Cancelling my Wedding Band - HELP!

Showcase_Cork

I think what is happening here is people are confusing a legal issue with a moral issue.

Legally the customer has every right to cancel the booking as long as he/she are prepared to forfeit their deposit. This case the customer is fully aware that they will lose that monies and seen very prepared to do so. As far as the legalities of the situation go then this is cut and dry assuming the customer did not sign anything which implicates them to fulfilling the payment for the full amount - which I very much doubt on this occasion!

Then you have the moral issue which asks the question is it fair on the band etc.... This can be argued until the cows come home and to be perfectly honest it's only ever going to come down to someones opinion on the matter against someone elses so not even worth delving into!

The important point and the only one for me that matters is the first one. At the end of the day the band have allowed a customer to book them with a deposit small enough not to act as a deterrent against the customer happily waiving it.

End of really!

BenEadir

suicide_circus wrote: »

however, if we want to go the technicality route; no Ts&Cs were agreed, no minimum cancellation notice was agreed

No right of cancellation was agreed.

suicide_circus

BenThere wrote: »

No right of cancellation was agreed.

looks like we have reached an impasse

WildCardDoW

thanks for the education. however, if we want to go the technicality route; no Ts&Cs were agreed, no minimum cancellation notice was agreed, no receipts were issued. and I have to agee with the poster above, the dictionary definition of 'deposit' is not the same as its general accepted usuage.

Would you say the same if the band cancelled?

maximoose

Yes.

suicide_circus

WildCardDoW wrote: »

Would you say the same if the band cancelled?

certainly.

Mobile Dj

Thread getting tired now.

Having worked in the wedding market for many years this would not be regular thing.

Band slipped up by taking a low deposit, once was told to take a big enough deposit to ensure that the decision to cancel would not be taken lightly.

Red Nissan

Agree this thread has gone around a few times.

I was in initially 'against' the OP then the OP did the honourable thing, despite the band doing the dishonourable thing.

I hope OP has a great wedding and a very happy life.

goz83

Red Nissan wrote: »

I hope OP has a great wedding and a very happy life.

I'm afraid it's one, or the other. Can't have both

Hanalei

suicide_circus wrote: »

I am questioning the idea that the OP "screwed over" the band. they entered into an agreement and a deposit was paid by way of security. the op had a change of heart, backed out and lost the deposit. where is the screwing?

They entered an agreement, deposit was paid as a commitment to keeping the agreement, OP broke the agreement. It's quite simple really.

Band were screwed over but it was entirely their own fault for not having a written agreement. They had a wedding for that weekend, there isn't a hope in hell they will play a wedding for that weekend now. Income lost.

Their subsequent threats to the OP by the band would indicate that they too feel a little screwed over.

Let me make this simple for you; it's understandable that one wouldn't agree with the notion that the OP's actions weren't entirely fair on the band, but if one couldn't see where those views are coming from then I would have serious question marks over that person's intelligence. You know, it is actually possible to see both sides of an argument without necessarily agreeing with one (or even both) sides of that argument. Go ahead and have the last word now.

Evil_Bilbo

Hey everyone - the issue is now resolved.

I finally heard back from the band last night (the main guy is in hospital as his wife is having a baby - so very understandable why he's taken so long to get back to me - if indeed this is true - no reason why it shouldnt be). Here's the jist:

None of the band are happy with your proposal at all and would like to deal with you individually. However, at my request they have reluctantly agreed to accept your offer as I want to put an end to this.

Instead of acting the maggot, I just thanked him profusely and said I will transfer the money as soon as I get his details. I will be sure to put in my own conditions (that this is "full and complete compensation" etc etc) before I wire him the money.

I'm still stunned at the response this thread got. Thanks one and all for your contributions, slaggings, well wishes, bad wishes etc. I havent been on boards in many years - you have all reminded me how great it can be.

Adios amigos!

BenEadir

Well done Bilbo,

I'm sure there will be internet heroes on here telling you you should have paid them nothing etc but you did the right thing and now it's behind you.

Have a great married life.

Ben

muffler

Fair play. Off you go now and get yourself married and give the rest of us some peace

Nah seriously though, I think you did the right thing and I wish you well in the future.

delly

I've been silently looking on in the background waiting for the resolution. Now that all is sorted however, I really wanna see this new band in action, seriously! Bilbo, send me a sneaky PM with wedding date and location. You won't even know I'm there...





