Can I get deposit back on cancelled wedding?

pgree24

Hi there

A few weeks ago my fiance booked a hotel for our wedding reception over the telephone following a show around. He paid a deposit of £3000 over the telephone on MY debit card. We have now had to cancel the wedding and the hotel have advised us there is a £800.00 non refundable deposit so will only refund me £2200.00. I personally have not entered into a verbal or written contract with anyone and as far as I am concerned I never authorised £3000 to be taken off my debit card. The hotel did send paperwork out to us but i have not signed anything nor has my partner. Does anyone have any advice? Do I have any chance of getting my £800 back?
Thanks

munchpot

I'm new to the forum but have been reading for a long time.

I think you are going to have to pay the £800 they are asking. In your comments you say that he paid a £3000 deposit. As a few weeks have passed between booking and cancelling the venue, they could argue that they had turned someone else away in that time, so maybe you're lucky they are only keeping the £800

Also you say that you never authorised them to take £3000 off your debit card. But you let your fiance use your card. If you didn't then your only recourse would be to report the transaction to your bank and prosecute your fiance for theft.

Sorry.

wannabehermit

A deposit is usually non-refundable, what does it say in the t&c?

I get what you're saying that your fiance used your card and they took payment without gaining your authorisation which they shouldn't have done, but you can't now start using that as an excuse just because you've cancelled your wedding.

If you had issue with that you should have taken it up with them at time of booking, not at time of cancellation.

unholyangel

They can only claim for provable losses and they have a duty to mitigate their losses.

When is the wedding scheduled to take place? If it is far in the future, I would expect their actual losses only to be small administrative costs. As them to provide a breakdown of how they arrived at the £800 figure.

A figure that is not a genuine estimation of loss is open to being challenged under the unfair contract terms act.

The only reason you'd really have any grounds to complain about him using your card is if he actually did it without your permission in which case you should have a crime reference number already.

wealdroam

pgree24 wrote: »

I personally have not entered into a verbal or written contract with anyone and as far as I am concerned I never authorised £3000 to be taken off my debit card.

Did you not authorise your partner to use your debit card for this purpose?

pgree24 wrote: »

The hotel did send paperwork out to us but i have not signed anything nor has my partner.

No need to have signed anything.
Simply handing over the card details signifies the agreement of your partner (and hence you, see above) to the deal.

InsideInsurance

The fact you are alleging that your fiance stole your card is really nought to do with the company. You could inform your bank that it is an unauthorised transaction but some banks will require you to report your fiance to the police for theft/ fraud before they will take it as an "unorthorised transaction" seriously when it involves close family members. It may be that you get you money back but that doesnt then remove the fact the hotel would claim they are owed £800. No one external can tell you how much the hotel would pursue the debt or if they write it off.

pgree24

Thanks everyone
The wedding was booked for 4 weeks time, we only booked it 4 weeks ago. I appreciate the hotel need to cover themselves but feb is such a quiet time I doubt they will have another booking (hence why it was available when we booked it 4 weeks ago). I am struggling to understand how the £800 makes up for any losses tho, nothing would have been ordered in or organised at this stage as it was such a very small ceremony. The whole thing is very upsetting as it is it would have just been nice to recoup some of the costs. Thanks anyway.

vax2002

A £3000 deposit ?
First rule of ANY deposit on ANYTHING
Never pay what you are not prepared to loose.
Limit your deposit to what you are prepared to loose in the event of either side pulling out.
However I suspect you may have just found that out.

All you can do is WAIT until you have the other £2200 safely back and thank the pixie god for that, then ask them to send a taxed bill for the £800, a taxed bill is a breakdown of the figures they have used to calculate the loss.
If they claim it is for lost goods bought in, frozen food etc, they must give you the items.
If they refuse or can not then the loss becomes a penalty which can be re-claimed via the county court system, you reclaim it ALL on the case that it represents a penalty and not a account of actual losses and let the hotel counter claim what losses they can account for, lost profits is not one of them, they can only claim actual losses.
Write an ask for a "taxed" invoice of charges in relation to the £800 losses they claim to have suffered.
They will most likely ignore you, then issue a letter before action and follow up with a money online claim.

malkie76

With such a close date won't they simply claim they turned away business on the understanding you had booking their venue ?
Have you simply changed your mind, or is there another reason for you to cancel this venue ? Assuming you have wedding insurance you can claim for the lost deposit if there is a solid reason that you cannot use that venue.

(If you don't have insurance I would strongly recommend getting some to cover yourself)

maninthestreet

Is the reason for the cancellation because you have fallen out with your fiance because he thinks it's ok to use your debit card without your permission??

somethingcorporate

It's pretty much covered above but here is the FAQ guide to deposits:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=42873192&postcount=16