Wedding Planner Cancels Contract

Phoebs · 15 April 2005 at 5:03PM

This is more of a cost minimisation/damage limitation query than money saving in its traditional sense, but I hope someone can offer us some sound advice.

The facts in brief... we're getting married in May 06, I have ME that is not under control and relapses happen at any time for any length and are of any level of badness, to help get the wedding organised with our fear of stress affecting my ME and to step in if I have a bad relapse we hire a wedding planner (WP).

Today however she cancelled our contract.

And is now demanding cancellation charges.... it having been her choice to cancel!

We've been paying 1/10 of the fee per month since December, and it is 1/10 of the fee that she wants as cancellation charges. Now I did miss March's payment due to benefits being delayed, but when discussed, the WP accepted this and agreed that I could pay March and April together as soon as the bens issue was resolved (which it has been this week)... Thus we interpreted it that she was overriding our breach of contract (not paying on time) - her choice.

Now since the WP has been on board, we have booked...... nothing, nada, zilch! She clearly doesn't have a clue about the style of wedding we are looking for and has contnually avoided my request to show us how our initial figures can be reduced to less than half to match our budget - something she claimed was achievable before we signed the contract.

What I was wondering was how can we minimise the amount that we end up losing to her...

we've paid 3 x 1/10, in terms of the payment plan we owe 2 x 1/10 plus she wants 1/10 cancellation charges all for having done a very small amount of the service we hired her to do.

(apols for the waffle, I wrote a far clearer (I think) post, but the cat managed to hit escape just as I finished writing it :rolleyes: )

Any advice wil be gladly received, thanks

KG · 15 April 2005 at 6:43PM

What does your contract say as to:

a) cancellation charges

b) what she will deliver?

KG

Glad · 15 April 2005 at 7:05PM

what a shame phoebs
actually I think she should be refunding you unless she has really done 6/10 of the work promised, maybe you could write her a letter to say you will be seeking legal advice as she hasn't fullfilled any promises, and outline how much you think you owe her,
you could go to the Citizens Advice to ask for some legal advice too

Phoebs · 15 April 2005 at 7:15PM

KG,

re cancellation, to quote from the contract, "XX have every right to cancel this agreement in the event that the client is in breach of their obligations as detailed in this agreement." Cancellation charges are only mentioned in relation to the client cancelling. Having spoken with a friends WP (only learnt of her after we signed up withours), as she chose to cancel, she has no right to charge us, any opinions?

and in term of services delivered.... paraphrased....

-provide consultancy service on etiquette ideas and advice (she clearly hasn't listened to what I want - I'm sure if I left her to buy my dress, which of course I would never do, but this is an example, she would get me a merangue with lace and frills... I'm actually going for a fairly striaght plain dress)
-access to all their fact sheets, guidance and planning tools (fact sheets are basic to say the least, budget spreadsheet doesn't actually work!)
- access to their preferred suppliers and preferential rates (I've received more info on this today than in the 4 months we've been working with her, and whilst she claims to have preferential rates, she is slow to tell us about these)
- assist with organising all aspects of wedding (no mention of things like sourcing dress/invitations from US... I've found really good stuff at a fraction of her prices)
- regular unlimited meetings
- assist with confirmation and final arrangements
- assist with timetabling for the day
- arrange for return of hired goods and deposits

I appreciate there is not a rush on our wedding, but our biggest concern has been the budget which she seems to overlook consistently.

Another point on the 'finances' side of this WP... invoice received in march for march, ok its still outstanding, invoice received in april for march and april, invoice received with todays letter for march and april and cancellation fees. So from my records she is trying to charge us march x 3 and april x 2... I think not. Now if she'd issued credit notes for the previous invoices, ok, but she hasn't......... I'm thinking it kind of says it all really

Phoebs · 15 April 2005 at 7:19PM

Glad wrote:

what a shame phoebs
actually I think she should be refunding you unless she has really done 6/10 of the work promised, maybe you could write her a letter to say you will be seeking legal advice as she hasn't fullfilled any promises, and outline how much you think you owe her,
you could go to the Citizens Advice to ask for some legal advice too

Oh thanks Glad... this is exactly how my F and I feel.

