bad wedding venue hosts and non-refundable deposit?

Svenaldo

Hello


I was wondering if anybody had a similar experience having really bad wedding venue hosts.


The hosts of our initially selected venue were unbelievably unresponsive, unhelpful and did not communicate in an appropriate manner.
Their response time was totally unreasonable and in my opinion quite frankly unacceptable. We didn't have our wedding there in the end and are happy to have cancelled just in time.
The main problem now is, £2k Deposit Lost.

To share a few points briefly:
* It took them 3 months to confirm any kind of drinks prices.
* We waited 6 weeks for food prices. We expressed on many occasions how important it was for us to have a full costing from the hosts to enable us to send our invitations out.
* We never received a full written catering cost. Not even 3 months after signing the contract.
* After waiting 6 weeks for food prices the kids menu prices were forgotten

• We wrote an email cancelling our contract which wasn't acknowledged until 2 weeks later when they saw that I made a Facebook Page and Web Site to make other people aware.

NewtonhouseWeddingsReviews

We know of other couples going through a similar drama. Here are some quotes of them:
- Paid the deposit, it was agreed that we could bring in our own caterers, so we went ahead and booked and then they turned around and said they didn't agree that. We had a meeting with them to discuss the situation, which ended in them losing their temper and acting unprofessionally. Not an atmosphere we want for a wedding, but if we turn them down for their unprofessional behaviour, we'll lose our deposit.
- We have also been concerned about the time taken to get answers
- They have ruined everything, changed the goal posts, lied, and increased prices or threatened to not provide the food!!! We've had to pay another £400 this evening in fact!


Surely those guys can be stopped somehow! It's not about my money. We just want to stop those hosts destroying other people's wedding day!
Any help would be appreciated.


Thank you!


Sven

pinkshoes

Other that stating a factual review, nothing else you can do.

How much notice did you give to cancel?

unholyangel

Have you all reported them to your local TS?

How did you pay the deposit?

vorny86

Hi,
Sorry, I have a similar problem in terms of wedding refunds and hope you don't mind me asking for advice here too!
I paid a deposit on a wedding venue but have had to cancel, I paid on 2nd June and cancelled on 30 June, I had not received any confirmation of my booking in writing and had been told that after handing over the deposit (which was in the form of a cheque) I would receive a contract to be signed and sent back, which I never did.
I called to cancel and asked about the deposit and they said the terms and conditions were stated on the back of the contract, when I explained I was never sent a contract they seemed surprised and said they would see what they could do but are now saying due to terms and conditions they can not offer me a refund.

Any idea's if I am entitled to anything back?

Thanks

Svenaldo

pinkshoes wrote: »

Other that stating a factual review, nothing else you can do.
How much notice did you give to cancel?

Hi pinkshoes

We booked in January, cancelled in April and the wedding is in October. So for me, that is plenty! They haven't put any work in it.

Svenaldo

unholyangel wrote: »

Have you all reported them to your local TS?
How did you pay the deposit?

Hi unholyangel

Thanks for your reply.
No we haven't. I didn't think of that so thank you very much for that tip. I'll do that straight away.

We paid by bank transfer. Wish it would have been credit card.

bod1467

Svenaldo wrote: »

We paid by bank transfer.

Short of taking them to court (and even if/when you win there's no guarantee they'll pay up) then you can probably wave bye-bye to your money.

Unless you know (personally and can vouch for them) who you are paying, NEVER pay by bank transfer. If that's the only payment mechanism a company offers, find another company.

browneyedbazzi

What does your contract say about cancellations?

Is there anything in the contract about service standards (ie how they will communicate with you and the turnaround time for responses to queries) or about when you will receive information like the drinks/food price lists?