Very interesting Posts & Topic.

I always have a process in performance contracts for clients , I immediately send a confirmation email in regards to conversation phone call.

This hopefully verifies all the information I then send as a PDF agreement ASAP including when payment required nearer the time etc.

I think Danny then mentioned a great point that has also saved me many times,

...Always Email & Ring the client of any show in the week of the show..
...Always Email & Ring the client of any show in the week of the show..

Heard to many horror stories of bands or caterers not showing up to events etc..

I find if you are receiving full payment before the gig which I do for every event, I work only the corporate market so has to be spot on.., all emails and details about the event on the day are gone over by the client way more seriously. It works for me... so good luck in how this all turns out

Come on BK, you can't leave us hanging like this man.

That is why they get a blank contract from me and the client fills everything in. Saves me time and I can check if they have understood everything and I can talk to them again if something is not entirely clear.

Just for any one wondering on the update.

I appreciate everyone contributing especially for adverse opinions. I think this situation taught me more about running a business.

No I did not do the court route, no I did not want this client back, and yes I took the loss and set up things in a way so its harder for a similar situation to arise and mitigate it if it does. I did not try to file it in my taxes so it comes up in theirs; Just a clean break. If someone is not willing to read the first 2 lines of my contract, or my invoice, or my emails and just send them back signed say "everything looks good", I just don't want that client.

BTW in the original post I was pretty emotionally charged as I couldn't figure out how this had happened. In 2023 I was having a lot of last minute cancellations and non-payments etc on top of this situation, so before I looked at EVERYTHING I went to the internet to vent-- never a great idea. Essentially this client reached out via email about an initial date (16th), we then DID have a phone call where they confirmed they needed a sooner date (Lol I wrote this in my notes on our call so I could write the contract)-- the 10th WAS confirmed-- this is why every email, the contract, and the deposit all show the 10th. At some point the company again changed the date of the party (pushed to the 16th), but the HR person never reached out to me to rebook/reschedule (this was told to me, and makes sense as they had a few vendors to reach to and forgot me). As a business, I had set that time aside for them and I made an almost 1.5 hour trip to their location where I was told the dates the 16th and to please just come then. The deposit I took was very small and did not cover the gas nor the loss of potential income (my mistake) my contract states this is a late cancellation, I couldn't rebook as I had a booking the 16th by this point. I then sent the final invoice with the contract for the final payment to their accounting with the as I was worried that the HR person who hired me would just say I was no-show since she was my only point of contact and I wanted to make sure they new which date she had hired me.

I never wanted to be in a position like this again (where someone cancels and its such big financial as it was bad but it coulda been worse) so I have updated contracts to be all online, take a 50% non-refundable deposit ( I do give refunds in certain circumstances but my contract and invoice states "non-refundable"), and I have an automated email system with follow ups that confirm-- I also have a minimum of two phone calls to client-- 1 initial AND 1 week before the show (even if its a vm). Although there is a clause in my contract that states full payment is due if they cancel I do not actually expect that to ever be paid in that event.

I love that people like me enough to hire me to do this, but I am providing a service and (hopefully) value. I believe its on me to structure things so they see me as professional and mitigate late cancellations.

For those who say its my fault and the client can't be expected to read my contract, email and invoice that all confirmed the date, I just don't see it your way at all. Every contract I sign, I read, and I don't expect any company to give me a break if I signed something legally binding. I understand mistakes happen but this was a pretty crazy mistake. You can bet if this situation was reversed with any other company they will come down hard on you for what's in the contract-- I think this is how it should be, or else why bother having a contract.

What definitely is my fault is getting upset, although I made sure not to show emotion in any of my communications with the client (only in this online forum did I let loose my thoughts), and not seeing this situation as part of the "nature of doing business". I should have had more steps to mitigate situations or mitigate the effects when they do happen.

Thanks so much for the update. I'm glad you took away some lessons and ideas to improve your service and to prevent this type of thing from happening again.

In 48 years, I have never had to refund a deposit. Another option you can do is instead of "giving refunds in certain circumstances" is to simply offer the amount as a credit to apply/be used towards a future booking. This prevents you from having to refund and actually losing money, it leads to another possible booking, and may be seen as a good-guy" gesture/offer rather than just keeping a deposit and them being out of the money. By offering a credit for a future performance they view it not as money lost or gone, but an asset they can still use moving forward. It can continue a relationship in a helpful way to them. Just another idea to consider.