Complaint Review: DJ Carmine - Nashville Tennessee

The misses told you to 'play something more upbeat' repeatedly and your reponse was 'I will later.'

That is probably the thing that irks me, you deny the conversation as if I wasn't sitting right there. 

And did you foget the converstation of you telling me, 'you're just upset, because she's upset.' regarding the DJing. So, how you can you state you weren't aware of my unsatisifaction. Her own father snapped at you, and I had to intervene. So, please don't act naive or flat out lie.

Even though you reneged on the $200 refund, I've gotten my $200 worth, out of you taking time out of your day for multiple responses. And anytime someone types 'DJ Carmine review' this will be the first link, they see..

As the goal of my work is make sure that requests are adhered to, I certainly would play whatever the bride requests, if she actually makes the request. This is where good communication comes in handy. If you ask me when will I play something upbeat, my response will most likely be according to the timeline. That's what the bride said. Now if they bride would have said something like, "I need you to play something upbeat right away", that's what I would have done. I can assure to anyone that is reading this that I am not difficult to work with. I have done a countless number of weddings before this one, and a dozen or so since this one, in addition to my work with other events. All of them went without a hitch and my clients needs were met because of proper communication, and both parties adhereing to the contract and policies. It's not because of the money that any of these clients spent, but because of the communication. If a client wanted something done, they used proper communication and clearly stated what they needed done. For most of these events, there were no major requests or changes to the programming that were done the day of the wedding. For the events where there were day of changes, these clients made reasonable requests and understood if it may of taken some extra time to make it happen, or if last minute accomodations could not be made. I really wish that I could have better accomodated you and your requests, but with not-so-great communication and last minute programming requests (not the same as song requests during the party), I worked to the best of my human and business abilities to work with the clients. As much as I came to the clients during the event to check on them, I was not made aware of much of their unsatisfaction (other than the equipment malfunction) until days after the event. I even asked the groom about his level of satisfaction during and after the event, and he said that most of everything was fine, other than the equipment malfunction. I've seen pictures of the event, and in the pictures, I saw people smiling and dancing. I saw the bride and groom smiling and dancing througout the event. I think it's only fair to state that fact. Once again, I do apologize for the equipment mishap, but as with all of my clients, I work to the best of my abilities to make sure proper communication is done, but a successful event is the result of proper communication from all parties involved. 

And if the misses tells you to play something more upbeat right now...

 Your reponse shouldn't be 'I will when,' or 'I will later.'

You were paid over a $1000, the correct reponse should have been 'Yes ma'am.' regardless of what the contract states you need to work on your interpersonal skills

On the event planner website, I have a song selection process. The client picked 4 songs. For each song that is picked by any client, there are several options to include, "Must play", "Play if possible", and "Do not play". For every song that the client selected, the option of "Play if Possible". I played every song that was possible. For the rare remix of the Earth Wind and Fire song, the client submitted a Soundcloud link to the song, but there was no download option. I searched all over the internet for that specific remix version of the song, and I found nothing. There was no way to legally download the remix. I discussed with the client at the wedding that I could not find a legal copy of the song, and the client stated that it was fine, as long as I could do a live remix of the song, so that's what I did. The rest of the songs that were marked, "Play if possible" were played throughout the reception. 

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Without going back and forth, all I want to say is remember that Earth, Wind and Fire Mix I told you I wanted for the wedding IN WRITING and gave it to you WEEKS in advance. 

Found out the DAY of the wedding, that you couldn't get the song. Great communcation skills buddy. If I had known that, I would have gotten you the song myself.

And you playing music through your smartphone through the venue's speakers(and not the speakers we paid for), is hardly considered a backup system.

I was on the internet searching for places to give a good review for DJ Carmine, but unfortunately I found this review. To be fair to Carmine, I will stay that at my event, he did a superb job. DJ Carmine was absolutely awesome. Not only was he our dj, he designed some custom lighting, produced our ceremony with stellar direction, and created a super awesome grand entrance. He played some of the best music during the reception. His customer service before the event, during the event, and after the event was great. I recommend DJ Carmine to anyone who is looking for a dj for their wedding. 

