - be it yourself or someone else. From what I can tell, that simple definitive answer would have gone a long way to avoid all of this.

There are many reasons I don't tell them the name of the DJ. But mainly because even though in the diary I know what bookings I have so far, I do not know if there is going to be any other bookings to add in the future for that day.

My company does not just do mobile discos, we are an Events & Entertainment company. My business partner and I are both DJ's so can both go out and do Disco's, However there are other services that we offer, For example we offer Event security and Door supervisors, Which i deal with and my busniness partner has no day to day part of it. We aslo offer catering services which my partner deals with and agian I have no day to day part of it.

This means if for example:

We have a Disco booking on the 33rd of decmebuary! and no other work comes in for that day. Either, both of us do it, or 1 of us with an Event Technician.

We take the booking for the 33rd of decembuary, on the day of taking the booking no other work is in the diary. However, a week before this date Someone calls up and asks us to provide security on that date, i can take that booking and my partner will go and do the disco. Then suddenly 2 days before the date. someone has been let down by their catering company and need a buffet for that date. My partner will then go on do that booking while i do the security booking and one of our employees who is a DJ will do the Disco.

If I had told them when they booked that i would be doing it persoanlly, I would then have to turn down the security work or call them back up and say i can longer do it but my business partner will be. (Ok no that bad, most customers would probably be ok wiht that) But suddenly two days beofre the disco i call the customer again and tell them that my partner can no longer do it either, but dont worry one of our other DJ's will be there.
If I was the cusotmer i would wonder wether anyone would bother being there at all.

On the other hand. when a customer calls to book. If I tell them that yes we can provide an amazing disco with an experienced DJ on that date for £xx. and they go ahead and book. On the day A DJ turns up does an amazing job, customer is happy! with out them having to know the internal goings on of the business.

I understand that some of you are part time DJ's and one man bands. Which is fine I have no issue with that at all! Its how I started.

Running this company is full time for me and my business partner though. And as such it means we cannot garuntee who is going to be at an event months in advance as things can change.

[funkymook]

We have a Disco booking on the 33rd of decmebuary! and no other work comes in for that day. Either, both of us do it, or 1 of us with an Event Technician.

Why do you need an Event Technician, what do they do?

[jonezyr1]

Why do you need an Event Technician, what do they do?

We always send two people to do Discos, main reason one of them is a technician as opposed to a DJ is because honestly it's cheaper to have a DJ and technician then to have two DJ's.

So our main structure is 1 DJ and 1 event technician but some storms it will be 2 DJ's.

Hope that makes sense. Lol

[funkymook]

We always send two people to do Discos, main reason one of them is a technician as opposed to a DJ is because honestly it's cheaper to have a DJ and technician then to have two DJ's.

So our main structure is 1 DJ and 1 event technician but some storms it will be 2 DJ's.

Hope that makes sense. Lol

But you didn’t actually say what the Event Technician does lol