DB Entertainment has been hiring out event equipment since 1999, and in that time we've dealt with our fair share of disruption - storms, vehicle trouble, illness, venue changes and everything else the events trade throws up. Our promise is written on the delivery page and applies to every booking: if we are unable to provide your delivery due to adverse weather, vehicle failure, illness or any other factor, we will inform you at the earliest possible opportunity and provide a full refund. That's the commitment, and it doesn't come with small print.
What happens when something goes wrong
The most important part of that promise is the timing. You won't find out at the gate with forty guests already parking up - you hear it from our office at the first sign of trouble, while there's still time to rearrange. Because around 95% of the equipment on this website is owned and run by us, and we deliver everything ourselves, our vans and our drivers, the information comes straight from the people doing the job rather than filtered through a third-party courier. If a van won't start in Rotherham at six in the morning, we know about it before you do, and you get a phone call.
What we can't control
Weather is the limit here, honestly. Our inflatables and bouncy castles have manufacturer wind limits, and above them the kit doesn't go up - that's a safety standard we don't bend, whatever the occasion. It does mean that an outdoor event on an exposed site sometimes gets a judgement call late in the day, because a forecast from two days out isn't the same as the wind on the field. If that call goes against your event, you get told as early as we can manage and refunded in full. What we don't do is put an inflatable up in conditions we shouldn't, and it's fair to say that has cost us bookings over the years. We'd still make the same call.
Keeping events running
Disruption is usually smaller than a total cancellation, and there's a fair bit we can do to keep a date alive. We hold generators and battery power supplies in the fleet, so a site with no mains power isn't a blocker. Safety fencing and extra mats go out as standard on grassed areas. The risk assessments and method statements land in your inbox before the day, which is what most corporate and council sites ask for, and every hire carries £5m of public liability cover, with indemnity to principal when our staff are supplied. If one item can't go ahead, we'll look at what can - games that work indoors, a smaller footprint, a different layout.
When everything stopped
This post first went up in March 2020, when we postponed all our events and hires and put the stock into secure storage in our 25,000 sq ft warehouse. The office stayed open - enquiries still came in by phone and email and we still answered them. When events started up again, postponed bookings went back in the diary for new dates, and the same approach holds for any disruption since: if a date has to move, the first thing we do is look for the next one that works. It's worth saying that the fleet has kept growing since this went up, so what we can offer now is broader than what we could offer then. Reliability is the thing clients mention most - Anaïs Nyakina Bokole, who books Amazon events with us year after year, says it in her Google review, and there are plenty more like hers.
Talk it through with the office
Not sure how your venue or date would cope if something went wrong? Ring 0114 345 0135 before you book and we'll go through the plan - what happens in poor weather, what the access is like in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley, Worksop or Chesterfield, and what our delivery and cancellation terms mean for your specific booking. We cover the whole of the UK for larger events, and the quote you get spells out what's included, so there are no surprises on the day.
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