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View Full Version : Bridezilla Avoided!



Ntertainment
03-30-2012, 10:44 PM
So I met this lady at a wedding expo, she seemed so cool. She seemed so down to earth and found my dry sense of humor funny it was nice. I thought for sure of all the people i spoke too she would be booking me. I got a call from her and to no suprise she wanted to book. I quoted here this years price, she said it was in 2012, then it came to light that her wedding was in 2013, and i'm raising prices $100 to cover some new lighting that will come standard with any lighting package. She doesn't care about the nicer lights though so she didn't want to pay it.

Well she was not ok with the price increase. She wanted what i had originally quoted her even though the year changed. I told her i could do that price if she wanted to skip lights or if she wanted to pay in full or if she wanted to get married in 2012.

She hadn't even booked and she'd sent me 6 emails, do i get a receipt? Do i get a scanned copy of the contract? Do i get to pick the music? Does that price include uplights? Does that price include sound for the ceremony? I was telling my wife i kinda hope she doesn't book us, but the money this year would be a big help. Well finally she sent me an email saying we ended up not needing your services.

Anxious to get the job i sent a respond email saying i would do this years pricing for next year. She wrote an email back that a friend from work is in a band and has some stuff and is going to dj it for free but otherwise they would have went with me. Really? You went from the most profesional DJ in town to a freebie? How often have we seen that play out well?

Anyways i feel like i really dodge a bullet with that one. She was kinda a pain to work with. Really great person, just really hard to work with and a true haggler. She may have been from NYC ; )

Guelphdjs
03-31-2012, 10:20 AM
Hey Bud, take my message objectively cause I'm not trying to knock you, just trying to make you see it the way it looks when I read your post from a clients point of view, I'm pretty sure I'm missing some stuff but still I just really wanted to make sure you got a sense of how it looks from my end.


So I met this lady at a wedding expo, she seemed so cool. She seemed so down to earth and found my dry sense of humor funny it was nice. I thought for sure of all the people i spoke too she would be booking me. I got a call from her and to no suprise she wanted to book. I quoted here this years price, she said it was in 2012, then it came to light that her wedding was in 2013, and i'm raising prices $100 to cover some new lighting that will come standard with any lighting package. She doesn't care about the nicer lights though so she didn't want to pay it.

If you quoted her a price, you should of been clear on what it was for and the duration, if it's a show special then be clear about whats included and that it's a special with limitations. If you decided to make changes to next years set up, that's your call and has nothing to do with your potential client, to be honest I would of told you to eat the cost too, that was your decision not what you quoted.


Well she was not ok with the price increase. She wanted what i had originally quoted her even though the year changed. I told her i could do that price if she wanted to skip lights or if she wanted to pay in full or if she wanted to get married in 2012.

Are you serious dude? did you really tell a bride to get married this year to get the original quoted price? If you did, don't ever do it again, it's mind boggling that you would even offer that as an option. the better option for you here would of been to say "hey, I'm up****** my lights next year, do you mind if I up your lighting package for free? INSTA thumbs up for you and great incentive for her to talk about how cool it was of you to toss that in.


She hadn't even booked and she'd sent me 6 emails, do i get a receipt? Do i get a scanned copy of the contract? Do i get to pick the music? Does that price include uplights? Does that price include sound for the ceremony?

By not booked, do you mean you didn't receive any money yet? sounds like she already told you she wanted to book your services, I cover those questions in my first meeting with potential customers, these are all selling features for your business and in the end, questions aren't bad, use em to develop your initial pitch so they don't come up later in the game.


I was telling my wife i kinda hope she doesn't book us, but the money this year would be a big help. Well finally she sent me an email saying we ended up not needing your services.

If you need the money why even object, it's 100 bucks dude! take it and write your loss off on another gig, I wasn't surprised to see this happen at this point on her part.


Anxious to get the job i sent a respond email saying i would do this years pricing for next year. She wrote an email back that a friend from work is in a band and has some stuff and is going to dj it for free but otherwise they would have went with me. Really? You went from the most profesional DJ in town to a freebie? How often have we seen that play out well?

I'll be 100% straight up with you here, my competition here does this and it always leaves a bad taste in the clients mouth, dont EVER reply to a customer that just gave you the finger that "o.k. now you'll take the job at the original quoted price" If the money mattered or the gig then you should of sucked it up and take it with a smile and cut your losses later, right now, it's not making you look very professional to go back and agree with what you should of essentially just say yes in the first place. My money is go at her venue that night and it's another DJ company that's there.


Anyways i feel like i really dodge a bullet with that one. She was kinda a pain to work with. Really great person, just really hard to work with and a true haggler. She may have been from NYC ; )

At this point it's definitely better to cut your losses.

Again, dont take it personally I know it sounds like I'm being pretty negative but there's allot of good that can come out of this one and I just wanted to point it out from a clients or customer point of view.

Sween
03-31-2012, 10:37 AM
I won't even GIVE someone a price unless I have a date and a venue.

And if I did, I would include a bunch of disclaimers to the price.

EVERY quote I give expires if not booked within 3 months. And when I decide to raise prices I do it at the time of quoting, not the time of the event.

So if I decided to raise prices by $100 on June 1st... then every quote I gave after June 1st would be $100 more. If they had an event on June 2nd and booked now, they would get the lower price.