While I regret that "Diddy" did not have the best of times with my dj service, I feel that I must address some things. First, "Diddy" explains in the report that they did not have the time to actuall plan the wedding with me, but complains when things did not go exactly their way. I reached out to  "Diddy" on quite a few occasions to submit whatever song that they wanted played at their event. I suggested a meeting, which was declined. I provided an interactive playlist and time, which was not used until a few days before the event. The contract was signed for this event 2 months in advance. I do not believe that the client read the contract, and since a meeting of any sort was declined, there was no way to go over the contract.

My contract states that requests for programming guidelines (such as special dances, or entrance music) must be made at least two weeks before the event and must be done in writing. In writing could have been via email, our Facebook messages, text messages, or even the planning system that I provided. No requests were made within that time frame. However, I did accept the written requests that were made 2 days before the event. On the day of the wedding, while I was loading up the vehicle, "Diddy" called and asked if I could play The Wedding March song for the ceremony. Knowing that I had the song, I said yes. However, as I was loading up the vehichle and preparing to drive to the venue to setup, I did not have the time to add the song to my ceremony system, which was cd-based.  Once again, our contract stated that no guarantees could be made at that point, for programming/timeline purposes. So when "Diddy" asked if I had the song ready, I realized that it was not with the ceremony system, but it was on my laptop for the reception system. I figured I could take my laptop to the ceremony system, which was outside and downstairs. I had to figure out how to change out the needed equipment, without walking through the ceremony, as there were already guests there. At this point, that problem could have been avoided had the clients worked with the policy as stated in the contract. Also, contrary to the belief of "Diddy", "The Wedding March" is not something that is usually requested at weddings. This would be one of a small few in my 13 years as a dj, where this song was requested. Nonetheless, I did play the requested song, and I directed the ceremony with no other hiccups. 

Now to the dinner music. Once again, the client did not give me much to work with. There were about 5 songs that were submitted to my playlist (the standard form allows 60, with the ability to add more). Of the songs that were submitted, these songs were mellow in nature, so I created a dinner playlist based around those songs. I recall only one time where the bride asked if I was going to change the music. As it was right before a change in the event, I told her that I would play different music in a few minutes. She did not request anything in particular at that point. Had she actually said something of the sort like she wanted something more up beat, or that she wanted me to open the dance floor at that exact moment, then I would have delivered her requests. She mentions several times the $1200 that was spent on my services, but spending money does not enable one to read minds. You still have to properly communicate with the person you are spending money with. 

One thing that I will take responsiblity for is the music stopping. As I had to move my laptop several times at the event, I was not able to keep it's stable software settings, so the music software chrashed a few times, until I could figure out the problem. However, I did provide music using a backup system.

Throughout the entire event, I made efforts to check on the bride and groom, and the response that I got was in regards to the music stopping. My contract does not state a refund for music stopping, unless it ends the event. However, I personally felt bad for what went on, so I found the groom and I told him that I would consider giving a partial refund. He even said that considering the amount of work that I put in for the event, he would not expect much. The work that I put in for the event included the planning, the hour drive to the venue, briging two complete sound systems for the ceremony and reception, custom uplighting and dance floor lighting, event directing which included organizing the bridal party and creating a grand entrance, serving as M.C, and of course djing. 

 For anyone who reads this, I am a professional dj of now 13 years. I have worked many different kinds of events, and a lot of weddings over the years. I have honest reviews on my website. Ohter than the review from this client, you will not find ANYTHING that is negative about me on the internet. I have tried to work with this client, but I do not believe that they tried to do the same. If anything, I should have done more before the event to make sure that proper communication happened. Unfortunately, these people can only have one wedding. But if they ever book another dj for any event, I really hope that they work on communicating exactly what it is that they want and that they read the policies stated in the contract.