Hula Groove Wedding Band - Threatened court action!

Spartacus_Mills

hulagroove wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]I am the manager of Hula Groove and have been reading this thread with interest.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I would like to clear up some of the issues raised here and put our side of the story to provide a more balanced view.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Firstly, our T&C’s are displayed clearly on the website and made available for clients to download before making a booking. The client in question here read through the T&C’s and asked detailed questions about them before making their booking. There could be no question that they weren’t fully aware of our cancellation policy.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Good wedding bands – and I like to think we are one of them – are by their nature booked up a long time in advance of the actual wedding date. Most couples plan their music 1-2 years in advance. This booking was made for 28/12/2010, a date on which we are now extremely unlikely to get another booking with only 4 months remaining.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The musicians that play in Hula Groove are professional, freelance session musicians. When we receive a booking from a client we immediately engage those musicians. If we cancel our contract with those musicians we are liable for their cancellation fees and lost profits.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The client in question was well aware of our terms, presumably happy to agree to them at the time of booking but not happy to be subject to them when they later changed their mind.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It may suit some people to view every business owner as a bully and every client as the victim. In reality, businesses are also clients. If a client breaks their contract, we lose money and so do our suppliers. If a client then refuses to pay their cancellation fee, everyone - except the client - loses out. Does that seem fair?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Our T&Cs are industry standard and used by many professional function bands. No clients are bullied into making a booking. Any client that isn’t happy agreeing to our T&Cs is free to discuss any aspect of the T&Cs with us or book another band. We are always happy to work with clients and be flexible wherever possible.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]For some forum members to try to slur the name of our band without having full knowledge of the facts and without having even heard our side of the story is potentially damaging and grossly unfair. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Small businesses must have a right to recover their losses. When the parties cannot come to an agreement that sometimes unfortunately means having to go to court. We feel that the client in question is in breach of contract and is liable to pay our cancellation fee. This client disagrees. The place to resolve this matter is now in the County Court, not the Kangaroo court of the MSE forums.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Danny[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Manager of Hula Groove[/FONT]

Your terms are irrelevant if a Judge deems them, or any part of them, to be unfair.

There has been alot of nonsense spouted in this thread. However this post from Altarf is pretty much on the money.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=35493159&postcount=6

I have no axe to grind with the band. They seem competent and professional.

unholyangel

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

Your terms are irrelevant if a Judge deems them, or any part of them, to be unfair.

There has been alot of nonsense spouted in this thread. However this post from Altarf is pretty much on the money.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=35493159&postcount=6

I have no axe to grind with the band. They seem competent and professional.

Well except that - according to the op - no deposit was paid. Therefore the fact of there even being a legally binding contract is in question itself.

Takoda

hulagroove wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]I am the manager of Hula Groove and have been reading this thread with interest.And hopefully a little embarassment since you and your band are coming across as greedy. The good people of MSE don't like greedy companies![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I would like to clear up some of the issues raised here and put our side of the story to provide a more balanced view. Until the OP reads your post and replies to it we don't know if what you're saying is just spin or not so we'll wait and see.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Firstly, our T&C’s are displayed clearly on the website and made available for clients to download before making a booking. The client in question here read through the T&C’s and asked detailed questions about them before making their booking. Were the questions specifically about the cancellation policy?There could be no question that they weren’t fully aware of our cancellation policy. How do you know this?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Good wedding bands – and I like to think we are one of them – are by their nature booked up a long time in advance of the actual wedding date. But I checked last night and for EVERY Saturday in December you are free!!!!! Most couples plan their music 1-2 years in advance. This booking was made for 28/12/2010, a date on which we are now extremely unlikely to get another booking with only 4 months remaining. But the OP booked a week or so ago so why wouldn't someone else? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The musicians that play in Hula Groove are professional, freelance session musicians. Great! So you aren't their only employer then! So they've got lots of other ways to earn some money? When we receive a booking from a client we immediately engage those musicians. If we cancel our contract with those musicians we are liable for their cancellation fees and lost profits.[/FONT]Hopefully the musicians will join in the debate as well and put their side across.

[FONT=&quot]The client in question was well aware of our terms, presumably happy to agree to them at the time of booking but not happy to be subject to them when they later changed their mind.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It may suit some people to view every business owner as a bully and every client as the victim. But you are demanding the full amount from them! In reality, businesses are also clients. If a client breaks their contract, we lose money and so do our suppliers. If a client then refuses to pay their cancellation fee, everyone - except the client - loses out. Does that seem fair? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Our T&Cs are industry standard and used by many professional function bands. No clients are bullied into making a booking. The lady was pressured into booking because YOU told her that the band would get booked up if she didn't commit there and then. NOW you're saying there's no chance that December dates will get booked up at all. Any client that isn’t happy agreeing to our T&Cs is free to discuss any aspect of the T&Cs with us or book another band. We are always happy to work with clients and be flexible wherever possible.How are you being flexible? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]For some forum members to try to slur the name of our band without having full knowledge of the facts and without having even heard our side of the story is potentially damaging and grossly unfair. So I expect that some of us will be your next targets then? Damages?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Small businesses must have a right to recover their losses. When the parties cannot come to an agreement that sometimes unfortunately means having to go to court. We feel that the client in question is in breach of contract and is liable to pay our cancellation fee. This client disagrees. The place to resolve this matter is now in the County Court, not the Kangaroo court of the MSE forums. Hopefully they will agree with the OP.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Danny[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Manager of Hula Groove[/FONT]

Will be very interesting to see what the OP has to say about this.

I did look up the website last night of one of the members of the band - a keyboard player. He only lists a couple of dates for Hula Groove in December and NONE OF THEM WERE THE 28TH SO HE OBVIOUSLY WASN'T EXPECTING TO BE AT THE OP'S WEDDING ON THAT DATE!!!

Spartacus_Mills

unholyangel wrote: »

Well except that - according to the op - no deposit was paid. Therefore the fact of there even being a legally binding contract is in question itself.

Contract is formed by offer and acceptance.

The relevance of the deposit depends on the terms.

OlliesDad

I think that the post by "Hula Groove" should be taken with a pinch of salt until confirmed by MSE as a company.

However, if it is them, it would be rather foolish to book up the musicians before a deposit is taken.

unholyangel

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

Contract is formed by offer and acceptance.

The relevance of the deposit depends on the terms.

Their website states in order to secure the booking they need to pay the deposit...................

agmoore

Which was never sent.

OlliesDad

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

Contract is formed by offer and acceptance.

The relevance of the deposit depends on the terms.

To create a legally binding contract there has to be offer, acceptance, consideration and intention. Therefore the contract is not legally binding.

Takoda

"Cancellation and Postponement Policy
All bookings are legally binding from the moment the Band sends a booking confirmation to the Client by email."

Really? What if the email goes astray? Or the wrong email address is typed in? Or the customer doesn't receive the email due to some problem with their ISP? How do the band know the customer has actually received the email?

What about the deposit? Surely the deposit is key here? There was no deposit paid.

Takoda

Got stuff to do today so I'll just share this last bit of research with you.

Hula Groove's Danny's last name is priceless considering the nature of this thread.

Danny RICHMAN!!!

Rich by name and rich by nature - presumably from all of the cancelled 'bookings'.

See here http://www.wedding-bands-guide.co.uk/ This is his site by the way not an independent website.