- Report: #203839
Complaint Review: KC ProKaraoke - Afton New York
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KC ProKaraoke
prokaraoke.net Afton, New York, U.S.A.
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KC ProKaraoke DJ cancels 2 hours before wedding and refuses to return deposit. Afton New York
On Saturday July 22nd, my husband and I were married in a church ceremony with an outdoor tented reception to follow. After finding KC ProKaraoke on a referral service on the Internet and doing some reearch, we sent him a $100.00 deposit over PayPal, and purchased a 12 foot tent for him to use to "protect his equipment" (as well as some of his other other requirements such as bug spray and candles).
Literally 2 hours before my wedding, he called my mother and informed her that they would not be coming because of possible thunderstorms in the area. Never once did they offer to show up and "wait it out", they simply cancelled. My first question was why he required me to provide a tent if a little rain was going to scare him away, and this was hardly Hurricane Katrina.
Thankfully for us, good friends who came to the church managed to find a DJ who was available by fluke that day, who showed up and played despite the "inclement" weather (it barely rained after the wedding). I also have a voicemail from the DJ's wife offering a raindate, but never once offering to come athat day at all, they flat out said they were not coming. Although I was upset that they almost ruined my wedding, all I asked was for the return of my deposit, which they refuse to give. It even states in their contract that if the DJ cancels the deposit is returned, but they are trying to double talk their way out of their own contract by using the weather as an excuse. That excuse holds no water (no pun intended) either, as another (truly) professional DJ showed up with his equipment and had no problems.
I believe KC simply did not want to make the hour and a half or so drive and used the weather as an excuse, but I just want my money back. His responses to me convince me that I will never get the apology I deserve, but I deserve at last my deposit back. I really hope however that he does not do the same thing to another unsuspecting couple who may not be as lucky as we were to find a replacement within 2 hours of their wedding. This DJ obviously has no idea the importance a wedding holds to people- as long as it doesn't inconvenience him he may show up, but he will definitely take your money in any event.
Karen
Rome, New York
U.S.A.
Literally 2 hours before my wedding, he called my mother and informed her that they would not be coming because of possible thunderstorms in the area. Never once did they offer to show up and "wait it out", they simply cancelled. My first question was why he required me to provide a tent if a little rain was going to scare him away, and this was hardly Hurricane Katrina.
Thankfully for us, good friends who came to the church managed to find a DJ who was available by fluke that day, who showed up and played despite the "inclement" weather (it barely rained after the wedding). I also have a voicemail from the DJ's wife offering a raindate, but never once offering to come athat day at all, they flat out said they were not coming. Although I was upset that they almost ruined my wedding, all I asked was for the return of my deposit, which they refuse to give. It even states in their contract that if the DJ cancels the deposit is returned, but they are trying to double talk their way out of their own contract by using the weather as an excuse. That excuse holds no water (no pun intended) either, as another (truly) professional DJ showed up with his equipment and had no problems.
I believe KC simply did not want to make the hour and a half or so drive and used the weather as an excuse, but I just want my money back. His responses to me convince me that I will never get the apology I deserve, but I deserve at last my deposit back. I really hope however that he does not do the same thing to another unsuspecting couple who may not be as lucky as we were to find a replacement within 2 hours of their wedding. This DJ obviously has no idea the importance a wedding holds to people- as long as it doesn't inconvenience him he may show up, but he will definitely take your money in any event.
Karen
Rome, New York
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sky
Surrey,British Columbia,
Canada
Deposit Debacle
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sat, October 07, 2006
Being a DJ myself, I felt compelled to offer you my little bit of wisdom. (You're my first post!) In our company, and things may be worded differently in their contract, the deposit is to hold that date for you, to confirm that you indeed require their services, and gives the DJ something to fall back on if you should suddenly change your mind. It is not YOU who failed to live up to your end of the contract, it was THEM. I personally have done outdoor gigs multiple times, and yes sometimes I have had to say (very regretfully) "I'm sorry but if one raindrop falls on me I'm going to have to get my equipment out of here", because honestly my equipment is owned by me and it's worth more than my car. That being said.. there is NO excuse that I can see why this DJ would make that kind of a call without being on the location to judge the situation, especially since you had accounted for the tent. I suspect that something *else* was on his mind that day. My suggestion to you if you have not already concluded this issue, as it has been a couple months since you posted here, is be persistent. Call from different numbers, call multiple times in a day. There is NOTHING that gets to *us* here more than a nagger. :) If this is a small company, call them at odd hours to avoid "oh I'm busy". Be fair, don't give them an excuse to avoid you by getting angry. Be firm and tell them, "you failed to honor your own contract, therefore I want my deposit back." Personally, in eight years, I've only ever seen a couple deposits refunded. One because the bride and groom accidentally booked different companies, but told us the truth at least a week before the event (we kept five bucks for office time but wished them well) and one to a very disagreeable customer who was being abusively rude to our office staff. We politely told her we were no longer interested in doing the gig, months before the event date. I'm glad you could find somebody to fill in and conradulations on your happy occassion. I've done a few fill ins for people like this before and it aggravates me to no end the kind of stuff that DJ's do to tarnish all of our reputations. A lot of us just want your day to be special! Good Luck. PS - Always a good idea to at least meet with the company or DJ at least once in person. In the future it met help you weed out the bad apples.
