Vendor Reviews
Red Carpet Entertainment (DJ) - F
I have no idea what kind of service DJ Dave Brown would have provided on our wedding day, but if it would have been anything like the pre-contract service, I think we really dodged a bullet. We met with Dave via web conference back in late June. We spent about 3 hours in this conference with him while he went over every aspect of our reception. He was so thorough, that both Colin and I were very impressed. Within a week we sent him an email letting him know that we wanted him to be our DJ, that we wanted his Platinum Package (the most expensive), and to please forward us a contract. Nothing came. We emailed him several times and he kept saying that he was really busy. At the end of August, we sent him an email letting him know that if we didn't receive the contract right away, we would book with someone else. Finally, he sent the contract.
I then read the contract. First, he was charging us for the cocktail hour, even though we had said that we were only thinking about having him do our cocktail hour and hadn't decided yet. The second problem with that was that he was charging us an additional fee for the cocktail hour, (beyond the charge for extra time) even though the Platinum Package specifically includes "Complimentary Cocktail and Dinner Music." When we asked him about this extra charge, he said that it was because the cocktail hour would be in a different room. Since when is the cocktail hour EVER in the same room? Right away, I was concerned.
Then I read through the terms and conditions. The entire contract was written in an extremely lopsided manner that would protect Dave at our expense. And then I got to paragraph 19:
"Purchaser agrees to defend, indemnify, assume liability for and hold Red Carpet Entertainment harmless from any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, suits, proceedings, penalties, expenses or other liabilities including attorney fees and court costs, arising out of or resulting from the performance of this agreement, regardless of the basis (except for gross negligence on the part of Red Carpet Entertainment)."
I'm a law student. I can tell you that gross negligence is an EXTREMELY HIGH legal standard. Furthermore, beyond the standard defend and indemnify, he asks us to sign off on ASSUMING LIABILITY for his actions. What this paragraph means is that, in the event that he fails to check his equipment (negligence) and as a result burns down the entire reception hall, we would be on the hook for that.
We emailed him with a list of requested changes to the contract on September 8, 2010, a little over a week before he had told us he was going to go on vacation. After a month of waiting and not hearing back from him, we sent him an email letting him know that we were disappointed not to have heard back from him and that since this was proving to be a habit of his, we had decided to go with a different DJ. He wrote back the very next day with a passive-aggressive "As you wish" and no further text. I feel like we dodged a bullet.
All in all, I found him to be unresponsive and his contract to be full of hidden costs. Beware!
I then read the contract. First, he was charging us for the cocktail hour, even though we had said that we were only thinking about having him do our cocktail hour and hadn't decided yet. The second problem with that was that he was charging us an additional fee for the cocktail hour, (beyond the charge for extra time) even though the Platinum Package specifically includes "Complimentary Cocktail and Dinner Music." When we asked him about this extra charge, he said that it was because the cocktail hour would be in a different room. Since when is the cocktail hour EVER in the same room? Right away, I was concerned.
Then I read through the terms and conditions. The entire contract was written in an extremely lopsided manner that would protect Dave at our expense. And then I got to paragraph 19:
"Purchaser agrees to defend, indemnify, assume liability for and hold Red Carpet Entertainment harmless from any and all claims, demands, damages, losses, suits, proceedings, penalties, expenses or other liabilities including attorney fees and court costs, arising out of or resulting from the performance of this agreement, regardless of the basis (except for gross negligence on the part of Red Carpet Entertainment)."
I'm a law student. I can tell you that gross negligence is an EXTREMELY HIGH legal standard. Furthermore, beyond the standard defend and indemnify, he asks us to sign off on ASSUMING LIABILITY for his actions. What this paragraph means is that, in the event that he fails to check his equipment (negligence) and as a result burns down the entire reception hall, we would be on the hook for that.
We emailed him with a list of requested changes to the contract on September 8, 2010, a little over a week before he had told us he was going to go on vacation. After a month of waiting and not hearing back from him, we sent him an email letting him know that we were disappointed not to have heard back from him and that since this was proving to be a habit of his, we had decided to go with a different DJ. He wrote back the very next day with a passive-aggressive "As you wish" and no further text. I feel like we dodged a bullet.
All in all, I found him to be unresponsive and his contract to be full of hidden costs. Beware!
