Wedding Etiquette Forum

unprofessional Vendor

My fiance and I are not sure if you should ask for our deposit back. We got engaged back in June. We knew of a DJ that had done a few events for our friends and a company i work for. He gave us a great deal and i send him the a $100 deposit. He was suppose to send a contract and never did. I let it slide cause we were friends kind of. Then a few months after I get an email just confirming our wedding date as May 5th when it was actually May 31st. I corrected him and let it slide. He had been wanting to meet and I was finally able to meet after the holidays. I had to cancel cause I got really sick. We reschedule and I called him the day before to confirm and he said " well i can't meet i have a funeral to go to". So i let it slide again even thought he should have called me to tell me. so we rescheduled for another day. Each time i write back exact month, day and time. So i go away for the weekend with my friends and i get a text asking to comfirm our appointment when it actually for the following weekend. I Text back saying i am in arizona for the weekend and I will be back tomorrow night and that i have next sunday Date and time. The day before i call to confirm. No call back, Text, nothing again. FB message, Nothing again. Call him in the morning, Nothing again. we wait 1.5 hours and no call. I text him later that day asking whats up we had an appointment and he gets back to me saying sorry and he thought i was gone for 2 weeks..how i have no idea. I can't work with someone who clearly doesn't write anything down. SInce i sent him a deposit and there was no contract is it ok to ask for the deposit back.

Re: unprofessional Vendor

  • I think that's perfectly reasonable considering he hasn't forgotten important dates one time but many times that's enough of a reason not to trust him to be there on time for the wedding! Receptions at 6 right? No 12:30! It's an afternoon reception! Oh I thought it was an evening affair! Nope! Can't you change it I already have a gig that morning! You do OURs! Kwim?
  • Jlmabie said:
    My fiance and I are not sure if you should ask for our deposit back. We got engaged back in June. We knew of a DJ that had done a few events for our friends and a company i work for. He gave us a great deal and i send him the a $100 deposit. He was suppose to send a contract and never did. I let it slide cause we were friends kind of. Then a few months after I get an email just confirming our wedding date as May 5th when it was actually May 31st. I corrected him and let it slide. He had been wanting to meet and I was finally able to meet after the holidays. I had to cancel cause I got really sick. We reschedule and I called him the day before to confirm and he said " well i can't meet i have a funeral to go to". So i let it slide again even thought he should have called me to tell me. so we rescheduled for another day. Each time i write back exact month, day and time. So i go away for the weekend with my friends and i get a text asking to comfirm our appointment when it actually for the following weekend. I Text back saying i am in arizona for the weekend and I will be back tomorrow night and that i have next sunday Date and time. The day before i call to confirm. No call back, Text, nothing again. FB message, Nothing again. Call him in the morning, Nothing again. we wait 1.5 hours and no call. I text him later that day asking whats up we had an appointment and he gets back to me saying sorry and he thought i was gone for 2 weeks..how i have no idea. I can't work with someone who clearly doesn't write anything down. SInce i sent him a deposit and there was no contract is it ok to ask for the deposit back.
    Yeah I would definitely get out of this situation and ask for the deposit back. Sure, since you didn't sign a contract, it would seem he should refund your money. But he may not. It's a little weird to give someone a deposit with nothing in writing though... do you have a receipt, at least? I suppose a copy of the cleared check could serve as your receipt, but if he refuses to refund your money there's not much you can do. It wouldn't be worth it to go to court over $100. 

