Wedding cancellation - lost deposit

JoBobT

We've recently had to cancel our wedding, due to money issues. We paid our venue £1100 non refundable deposit. Obviously at the time we didn't think we'd have to cancel so thought nothing of it. The venue refuse to return any of the deposit and I feel it is unfair as the date was April 2018 and there was plenty of time to re sell that date.
Is there anything we can do to try and claim back? Would a small claims court look in our favour or we would we likely to end up with more money to fork out 😞
Any help greatly appreciated.

cono1717

If you cancel the contract, the business is generally only entitled to keep or receive an amount sufficient to cover their actual losses that directly result from your cancellation and they must take reasonable steps to reduce their losses.

They'd need to be able to prove these losses in small claims court.

Note however, if that happens to be the £1100 (which I doubt) then you are not entitled to it back, basically they cannot profit from it twice.

Also, nor can you say "They could resell it again" they could but if they don't they have incurred a loss through no fault of their own. They have to be seen to be trying but ultimately if they don't resell it you have to foot the losses.

JoBobT

How do you work out was is a reasonable amount? Is it worth writing to them to ask for the deposit back, pointing out my plan to claim via small claims court and consumer right etc. Or go straight to court?
I really don't want to be left out of pocket

pimento

If it was a non refundable deposit and there was a likelyhood of you not being able to afford it, wedding insurance might have been a good idea.

What percentage of the final bill was the £1100?

cono1717

JoBobT wrote: »

How do you work out was is a reasonable amount? Is it worth writing to them to ask for the deposit back, pointing out my plan to claim via small claims court and consumer right etc. Or go straight to court?

You can point out your plan to go to small claims all you like but they might well be in their rights to keep that money, ask them for an itemised list of the costs to them, if this says something like "venue hire" well then there is a chance that this could be resold and if it is they need to refund that item, however if things have already been purchased or paid out (which again they must provide proof for) that are for your wedding that they can't resell then you have to pay that.

JoBobT wrote: »

I really don't want to be left out of pocket

Unfortunately that is not your call, that is the call of the business and the court and sheer luck in these things. As mentioned above for next time insurance may be the best idea.

JoBobT

I do have wedding insurance, but I'm pretty sure 'not being able to afford it's due to lack of work, would be an acceptable reason to claim.

It was for venue hire, and meals (which wouldn't have been paid out for yet).

JoBobT

Oh and the deposit was 25% of cost

steampowered

It is perfectly legal for a business to have a non-refundable deposit. The business does not have to prove any loss (the requirement to prove loss only applies to legal claims for breach of contract; not a legal claim for the agreed price of a good or service).

However you have some protection under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. This provides that 'unfair terms' are not enforceable against consumers.

Schedule 2 of the Consumer Rights Act gives two examples of unfair terms which will be helpful for you:

4 - A term which has the object or effect of permitting the trader to retain sums paid by the consumer where the consumer decides not to conclude or perform the contract, without providing for the consumer to receive compensation of an equivalent amount from the trader where the trader is the party cancelling the contract.

5 - A term which has the object or effect of requiring that, where the consumer decides not to conclude or perform the contract, the consumer must pay the trader a disproportionately high sum in compensation or for services which have not been supplied.

Do you think that either of these apply?

If so, you should write to the venue stating that a term which allows them to hold onto the entire deposit in these circumstances is an 'unfair term' under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and that if a refund is not made you will have to consider making a claim against them in the county court for a refund of the deposit.

A 25% deposit for a wedding in April 2018 does sound disproportionately high to me, especially if they are trying to hold onto it even if they are able to re-sell the dates.

Gavin83

JoBobT wrote: »

I do have wedding insurance, but I'm pretty sure 'not being able to afford it's due to lack of work, would be an acceptable reason to claim.

Your wedding insurance might cover inability to pay due to loss of work, you need to check the conditions of the insurance. It may potentially depend on why your out of work though, ie: they'll cover a redundancy but not someone being sacked.

Shaka_Zulu

The long and short of it is that if they don't fill your booking they could come back to you for more than the £1,100. (Unlikely)

Bit in all likelihood they will fill the booking in which case all they can really hold back is any discount (unlikely), any admin cost and any cost of advertising.

Assuming they do fill the slot then I think £100-£300 will cover that and probably the lower end of that scale.

Probably a waiting game until closer to the date.

glentoran99

JoBobT wrote: »

I do have wedding insurance, but I'm pretty sure 'not being able to afford it's due to lack of work, would be an acceptable reason to claim.

It was for venue hire, and meals (which wouldn't have been paid out for yet).

What does it cover? Often wondered what the point of it is?