What an absolute tool!!!!!

Bloody cheeky sod!

Serves them right for cancelling all their gigs!

I think failing to ask for a deposit isn't an act of decency, it's an act of idiocy when you're running a so-called business. That being said, perhaps in his mind the date was booked, as I'm not sure what your correspondence alluded to. There are people who book bands without seeing them -- we did, but that's because our wedding is 6 hours from where we live and we wouldn't be able to see them without making an extra trip. However, we listened to tons of demos and live videos.

To be honest, for that kind of cheek i'd be asking them for £200 to compensate for the time you've wasted trying to see them. When is your wedding? I imagine that if they are that good they will probably manage to get a gig on your day. This will also show them that they should maybe start taking deposits in future. It's through their own stupid fault their out of pocket. you owe them nothing!

What a chancer!

They should be apologogising to you for messing you about form october!

After you OH emails them tonight I'd leave it at that (keep the trail of emails), forget them and enjoy the rest of your planning. There is NOTHING they can do so I wouldnt waste any more time or energy on them!

Thanks girls!

Good to have a bit of reassurance!!

MAG2FMC - I apologise, I don't mean to say that anyone who doesn't see a band before booking is silly... All that matters is that you and your OH are happy to booked them based on what you know/heard of them.

This band were unable to provide any recordings, so live was our only shot :-/

Future Mrs Chuckles - No worries, I didn't take offense! I do think the ideal is to listen to the band live, as demos can be altered. Plus, you have no idea what stage presence a band hands just from listening to them. A band can be great on tape, but the most boring entertainers ever! I really wish we could've seen ours live but just had to take a chance on it. I definitely think you're doing the right thing. This is a HUGE investment for you, so no need to take chances where you don't have to!

What a muppet!! Id tell him where he could shove the £200!

I work in this industry and can I just say you've obviously had a lucky escape, if they kept cancelling gigs like that, they are unreliable and you can't base your wedding entertainment on an unreliable band.

They have no leg to stand on, there is no contract, no deposit.

Don't worry about it.

I wouldn't even bother emailing back.

Yea i wouldnt even bother emailing back you have no obligation to pay them if you dont have a contract!

The only issue with not emailing back is that we got his details from my OH's parents... therefore there is a link.

Not sure what to do :-/

I'm quite sure your OH's parents will side with you with regards to not paying the £200. Is this band a family friend or something?

My OH is greek - so this band is part of the Greek 'community' as it were.

So they know the band through this.

Hoorah!

Honestly, you did everything you could to see them live. They were totally unreliable so you couldn't even see them live.

There is no contract, therefore no actual agreement to book.

Don't worry about them, maybe they will learn from it and get their act together.

Absolutely!

Apart from very rare circumstances, I'm not booked until I get my booking fee, followed by signed terms shortly after.

Most good suppliers will "pencil in" a date, but call you if they get another enquiry. If I feel the enqiry is going cold, I try to send an email requesting status, but then close it down as lost. The emails do take up a lot of time, but we are running a business and its simply part of the job.

Asking for compensation - silly and I hope they are able to revise their business practices from this error!

I can understand why its nice to see a band perform, but most should have a show-reel and demos to give a good indication of what they do.

Again, not knowing what correspondence went on, but assuming that there was nothing of the sort where you basically said, "Yes, we'll book you for X date!," I would just write back something along the following:

"Dear so and so: it seems there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding in our communications. We never intended to book you for our wedding until we heard you perform live. Though you come high recommended, I'm sure you can appreciate that hiring a band for a wedding is an important decision and the reasons why a bride and groom would want to see a performance before confirming a booking. I'm sure you were also cognizant of our attempts to see you perform, given the emails we exchanged concerning performance dates. To be clear, we attempted to see you at ABC restaurant on a number of occasions, including on XYZ dates, but on each of these occasions you cancelled. Unfortunately, given the date of our wedding, we felt we needed to make a decision and therefore chose to go with another band. With respect to compensation, you never asked for a deposit, which is a matter of course for most bands upon booking. That you hadn't asked for a deposit signaled to us that nothing was yet confirmed. Again, I apologize for the misunderstanding, but under these circumstances we do not feel that you are entitled to any compensation. We wish you the best in your future endeavors."

MAG2FMC - Thank you SO much for writing such a fantastic response! It's really sweet of you

OH will be emailing him today and washing our hands of him!

Have a great day!

WSS

What a cheeky git! i'd be tempted to send him £200 of monopoly money!

HA HA!! This actually made me laugh quite loud ? (im at work....)

What a great response. I always feel being polite and taking the higher ground makes it more difficult for people to come back with problems or to be angry and MAGs wording is excellent!

Quackers - you just had my LOLing at my desk ?

Wicked.

Just had an email from the band we booked demanding that we have a table of food ready for them for their first break. (They seem to have got the impression they are playing all day maybe... despite the contract being for the evening only).

We will get it cleared up, but we weren't planning on providing them with a sit down meal? The buffet will be there which okay they can nibble on, but that is for our guests, they are a SERVICE we have hired for the evening to ENTERTAIN our guests.

Of course we will be providing them with some kind of card so they can get drinks but a sit down meal?

Am I being unreasonable? What's the norm for feeding your band?

x

Haha As if you're just going to read that email and think 'fair do's this guy has a point' and write him a cheque! Some people are just so deluded! I too would be interested to hear his response. They haven't got a leg to stand on.

Is this the second band that you've actually booked and not the first elusive one? If so, you really are having a tough run of it...

Services should not expect food. If you are nice enough to provide, then fine but it is unreasonable for them to expect a sit down meal - and you should tell them this! My photographer brought his own food and very politely declined any wedding food when I offered it saying it would be unprofessional to accept. That's the kind of service your band should be providing.

Yes - a second, seperate issue, lol.

I think they've just got the wrong end of the stick - i.e. how they normally roll (as in, not the same that they will with us)!

We have offered a meal at the bar for our photographer because she's doing a bloody long day, but the band? You're absolutely spot on there!

We will get it cleared up no problem i'm sure.

Thanks

x

Yep thats just desperation talking, they don't have a leg to stand on.

Send them a sh**ty mail and tell them where to go.

I'd avoid any band who continues to cancel their appearances.

Yes, that means you too Bon Jovi, I know you're there.

That's the entire reason you pay a deposit - to compensate them if you end up cancelling. They didn't ask you for one, so you owe them nothing. They can rebook the date. Tell them to nob off. How rude!! xx

Thanks all

x