    You may just have to eat the deposit and be thankful you saw the signs before it was too late. I would worry he wouldn't show up for the wedding.
  • Jlmabie said:
    My fiance and I are not sure if you should ask for our deposit back. We got engaged back in June. We knew of a DJ that had done a few events for our friends and a company i work for. He gave us a great deal and i send him the a $100 deposit. He was suppose to send a contract and never did. I let it slide cause we were friends kind of. Then a few months after I get an email just confirming our wedding date as May 5th when it was actually May 31st. I corrected him and let it slide. He had been wanting to meet and I was finally able to meet after the holidays. I had to cancel cause I got really sick. We reschedule and I called him the day before to confirm and he said " well i can't meet i have a funeral to go to". So i let it slide again even thought he should have called me to tell me. so we rescheduled for another day. Each time i write back exact month, day and time. So i go away for the weekend with my friends and i get a text asking to comfirm our appointment when it actually for the following weekend. I Text back saying i am in arizona for the weekend and I will be back tomorrow night and that i have next sunday Date and time. The day before i call to confirm. No call back, Text, nothing again. FB message, Nothing again. Call him in the morning, Nothing again. we wait 1.5 hours and no call. I text him later that day asking whats up we had an appointment and he gets back to me saying sorry and he thought i was gone for 2 weeks..how i have no idea. I can't work with someone who clearly doesn't write anything down. SInce i sent him a deposit and there was no contract is it ok to ask for the deposit back.
    I think you should find a new DJ, but you may be writing off your deposit.  It could have been worse, he could have asked for a 50% deposit!  Nonetheless, I think that you should write him or call him and say, that you would prefer to work with a different DJ for your wedding. Simply say that the communications between the two of you is giving you doubts about your continued working relationship with him. You should also mention that since he did not send a contract, like he promised, that you would like to have your deposit back.  If he doesn't send the deposit, decide if you would like to further pursue it through legal channels.  I wouldn't recommend that because you will end up spending well more than $100.
  • Thanks ladies.

    we are going to part ways with him. I can't have that kind of stress on my wedding day not knowing if he is going to show up or not. I need a reliable vendor. I am gonna atleast ask for the deposit back but if I don't get it. It is worth eating the $100 so I can have a peace of mind the day of :)

  • Jlmabie said:

    Thanks ladies.

    we are going to part ways with him. I can't have that kind of stress on my wedding day not knowing if he is going to show up or not. I need a reliable vendor. I am gonna atleast ask for the deposit back but if I don't get it. It is worth eating the $100 so I can have a peace of mind the day of :)

    Exactly.  If he keeps getting dates and other important details wrong and not showing up, then it doesn't make sense to continue to use him.
  • I honestly think it's worth it to switch rather than having a flakey vendor. I asked an old friend who used to own a catering company if he'd be willing to do our wedding cake and how much. The price was next to nothing but when we had questions in regards to flavor and style, it was like he disappeared off the face of the earth. So we looked elsewhere. I rather pay an extra couple hundred bucks with the peace of mind knowing well have a cake to serve our guests
  • Jlmabie said:
    My fiance and I are not sure if you should ask for our deposit back. We got engaged back in June. We knew of a DJ that had done a few events for our friends and a company i work for. He gave us a great deal and i send him the a $100 deposit. He was suppose to send a contract and never did. I let it slide cause we were friends kind of. Then a few months after I get an email just confirming our wedding date as May 5th when it was actually May 31st. I corrected him and let it slide. He had been wanting to meet and I was finally able to meet after the holidays. I had to cancel cause I got really sick. We reschedule and I called him the day before to confirm and he said " well i can't meet i have a funeral to go to". So i let it slide again even thought he should have called me to tell me. so we rescheduled for another day. Each time i write back exact month, day and time. So i go away for the weekend with my friends and i get a text asking to comfirm our appointment when it actually for the following weekend. I Text back saying i am in arizona for the weekend and I will be back tomorrow night and that i have next sunday Date and time. The day before i call to confirm. No call back, Text, nothing again. FB message, Nothing again. Call him in the morning, Nothing again. we wait 1.5 hours and no call. I text him later that day asking whats up we had an appointment and he gets back to me saying sorry and he thought i was gone for 2 weeks..how i have no idea. I can't work with someone who clearly doesn't write anything down. SInce i sent him a deposit and there was no contract is it ok to ask for the deposit back.
    I would.  I would not continue working with a flaky vendor, friend or not.  One of our friends is a dj and we were initially thinking of hiring her but she was so flaky about returning my messages that we moved on and found a very professional dj who is giving us a great deal.

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