You can't go back to someone and say that quote did not apply to next year unless you said that on the quote. And verbal quotes are nonsense... always provide a written quote or it never happened.

DJMC
03-31-2012, 11:12 AM
Ditto what the last 2 posters said.

(saves typing)

Defiance
03-31-2012, 11:36 AM
I won't even GIVE someone a price unless I have a date and a venue.

And if I did, I would include a bunch of disclaimers to the price.

EVERY quote I give expires if not booked within 3 months. And when I decide to raise prices I do it at the time of quoting, not the time of the event.

So if I decided to raise prices by $100 on June 1st... then every quote I gave after June 1st would be $100 more. If they had an event on June 2nd and booked now, they would get the lower price.

You can't go back to someone and say that quote did not apply to next year unless you said that on the quote. And verbal quotes are nonsense... always provide a written quote or it never happened.

This is something I totally overlooked. Thanks :)

Dix
03-31-2012, 12:02 PM
I won't even GIVE someone a price unless I have a date and a venue.

While I understand sometimes thing slip thru the cracks, I wont quote a price until I have thoroughly interviewed the potential client. As I have stated on here before, I spend anywhere from 15 - 30 & sometimes 45 minutes on the initial contact. Now 45 minutes is very unusual, but if the client is interested & asks a lot of questions & wants to be detailed, I will talk with that client until we are both satisfied.
As well, I have also posted here before that it is just as important for me to interview the client as it is for them to interview me.

Now, I do agree that at bridal shows, sometimes kids plan weddings for a year or more down the road for an "after college graduation" wedding. It could be 12, 18 or 24 months down the road but are just trying to get an early idea of whats out there for her budgets. She may go to 4 bridal shows in the next 12 months before setting a date.
In short, my point is, brides may not always know the date of the wedding so its difficult to "quote" a price. However, in those situations, I try to make sure they understand that the price at this time is "X" amount & that its subject to change. Just something for you to keep in mind.

Also, I think if she had a "friend" at work that was "friends" enough to have the entire band play for free, she would have known that before ever seeking other avenues such as a DJ she knows nothing or very little about... & has no ties to. I think she just plain misrepresented the truth to you & went with another DJ or hired the band..... that was probably higher ... because mom & dad went a little deeper in the piggy bank.

I would probably agree you lucky to be outta this one as you have PLENTY of time to be hired by a competent client.

Hope this helps... good luck :)

TC

Ntertainment
03-31-2012, 02:38 PM
Guel

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not sure if you missed the dry sense of humor part in the second sentence but it was there. No i didn't tell her to get married this year, that part was a joke. Like i said it came to light after i gave her a quote, meaning in one of the many emails i sent her she finally said it was 2013. Since she didn't ask about ceremony services to begin with should i be asking if she wants them??

I see after that this my booking process could be more stream lined, thank you to everyone for your comments, i'll work on making it easier and more understood. I like the idea sween of raising quotes after a certain day then it's easy to know what price scheme i'm in.

Guelphdjs
04-01-2012, 08:55 AM
But see that's why I said to not read to much into my post cause black and white text as a nasty way to turn sideways on you sometimes, I figured I was missing something.

I love music
04-01-2012, 09:18 AM
So far in the rpe-season i ve turned down 3 weddings. 2 due to distance and 1 (really posh one) due to a bridezilla. As much as i could use the money (during this recession), i dont regret it.

So after a week i went for a meeting with a new couple. First thing they show me is a long list of songs they want for the dinner part of the party. they are all no-no songs and the bride seems tense and my bridezilla radar is picking up signals...

So i explain to them that if we play these "depressing" (didnt use the actual term) tunes before the party, how are we going to get the guests in the mood for dancing afterwords? I ended up quoting them a higher price even though its a sunday wedding. she kinda gave me the feeling of a bride who would be a complainer and would write shit on the internet afterwards.

Brides spend ridiculous amounts of money for all kinds of non-sense : decorations, flowers, ribbons, pricy make up, pricy "bride-undewear" etc and when they finally have to chose a dj they are usually out of cash and want "everything for nothing". they want large screen tv's but they think 300$ is a lot of money for 4 x 50" plasmas. they think 450euros (sound and dj) is alot for a wedding starting at 8pm and ending at 4am. they also think 150 is alot for 6 professional dance lights.

they "have" money to pay 2-3k on photography and video or to give 300euros to a hairdresser for an hours work, but they think 500 is a lot for a dj (who works 24hrs on the day of their wedding)...
i say let em go for the cheap dj and have a boring party. Its their choice.

If one person "makes or breaks" a wedding, thats the dj. If you want a "BMW" dj, u gotta pay the price. If u pay peanuts, u get a monkey.

Ntertainment
04-01-2012, 02:24 PM
thanks for clearing it up. I hated you for a few moments, but now i'm over it. I'm glad to hear a lot of the remarks on here. I really do need to be more organized with the booking process. I don't ever meet with brides ahead of time like some had said. There isn't too much work around here so i have to take everything i can get. Which sucks, but when i do have a bridezilla, i just say to myself you only have to work with her for one day...

I'm going to post some changes i'll be making to the booking process to make myself more accountable. Thanks for the kind suggestions everyone!