The Demise Of Dj@

[MintyDave 0]

Just like to say :good: to the DJ@ and offer my thanks and best wishes to Dan 'Dukesy' ( :spin: ) for all the hard work.

 

what now folks. I did recieve an email from brokenlink, which all Dj@ members will have recieved

 

The Alliance of Party & Mobile DJs (brokenlink).

 

You have probably already heard the news about DJ Associates (DJ@) ceasing to trade as of 31st August 2010 and you may be looking to make alternative arrangements for your Public Liability Insurance.

 

I would like to take a few moments to introduce you to brokenlink and tell you about the benefits our members receive. We are already the largest National Organisation for Mobile DJs in the UK and there are a number of genuine reasons for this….

 

More than just a 'piece of paper'

 

For an annual Full membership of £49 you will receive:

 

£10 million PLI (Public Liability Insurance) plus £10 million dry hire provided by Hencilla Canworth and underwritten by the largest commercial insurer in the country, Royal and Sun Alliance. Membership is instant and your personal PLI Certificate is available for download within seconds of joining.

 

Extra client enquiries. These come in from our 5 client enquiry sites and you automatically receive all those for your area with full contact details (brokenlink is not simply a listing site). You do not need a high ranking website, just an email address to benefit from this service.

 

Discounted DJ Equipment Insurance. To give you an example, £8000 worth of equipment can be insured for only £139.50 (This is for illustration purposes only as individual circumstances may have to be taken into consideration).

 

Other benefits for brokenlink Members

 

Discounts for other DJ related services/products (including DJ Event Planner)

 

Auto Reminder Service for Personal/Business Use

 

Use of brokenlink logo on promotional material

 

PLI verification button for your website

 

brokenlink Membership Card

 

Marketing advice tips for your Mobile Disco Business (subscribe to our newsletters at www.brokenlink )

 

Easy to register & login

 

PLI certificate available to download immediately

 

Networking opportunities in your local area

 

We're available to assist you by email and phone

 

Yes, all this for an annual subscription of £49. If you think this sounds too good to be true, take a look at www.brokenlink.co.uk and read what some of our members say about us. Alternatively, give us a call on 08456 808 247 for a chat and we can tell you more.

 

With kind regards

 

Sandy

 

brokenlink (Alliance of Mobile & Party DJs)

 

www.brokenlink.co.uk

 

Telephone: 08456 808 247

 

PS This is a personal email from me to you on behalf of brokenlink. Thanks for your time.

 

I wonder where Dukesy will get his PLI?

[Teez 0]

Yes, guys... what's occuring???

 

Dukesy, you keeping the forum going too?

 

Are brokenlink writing to us as a recommended replacement? Or did they just get names off this forum?

 

:joe:

[vokf 0]

What???

 

Now, I know that DJ@ would NOT reveal email addresses to other parties.

 

I would strongly advise anyone who receives this email to report it for spamming. This is almost certainly in breach of their hosting T&C.

http://www.hostpapa.com/terms-of-service

 

d) No "Spam": UCE/UBE or "spam" originating from a server located on our network or associated with a HostPapa server is not tolerated. This includes any email that promotes websites hosted on a server located on the HostPapa network, but which is sent from an email address not associated with a HostPapa account. The client shall not use their HostPapa services for chain letters, junk mail, bulk-email, or any use of distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a process. HostPapa reserves the right to deactivate or terminate any account(s) upon any indication of such activity without notice. There will be a $200 clean-up fee if an account was suspended for policy violation. In the event of a dispute HostPapa reserves the right to determine, in its sole and discretion, whether email recipients were from an opt-in email list.

 

I consider these emails to be unethical - they have spammed me in the past.

For that reason, will not deal with them.

 

If I receive one.. I will report strongly to their web host

Details of their host can be found by entering their domain into;

http://whois.domaintools.com

 

www.hostpapa.com

Abuse emails to: abuse@hostpapa.com

 

Jason

Edited July 27, 2010 by vokf

[Thats entertainment 0]

Yeah i got one of theses emails today

I only joined this week too

P.L.I. for only £49 Bargin!.....so does that mean i wont be able to renew again next year?

[Dukesy 0]

DJ@ - Statement of Facts

 

Dear All,

 

Its come to my attention that a number of rumours are circulating on this thread and various other discussion forums, these have led me to issue this statement of fact.

