Personally, imo, how much she charged is no one's business; people charge different prices for what they think their services are worth and we aren't the ones to place a "value" on her services.
I... agree and disagree with that statement.
How much she chose to charge when she presented her services to her customer is between the two of them, above what others consider reasonable or below it, higher than similar services or lower- the buyer can choose to accept her price, negotiate a new one more to their liking or pass on any deals.
The amount does matter when she makes a public claim that it has not been paid. Theft is theft, regardless of the amount and someone who commits to a deal and recieves their portion of it without making good on their side is perpetrating theft. When there is disagreement about the inherent amount owed though, it does matter. It'd probably matter a lot more if
some amount had been paid and there was a dispute about the balance... but it matters.
Further, it begins to matter again when the issue directly relates to services contracted, services delivered and the point at which one party decided they didn't wish to go through with things. I agree with Sammy that it was within David's rights to withdraw his sponsorship... and that in doing so, David should accept the burden of costs for services which had already been rendered. And while I would not personally engage in any kind of business transaction with someone who has shown the attitude and approach to ending his business relationship that David has, I have to say that he should not be held responsible for any services which were not
yet provided.
I firmly believe that there is nothing wrong with a show promoter showing some measure of a profit for their time, energy, attention and organization. How much of a profit is, again, a matter for discussion between the individuals doing business. That said, given the support he apparantly has recieved from his own staff and a distinct minority of others, I doubt anyone will be able to convince David of that fact. Given the development of an antagonistic relationship and his (quite possibly false) defense that consisted of an attack on the integrity and character of the Kordeks, it seems he doesn't value the efforts made on his behalf. The quality of service is inherently a subjective matter and far more difficult to apply a value to than tangible receipt bearing expenses.
I haven't seen any kind of itemized list of costs which have been incurred or an itemized breakdown of the costs for the specific services David had requested. I would like to. Something along the lines of:
X black and white fliers at $0.0Y each promoting Z sponsers.
X color fliers at $0.YY each promoting Z sponsers.
A banner ad slot run for X duration or number of impressions, with a specific cost associated with it. A cost that others have been charged for an identical service.
A specific reserve amount for the table space that he won't be using, along with something that had been written up before this issue became what it is, identifying the non-refundable deposit percentage.
There was some mention of radio spots- although that may not have been directly from Kelly. Again, I'd like to know how much they cost and how many supporters or vendors were mentioned.
Any other promotional materials which have a specific cost that has been incurred. Signage for the event itself, banner ads featuring David's logo as part of the show promotion on other websites, any print media advertising costs (magazines, newspapers) and so on.
Please understand that I am in no way supporting David's conduct or attitude. Looking at it impartially though, it seems to be a situation where there was ambiguity about the terms to which he was agreeing, or at least that such terms have not been presented. They may not exist, an oversight I am certain will be corrected for future events but which leave this incident a lot muddier. A sponsor for a show should have the right to back out of that sponsorship if they decide that they do not want their name or business associated with the venue for whatever reason. The promoter should have a set of terms detailing the financial resonsibilities of their sponsors and some kind of agreement about what will occur if the sponser wishes to withdraw. In this instance, if such a set of terms was not in place or did not cover this series of events, I can't really see a financial obligation beyond that of the specific costs incurred on David's behalf, divided as is appropriate to the number of sponsers the promotions covered (including the venus itself as an equal percentage).
A bit of a side note, I'm not too sure why anyone cares that David started slinging around insults. I'm a lot more concerned with how many times he (may have and at this point it seems probable that) lied, stole, welched on a debt and behaved in a manner that was unprofessional. Given the quality he is showing himself to be of, nobody should give a rat's ass what his opinion of this board or any of it's members is.
