Wedding Supplier - Not refunding our money

soapstar88

Hi,

Really concerned. We get married in 4 weeks and have potentially lost a big part of our wedding due to an incompetent supplier.

I would like advice on where we stand with trying to get our money back, if anyone can offer any advice that would be appreciated.

- Contacted supplier (do not wish to name drop, yet) enquiring about one of their products, very quick and responsive. We hire their product in April and make payment via bank transfer after receiving their invoice. Told we will receive receipt and confirmation when we pay. All is good.

- Next day I email them simply asking if they have received our payment. Responded with being very busy and will get the formal receipt out asap. OK thats fair enough!

- Week later. Email again asking for receipt, no response.

- Next day. Email again asking for receipt, no response.

- Finally get response. Again they are very busy and will get receipt out asap. Getting worried now.

- Over 4 weeks pass and no receipt received.

- Email yet again asking for further details/confirmation on the product. No response!

- Phone all of their phone numbers as advertised on their website. Phone lines are all dead.

- Resort to messaging them on facebook. Took 3 messages over a week to get a response. Again very busy and will get back to me in 24 hours. You can see where this is going now...

- 48 hours pass, no response.

- Today ask to cancel hire and demand refund. Immediate response from them saying we are not entitled to a refund as its less than 30 days to the hire date as in their 'terms and conditions'

We never received any formal confirmation or receipt, let alone anything stating any terms and conditions of hire when we booked. They have messed us around for long enough and I feel we are within our rights to get a refund given we did not agree or sign any form of contract with them.

Could anyone please help us with this situation? Its a lot of money and we are desperate given our wedding is less than 4 weeks away.


Thank you

Rosemary7391

Email, phone, facebook... do they have a physical shop or a business address?

Are the terms and conditions on the website anywhere?

soapstar88

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

Email, phone, facebook... do they have a physical shop or a business address?

Are the terms and conditions on the website anywhere?

Hi,

Sorry I should have mentioned they are located at the other end of the country so actaully physically getting their is not practical, not at the moment anyway.

There is a link to terms and conditions on their website, none of which mention refund periods. These terms and conditions are a PDF to which the customer signs and dates at the bottom, we did not receive or sign anything.

Thanks

London50

The first red flag to me was " We hire their product in April and make payment via bank transfer"
I hear so many stories of people paying that way never see goods or get refunds. While it may not be the case for you I do think you will end up with no goods and no refund unless you choose the small claims court way and even then it would be hard.
I would never use any company that requests bank transfers as you have little or no protection if things go awry, sorry :0(

soapstar88

London50 wrote: »

The first red flag to me was " We hire their product in April and make payment via bank transfer"
I hear so many stories of people paying that way never see goods or get refunds. While it may not be the case for you I do think you will end up with no goods and no refund unless you choose the small claims court way and even then it would be hard.
I would never use any company that requests bank transfers as you have little or no protection if things go awry, sorry :0(

I am so gutted right now. Even though we have an invoice from them and proof of a bank transfer to their account?

unholyangel

What details do you have of the company? Website, limited company name, address etc?

Tbh bank transfer (except in some very select circumstances) is a red flag - theres no alternative ways to try and get a refund, you're limited to sending a letter before action, filing at court and hoping (especially if they're a ltd company) that they have the funds to pay you.


Whether you have a right to cancel will depend on what goods/services you contracted for.

soapstar88

unholyangel wrote: »

What details do you have of the company? Website, limited company name, address etc?

Tbh bank transfer (except in some very select circumstances) is a red flag - theres no alternative ways to try and get a refund, you're limited to sending a letter before action, filing at court and hoping (especially if they're a ltd company) that they have the funds to pay you.


Whether you have a right to cancel will depend on what goods/services you contracted for.

They are a registered limited company with an address and full name. Surely to anyone this case seems so unfair? Small claims will end up costing us money I presume. The only step left is to travel to the address and end this

Rosemary7391

Small claims costs but if you win they'll have to pay those costs. Difficult if it's far away but at least you do have an address.

What sort of thing is it? I guess if it turns up you'll be happy enough, it's just the stress of not knowing? I'm just wondering if it's practical to make a back up arrangement that can be cancelled if they do come good but that depends on what it is.

No one said it was fair. Sorry

soapstar88

Well I guess we arent going to see anything now. The last thing we heard was we wasn't entitled to a refund and they stopped responding. Its a music system for our wedding reception

[Deleted User]

soapstar88 wrote: »

The only step left is to travel to the address and end this

If you intend to do that, look on Google Earth to see in advance what you can expect. If they don't actually have a shopfront, there may be no one there for you to confront.

gettingtheresometime

Have you checked the company details on the Companies House website to confirm they actually are a ltd?