DJ Refund (Long)

janedoe1113a

We were very unhappy with our DJ at the wedding.  He was a pretty good DJ all around, but a couple things happened that made me disappointed in him throughout the day.  Mainly being that a couple of songs, including our first dance, skipped. 

 

I emailed him about it this morning and he blamed it on the floor bouncing.  Obviously no one was jumping around on our first dance, so that was not the problem.

 

He also blamed it on a new computer and having to use someone else's computer to burn the CDs (not really sure why he uses CDs anymore). 

 

I think he made me feel guilty about complaining about his service because he was talking about the songs were last minute (we gave him the majority of our list over a week before the wedding and most of them were typical songs that a DJ would have) and that the price came out of his pocket.  Umm...isn't the point of a DJ to have the songs?  If he didn't have them, he could have let me know and I could have provided them.

 

We paid $700 for this DJ ($650 for the reception and $50 for the ceremony) and I don't feel like it was worth the $700.  He offered a refund if we truly were not happy.  How much of a refund, if any, should I request?


Please let me know if you feel I'm overreacting about this.  I don't feel I am, but it's definitely possible.

janedoe1113a

Wow...TK screwed up my formatting.  Going back to edit and fix now.

crfische

I think that's really cheap for a DJ.

Did you get to do your first dance ever?

If it were me, I'd probably let it go, but I don't usually care about stuff like that.

ThePinkSuperhero

1/3 to 1/2 is fair, I think.

janedoe1113a

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_dj-refund-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:478e1ca4-6fb2-4f47-aef6-119e26361572Post:e11f23d8-cc34-4052-8fc0-5c8e74dbd4ff">Re: DJ Refund (Long)</a>:
[QUOTE]I think that's really cheap for a DJ. Did you get to do your first dance ever? If it were me, I'd probably let it go, but I don't usually care about stuff like that.
Posted by crfische[/QUOTE]

Sorry I didn't word it very well.  We did the dance, but it was skipping (like there was a scratch on the CD) throughout the entire song.  Like it didn't play smoothly.

$700 for a DJ around here is kind of expensive.  I probably could have gotten one for about $350-$500.

Mrs.B6302007

Ditto Guppy.
If it's only the one first dance song, go for a 10% refund.  If you really feel like it changed the entire vision of your reception, you could take him up on his offer but keep in mind, it's is livelihood and he worked the entire evening for free if you take the full refund.

Congrats, by the way.  I wasn't around yesterday during your post. =-)

Mrs.B6302007

For persepctive's sake, we paid $850 in CFL for ours.

andyandhillary

I think 15% is fair unless it ruined the entire reception.  I'm sorry this happened to you though!

crfische

OOHHH gotcha.

I guess I still don't think that's THAT horrible. I guess as a DJ he should be accountable for providing a good service, but if it only skipped through 2 songs, I don't think that's a big deal.

It's music. There will be some problems.

I don't know. Maybe I'm too easy going.

pag41989

Omg.. I hope that doesnt happen during our reception considering we are using the same DJ in 3 weeks. He told me that he uses CDs because he thinks that the guys that upload it to their computer and plug it in aren't really offering a service and he prefers using CDs.

shellydiane820

Honestly, I might just give him a bad review.  I wouldn't deal with asking for a refund.  Didn't he discuss what kind of music he uses in your meetings?

One of the first things our DJ mentioned when we met him is he downloads music.    If he told you he uses cds, you should know that cds skip and get scratched.

MrsHaH101010

I would go for a 1/3.  If it bothered you enough to contact him already then it obviously bothers you enough to take him up on offering a refund (or partial).

crfische

In small town, po-dunk spicer, I paid 1000 bucks for a DJ. I just think that 700 is pretty reasonable, if not on the lower end of the spectrum.

emilyinchile

I think it's a big deal that your first dance song skipped. If had had just been one or two other songs skipping then that's annoying and unprofessional but not necessarily worth getting worked up over. I would probably ask for somewhere around $100 back - that to me would be enough to feel like I got some kind of compensation but not so much that you'd be screwing him over.

squirrly

Eh, I think 15% is more than enough to ask for. 

danieliza1127

I don't think I would ask for any type of refund because a couple of songs skipped, but I do think I would let him know that in the future, he may want to listen to the songs first to make sure the CDs aren't scratched and in the future, if he doesn' t have some of the songs the bride/groom request, he should let them know.  I would also do a review of all of my vendors on my local and be honest about his service and your disappointment with it.

janedoe1113a

Thanks ladies!  It was our first dance song and then probably at least 5 other songs.

