Craft fair cancelled but no refund - what can I do?

gjs6385

Hi all,

Firstly, I'm not sure if this is in the right section. Apologies if not and please feel free to move it to the most appropriate area.

In April last year I booked and fully paid for a stall at a craft fair to be held in December.

Something then came up which meant I wouldn't be able to attend. I therefore e-mailed the organiser at the end of August as soon as I was aware and told her. I requested a refund but she said no as it was my choice not to go and the booking form stated that the offer of a refund was at the organiser's discretion and would only be offered in exceptional circumstances.

I then offered her details of a potential alternative stallholder so that hopefully she wouldn't lose out and have an empty table (although I'm sure she would have been easily able to find a replacement card maker at a Christmas fair in Derbyshire) and also this time explained why I couldn't attend - as my mum was scheduled to go for an operation the day before and I was due to look after her over the weekend of the event. I said I hoped my situation would be sufficient to obtain a refund especially as she still had 3 months to find a replacement but I didn't receive a response despite me sending her a chaser e-mail.

About 2 weeks before the event was due to take place my mum's operation date was moved, which meant I was available again. I was at another event the week before and had planned to speak to the organiser as she was nearby to see if she had managed to get a replacement, and if not, then tell her I could still go. Unfortunately I didn't manage to talk to her on that day, but when I got home after the event I checked on the organiser's Facebook page, which said the whole event had been cancelled and anyone who had paid would get a full refund "when funds are available".

Although I had said I couldn't go, I still expect to receive a refund of my £25 as there was no option for me to attend due to the cancellation. To date there has been no refund given to me, her Facebook page has been taken down and I have texted her but she hasn't responded.

It just seems strange that as the event was cancelled, then why the money to refund wasn't available straight away, as she wouldn't have paid for the venue other than possibly a deposit, which she would take the risk of losing out on by cancelling.

She had also done a previous event in August which I didn't go to, but I gather from reading some comments on her Facebook page wasn't particulary great, although I thought the Christmas one would generally be busier due to the time of year.

My questions are do you think I was due a refund as I had ultimately paid for an event that was cancelled? Also, how do I go about obtaining the refund as promised?

Thanks.
Gareth.

Generali

You'll have to sue to get the money back or at least threaten to I suspect. As this is a business contract rather than a consumer one you aren't given the usual consumer protections and the rule caveat emptor applies.

TBH, given the tiny amount of money involved I'd send a letter threatening court action and if that doesn't do the job, give up.

frugal_mike

Do you know why the craft fair was cancelled? Did the company organising it go out of business?

sheramber

which said the whole event had been cancelled and anyone who had paid would get a full refund "when funds are available".

I think that may be relevant- no money.

lincroft1710

I don't know how much value you place upon your time and I accept there is a principle, but for £25 it is really not worth pursuing.

Collabora

a lot of these events take stall holders money to pay for marquees etc, which even then would not fully cover the expense, but should have insurance to cover the event if it is cancelled, if they don't then its badly organised and they should claim on this so stallholders get their money back.

I have done many fairs over the last 10 years and only had 1 cancel and that was due to the 2008 floods in the north east, but i never got refunded, they send letters to say they they would use the money for the following year, so it would cost nothing for a stall the following year or i had to call them if i did want a refund

PasturesNew

The bottom line comes down to the following salient points:
- it was a business transaction, not a consumer one, so less 'protection', unless your contract specifically stated that you have a valid reclaim situation.
- it was only £25
- it was your choice in the first instance to cancel anyway.

So, beyond that, you can argue until you're blue in the face, or you can accept that with a business you should be able to make that amount of money with 2-3 hours working on your business/elsewhere/doing another market - rather than chewing up your time and worry on something that's pretty inconsequential in the long run.

agrinnall

Collabora wrote: »

a lot of these events take stall holders money to pay for marquees etc, which even then would not fully cover the expense, but should have insurance to cover the event if it is cancelled, if they don't then its badly organised and they should claim on this so stallholders get their money back.

But insurance would only pay out if the event was cancelled due to something that the insurance covered, like the weather. If that is the case then yes, the organisers ought to have money to refund people, but I suspect that it may have been cancelled by the organisers because they could see that the event wasn't going to make a profit.

Collabora

agrinnall wrote: »

But insurance would only pay out if the event was cancelled due to something that the insurance covered, like the weather.

depends on the cover, you can get cover for all situations now. A lot of the fairs i have done have been small country shows to raise funds for local organisations and i have never paid more than £30, so in most cases if they cancelled i would never want a refund anyway.