Trade Stand Refund

KJM42

Morning

I'm new on here, so I hope that I'm posting in the right place and that someone will be able to help. Please bear with me....

Last July I signed up to do two Christmas Fairs in December (I make and sell jewellery). The two Fairs were being organised by an Event Organiser, there were going to be over 200 Exhibitors with the expectation of a very large footfall.

To have a stand was £50 for each Fair, but as I was booking two I received a 10% discount, so I paid £90 in total - £45 for each Fair.

Six days before the first Fair I received an email from the Event Organiser to say that they were having to cancel the Fair - no reason was given - and asked that Exhibitors send their bank details to them and they would refund the money (£45). I was hugely disappointed as I'd been preparing for a long time but as I'd still got the second Fair the following weekend I focussed on that.

Three days before the second Fair I received an email from the Event Organiser to say that they had been let down by their logistics team and we needed to take our own 6ft+ table/stand, and chairs. There was no way that I could lay my hands on a table big enough and also I wouldn't have been able to fit it into the car.

I emailed back and complained saying that it was unacceptable to be let down like this. To my horror I received a response back saying that they'd cancelled my stand as I'd been aggressive and they would refund me the £45. I was devastated as I've never been called aggressive in my life! Yes, I was firm in my email as I wasn't happy, but I wasn't aggressive. I replied to the Organiser explaining how upset I was, and apologised, and they said that I could if I wanted go along and use one of the stands there if I put it up myself. If I'd have known this in the first place I would have happily done that...but by this time I'd cancelled my childcare that I'd got arranged for the Fair (as I thought I'd been stopped from going!), and now I wasn't able to go as I couldn't find anyone else to have my child!

We're now in February and I haven't received a refund for either of the Fairs. I emailed the Event Organiser at the end of December and I was told that I would receive the refund shortly. I've emailed a few times since and but I'm getting no reply at all. I fear my email may have been blocked.

I feel that perhaps I'm on dodgy ground with expecting a refund for the second Fair as in the end I could have attended it if I hadn't have lost my childcare (although I feel I was mucked about, and the way it was all dealt with was very unnecessary and unprofessional). But I feel I'm definitely owed a refund for the first Fair that was cancelled.

So....I don't know what to do. Should I just let it go and write it off as a bad experience, or should I chase. My gut feeling is the latter. £90 is a lot of money to me and it's the principal. Trouble is, I don't know how to go about it all. I've been researching online but I'm just getting so confused.

If you've read this far, thank you. Any advice would be massively appreciated.

Gavin83

Send them a letter before action giving them 14 days to refund the money or you'll be issuing court proceedings against them. You can find templates for these letters online.

Also I'd certainly go for the full £90, they chose to cancel the second event too.

bigisi

This isn't a consumer rights issue - it's a B2B transaction. You need to check the terms of the contract between you and the organisers to see what happens in this instance.

KJM42

Ahh, okay.
I checked the paperwork from the organisers when it first happened, all I received from them was the booking confirmation so I don't really know where I stand if I have no actual contract/T&Cs.
Thank you.

pramsay13

Phone them.
I know it's a lot to you but in their account book this won't be a lot of money, and they will be sorting out the mess from the first cancelled fair so that's probably taking up their attention.

pinkshoes

bigisi wrote: »

This isn't a consumer rights issue - it's a B2B transaction. You need to check the terms of the contract between you and the organisers to see what happens in this instance.

Both organisers have already agreed to the refund though, so this is irrelevant.

They need to refund in full.

Send a letter before action to the person you paid giving them 14 days to refund before court action.

agrinnall

You haven't said how you paid, but if you used a card then you may be able to do a Chargeback - if it's allowed for a B2B transaction then it should be successful for the first £45, and worth a try with the second.

KJM42

I paid by online bank transfer (probably naively) so I don't think I'll be able to try Chargeback, unfortunately, but thank you.