Non returnable deposit

The_Deep

Have a look at the Unfairs Terms in Consumer Contracts Legislation

http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/legal/unfair-terms/

It is my understanding that hotels etc., are under an obligation to mitigate any losses which you may incur, it may well therefore be that you can negotiate a refund with them if they are able to rebook the date.

somethingcorporate

s_b wrote: »

your username implies you know something about business but your posts saying other people are on the money suggests otherwise
do you have any idea what costs are involved once the £500 is dropped? do you consider that the OP just dropped into the hotel and dropped 2 halves of a monkey on the reception desk and walked out with no time spent talking to people and probably outside people being booked too after he left
£500 seems a small price to me to walk away from such big obligations

Then it shows how little you know about contracts / contract law. I don't profess to be a lawyer (although I am married to one) but it doesn't matter whether it is a small price to pay to walk away from a large obligation or not, the legalities win out every time.

It would be down to hotel to prove that the £500 was genuine loss rather than an arbitrary figure (which is seems to me).

s_b

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Then it shows how little you know about contracts / contract law. I don't profess to be a lawyer (although I am married to one) but it doesn't matter whether it is a small price to pay to walk away from a large obligation or not, the legalities win out every time.

It would be down to hotel to prove that the £500 was genuine loss rather than an arbitrary figure (which is seems to me).

i am saying this £500 can easily be swallowed up in booking other people advertising and of course refusing other people this date time venue
as one who has a wife in a profession ask her what figure she would suggest as a fair fee non returnable

somethingcorporate

s_b wrote: »

i am saying this £500 can easily be swallowed up in booking other people advertising and of course refusing other people this date time venue
as one who has a wife in a profession ask her what figure she would suggest as a fair fee non returnable

Depends if they can re-book it or not. They have a duty to mitigate losses. If they advertise as normal they can have this as a legitimate cost and if they cannot rebook they could theoretically sue for the entire amount. Given it is 14 months away it is unlikely (but not impossible). There is not set figure but assuming they just re-advertise and are successful in re-booking then whatever it costs to re-advertise this date only.

Couple of hundred quid, max? What would you suggest?

pcombo

Trading standards state that deposits do not need to be returned under any law, The venue can keep the full deposit, Otherwise what was the point in taken a full deposit in the first place just to give it back when someone cancelled, Doesn't work like that.

The hotel is within full legal rights to keep the full £500 without refunding. Regardless if they made a loss.

Googlies_2

pcombo wrote: »

Trading standards state that deposits do not need to be returned under any law, The venue can keep the full deposit, Otherwise what was the point in taken a full deposit in the first place just to give it back when someone cancelled, Doesn't work like that.

The hotel is within full legal rights to keep the full £500 without refunding. Regardless if they made a loss.

Where?
Cite please.

hcb42

I am sure most hotels will do their best to resell the space, after all, they were probably hoping for say £5K spend and now have £500.

Weddings generally book out further out than 14 months. Some are obviously short lead, but they do tend to be smaller numbers. Advertising is not cheap where weddings are concerned, so it would probably be down to luck if they resell it, but advertising one vacant day is unlikely to be productive

pcombo

http://viperandvine.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/refunds.pdf

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/kent/FAQanswers.htm

somethingcorporate

pcombo wrote: »

http://viperandvine.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/refunds.pdf

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/kent/FAQanswers.htm

Unfortunately both of these are clearly wrong. Any source of "law" that is covered in the oldest Microsoft Clipart is clearly an authoritative one!

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft311.pdf

I refer you to paragraph 4.3.

Any retention of a prepayment that amounts to a financial penalty would be an unfair term in the contract. Where the deposit was a genuine pre-estimate of loss then it would not be a financial penalty and hence could be retained. Whether £500 would be the case would be down to the party to prove. Just because a contract says a deposit is non-refundable does not make it so.

"Where customers cancel without any such justification, and the supplier suffers loss as a result, they cannot expect a full refund of all prepayments. But a term under which they always lose everything they have paid in advance, regardless of the amount of any costs and losses caused by the cancellation, is at clear risk of being considered an unfair penalty."