As we hired her in Dec and our wedding is not til May 06, I feel the most she should get is 5/18 of the fee... not that I feel she has even done that much work, but that seems a reasonable compromise

(This really is stress I could do without and I am really cross with myself for clearly making such a bad judgement of the WP....... why oh why am I so good at making bum £ decisions?!)

jockettuk · 15 April 2005 at 9:00PM

she obviously is aware of why you hired her and the fact she is causing you so much stress in my opinion is not professional.. explain this to her pay her for march tell her she hasnt done april and as far as your concerned she cancelled so is therefore not entitled to any fee..

she trying it on as she knows your stressed and probably dont need any more hassles.. send her a chq for what you know you owe her and a covering letter..

she may threaten legal action but probably bluffing as the way i read it she cancelled and if you pay her what you know you owe her it would cost her more in legal fees to persue it ..

good luck with the wedding

Mumstheword · 15 April 2005 at 11:35PM

Hi Phoebs,
Big hugs to you,
i too have ME (for the last 7 years) so empathise with your worries regarding the stress this may cause. Make sure you take care of yourself, and ask your friends and relatives, and F to help with the negotiation and with future wedding planning.
As for the wedding plans...can you timetable it so that all preparations are finalised at least a fortnight before the wedding? That way, you can book yourself in for a fortnight of NOTHING! Promise yourself now that you will use that time to chill outand give yourself a fighting chance of enjoying the whole day, and. hopefully, your honeymoon too.
If you stick around on this web site, you'll find other ME sufferers will make themselves known to you too, which I have found really helpful, in beingable to have a moan to someone who understands!
Best wishes, take care,
Mumx

Turning_into_scrooge · 16 April 2005 at 12:27AM

Mumstheword wrote:

If you stick around on this web site, you'll find other ME sufferers will make themselves known to you too, which I have found really helpful, in beingable to have a moan to someone who understands!
Best wishes, take care,
Mumx

I understand the stress you're going through as I also have M.E. along with fibromyalgia and osteo arthritis. I agree with Mumstheword, ask your friends to help with planning and booking your wedding and try to have some good quality time for yourseft before the big day as you don't need the exhaustion taking hold and wiping you out. As far as the WP, if she can be calld that, goes i would see CAB and send a legal letter telling her she is entitled to no more payments. I would also be tempted to try and get 50% back from her seeing as she has done nothing :rolleyes:

Glad · 16 April 2005 at 11:04AM

use the might of MSE and the many helpful people here, as a FREE wedding planner,

there are plenty of tips here and people to give advice and encouragement

bylromarha · 16 April 2005 at 5:16PM

How frustrating!!!!!!

i certainly wouldn't pay the outstanding invoices and let her take you to court to prove you owe her the money...she'll give up as she is blatently in the wrong. No T + C's covering her cancellation i guess means it's up to you and the WP to negotiate a refund of monies already paid.

I guess fiance doesn't have ME? If he doesn't then hand all the repercussions of this incident over to him and ask him to not share anymore details of it...I guess his body can deal better than yours with the effects of stress.

You need to get on and have some fun planning the best day of your life and forget about the naff start she gave you to this fun time. I have lots of info on wedding reception venues in the Midlands if that's where you're looking...!!!

mini · 16 April 2005 at 11:04PM

Hi Phoebs,

Sorry to hear of what has happened, WP sounds useless, I would suggest going to the Citizens advice Bureau, some solicitors offe a free 15 -30 minute appointment to gain further information, I wonder if it was possible for you to claim some money back from her.
I have no legal experience apart from my GCSE in Law

If you want to pst more detail of waht you are after for your wedding, post away there are lots of people here happy to help, have you read the wedding tips thread, make yourself a drink & settle down, it's a long read but a good one, lots of great pieces of information. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=41608&page=1&pp=10

mini

Wedding Planner Cancels Contract

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free