 

First of all DJ@ is ceasing for personal reasons. For those who never got to grips with a dictionary, this largely means that its personal and is nobody else's business smile icon Suffice to say that non of us stay still for long or work for the same employer for life and moving on and making changes several times is a key part of life's adventures. Like most people I also have many personal aims, objectives and goals and I aim to pursue them before I'm too old to regret it.

 

Dj@ is not finishing because the current workload is too much either, although it had a very healthy and enviable membership we had a team of very active and dedicated volunteers, and DJ@ prided itself in turning around accurately and correctly completed memberships the same day and often even within the same hour, well beyond normal working hours, 7 days a week, as I am sure that many of you will confirm. Hopefully you will be assured the same level of service and will be continued to be offered a long term, financially tenable PLI model from wherever you may choose to roam.

 

However, in a further 3, 6 or another 12 months time, I admit DJ@ may have grown to a point where this situation may have changed as I concentrate on other things, and so now is the right time to move on before the time does perhaps arrive where I am unable to dedicate 100% of my free time into running DJ@. Rest assured, this is not a decision which I took lightly.

 

DJ@ has never given, lent, sold nor knowingly disclosed email address information to any third parties at any time, including now (and it never will). If anybody has any actual tangible proof that emails allegedly being used by third parties have come from either the DJ@ or DJU database, then I'd be the first to publicly state that I would also be interested in actually seeing it, as it can easily be (dis)proven through historical server and admin panel logs.

I suggest that if you really want your details removed from this (or any other) entities mailing list(s), that you send a recorded delivery 'cease and desist' letter to the address shown on their website, keep a copy of the letter and also proof of delivery. If they continue to spam you after delivery then file a complaint to their ISP and also Google along with copies of the documentation.

 

The only time that we would be compelled to disclose a members contact details would be upon production of a signed court order, or a proven third party insurance claim lodged against them. Once the Association has ceased I am obligated to retain personal membership details for an additional 60 days (in case of any pending PLI insurance claims) and then they will be securely deleted

 

Suffice to say, that many people here are members of other forums, directories, wedding listing sites, have attended shows, registered for offers, used retailers etc and any one or more of these entities could have disclosed this information at any time. Often just Googling your own email address can often bring home just how public this information really is and where it is displayed.

 

DJ@ has not got a new owner, neither is it seeking one nor is it up for sale, so there is absolutely no risk of your details being passed on with the Association to people you may not want those details disclosing to. This is the reason why we have given our members more than 30 days notice of both the cessation of DJ@ and the natural expiration of the current PLI policy to enable them to research and make an informed decision as to where they will be obtaining their future PLI requirements and also placing their trust and business in the future.

 

However, the domain is privately owned and does have a constant amount of traffic as well as a healthy front page Google ranking for terms like 'DJ Association', so if anybody wants to make me a serious offer.......PM me(!), however it will NOT include any association data, website data or privileged information. smile icon

 

Regards

 

:dukesy:

[MintyDave 0]

 

 

I meant no reference to any link between dJ@ and broken link by my statement

which all Dj@ members will have recieved

i meant to say, and should of said i ASSUME dj@ or dj forum members. i certainly didnt want to suggest that any details had been leaked and know that would not have happened.

 

sincerely hope i have not caused any offence!

 

Brokenlink were certainly on the ball. Recieved DJ@ admin email at 10.32pm yesterday and a broken link email at 2.32am this morning.

 

Anyway irrespective of how they did it i will look into what they have to offer as well as other sources and make a choice from that.

 

 

[vokf 0]

:thanks:

 

Sad news- but thanks to Dan for making a difference and working hard on DJ@ :cheers:

[spinner 0]

Just like to say :good: to the DJ@ and offer my thanks and best wishes to Dan 'Dukesy' ( :spin: ) for all the hard work.

 

what now folks. I did recieve an email from brokenlink, which all Dj@ members will have recieved

I wonder where Dukesy will get his PLI?

 

 

Having just tried www.brokenlink.co.uk I find it is a generic address which is up for sale!!

[MintyDave 0]

Having just tried www.brokenlink.co.uk I find it is a generic address which is up for sale!!

 

I have just realised that pasting the info from my mail account into the forum gives a different web address and name to the association. Obviously this was to deter advertising of other associations.

