Deposit on wedding - help needed!

ACDC1978

Is there (lawfully) such a thing as a non-refundable deposit? We paid a £750 deposit to a hotel on a wedding for July 2013 to save our date, then we were sent a wedding contract which we didn't sign until we had decided what to do for certain. We changed our mind regarding our date after deciding we are going to need more money than anticipated. We sent an email to the hotel stating that as we had not signed or agreed to anything could we possibly claim our deposit back. They have replied saying that even though we hadn't signed a contract our deposit is subject to their standard cancellation policy... why weren't we informed of the standard cancellation policy when handing the deposit over??? Have questioned this with them but not received a reply yet, £750 is a lot of money that we can't afford to lose, I'm stressed now Can anyone help me?

Forwandert

You have already received accurate responses in your other thread. Not entirely sure why you've reposted it to be honest.

duchy

Surely that was what the deposit was for -to reserve your date so they couldn't sell it to anyone else ? You've now changed your minds .

As for why were you not told.....well why didn't you ask what conditions there were before handing over a large sum of money ?

It's just like cancelling a holiday -if you change your mind you lose the deposit-or ordering a sofa etc.

Have you asked the venue if you postponed rather than cancelled your date if the deposit could be transferred either all of it or in part ?

ACDC1978

Forwandert wrote: »

You have already received accurate responses in your other thread. Not entirely sure why you've reposted it to be honest.

Reposted as the CAB suggested...

ACDC1978

duchy wrote: »

Surely that was what the deposit was for -to reserve your date so they couldn't sell it to anyone else ? You've now changed your minds .

As for why were you not told.....well why didn't you ask what conditions there were before handing over a large sum of money ?

It's just like cancelling a holiday -if you change your mind you lose the deposit-or ordering a sofa etc.

Have you asked the venue if you postponed rather than cancelled your date if the deposit could be transferred either all of it or in part ?

Been thinking about that, perhaps changing the date and they keep the deposit... we were happy with the venue just need extra time!

arcon5

CAB advised you to repost on MSE :huh:

Your deposit is sufficient for them to prove a contract exists. The point of a deposit is to form a contract, how would you feel if the tables was turned and their defence was this?

You are in breach of contract an can be made liable for their losses. They would have a duty to mitigate such losses by re advertising the date as available. I cannot see them having grounds to just keeping 100% off the deposit though. Unless closer to the date the room was still not let out.

mildred1978

arcon5 wrote: »

CAB advised you to repost on MSE :huh:

.

Check the other thread - that's exactly what they advised.

arcon5

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/42873192#Comment_42873192

This will provide more clarity on deposits

agrinnall

arcon5 wrote: »

CAB advised you to repost on MSE :huh:

Very likely, the CAB board now states that if something is posted that isn't in their core remit they suggest that the topic is reposted elsewhere (although it would be simpler if the CAB reps could just move the thread).

Optimist

ACDC1978 wrote: »

Is there (lawfully) such a thing as a non-refundable deposit? We paid a £750 deposit to a hotel on a wedding for July 2013 to save our date, then we were sent a wedding contract which we didn't sign until we had decided what to do for certain. We changed our mind regarding our date after deciding we are going to need more money than anticipated. We sent an email to the hotel stating that as we had not signed or agreed to anything could we possibly claim our deposit back. They have replied saying that even though we hadn't signed a contract our deposit is subject to their standard cancellation policy... why weren't we informed of the standard cancellation policy when handing the deposit over??? Have questioned this with them but not received a reply yet, £750 is a lot of money that we can't afford to lose, I'm stressed now Can anyone help me?

Whilst giving the deposit is evidence of a contract between you. There are no terms in said contract as you haven't signed or verbally agreed any.

Even if you had signed a contract with a clause that stated they could keep all the deposit, it might be deemed to be unfair in a court of law.

On the basis of your post above, the hotel would seem to have no legal justification in keeping the deposit.

arcon5

Optimist wrote: »

Whilst giving the deposit is evidence of a contract between you. There are no terms in said contract as you haven't signed or verbally agreed any.

Even if you had signed a contract with a clause that stated they could keep all the deposit, it might be deemed to be unfair in a court of law.

On the basis of your post above, the hotel would seem to have no legal justification in keeping the deposit.

That's not right.

There are no grounds for op to be rescinding from the contract, op doesn't have a statutory right to cancel the booking therefore the only way tO get out of it is by breaching the contract.

Op has been presented with terms and may well be deemed to have acted in a way which could be deemed to have accepted them by not cancelling up on being presented with them.

Even in the absence of terms, the head terms are explicit (date, price etc) and anything else would be whatever is implied by law (Sales of Goods and Services Act) and any disputes would be dealt with based on what is seen as 'reasonable' - for which it is NOT reasonable to expect the company to suffer losses as a result of the breach, but IS reasonable for the party responsible for the breach to reimburse the affected party.