Non payment for incompetence.

[Guest lightnix]

well to clear up more posts.

 

...I explained we only had... ew500s...

 

He said fine. End of conversation.

 

So. tech had enuogh time to do some reasearch if he didnt know how to use them.

It does sound bad for the tech - he was told what kit would be supplied, agreed to it and couldn't use it...

Ah OK - sympathy for the tech diminishes a bit at this point. Yes - he really should have made more effort to familiarise himself with the kit prior to the gig, especially as the time and opportunity were there.

 

Then again, if you pay peanuts (and 100-150 Euros is peanuts)... ;)

[lightsource]

To come back to the original question, I guess it comes down to any contract between the client and the tech, and more fundamentally, whether the tech wants to do something about not being paid. On the assumption that this is in England and Wales, (may be dangerous, so I'll await the incoming Scud if the assumption is incorrect :) ) then in law, almost certainly a contract exists between tech and client whether written or not. If the tech is aggrieved, given the small value he/she would be best advised to pursue the matter as a civil recovery through the small claims court where he will only have to show probability rather than proof. If the client then counters with a claim that his incompetence cost him money, then the client would again have to give evidence to substantiate that. The court is likely to rule either in favour of the applicant or to share the spoils. I.e the tech gets part payment.

 

Just my 2d worth.

 

Robin

 

It won't be a SCUD, it'll be a nuclear tipped Cruise! , and yes I know my missiles!

 

Interestingly, as a Production company, I wouldn't even remotley tolerate what you've said, and if you were one of my employees, then you would be unemployed, before you finished reading this post :P

 

If you want a fundimental approach...... then why not consider that a CUSTOMER is PAYING you to DO A JOB.

 

From the OP point of view, this is purely between his company and the sub-contractor. It has nothing to do with the customer. The customer has paid for a service, if that service is not provided, for whatever technical reason, then it's hardly their fault, is it....... After all, at this point the customer could be using words such as 'compensation', 'claim' or other words such as 'solicitor'

 

No one so-far has considered the customer approach. You've all seen it from an industry / legal approach. Your customer could have future business for you.

 

Your customers are your business, and supply the finance that gives your employees their pay check. If a technician ###### up (for whatever reason) it is not the customers responsibility, the show must go on (within reason) , and if there are tehchical problems, then the customer should not be held responsible for any technical issues. It is your responsibility to ensure the customer receives what they've paid for. For most of our jobs we have full back-up for all situations.

 

Let's take a totally fantasy based scenario....I'm hired to do U2 in Hyde Park, with an expected audience of 50,000 punters paying £40 per ticket......The FOH Amp rack catches fire, and is destroyed..........should I cancel the gig? should I make the customer replace it? Should I even blame anyone, or just put it down to experience? You decide!

 

It's not a black and white issue. Yes, there are issues with the contractors involved, but in no way should it involve the customer, if proper contracts have been made in the first place. The customer is (hopefully) paying you to do a job, whatever that job may be....It's your responsibility to do that job, and if things go wrong, then sort it, and move forward with a contented client base.

 

Suffering Swine Flu at the mo......so go easy, although my hands haven't turned into trotters yet --Insert sound of pig grunting here--

[Dave]

Your customers are your business, and supply the finance that gives your employees their pay check. If a technician ###### up (for whatever reason) it is not the customers responsibility, the show must go on (within reason) , and if there are tehchical problems, then the customer should not be held responsible for any technical issues. It is your responsibility to ensure the customer receives what they've paid for. For most of our jobs we have full back-up for all situations.

 

Let me respond to this:

 

I am amazed that you have "full back up for all situations" - do you honestly take an extra one of everything to all jobs? And when clients dry-hire kit from you, do you include spares for everything (including desk, movers, distro) at no extra cost? Yes, when you're doing large-scale events it is normal practice to have full back-up, but for anything else, spares are the exception rather than the rule. Few clients are willing to pay for it. Projectors are about the only thing where a back-up is common practice.

 

I do agree with your point, though, that the customer has paid for an end result and it's your job to make it happen. But if the client engages a tech directly as in this case, then if he messes up, it is the client's problem - he can't blame anyone else. The client has taken a piecemeal approach with multiple suppliers, rather than buying a complete package from a single supplier.

 

But that's an aside...

 

In this particular example, there was an apparent issue with the radio mics, and the tech didn't think to call the (very local) hire co to discuss the situation. One could say that is incompetent, but likewise the client (who actually hired the mics) didn't do this either, which is really weird.

 

It does give me the feeling that the tech didn't know how to use an EW500G2 and was trying to hide this.

 

We'll never really know what went wrong, but there is something that is more certain: Does the fact that the tech didn't even suggest to the client that they should call the hire co constitute incompetence? And, if it does, what is the client entitled to do? I would argue that knowing the right approach to take when there's a problem is a key skill for any tech, and you only need half a brain to realise that calling the equipment supplier might be a good idea. <_<