Do not read Bilbo ¬_¬

As already agreed, I'll pass on the PM once received to all, say nothing

Toots

OP I'd be sending on a cheque rather than bank transfer, but that's just me.

In any case, glad to hear you got sorted. Hopefully some good will come out of this in that the band involved will have learned a lesson about how to protect themselves from cancellations in the future. Take a higher deposit, have a clearly drawn up contract with cancellation fees built in, increasing the closer the wedding gets (shorter notice - less chance they'll pick up another gig). Not only does it protect them, it's reassuring to the customer also.

As well as that, they need to put a system in place that means that they're responding to calls/emails in a timely manner. If the organiser/manager is unavailable (wife giving birth) then someone else needs to look after that side of things. As another poster said further up the thread, if I had booked a band and then 6 weeks out they weren't returning my emails and calls I'd be sh*tting bricks that they weren't going to show up at all.

3rdDegree

Toots* wrote: »

OP I'd be sending on a cheque rather than bank transfer.

This is good advise!

Fishyfreak

Evil_Bilbo wrote: »

None of the band are happy with your proposal at all and would like to deal with you individually.

Another completely unprofessional reply from the band.

My reply to the e-mail would have been: "Well in that case you can all go f*ck yourselves, Offer withdrawn".

Seriously, glad you got it sorted. Enjoy the wedding.

Mad Bull

Evil_Bilbo wrote: »

Hey everyone - the issue is now resolved.

I finally heard back from the band last night (the main guy is in hospital as his wife is having a baby - so very understandable why he's taken so long to get back to me - if indeed this is true - no reason why it shouldnt be). Here's the jist:

None of the band are happy with your proposal at all and would like to deal with you individually. However, at my request they have reluctantly agreed to accept your offer as I want to put an end to this.

Instead of acting the maggot, I just thanked him profusely and said I will transfer the money as soon as I get his details. I will be sure to put in my own conditions (that this is "full and complete compensation" etc etc) before I wire him the money.

I'm still stunned at the response this thread got. Thanks one and all for your contributions, slaggings, well wishes, bad wishes etc. I havent been on boards in many years - you have all reminded me how great it can be.

Adios amigos!

Congrats on getting things sorted, but what a wally for giving them a cent!
Hope you learned from the whole experience.

3rdDegree

Fishyfreak wrote: »

Another completely unprofessional reply from the band.

My reply to the e-mail would have been: "Well in that case you can all go f*ck yourselves, Offer withdrawn".

Seriously, glad you got it sorted. Enjoy the wedding.

The band do come across as very unprofessional alright. The veiled threats are really inexcusable and have made me lose all sympathy for them.

Enjoy your wedding OP.

Mobile Dj

Evil_Bilbo wrote: »

None of the band are happy with your proposal at all and would like to deal with you individually

This is one thing that always puzzles me,

A band operate/trade as and advertise under a name eg "the big lads" (making up a name for this).

Why do bands look at themselves as individual traders.

clint_silver

Mobile Dj wrote: »

This is one thing that always puzzles me,

A band operate/trade as and advertise under a name eg "the big lads" (making up a name for this).

Why do bands look at themselves as individual traders.

individual musicians could play with many different bands or have different fingers in different pies elsewhere.

Theres also a lot involved in setting up a limited company, much easier to set up as a sole trader OR if one has a PAYE job as primary income to just declare each october extra income for previous year and pay on that. There would be very few cover musicians making enough as individuals to be over a threshold of secondary income to make it worthwhile creating a company.

none of this should ever matter to someone booking.

In this case, the band should not have come back and said "the individual members want to deal with you separately", you deal with a single booking agent or manager, thats it, and all dealings from then on are with them. Aside from anything else thats gone on here on both sides, they didnt cover themselves in glory coming back with that.

hope this explains.

BenEadir

OP, how's married life treating ya?

How was the entertainment at the wedding?

I'll get my coat...........

dudara

@BenThere Please do not drag back up threads looking for an update. I'm closing this thread. If the OP wishes to provide an update, he can PM me or another mod

dudara