Prom limo no show

Nessun_Dorma

ellavaday wrote: »

Company's cancellation policy (from their website only, as we've had nothing in writing from them) is not time specific. It says "all monies are none (sic) refundable if you cancel for any reason."


Even them not turning up 20 minutes after they're supposed to? I think not.

Although, personally, I don't think twenty minutes is long enough to frustrate; by them adding such a ridiculous condition into their terms, they deserve to lose the fee.

Car_54

From my (ancient) memory of contract law, you need to stipulate that "time is of the essence" when you make the contract if you are later to rely on it.

Nessun_Dorma

Car_54 wrote: »

From my (ancient) memory of contract law, you need to stipulate that "time is of the essence" when you make the contract if you are later to rely on it.

I think that by actually stipulating the time that the service is required, may imply time is of the essence.

bigadaj

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

I think that by actually stipulating the time that the service is required, may imply time is of the essence.

Not true. Time is of the essence clauses have to be defintievly stipulated, and where they are many will not then sign, I've certainly declined on that basis.

Also the contract will have been formed on the suppliers terms, with no such clause included, unless the users have drafted their own contract and that has been accepted by the supplier.

Options seem to be written complaint and then try to sue through small claims, or go to trading standards.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Basic consumer law, that term is likely to be considered an unreasonable term by the sheer breadth of it (no mention of the timeliness of the cancellation for example - if you had cancelled 6 months ago they could still try and hold onto your money under that term), and as such that term may be considered to not exist by a judge.

In the small claims court the judge will consider what is reasonable. It is implicit in a booking of a limo for the prom that time is of the essence, on the other hand there is a certain amount of time that any reasonable person would be expected to tolerate due to factors beyond their control.

If you have had a message from the driver saying that he was not going to make it, then the limo company themselves have broken the contract and you have acted reasonably in taking alternative means of transport. However, it really depends on what was said - perhaps it was not going to make it by a certain time, not at all.

I would have thought the OP has a reasonable chance of a successful claim against the limo firm, but the doubt is whether the judge would consider that the OP acted reasonably in waiting 20 minutes. If I was going out and a taxi was 20 minutes late, I would consider it late enough to frustrate the agreement, whether it was for a meal or going to the airport - 20 minutes is enough to mess up arrangements - planning to arrive a little early to be on the safe side ends up spoiling things, and by 20 minutes you've lost confidence in the taxi arriving at all.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Unprofessional wide boy private hire operator, it wasn't the customers job to ensure the vehicle arrived on time, the driver would have known he was going to be late and should have been in contact with a reason and an updated timeline.

Things happen, roads get closed for a variety of reasons and delays sometimes cannot be avoided, but no excuse for not making contact and keeping the customer appraised.

Clive_Woody

Try calling Citizen's advice for some help on how to deal with this.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/protection-for-the-consumer/citizens-advice-consumer-service/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

Nessun_Dorma

Did the car turn up at all?

skipness

Has nobody else noticed that the OP mentioned 13 passengers.
To operate a 13 seat vehicle for hire and reward you need to be licensed as a bus/coach operator, not licence by the local authority as a taxi/private hire vehicle.

ellavaday

Update - the money has now gone back into my son's account. I assume that the letter I wrote to VISA has had some effect it but will wait to see what the post brings in way of explanation.
Thanks to those of you who posted helpful advice.