Thread: Another reason to use contracts!

Here I go, getting slammed again by some crazy force. I thought I got a gig (well, two) dancing for this Indian restaurant. I spoke with them on the phone, visited them and agreed to do two shows on Feb 13 and 14 for Valentine's. One of the things that we agreed on is that I would make the posters and help with their Web ads, since it was in my best interest to get customers there. Well, I should've made a contract because they pulled out today...after I sent them the posters...

"Hi Magan,
Ispoke to lot of our customers about this & they had a very little positive response , so I am thinking of not doing this for this month since people are not responding to spending money right now , my be we can do this later .
I really apologize for this ,but hopefully you can understand this due to the money problem we all are facing .
Thanks
Preeti"

I hate myself for not making a contract. And from now on I will add a clause about marketing roles and responsibilities. Any idea on what that clause would look like?

Sorry to b*tch some more, but as soon as I think I am getting a break in the dance world, I get slapped down. ..cr.:

ouch! are they at least going to reimburse you for the posters?

andalee, first {{{{{hugs}}}}}} for getting kicked to the curb. I've been there and it sucks.

As for advice, I learned the hard way to never put one iota of work or money into a gig until the deposit is in my hot little hands. I don't so much as burn the set CD until I have it. I once had a "client" ask me to send them 200 business cards for gift bags that they were preparing; the gig got canceled and I never even got my frickin' cards back. ,m:: Never again. I have a gig coming up next week that I need to wear a specific costume piece for, but it needs repair work. I didn't touch it until I got the contract and deposit check back.

Over the past couple of years especially, I have just gotten so tired of getting excited and starting to prepare for a gig, only to have them back out on me. For my own mental health and stress levels, I treat any gig without a received contract and deposit as tentative at best.

that sucks! I have learned to do contracts for everything too, oh and also a "non refundable" deposit. I have noticed alot of people looking to get a discount bellydancer for parties, ect..once I mention contract and deposit it chases away all the cheapskates.

Yeah, I do contracts and deposits with private parties, but I have been a little slack with the restaurants, unless it feels sketched out. Lesson learned...restaurant owners need contracts too.

It will be hard to find a restaurant that will sign a contract.

Ah yes, restaurants...they are a different animal sometimes. If I was doing a regular gig at a restaurant, I'd probably not use a contract either. But for a stand alone event, I treat them like a private party and use a contract.

Unfortunately, I don't have any words of wisdom for a situation like this. But, I felt the need to just give you a *pat on the back* and a big *hug*. Sorry you had to go through that - I know it must really feel awful :(

i think deposits might work, but contracts? in this situation, if there had been a contract, would it have made ANY difference? i doubt you would have taken them to court over it

in my experience deposits (money talks...) works, contracts are mostly not worth a thing

I'm sorry this happened. Keep on keeping on. Each failure will only lead to success. I learned this when I was in sales, the more you fail the greater the chance you will succeed. You cant have one without the other. In the end it become a numbers game...

At the risk of sounding like I'm nit-picking...

I don't think a contract would have done much to protect you from this happening. Now, a DEPOSIT might have.

Suppose you'd gotten the owner to sign a contract. And support he'd decided to make the same decision anyway. What, exactly, would you do about it? Take him to court and screw up any future chances of doing business with him? Take him to court and risk having the judge rule in his favor?

A non-refundable deposit is a different matter. Now, if a deposit is involved, a contract would be advisable to spell out the terms under which the deposit can be kept by you if the deal falls through versus when it can be kept by the other party. When a deposit is involved, the other party will think twice before forfeiting the deposit.

Anyway, sorry this happened to you. Hug!

Originally Posted by *Shira*

A non-refundable deposit is a different matter. Now, if a deposit is involved, a contract would be advisable to spell out the terms under which the deposit can be kept by you if the deal falls through versus when it can be kept by the other party. When a deposit is involved, the other party will think twice before forfeiting the deposit.

