[Dixielandjazz] Cancellation terms?

[Ministry of Jazz]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

While I am at it, I have another question to pose:

How to handle the possibility of a last minute cancellation if a contract or
a deposit are not possible?

So far Doctor Jazz has not been stiffed by any of our private customers. We
are still working without contracts, and only in rare cases do we take
deposits or advance payments from them. The rank and file folks over here
have a strong sense of right and wrong, and you can pretty much work with a
person's word and handshake.

However, we have been stiffed several times by the Jerusalem Municipality, a
local shopping mall, and a religious college. Two times now the same
customer, who is a repeat customer, hired us and cancelled us -- on one
occasion, 3 times for the same gig! In both cases, the event actually
happened, but we were not in it.

In the case of the municipality, there is a confirmation document with the
terms of the gig, not exactly a contract, but similar. So we have decided to
start requiring contracts with a cancellation clause of corporate customers.
The first opportunity to test this came with our recent (wonderful) gig in
the Old City -- a series of 3 performances. We submitted our document with
price quote and terms, including a cancellation clause, and the confirmation
came back as submitted, but without the confirmation clause. When we
inquired about the deletion of the clause, we were told that "they don't do
this".

The mall cancelled us 2 days before a show, after we had advertised and
invited many people who it is impossible to uninvite them. No apology, no
cancellation fee, no offer to rebook at another date ... nothing. They just
decided not to have the show. I was livid, but my younger partner was
handling the negotiations on that one, so I was not in the loop. I would
have asked them what if we called them 2 days before the show and said we've
decided not to come!?

In most cases, corporate clients tell us they don't do advance deposits and
cancellation clauses, and then all we can do is take or leave the job. On
rare occasions a corporate customer has actually asked for a bill in
advance, and either paid us in advance or had a check ready at the gig. But
the usual practice here is for payment to be made 1 to 3 months after the
gig.

Anyone have some experience or wisdom to offer on this one?

Thanks,

Elazar
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537