A confirmed booking is an agreement with a client who has paid and stopped looking for anyone else. This is the honest account of what happens if you don't fulfil one.

## The expectation

DJs may not cancel confirmed events except in exceptional circumstances. It isn't a booking you can drop because something better came along.

## The penalties for failing to perform

If you don't turn up or don't deliver what was agreed, penalties can include:

- **A fine equal to 50% of the total event amount, or the deposit amount, whichever is greater**
- **A mandatory refund** of what the client paid
- **Account restrictions, suspension, or termination**

So a no-show on a £1,000 booking can cost you £500 on top of refunding the client in full.

## Exceptional circumstances

Genuine emergencies happen — illness, an accident, a bereavement. The route is to tell the client and DJfindr as early as you possibly can.

In those cases you may be asked to have the client initiate the cancellation. Contact **support@djfindr.com** with the **Event Proposal ID** rather than handling it alone.

Early, honest, and documented is treated very differently from silence and a missed event.

## Before it becomes a crisis

**Keep your calendar accurate.** Most DJ cancellations are double-bookings from a gig taken elsewhere that was never blocked. See [Creating a Busy Block](/hc/djs/articles/creating-busy-blocks).

**Don't overcommit on travel.** Two events in one day with a long drive between them is one traffic jam from a no-show.

**Set realistic cancellation windows.** If you need flexibility, build it into your terms rather than relying on being able to cancel later.

**Have a fallback.** Knowing a DJ you'd trust to cover you is worth arranging before you need it.

## If you're going to be late

Message the client immediately, in DJfindr. A client told at 6pm that you'll arrive at 8:30 rather than 8:00 can adapt. One who finds out at 8:15 can't.

Keep it in messages — it's a record that you communicated.

## The client's side

Clients have their own cancellation terms, set by you in the proposal. When a client cancels late, you keep what your terms say. See [When a Client Drops or Cancels](/hc/djs/articles/when-a-client-declines-drops-or-cancels).

## Why the rules are firm

A client hiring a DJ for a wedding is making a decision they can't easily undo. The whole platform relies on a confirmed booking meaning something. Reliability is also what GigGuard points at. See [What GigGuard Is](/hc/djs/articles/1786047500-activating-and-using-gig_guard).