Does section 75 cover a wedding venue?

Steve823

Hi there
Hope I'm posting this in the right place.
I wanted to ask some advice on an issue I have with my wedding venue. They have reduced the size of their premises and therefore their offering is not the same as what was promised to us. I am seriously considering backing out of using them. There is no contract and we have paid a fairly substantial deposit. They are a 'local' business and don't work with contracts. I know this is uncommon and not ideal in certain respects.

My question, the above being the state of play at the moment, is: if we were to back out of using them and they refused to return our deposit, would we be able to claim against them using section 75 through our credit card company (Amex)?
Thanks for any help you may be able to give!

grumbler

A CC company pays s75 claims from their own pocket.
You don't have any rights against the CC company that you don't have against the supplier.
So, if the supplier refuses to cancel everything and refund the deposit, and you cannot sue them because of luck of proofs, most likely the CC company will similarly reject your claim.

MSE article: Section 75 refunds

nearlyrich

Did you get wedding insurance?

InsideInsurance

Theyve reduced it such that they can no longer cater for the size of your party or they can still do it but they dont have a second function room that you werent going to be using?

Presumably it is an American Express Credit Card and not one of their Charge Cards?

Do you have evidence what you paid them the money for (eg venue for 200 people) and anything from them to say they can no longer cater for 200 people?

chanz4

magic word here no contract

InsideInsurance

chanz4 wrote: »

magic word here no contract

There is a contract, it may just be a verbal one but there has been an offer, acceptance and consideration thus a contract has been formed

chattychappy

InsideInsurance wrote: »

There is a contract, it may just be a verbal one but there has been an offer, acceptance and consideration thus a contract has been formed

Yep. Always makes me laugh when gyms/mobile phone companies advertise something as "no contract", but still expect to take your money in return for which you expect something to happen. (And plenty of T+Cs to boot.)

That said, genuinely there could be a situation of "no contract" if there was no certainty of terms. But that doesn't seem to apply here.

eddddy

Steve823 wrote: »

...
My question, the above being the state of play at the moment, is: if we were to back out of using them and they refused to return our deposit, would we be able to claim against them using section 75 through our credit card company (Amex)?

As others have said, you have a verbal contract with the wedding venue. (i.e. you have made an agreement)

If they breach the contract (i.e. break the agreement) or misrepresented something (e.g. misled you about the size of the venue), you can claim your losses either from the wedding venue or the credit card company.

So it depends on what was agreed when you paid the money - and whether the wedding venue dispute what was agreed.

chanz4

its proving the breach which will be the issue here though, it will be a he say she say one

SnowTiger

chanz4 wrote: »

its proving the breach which will be the issue here though, it will be a he say she say one

I wonder how the OP was informed about the change.

If it was by letter or email that would be proof.