>> event planning articles > Marquee site visits: When to call off, cancel or postpone a marquee booking

Marquee site visits: When to call off, cancel or postpone a marquee booking

The recent weather is causing a lot of problems for marquee hire companies and events all over the country with Ireland especially hard hit. So should you as the hire company call off a booking? My opinion is no, it should be down to the customer.

If you start calling off an event then you might get hit with all sorts of legal implications/challenges from the other related costs of the function with deposits lost etc. This doesn’t stop you warning customers or offering advice along the lines of ‘if it was me..’

Assuming you have typical t’s and c’s along the lines of: Cancellation of a booking over 14 days is 20% to pay, 3-13 days 50%, less than 3 days then 100% I would write every customer a letter stating:

• There has been exceptional weather conditions this year and as a consequence marquees can take longer to erect than planned. Please be patient with us, we will erect your marquee and won’t let you down -this allays any understandable fears they may have
• Should you be concerned over the suitability of an area badly hit by the weather we are more than happy to come out and view the site to discuss how the marquee would be affected -better to pre-empt/warn of likely issues to save waiting round on erection day
• Should the site prove unsuitable then we can erect the marquee at an alternative local venue at no extra charge (subject to a site survey)
• Should you wish to cancel the event if it is 14 days or more before the event then you will only lose the 20% deposit already paid. If the notice period is less than 14 days then although 50% of the booking fee is due we are offering our customers a 20% discount off any future booking to compensate, this has proved a fair solution to a headache often faced this summer – I’m not sure of the wording or amounts on this but you get the idea, you’re stating their obligations whilst also trying to help
• Please be aware that soft access surfaces may get damaged when delivering and taking away the equipment -this pre-warns them of any ruts you may leave getting in and out of the job

Like I say this would just be what I would do, I’m a firm believer in that pre-warning of any problem means if it arises it becomes a constructive chat to resolve rather than conflict.

Thanks for reading, I’m not sure that’s really the positive post I promised last week!

Please note that the factory will be closed on Friday afternoon from around 3:30pm as the Olympic torch is coming past 🙂