Cattery won't allow cancellation

sunnypopsta

Hi all,
My mother who is in her 80's booked her cat into a cattery on the 31st of August, she has tried to cancel today (the holiday starts on the 11th of August). They have told her she cannot cancel and will still have to pay the full price. I have had a look on their web site and there is no information on cancellations on their terms and conditions.

I would think she should not have to pay although we expected a cancellation fee this seems excessive

martinsurrey

They will be relying on the The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013

Section 28 regarding the limitations to rights to a refund.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/28/made

particularly

"(h)the supply of accommodation, transport of goods, vehicle rental services, catering or services related to leisure activities, if the contract provides for a specific date or period of performance."

Now does cattery space conform to "accommodation"?

That would be for a court to decide.

unholyangel

I would say its not accommodation - accommodation would be like a hotel booking. Where the subject of the contract here is clearly not to provide accommodation for the cat but rather provide it care (of which accommodation is a part).

However even if it is, the service provider would still need to provide all necessary information before the consumer is bound by the contract (its only the right to cancel that those services are excluded from, not any of the other requirements).

And had they done that correctly, it still wouldn't stop the consumer from cancelling - it would just mean they couldn't cancel without incurring liability. In wrongful cancellation circumstances, the party not in breach has a duty to mitigate their losses and there is no entitlement to any amount that could be reasonable saved (ie they could sell it to someone else - although unlikely at such short notice, just including it for completeness).