PHILIPSBURG:--- The Promoter of the Dance Mania show, Mr. Andrew Dick of Laugh Out Loud (LOL), whose show was scheduled to be held at the St. Maarten Festival Village on February 7th, has been issuing misinformation and blatant lies via various media sources about the cancellation of his show at the Festival Village.
Additionally, Mr. Dick has purposely painted a negative picture of Stichting Overheids Gebouwen (SOG), the foundation that manages the Village, to apparently cover the fact that he did not live up to obligations to SOG as they regarded his event.
As such, SOG would like to use this opportunity the explain the following, factual information:
Mr. Andrew Dick made booking arrangements in November for use of the St. Maarten Festival Village, to host Dance Mania 2015. He was given his quotations in December and was informed of the procedures of the venue, which he already was aware of as he has made use of the venue on two other occasions before in the past.
All agreements were signed by Ms. Johamny Alcala, in whose name the permit and agreement was supposedly made, as his name were not on any documents, other than email messages for booking and further updates as the days went along.
Mr. Dick was contacted in the week when his payments were due reminding him of his due deadline payment date, where at this time full payment was to be received.
After the due date had passed, and no payments were received and Mr. Dick did not contact SOG to give an update of the show, -if it will be taking place or not-, Mr. Dick was again contacted and informed SOG via E-mail on Tuesday, February 3rd 2015, that he was awaiting a check to come in and then to proceed in making the payment.
He also indicated that he will come in and make the payment in cash if he did not get through with the cheque, and if not to have the deposit check (which was a post dated cheque and would not have been able to be deposited prior to the show) that is paid against damages and to block the date, as a guarantee against the payment.
Andrew was explained that at this point he would have to make the full payment either by a cashiers check or in cash, in order that we are guaranteed payment prior to the show. He then requested to have payments made on Thursday, February 5th by 2:00pm. In consideration of this, his request was granted and once the full payments were made he would be granted access to the venue to begin preparations and allow his participants access to rehearse.
On February 5th 2015 Mr. Dick and Ms. Alcala both received a reminder at 11:32am of their payment time as was requested and granted. On February 5th at 5:07pm, after the deadline had already passed, Mr. Dick again requested yet another extension as he claimed to be waiting on a McDonalds' manager to give him the monies in cash and the payments were forthcoming.
He nor anyone from his team showed up to make the payments on this day. He was called and he never answered or returned the call. The office closed at 6:35pm awaiting Mr. Dick and his payments, which did not happen.
Mr. Dick was sent an email informing him of his no show and non response to the phone call and the fact that the management of the Festival Village again was willing to give him until 11am on Friday February 6th (the day before the show) to make the relevant payments. On Friday, February 6th Andrew was called on numerous occasions and he never answered the call. Management then sent him an email at 10:47am, and informed him that he will be given until 3:00pm to make the payment in full and in cash, as there was no guarantee that a cheque at that time will be processed and made payable prior to event date. He was also informed that if payment was not made at this time, that the show will not be able to be hosted at the venue and thus he will not be granted access for the event as payments were not received.
Due to past experiences with Mr. Dick and his team of payment issues for use of the venue, the organization did not want to take any risk in allowing him or his team to utilize the venue without receiving payment in full. Therefore, when management realized that the payments would not be forthcoming, they informed him he will not be able to host the show at the venue but can reschedule to a new date if he so chooses.
Mr. Dick then took to social media etc to spin the aforementioned events as SOG being "money hungry" and blaming SOG for the cancellation of his show at the Festival Village. SOG will not engage in any drawn out public debate with someone as unprofessional and untrustworthy as Mr. Dick and his team members, but thought it prudent that these facts are known for the record.
SOG Management
St. Maarten Festival Village
