Please help - wedding potentially ruined and legal advice needed

boots_babe

Hi,

I'll try not to bore you with all the details of this. But we are marrying in Lapland, and after calling round most places to get accommodation/flight prices for our guest, we found that most agents had increased their prices somewhat from last year - from about £500 to £900.

We got lucky though and found one - Solitair Holidays - which hadn't and 9 of our guests booked up at a price of around £570 each.

This was 2 months ago and ever since we have been asking for our invoice. The 9 people are booked in 3 separate bookings made at different times, and all 3 parties have called quite a lot of times to chase this. Each time they were told all was OK, details were confirmed and invoices would be sent.

Today, we have suddenly been told price is now £950 each!! Up from about £570. All they have said is that it was a mistake and now we have to pay the higher price. This will mean that none of our guests can afford to come - this includes several more who were going to book but have not yet done.

We have been planning our wedding for many months as you will imagine, and to suddenly find that we may not be able to have any guests is a giant blow and we're both extremely upset and angry at Solitair. We would probably have made other wedding plans if the price had originally been quoted so high.

So, my question really is do we have a leg to stand on from a legal standpoint? We have 3 separate verbal agreements, so at least it is not just one person's word against another. But nothing in writing - despite having chased and chased for written confirmation and have also had it reconfirmed verbally on each occasion.

What can we do about this - go to the CAB, the press, get a solicitor? I have no idea on this. Please if anyone has any ideas or relevant knowledge / experience we'd both be very grateful. And apologies for such a long post.

Thanks everyone.

buglawton

If you paid by Credit Card you should be in a strong position - contact the CC co & discuss it with them first.

boots_babe

Hi thanks for the reply. This is the problem we have though. All 3 parties booked over the phone, and were told the confirmation would follow in next few days. When they didn't send it and also hadn't taken the deposit that's when we all started pestering them about it.

So no money has yet been taken as a deposit, despite our best efforts

I realise this puts us in a difficult position, but we still have the verbal agreement, and also on top of the invoices we got today it does mention the original price, and states a reason of 'contractual increases' for the huge rise. So at least they acknowledge what price we booked at.

innovate

How about if you make a case to Solitair along the following lines

- 9 guests provisionally booked now @ £570 = £5,130. From what you say, none of them has paid their deposit yet or signed anything, so they have no obligation to pay
- plus another x guests @ £570 guaranteed = more ££ to Solitair
- makes a total of £xxxx to Solitaire - or nothing because if your party cannot get the original price, nobody will go. That's at least a £5,130 loss to Solitair, and they may well not want to loose this business!

However, if they agree to the deal, you and your guests need to make sure you have got a reliable deal and/or insurance because these guys could fold any day for all you know, so things could get worse.

You say you'd called around for the best deals - have you also used travelsupermarket.com to check things out?

And have you consulted tripadvisor.com ?

boots_babe

Hi innovate, thanks for reading my long post and taking time to reply. We've already said them to them today - although tried to in a nice way. They were not at all bothered.

We've got Egg insurance - annual policy so should be covered there, and we will of course pay on credit card for added protection - if we ever get that far!

Afraid we've tried everywhere pricewise, all the usual comparison engines including the ones quoted (thanks for the suggestion though :-) ) but the problem is that only a few people do the destination we have chosen.

jonesMUFCforever

This is purely my opinion please feel free to flame me if you want.
If you want to get married in a stupid place and expect your families and friends to cough up to go to Lapland (emotional blackmail!) expect things to go wrong.
If you really wanted to do it there then you should have done it by yourselves on the QT.
Geesh families!!

Contains_Mild_Peril

Sadly, the company are unlikely to be legally obliged to sell you the services at the offered price. Since no money has changed hands and nothing is in writing, it would normally be possible for either party (customer or seller) to withdraw from the deal. If any money had already been paid, you would, of course, be enititled to a refund, but I don't think you can make them honour their offer. You could try writing to their head office explaining the situation and asking if they can help. They may offer a compromise price. Tbh though, I think a company that treats you like that may well cause you more problems later, so I'd make alternative arrangements with another company if at all possible. If companies who keep customers waiting then suddenly raise their prices get away with it and still get the business, it will do nothing to discourage them from doing the same to others in future.

klh_2

EJones....verrrrry sympathetic.......

benhill

As I understand (correct me if I am wrong), you have the invoice saying that they would have sold you the rooms @ £570ea were it not for "contractual obligations"?

Have they told you what these "contractual obligations" are, and why they are costing you an extra £380? If they give you a reason for it, and they try and put it in unintelligible speak (convoluting or lawyer-esque) tell them that you want it in writing so as to appease your insurance company and so you can take legal advice (whether or not you intend to or not!). It is in my opinion that the original price on the invoice (i.e. minus the "contractual obligations") constitutes a written quote for the price given.

I know this may also break in character for some people, but you MUST be pushy, you must be a 'female dog' when it comes down to the quick. If you don't feel you can do it, ask an angry father, or an angry brother to do it for you (last-ditch attempt mind).

If it comes down to it, you said yourself that 'most' had raised prices to £900 or so, which is cheaper than the quoted £950, so use this to threaten/cajole them into offering a more reasonable price, all things considered.

Hope you have a good time, whatever happens and remember - if it were easy, it wouldn't seem worth it!

greenwich

boots_babe wrote:

...on top of the invoices we got today it does mention the original price, and states a reason of 'contractual increases' for the huge rise. So at least they acknowledge what price we booked at.

When I read your first post I thought it was tricky as it was just your word against theirs. But what you say above changes things, hugely in your favour. Consider this:

1. They have acknowledged that there is a contract, both by sending you an invoice and by mentioning "contractual increases'.

2. They have acknowledged the original price, so it is no longer your word against theirs.

3. So now it comes down to two things. First, just what are these 'contractual increases'? Ask to see the contract terms and conditions in writing. I'd be surprised if they are lawful (they will probably violate the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999). Even if they are lawful, they are not binding on you unless you were told about them when you booked: companies can't just make up new conditions as they please.

If I were in your position I'd be feeling confident about this. But you will probably have to put things in writing and get a bit tough with them.

boots_babe

First of all - ejones999 I was asking for legal advice not opinions on my choice of wedding. We have hardly blackmailed anyone into coming, we said right from the start we won't be upset/offended if people can't come as of course we don't expect it. To be honest we thought it would be just us and parents and were amazed at the support from friends and family when so many wanted to come with us.

I agree about not booking with a company that treats customers so badly - in fact I couldn't agree more it would kill me now to give them any of our money.

Regarding the invoice, we have now done some checking. We've been in constant touch with the hotel over the year for wedding arrangements and have some emails containing room prices that they sent directly to us. The increase from last year's prices is only 22 euros per night (about £15), so for the 4 night stay that is an extra £60 - not around £400!

Solitair have told one of the party that the original price was a mistake. They have told my mum it is due to 'contractual obligations with the hotel' which cannot be the case as it has only gone up by £60. They have also told one of the parties that they could not get in touch with the hotel as it was closed and not yet open for the season. Complete lie as we've been ringing them all year and they are open all year round anyway. We also rang the hotel this morning and found that they have no rooms booked for us. So for the last couple of months we thought we were all booked up and actually weren't.

We are glad at least that they acknowledge the original price which gives us maybe half a leg to stand on. Don't worry we can be pushy, it is just a matter of deciding what angle to take and how, which is why I'm posting here to get any useful legal info. We won't be walked all over - especially as this is not just a holiday it is our wedding.

I think we should do as suggested and ask for details of these 'contractual increases'. Thank you so much everyone for reading my post and giving me your advice and support. I will let you know what happens.