Lessons learned caused me to go from 'Final payment due by event day' to 'Final payment due no less than 14 days prior to event day. Failure to meet the payment deadline releases the DJ from the contractual obligation, however, the contract will still be honored with the addition of a $50 late payment fee.' I got sick of people ducking and dodging the final payment, regardless of the legitimacy of their reasons. Ironic how that all stopped when I changed the deadline clause.
Local DJ being taken to court
- Thread starter Ron
- Start date
"Act of God" Clause.
Also, my wife may still be around. She can get the money refunded to the client. If she is gone, then I guess someone in my family would have to somehow get access to my business bank account at some point in time. Eventually, the client would be refunded their money.
If something happens to one of my DJs days or weeks before the event, and they are in no shape to perform the event, then I have time to find a substitute DJ.
Same goes for when a Talent Agent books me. They hold the deposit, and have other DJs on their roster they can call if something were to happen to me.
I do not like having to go to the client, and having to ask for the payment at the end of an event either. I've done it before in the past.
That was something virtually every DJ dealt with back in the 80s, 90s, 2000s. Very few bothered collecting payment before the event back then. It wasn't until more wedding vendors touted that payment needs to be collected before the wedding day and by recommendation "14 days prior", and that is how it Should Be is when more professional DJs started to listen and make that change.
These days, If I collect the balance on the day of the event, I let the client know to make plans to have either the planner drop the check off in the beginning of the event, or have the best man, Father etc. whoever they trust drop the payment to me. I only had one client this year drop the payment to me after the event was over...it was because the planner was busy and had it sitting in her purse the whole time. Not a big deal. She gave it to me while I was packing up.
About 1/3 of my clients have chose to mail the payment in before hand these days.
The only issue with that LEGALLY is that you can't legally enforce a late payment fee for a service that has not even happened yet. Credit Cards can issue a late payment fee on a credit card payment because the purchase was made 25+ days prior to the due by date on the bill.
Here in Maryland, there are legal limits to how much your late payment fee can be. Late Payments can't be enforced unless you have given the customer ample time to pay you. This is why when you receive your Gas and Electric Bill, payment is due on such date which is usually about 30+ days after the gas/electric usage. Late payment fee is 1.5% of the bill.
Your $50 late payment fee is essentially a scare tactic, but wouldn't be legal in court. You are still bound to perform their event if they pay the balance, and do not pay your $50 late fee.
What if they mailed the payment out 17 days before the wedding, but mail was slow, and did not arrive until 5 days after your 14 day prior due by date...do you tell the customer they owe you another Fifty bucks?
There's only a handfull here that do more than 25 a year. If an agency is giving you 20 of them you work for the agency and bring your own tools. They then have the upper hand. I suspect the ones that do more than 25 would do very little work for others if any that gives you the upper hand
Yes and these were the same experts that in their infinite wisdom thought for some reason that DJ's should be renting chocolate fountains, charging $5000 and becoming "directors" and "Coordinators". How did all that work out? These tings make you unique....Just like everyone else
About 1/3 pay up front for me too just for reference
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The reason most DJ's want to be paid in full IN ADVANCE....
is because we offer a SERVICE....not a product.
We can not hold back on the "delivery" of our "product" if we have not been paid.
The only thing we can do is demand payment BEFORE we set up on the day of the event.
If the bride and groom are paying the bill, and they aren't arriving until moments before they are announced...
things could get mighty sticky, and WE would be the ones who look bad.
is because we offer a SERVICE....not a product.
We can not hold back on the "delivery" of our "product" if we have not been paid.
The only thing we can do is demand payment BEFORE we set up on the day of the event.
If the bride and groom are paying the bill, and they aren't arriving until moments before they are announced...
things could get mighty sticky, and WE would be the ones who look bad.
It is different only because both parties are aware of the song and dance before walking into the venue and it's the accepted norm....IMHO.
The only unknown part is the tip...
Doctors offer a Service. They don't even let the consumer know how much they are going to charge them for the appointment and whatever procedure they may do. They then go to the insurance company with their bill which often get's denied. So what happens is 3 to 8 months later they mail the consumer a ridiculous bill, and expect the consumer to pay it. It seems to work for Health Care professionals to operate in that fashion.
Maybe we should book weddings and tell the client that we can't tell them what the price is up front before they contract us. We will send them a bill 3 months after the wedding...You think anybody would rightfully agree to it? Yet, the public is forced into agreeing with this practice as standard when it comes to their health care needs....
Doctors will get paid a portion of the bill from the insurance company then bill out for the rest but it's a different game. If the fee is $1000 they bill for $2000 get $1200 and then bill out in hopes of being paid the rest. Regardless if they collect or not they have been paid more than the original fee was already the rest is gravy. That's the reason there are so many health care related bankruptcies and why health care costs are out of control
I had a photographer friend who I let book out my DJ service. The last year I dealt with him, they booked roughly 20 gigs. I kept pretty tight reigns on him so that we had our money before the event happened. When we decided to do photography (you guys may remember a few threads in regards) he thought his 20 gigs were going to rule the day. He was wrong and frankly I was thankful for cutting ties. His gigs caused 80% of my grief and brought very little profit. The lesson to learn is, don't let yourself get into a place where you depend on someone else to book you. Control your own destiny.
