After my wedding a few weeks ago, I found out that my DJ had eaten a full 3-course meal, instead of the much cheaper vendor meal he was supposed to have (he also took the vendor meal). I stopped payment on his check, and sent another for the amount less the cost of the vendor meal and the $50 gratuity I had given him. They're now sending my original check to collections. Am I in the wrong? What should I do?
Description of Events:
We had our wedding a few weeks ago, and we had hired a DJ for our entertainment. The evening went alright, and at the end of the night, we paid the DJ with a check, to which we added a $50 gratuity.
I find out a couple of days later that the DJ had had a full three-course meal (like the rest of the guests). Now, we had arranged for all of our vendors to have a vendor meal, which cost $25, and not the full dinner courses, which were $140 per person. The DJ had the full three-course dinner, and took his vendor meal home with him.
He claims that my mother-in-law invited him to sit down and eat the dinner, but she says that wasn't true, that he claimed the dinner by telling her "This is mine" at an empty place at her table.
Fallout:
So, later in the week, I called the DJ's boss, and explained the situation with him. He called his DJ, who said that he was invited to have the dinner, and, naturally, sided with him. He was yelling at my wife and my mother-in-law when they were on the phone, and was calling my mother-in-law a liar for not admitting that she invited the DJ to dinner.
Initially, I had wanted to deduct the $140 cost of the dinner from his paycheck. My wife and I then decided that, since it could have been an honest mistake that the DJ didn't know that he was to have a vendor meal (it came to him later in the evening), that we would deduct the cost of the vendor meal (since he took both meals), along with the gratuity (since we didn't like being yelled at by his boss). The total amount we were deducting was less than 5% of the total fee for the DJ.
I put a stop-payment on the check that I had given the DJ (it hadn't been deposited yet), and sent another check for the amount less the cost of the vendor meal and the gratuity.
The DJ's boss received the check (which I had sent registered mail), but never cashed it. He's sending my original check for the full amount and gratuity to collections, claiming that it's going to ruin my credit rating.
My question is: am I in the wrong for stopping the payment on the initial check and sending him another for a lesser amount? Do I have a case to argue with the collection agency and to try to save my credit? How much damage can the DJ's boss really do to my credit?
Can the DJ really include the gratuity in the amount sent to collections? If I end up having to pay the DJ the whole amount, can I still withhold the gratuity, or am I legally bound to pay it to them since it was included in the original check? The gratuity was optional, and not on the invoice.
Thanks for any help.
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They sound like fools at best and j-holes at worst, but life is too short. Let it go.
posted by dirtdirt at 10:56 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]