Being a DJ isn't his full time job, so I don't think I would be hurting him by asking for a refund (he's the rush hour DJ for a local radio station).  I definitely would not ask for a full refund because he did do a good job on our ceremony and at parts in the reception.

There were a couple other things that bothered me about him (Pag, I will PM you about this later), so maybe that is also affecting my judgement.

Thanks for the honesty ladies!

danieliza1127

Also, I'm not saying you shouldn't ask for a refund of some type, I'm just saying that if it were me, I probably wouldn't.

pag41989

Thanks Navy!

AmoroAgain

Meh.  I don't think I'd care that much.  I'm a total control freak about that kind of stuff, so that's why I did it all myself.

janedoe1113a

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_dj-refund-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:478e1ca4-6fb2-4f47-aef6-119e26361572Post:327e2c2c-f86b-4912-bf53-9333fa99819c">Re: DJ Refund (Long)</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks Navy!
Posted by pag41989[/QUOTE]

You've got PM!

mwhitson14

Do you feel like $700 is a fair price for his services? If you feel like he overcharged you and you'd like some compensation for his screw ups, then I'd ask for a refund.

At our wedding. the DJ totally messed up both our entrance song and our first dance song, but since we paid him a really awesome price, I let it go. I wouldn't have asked for a refund since he already gave us a great price.

Does that make any sense? Ha.

AlexiaANDRobert

Yeah, if it were me, I don't think I'd ask for a refund but I agree with (Dani, I think) about letting him know how you felt and telling him it would be wise to pre-listen to his work to make sure there aren't issues.  I feel like a scratched CD is avoidable.

I can't compare the cost cause I got a little hook-up since it was my friends company.
I think a review for your local would also be wise cause it'd help other girls out in the future.

pag41989

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_dj-refund-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:478e1ca4-6fb2-4f47-aef6-119e26361572Post:06401557-55a6-4e8a-9f8d-62e832870cb0">Re: DJ Refund (Long)</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: DJ Refund (Long) : You've got PM!
Posted by navybaby1113[/QUOTE]

Ditto!

luckyme502

In our area you can get a DJ for about $300.  Our area is overloaded with DJs.  I don't know if I would ask for a refund, but I would think that if I was a DJ I would listen to the first dance song before hand to make sure it was a good copy. 

tidetravel

The thing that bothers me about this whole thing is the excuses.  The floor bounced.  Glitch with the new computer.  Glitch because he had to burn the CDs with some else's computer.  Blaming you for not getting the list to him on time. 

If a DJ is going to use CDs these days, then it's his responsibility to make sure that the CDs aren't scratched; especially on the important songs.  It's obvious that he's not taking responsiblilty for screwing up, and because of this, I would ask for 15-20% off.  It may be different if he recognized there was a problem at the time and apologized after.

janedoe1113a

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_dj-refund-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:478e1ca4-6fb2-4f47-aef6-119e26361572Post:6fe85d71-0119-4a79-8c74-4ac3396536ba">Re: DJ Refund (Long)</a>:
[QUOTE]T<strong>he thing that bothers me about this whole thing is the excuses.  The floor bounced.</strong>  Glitch with the new computer.  Glitch because he had to burn the CDs with some else's computer.  Blaming you for not getting the list to him on time.  If a DJ is going to use CDs these days, then it's his responsibility to make sure that the CDs aren't scratched; especially on the important songs.  It's obvious that he's not taking responsiblilty for screwing up, and because of this, I would ask for 15-20% off.  It may be different if he recognized there was a problem at the time and apologized after.
Posted by tidetravel[/QUOTE]

I think this is what's making it worse for me too.  Yea, we were upset about it and I emailed him to let him know that I was disappointed in his performance.  I did not ask for a refund at the time.  But then he made up those excuses and that ticked me off even more.

janedoe1113a

He's also worked at our venue multiple times, so if the floor really does bounce, then he should have known what he was working with and at least mentioned it to us before hand.

Bubbalub

I agree 100% with Tide. If he is supposed to be a professional, then it is HIS job to make sure that his equipment is working properly, to research the venue, to check his cd's, etc. That is completely unprofessional that all he offered you were excuses and it doesn't bode well for anyone else who pays for his service if that is his attitude.

janedoe1113a

Before I responded to his email, he ended up sending me another one.  He said he talked to his DJ friends and realized that he was in the wrong.  He said he needs to upgrade his equipment to keep this from happening in the future.  So, he offered me a $300 refund.  It all worked out in the end.

luckyme502

$300 extra dollars, sounds like shoe shopping to me!  I'm glad it all worked out!