Complaint Review: Island Boys Steel Drum Band

There is a reason you see no feed back on their website home page.  These guys are the most unprofessional people I have ever met.  If you ended up here you will see there are numerous complaints on these guys but instead of describing what happened - Please read the emails which will pretty give you an idea of my experience. As you are reading this please remember they are based out of NYC which is why i chose them and is clearly displayed on their website.

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <******74@yahoo.com>
Hello Linda , 
What is your contingency plan for the Big STorm Saturday?..
If its heavy storm.. I cannot travel by car into NYC..
are you going to reschedule?..
let me know

On Aug 26, 2011, at 8:59 AM, Lynn wrote:
The Wedding is indoors and in the morning and from what I understand the storm is not hitting us until tomorrow night so there are no contingency plans at this time.

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <****74@yahoo.com>
yours is at 1pm thats not the am.. and the rain will start friday nite & sat watch the news

Willy
Islandboys

On Aug 26, 2011, at 9:16 AM, Lynn wrote:
The wedding is at 11:30 a.m. so it is in the morning.   Your only playing the cocktail hour which is at 12 not 1.  There is no contingency plan and NY weather stations are stating it will not start raining until tomorrow evening.

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" *****74@yahoo.com>
hello, acts of god are not refundable..Im not canceling.. but if the city of NY issues an evac plan.. then that is beyond our control,,we do issue credits and reschedules.

On Aug 26, 2011, at 9:46 AM, Lynn wrote:
Nowhere in your contract does it state that I will not get a refund if you can't make it due to acts of god.  Your contract clearly states "In the event of Islandboys inability to fulfill these contractual obligations, client will be notified within 24 hours as such and 100% of the deposit shall be returned within 10 days."  I am not cancelling my event because I will be there tomorrow. I understand if due to the weather you will be unable to make it, but if you can not make it I do expect a refund as stated in your contract.

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <****74@yahoo.com>
Hello,
If all mass transit is effectively closed , which it will be tomorrow.. then how do you suppose we get to queens?? I'm not canceling..but if there is  Hurricane .. and you dont make plans to change that is not our problem.. AND I DONT REFUND ANY DEPOSITS.. OR PAYMENT.

On Aug 26, 2011, at 8:53 PM, Lynn wrote:
If you do not show up tomorrow because of the weather i understand that but if i do not get a refund you are breaking your own contract. In which case I will see you in court.  I will not be getting married again so I will not need your services any other time  I am sorry you feel the way you do and I would really not want to take this whole situation to court since your own contract says if you fail to perform you give refunds.  It does not specify acts of god or due to weather it simply says if you don't make it you will refund.  I don't understand what the problem is but i would hope that you would reconsider and if you are unable to make it to just honor YOUR contract.  If not that is fine, i will see you in court

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <*****74@yahoo.com>
im sure you can find my address?.. nah.. I do what I consider is safe and mass transit will be canceled.. so you would need to  reschedule considering the circumstances..we do honor r your threats dont particularly scare me.. and your ignorance of the weather and threats and mass transit strikes is even more alarming so see if you can find me.. and then well see you in court.. as I dont even reside in this country.

On Aug 26, 2011, at 9:16 PM, Lynn wrote:
I am only asking that you honor your contract.  I am not asking you to come in extreme weather i am asking that you honor your contract.  Nothing more, nothing less

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <*****74@yahoo.com>
ok I will try .. so how do you propose I get to queens from Harlem with no mass transit.. taking a taxi will cost me at least $50 each way maybe more.. if you can send me a paypal for that transport then Ill be sure to be there.. but mass transit is closing by noon..let me know and Ill send the request so at least I have funds to grab a private cab


From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <******74@yahoo.com>
JUst sent you a paypal request..this will help cover some of my transport costs because of Mass transit strike..so please pay this by tonite.. as I would need to leave early tomorrow to get to queens before 11:30am

At this point i receive an additional paypal bill for 100 dollars to pay for  transportation which I did not pay.  I already paid over 600 dollars  which included transportation at the time and NONE of my other vendors requested additional money to get to my venue. And once again this guy is based in New York.

On Aug 28, 2011, at 5:13 PM, Lynn <******74@yahoo.com> wrote:

Good afternoon,
I am writing to inform you that someone from your band actually made it to the wedding however I paid for three people to play and only one showed up so I am asking for a partial refund of what I paid since someone did arrive. 

From: "WILLIAM OSHAUGHNESSY" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <*****@yahoo.com>
you are joking no mass transit hurricane i asked for additional transport money you failed to pay

On Aug 29, 2011, at 2:33 PM, Lynn wrote:
One of your members showed up.....The steeldrum player was there

From: "BIGMIG" <passion4cycling@me.com>
To: "Lynn" <*****74@yahoo.com>
as i stated before I asked you for transport funds to carry the other members our Governor declared a state of emergency and shut down the subways.. you should have rightfully canceled your event and not put other peoples safety in jeopardy.. but you chose not to.. therefore without proper transport due to MASS transit closures.. we had provided to the best of our ability to fulfillour contractual obligations..there will be no Refunds issued on our end . End of story

Every other vendor I hired for that day made it as well as one of his own band members which he doesn't even deny.  This guy is a crook plain and simple and I did get my refund but let this be a warning - once he got your money your not getting it back.  DO NOT HIRE THIS CROOK!!!!