Think About It: Industry Ethics | The Old "Bait and Switch" - Is It Ever OK?

Photo Credit: Becca Rillo

We are thrilled to have had such an amazing response to this new feature Think About It on our BLOG and newsletter and to kick it off with national event industry experts such as John Daly of John Daly Inc. and also Kate Patay, Executive Director of Creative Coverings, Inc as well as the Secretary/Treasurer for  NACE National. Every month we feature an industry -specific issue sent to us by you, the special event professional, and have a national leader in our industry respond. 
 
This month, however, we are going to turn it over to you: the special event industry professional reading this.  You may submit your thoughts to be shared anonymously or you may choose to have your name and business included.  We will most likely include many responses to show some diversity in our next newsletter.   Ready? Here we go:

The Issue:
A seasoned wedding DJ feels they have found a strategy to capture immediate revenue and bookings but in essence, is not being entirely honest to the client and the client ends up paying extra - and becoming very angry- downstream.   What this DJ is doing is technically legal (even if borderline), but what we would like to know is this:  even if something is legal, if it is misleading the client (who is inexperienced) just to get the booking, is it right?  Ethical?  Does the end justify the means?

Once upon a time there was a DJ.  We will call this DJ "Acme DJ".   Here is what happened:  The client just started their wedding planning (without a professional wedding consultant to guide them) for the first time and was looking for a DJ.  They received several proposals from many DJs.  The client compared Acme DJ's proposal with that of others and noticed that Acme is almost half the price of others and booked Acme DJ immediately.  Acme DJ was contracted verbally by the client - and in writing in their contract - to "provide music for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing".  Upon closer look, however, Acme's actual times listed for service state that they will be there for 3 hours total and lists the correct wedding ceremony start time of 5:00pm, and shows the event end time of 10:00pm.  The contract then states that if further time is needed past 3 hours, the client can add it on for "x" amount of dollars per hour beyond the 3 hours.  The implied total price for "ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing" combined was reflective of the 3 hours of service. 

When the client hired a professional wedding coordinator after hiring Acme DJ to review all the vendor contracts and the coordinator pointed out to the client that Acme will only be playing for ceremony, cocktail hour and about one hour into dinner and is technically "done" time-wise at that point (since this will mark the "3 hour" point), the client is  livid.  The client did not have more funds in their budget but were forced to shell out about $800 more for the extra few hours to keep the DJ on through the end of the evening, since it was beyond "3 hours".

When this DJ was contracted for "ceremony through dinner and dancing", it would appear that with their many years of experience that they would know that a typical wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing is never 3 hours and under. It would further appear that they knew this full well but in an effort to get immediate revenue and secure a booking and undercut other DJ quotes, they quoted their actual price for 3 hours, knowing that the client would just see the price and verbal description of "Ceremony, Cocktail hour, dinner and dancing".  First time wedding clients do not understand timelines and it has been suggested that this DJ probably knew that and took full advantage in order to get the booking.

In the end, the client was forced to hire Acme DJ for the remaining hours left to complete the rest of the wedding night (it was too late to find another DJ and the client didn't want to lose their initial deposit with Acme DJ).  Ultimately the client ended up paying almost the same going rate they would have paid the other DJs, had they booked them instead but now the client has a bad taste left in their mouth with this DJ, the client will not give Acme DJ a favorable review and the coordinator has indicated he will not refer Acme DJ unless they change the way they book clients with a full quote and disclosure for services for the entire event.  

What do you think of this situation? Talk to us.  Email us directly by simply hitting "reply" to this email (please indicate if you would like to remain anonymous or not) or fill out our contact form.

~~~~~~ 

You can also post your thoughts/responses on our BLOG,  Tweet Us, or  join the conversation on Facebook.
 

Have a question you would like to be featured anonymously and answered in future Think About It columns for Engaging Inspiration?  Drop us a line.