 

ooops.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2010 by MintyDave

[deejaymitch 0]

This news was quite a shock and is hugely disappointing. DJ@ was a fantastic organisation and was run impeccably. Many thanks to Dan and the others behind the scenes for all they have contributed.

[UKHero 0]

The organisation in question is run by Paul I think who is an Ex admin from DJU, He set it up purely to make money (fair enough) he is also the guy behind WDJA which seems to have been put on the back burner. Dan ran DJ@ for non proffit and invested a lot of his own time and money for no reward. ... as for The Alliance of Party & Mobile DJs I get spammed from this site all the time. :lil devil:

 

Does any one know where we can get good cheap PLI provided like Dan did in such a professional way? Or do I have to give my money to APMDJ?

 

I have said my condolences to Dan in a personal email so no need to say them here. :Thumbup:

 

I would like to re ask the future of DJU though as it is the only forum I currently frequent and feel at home with even though I have had a few spats on here with others from time to time it has always been run proffesionally and I have never encountered any profanity on DJU sadly browsing other forums the same can not be said.

 

OMG do I have to join NADJ NNOOOooooooooo

 

This is a black day for mobile DJs indeed :hurt:

 

Nik

Edited July 27, 2010 by UKHero

[centrestagediscos 0]

This news was quite a shock and is hugely disappointing. DJ@ was a fantastic organisation and was run impeccably. Many thanks to Dan and the others behind the scenes for all they have contributed.

 

there a little bit dearer but i sue the musicans union, you also get other union benefits like being able to use there solicitor ect and they chase lost payements for you as well i think.

 

[vokf 0]

I do consider DJU to be separate from DJ@.

We don't have any idiots here- and mainly minor spats aside, get on pretty well for a bunch of ego manics! lol

:cheers:

 

I'm also looking around, so perhaps a new thread to discuss PLI options?

DJ@ members have over 1 month, and most policies can be found online, so realistically there are 2 or 3 weeks to find a good deal.

 

NADJ/MU/brokenlink/DJ Guard are the ones I'm aware of - but a collective hunt may reveal alternatives.

 

Jas

 

 

[Marble 0]

I just want to echo whats been said here. It's a sad day. But I want to thank everyone involved for the hard work that was put in.

[spinner 0]

The organisation in question is run by Paul I think who is an Ex admin from DJU, He set it up purely to make money (fair enough) he is also the guy behind WDJA which seems to have been put on the back burner.

 

Nik

 

 

Not sure about the back burner bit but it certainly doesn't pull enquiries any more. I can't remember the last one I had.

[Dukesy 0]

Sadly, everyone else is affected when common sense flies out of the window, when the tactless post is made, and I’m now considering very carefully what is in it for me to continue to supply a ‘community’ service which is being used purely for opportunistic personal axe grinding and vendettas by some to rile and cause trouble for individuals, others and yes, ME.     

 

This is a black day for mobile DJs indeed

Regrettably, that was probably the day someone was allowed back on DJU!

 

DJ@ has not left any member in the lurch (without PLI cover) nor has it become financially embarrassed. Every single member will find that their membership and PLI expire generically and as a matter of routine on exactly the same date, namely 23.59 on August 31st and would otherwise be renewed, en masse on 1st September.

 

Nobody has cover extending beyond August 31st, so there is absolutely no reason for anybody to check with Hencilla to confirm whether cover continues beyond this date. Whoever is spouting this scaremongering nonsense is either too lazy or too unprofessionally incompetent to make that phone call themselves, maybe they should, then he / she can actively retract the statement once its been independently confirmed as complete whitewash.

 

Either way, the closure of DJ Associates on this date means that it is not cancelling anybodies PLI cover 'mid term', nor is it pulling the rug from under their feet and leaving them without cover. The 30 days notice by email, coupled with the notice on the website and this forum and probably most other forums by now is more than enough diligence and notice for other arrangements to be made.

 

Lots of comments are being made in relation to PLI costs. On this basis, all I will state is that it is common knowledge that some Associations are sharing the same broker, and therefore their annual policy is costing the same amount. Obviously, that exact figure is privileged information that I won't disclose, however the broker has to play fair and not give one Association preference over the other for fear of cries of foul and involvement of the ombudsman, so on that basis at least, its a level playing field.

