Excessive cancellation charge for wedding band

Liam21

We were due to be getting married later this year but had to postpone our plans because of some family circumstances.

We had booked a band costing £1500 and paid a £150 deposit.

The contract we signed with the bands promoter states that cancellations within 14 days of the event would incur the whole cost and anything outside that would incur 50% of the cost. We gave them just over four and a half months notice, so they are now requesting £600 (to make up 50% of the cost).

The Competitions and Markets Authority Guidance says that contracts "must take into account what your business is actually losing as a result. It must not be excessive." It feels that this falls into the excessive category, rather than covering anything they've actually lost.

I've written to them asking if we can settle with them keeping the deposit but there's been no reply. Obviously reluctant for them to take this to court - but also don't want to pay an excessive fee if we don't have to.

Any thoughts?

In particular is it worth chasing them again about our offer to settle on the deposit?

Aylesbury_Duck

Aside from the obvious question: "Why did you sign the contract in the first place if you think the clause is excessive?", I think you're right. If they are able to get another booking at the same rate on the same day then they have lost nothing and therefore you have a case for the return of your deposit, minus any genuine expenses they may have incurred.

As things stand, you're in a strong position, assuming you are happy to lose the £150. You have "their" outstanding £600. Let them sue you for it, upon which they would have to provide evidence that they had mitigated their losses and shown that they have been unable to secure a replacement booking.

ETA: When was the wedding due to take place? In other words, are you four and a half months away from the date, or is the date coming up in the next couple of months and they haven't secured another booking so far?

davidmcn

Probably depends on their specific market - if they are a "wedding" band, and typically get booked more than 4.5 months in advance, they may argue they've already turned away any likely alternative bookings for that day because their diary was full. But yes in general they have a duty to mitigate their loss.

Liam21

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

As things stand, you're in a strong position, assuming you are happy to lose the £150. You have "their" outstanding £600. Let them sue you for it, upon which they would have to provide evidence that they had mitigated their losses and shown that they have been unable to secure a replacement booking.

ETA: When was the wedding due to take place? In other words, are you four and a half months away from the date, or is the date coming up in the next couple of months and they haven't secured another booking so far?

My main worry with letting them sue is impact on credit rating etc if we lose...

We cancelled back in Feb - it was supposed to be in June.

bigisi

Liam21 wrote: »

My main worry with letting them sue is impact on credit rating etc if we lose...

And have you looked into the impact of losing and what that means for your "credit rating"?

davidmcn

Liam21 wrote: »

My main worry with letting them sue is impact on credit rating etc if we lose

You'd still have the opportunity to decide whether to settle with them based on (a) whether they bother to sue at all and (b) the relative strength of each side's case. For the sake of a few hundred quid which they might not win, it's likely they won't bother.

GillsMan7

Get someone to ring up and see if they are free for a booking on the date you'd originally booked. If they aren't then they have already filled that space, there is no loss, and they'd be highly unlikely to win if they sued you for the £600.

Liam21

davidmcn wrote: »

You'd still have the opportunity to decide whether to settle with them based on (a) whether they bother to sue at all and (b) the relative strength of each side's case. For the sake of a few hundred quid which they might not win, it's likely they won't bother.

Is it the case that if they sued we could just settle straight away and just pay the £600 without any other impact?

GillsMan7 wrote: »

Get someone to ring up and see if they are free for a booking on the date you'd originally booked. If they aren't then they have already filled that space, there is no loss, and they'd be highly unlikely to win if they sued you for the £600.

That was my thinking...although they have said the cancellation is not complete till we've paid them, so they could just be saying they're not available on the grounds they're still technically booked for us.

agrinnall

Liam21 wrote: »

Is it the case that if they sued we could just settle straight away and just pay the £600 without any other impact?

Yes, although you'd also have to pay their filing fee, which would be £60 or £70 depending on whether the claim was made online or on paper.

Aylesbury_Duck

If you've got a record of notifying them four months before the date then a small claims court would probably accept that you had cancelled, even if the band is trying to say that you didn't cancel. Remember, for them to successfully pursue you for the £600 they have to show that they have made effort to minimise their losses. Keeping your booking after you've notified them you don't need it and not re-marketing the date isn't minimising their losses.

Again, you're in a good position as I see it. They will have to take action if they want anything more than the deposit they already hold. If they take that action, you could counter-claim for the £150 deposit and it would be up to them to justify their administrative expenses and other costs in order to not hand it back to you entirely or in part.

DoaM

The ONLY time credit rating is affected is:

1. IF someone takes you to court; and
2. IF they win the claim; and
3. IF you don't pay the judgment within the specified period

Item 1 is in their control
Item 2 you could supply a robust defence - it would be up to a judge to decide on the balance of probabilities whose evidence he believes
Item 3 would be entirely in YOUR control

As you can see, there's a lot has to happen, including you being lackadaisical, before any credit rating impact can occur.