You got that right. I used to do quite a few from others too and it was the exception when there wasn't a problem, mostly minor stuff, but nonetheless a problem. When you get away from others you tend to get busier than you ever were because you need to hustle then
My wife has worked in the dental industry all her life.
At most places, there is a certain fee for a certain procedure...
unless you have insurance, then the price is higher.
How many of you have had to take a client to court due to non payment or not paying the final balance? I never have.
The only non-paying customers or collections I've made were other DJs, the reasons being their own lack of character and performance, which leaves them rather desperate.
IMHO opinion any fear of not getting paid by clients is rooted in the knowledge of one's own shortcomings - be it a failure to find qualified customers, or a hit or miss performance record. Pretense and fear go hand in hand.
I don't accept bookings from people who don't have a demonstrated ability to pay, and I provide a level of customer care that is easily and readily appreciated.
In 16 years I have never been to court. However, These are my stats after hundreds of booked events.
1. I had a couple bounce their check they gave to my sister at the gig in 2010. They said it would be in the mail on Monday. It never came in. Left 3 voice mails for the bride. No response. Finally got a hold of the Groom who is in the military after leaving him 2 voice mails. He apologized and said it will be in the mail. We finally got the balance payment paid a full 7 weeks after the wedding. This was the worst situation I have dealt with.
2. I had another couple bounce a check in 2010. They apologized, and did rectify the problem with an additional $100 added in with an apology. ...However, It took nearly 3 weeks to receive their payment after the wedding.
3. I had a couple forget their check book" back in 2010. They said it would be in the mail right away. They went on their honeymoon and forgot to mail it. They didn't put it in the mail until they came back from their honeymoon. It took just over 2 weeks to get payment after the wedding.
4. This one wasn't a booking I did, but another one of my DJs did a wedding where she "forgot her check book" ...Apparently, the bride/groom did this with every vendor at their wedding. They even ducked out on a $1300 remaining bill on the catering. All the vendors took the bride to court, and got judgements. However, my DJ was never able to collect the money from the bride. She still never paid him. She owes him $450 to this day and that was in 2012.
2010 was THE WORST year for collecting payments. I blame it on the effects of the recession at the time. It was pulling teeth to get brides/grooms to pay their deposits to book that year as well. I'm glad things are better since then. Totally prefer not to deal with a recession again as a Mobile DJ.
I will add that we had 2 other checks bounce back in 2010 that were deposit payments...That was pretty bad. ...That lead to adding the "$35 bounce check fee" clause on our agreements. We did not have that in the agreement back in 2010.
Outside of that, I've dealt with other companies who took forever to pay me after an event.
So, bottom line is you've never actually been stiffed for payment? In every case people paid you within just weeks of the event?
IMHO this does not sound like a customer issue - it sounds like you are desperately living on the edge of every check.
Pro: IF you don't mind waiting weeks, months or infinitely forever for a payment to be paid after you did the work, then operate in that fashion.
As to living on the edge of every check...That is Half of America according to Time Magazine. It's 76% of Americans according to a CNN Poll from 2013. I keep a buffer in my bank account, and there are certain times in the year that my wallet feels very nice, but generally speaking no event vendor should have to wait at all after the event is done to be paid.
Bouncing a check is Check Fraud. Sure, oversights, and errors occur when people write checks from time to time, but it's still a major issue for the entity who the check bounced on. If a check is submitted, anybody cashing it expects the funds to be available. If there are a few bad apples out there, then policies need to be put in place to protect against when we encounter those bad apples when conducting business.
If that means collecting the balance in full prior to the event, then so be it. If it means C.O.D. at time of performance (Cash on Demand) then so be it too. If it means getting a credit card payment processed the night before the event, then kudos to that...Collecting a personal check after the event can be a cautious path to take. Who's fault is it if the check bounces? Had the DJ collected the check 10, 14 or more days prior to the event, then any issue that arose could have been mitigated before the DJ even loads their car to perform at the venue.
Choose which path you prefer to take, but if you are collecting balances after the event is over and done with, then if an issue occurs with the payment...you have no one to blame but yourself. Who wants to have to contact a customer after the event because their check bounced? Who wants to have to chase a customer down to get the balance paid because they "forgot their check book" at the event? It seems like it would be a no brainer to set policies in place to avoid that situation all together.
I don't live on the edge of every paycheck and I have been stiffed before. I've also had to chase clients before. You stated that you don't accept clients who haven't demonstrated the ability to pay. In other words, you're living in a different world than most of the rest of us here in this forum. Your condescending attitude is ignorant and spiteful of the realities that most of us deal with regularly. Shutup.