Thanks for pointing this out, Shira. I have to admit for me contract = deposit, since I need both of them to consider the gig "booked". Sometimes I forget not everyone lives in my brain. ..l;,

Oh Lord, I didn't bother with a deposit for one of my New Year's Eve parties this year - a huge event with multiple DJs, multiple theme rooms, etc. I was supposed to start at 12:30 am, and my contact calls me at 15 minutes to midnight and cancels. He didn't even talk to me because I was finishing up my other set at a restaurant, just left a voice mail with some extremely vague excuse and promise to explain later. So I stayed at the restaurant and had a glass of champagne with the staff. If I had been en route to the gig I would have been pissed. As it was, it was nice to just hang out and enjoy some of my New Year's Eve.

I never did hear back from him and I never bothered to pursue it. It was my fault for not insisting on the deposit. There were early signs that something squirrel-y was going on. Anyway, that was $250 I was counting on that I'll never see! ..cr.:

That sucks, I've seen restaurants do that to dancers around here many times. And also seen a couple dancers make a deal with a restaurant and then the other dancer go behind her back and make a side deal to dance there only by herself. That stuff sucks.

I don't see any way around what happened to you if I compare it to the area I'm in. Not a single restaurant I know of has signed a contract with any dancer they have; even the ones with long standing dancers or groups. And if one tried to get them to; they could just drop them and go with another dancer.

I think it would be hard as well when you "sell" the restaurant on having bellydancers and then want to whip out a contract to get them to cement in something they might feel like they are trying out.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Thanks for pointing this out, Shira. I have to admit for me contract = deposit, since I need both of them to consider the gig "booked". Sometimes I forget not everyone lives in my brain. ..l;,

If your brain is like mine.. most folks would find it scary. ..l;,

I think this restaurant owner's problem was that she didn't think through the event very clearly. She wants a belly dancer to bring in more business...OK, good...but she wanted to do a special Valentine's Dinner to help cover the cost of the belly dancer, where she would charge $60 for dinner for two and drinks. During the past 10 years this probably would have gone over splendidly...however, with the current economy, you just can't ask someone to pay $60 for dinner. People just aren't spending the money. That was the big fault. I suggested that she can the special menu and just have a regular dinner and belly dancer but I have not heard back.

As far as contract clause...please edit the following:

"For public events Andalee may offer to do a limited amount of marketing to promote the event. This will be done free of charge unless the event is cancelled. If the event is cancelled the Agreeor(?) will forfeit their deposit and pay Andalee $25 per hour for each hour of time spent on marketing and publicity."

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

As far as contract clause...please edit the following:

"For public events Andalee may offer to do a limited amount of marketing to promote the event. This will be done free of charge unless the event is cancelled. If the event is cancelled the Agreeor(?) will forfeit their deposit and pay Andalee $25 per hour for each hour of time spent on marketing and publicity."

rather than making it so complicated i just would go for X dollars of non refundable deposit, which you get to keep if the organiser cancels the event

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

rather than making it so complicated i just would go for X dollars of non refundable deposit, which you get to keep if the organiser cancels the event

I agree with artemisia. I would keep the marketing offer on a need to know, verbal basis, or you might have clients trying to take advantage of your marketing savvy.

Sometimes a non-refundable deposit (I ask for 50%) may make people hesitate to book, but I'd rather they not book me at all than book me and cancel.

Andalee, I am sorry that happened to you! But, as the other posters have said, you will be hard-pressed to find a restaurant that is willing to sign a contract. Or pay a deposit - restaurants see you as another employee - they don't pay their waiters a deposit, and they can call up a waiter five minutes before a shift and tell him it's slow and not to come in. Why would they pay you a deposit?

Deposits and contracts are a MUST for private gigs, but for restaurants, I think the key is to just not spend any of your own money out of pocket. If they want you help with advertising - offer to distribute flyers THEY make. Advertise on your own with free media - facebook, email lists, etc. But don't pay a penny of your own money. Advertising is an expense every restaurant should budget for. Let them do the leg work and they will be less likely to cancel after shelling out $$ to print 1,000 flyers.