Complaint Review: Ashanti Floyd - Kennesaw Georgia

On 10/8/2015, Violinist Ashanti Floyd AKA "The Mad Violinist" and I entered into a contract for him to perform at my 50th birthday bash that was held on September 3, 2016 in Club Stewart's main ballroom at Fort Stewart, Georgia (I am a retired 20-year disabled veteran). The agreed upon amount of $1500 would be paid with a $750 deposit upfront to reserve the date of September 3, 2016 and the remaining balance of $750 to be paid on the day of the event.  Mr. Floyd accepted the deposit amount and he and I completed the contract with the details of his performance.

On 10/12/2015, I sent Mr. Floyd an e-mail requesting an official biography and photo that would be used in the event program.  He did not respond but I figured he was busy traveling/performing and it was not a pressing matter at that time.  I emailed him again on 12/3/2015 to request the information again.  On 12/9/2015, he finally responded and provided me two professional pictures without the biography. Since it was still not a pressing matter, I did not ask him again.

On May 30, 2016 frustrated with him not responding, I pulled his bio from his LINKDIN page and sent it to him, asking him to review it for accuracy.  No response from him. 

On June 2, 2016, I sent him a stern e-mail expressing my concern over his failure to respond to my e-mails and asked him to confirm his intent. On June 2, 2016, Mr. Floyd finally responded, apologized for the delay and explained that his wife is pregnant with twins and that her due date is September 10, 2016.  He also expressed how he was overwhelmed with trying to manage his bookings, however, his exact response in that e-mail was, "I went over the date with her (wife) and we (he and I) are still good to go."  He also attached his updated biography and apologized for the delay.

On August 1, 2016, I sent Mr. Floyd an e-mail to let him know I had changed my host hotel and supplied him with his hotel booking information.

In our earlier conversations Mr. Floyd agreed he would drive to the event.  In light of his pregnant wife's due date, in the e-mail I sent on August 1, 2016, I offered to fly him to Savannah, GA on the morning of the event and fly him back home either on the last flight out of Savannah or the first flight the next morning. Mr. Floyd did not respond. 

With just a little over a month before my event, I started to get nervous and concerned about his reliability.  Unfortunately, I was at a point where there was nothing I could do so I hoped for the best. 

On September 1, I sent Mr. Floyd an e-mail requesting confirmation of his intent to perform at my event on September 3, 2016.  I expressed to him that my friend who is an attorney advised me that Mr. Floyd did not have a contractual obligation to respond to me and that he was only in breach of the contract if he did not show up on the date and time outlined in our contract. Despite having that advice, I attempted three last times to contact Mr. Floyd on September 3, 2016.  On two occasions Mr. Floyd answered the phone and said, "Hello?  Hello?  I cannot hear you.  I can't hear you."  He then hung up.  I called him a third time and he did not answer the phone.  He also did not attempt to call me.  At this point it is almost 6:00 pm, the time cocktail hour started for my event.  At that point I gave up on him showing up to perform.  My planner called to inform me that the gospel artist, the saxophonist, the comedian, the photographers, the DJ, and the videographer were there and in place.  I asked if she had seen the violinist and she responded no.  At that point I instructed her to pull the event programs because they had a full-page, color biography of him with his picture.  I was torn up that he did not show because I was really looking forward to having my family and friends hear him perform.  I also just did not have the energy to have people asking me what happened to him because clearly he was absent based on the order of events in the program.  The cost of the programs was $240.  Also, as part of my contract with Mr. Floyd, I was required to provide lodging and transportation.  On 08/19/2016, I prepaid $101.91 for Mr. Floyd's hotel room at the LaQuinta Inn & Suites as required in his contract.  Since I was hoping he would show up until the start of the event, I did not cancel it.  At that point, the hotel fare was non-refundable too.  At the end of the day, I lost $750 deposit and $101 for lodging with no remorse from Mr. Floyd.