 

Of course since its a blanket annual payment the more members the Association gets on board the greater the division of payment and so the actual PLI cost 'per member' decreases as the membership rises. Its not as simple as that however as once membership exceeds a certain amount, then an additional premium becomes payable on top of the original one, effectively increasing the premium once certain membership milestones are reached.

 

I've also had some emails asking whether I'm connected with an entity professing to be offering

 

Sadly I can not and will not recommend alternative policies which I have not been a member of myself nor tried for myself, however I have in the past had membership and cover from the M.U. and so this is the only established entity which I would recommend from personal experience.

 

 

[UKHero 0]

Not sure about the back burner bit but it certainly doesn't pull enquiries any more. I can't remember the last one I had.

 

 

Hi Steve I never renewed last time so dont know I got some good work to start but feel it lost its way when the other sites were opened.

 

Nik

[MintyDave 0]

Sadly, everyone else is affected when common sense flies out of the window, when the tactless post is made, and I’m now considering very carefully what is in it for me to continue to supply a ‘community’ service which is being used purely for opportunistic personal axe grinding and vendettas by some to rile and cause trouble for individuals, others and yes, ME.  

 

It will be exceptionally sad if the forum goes too. where else can you get such supportive advice with out the usual :crap: that you see elsewhere. Foul language, braggings about unprofessional practice and the general lack of respect for non clique members, enough about me eh!

 

if the end is nigh im sure many would like to take the opportunity to continue the service.

 

With regards to the other issue, i sincerely hope that the spotlight dims rapidly, allowing people to move on.

[dj.silver 0]

Sorry Mr Muppet posting here, who or what is Dj@? http://planetsmilies.net/confused-smiley-17487.gif

[vokf 0]

Sorry Mr Muppet posting here, who or what is Dj@?

 

DJ@ = DJ Associates.

An association started a many years ago, to promote good practice in the community.

A couple of years ago, Dan identified a need for lower cost Public Liability Cover, and so the more recent version of DJ@ was created.

Members received benefit as well as £10M Public Liability insurance, with an online Validator that they could install on their website.

DJ@ also included many guides/resources for DJ's.

 

Thats it, in a nutshell!

[UKHero 0]

DJ@ = DJ Associates.

An association started a many years ago, to promote good practice in the community.

A couple of years ago, Dan identified a need for lower cost Public Liability Cover, and so the more recent version of DJ@ was created.

Members received benefit as well as £10M Public Liability insurance, with an online Validator that they could install on their website.

DJ@ also included many guides/resources for DJ's.

 

Thats it, in a nutshell!

 

And to add IMHO has been despicably copied for self gain by others.

 

Nik

[spinner 0]

Hi Steve I never renewed last time so dont know I got some good work to start but feel it lost its way when the other sites were opened.

 

Nik

 

I think it's more a case of it being a victim of (economic) circumstances.

 

I have the very first listing on another regional bridal website which has produced a good number of good quality enquiries previously but barely a trickle in the past 12 months.

 

[UKHero 0]

I think it's more a case of it being a victim of (economic) circumstances.

 

I have the very first listing on another regional bridal website which has produced a good number of good quality enquiries previously but barely a trickle in the past 12 months.

 

Fair comment

 

Nik

[Robster 0]

Just come back from my holiday and read the email and news here ..I'm gutted.

 

Dan , I would publicly like to thank you , for all your help advise time , effort and knowledge you selflessly gave in creating DJ@ and apologise for all and any bad stuff i sent your way.

 

We don't live that far away and i would like to go for a pint or seven with you when not working in the near future.

 

Rob

[AlexEntertainment 0]

Hey Dan,

 

I'm so sorry to hear you are stopping DJ@..... and from the sounds of it the DJU Forums too

 

I just want to say a massive Thank you for setting up DJU.

This was the first forum I ever registered on, and to be honest, the only forum I actually like using.

Also the guys and girls on here have been truly amazing with their help and knowledge.... and their friendliness have been amazing.

If it wasn't for this forum and it's members, I would not be where I am today (Dunno if thats such a good thing ;) hehehehe - joke )

 

As many have said... it's a sad day today!

 

Dan.. I assume you are not leaving the trade, so please make sure you stay in touch with us all :)

 

On a plus side, I am now currently looking into PLI underwriting (part of a marketing and design packaging company I'm working on with another DJ).... so if I manage to work something out, I'll let you guys know straight away....

 

All my best regards and wishes....

 

Alex

xx

x