Wedding recharge

typeractive

Hi all,
I'll try keep this brief. Due to the corvid 19, our wedding has needed to be postponed. It's a Spring 2020 wedding, and we have been offered to select one of 6 available dates up to the early 2021 without charge (technically there are more than 6 dates but we don't want to get married mid week either). None of these dates are suitable as we don't want to get married in the cold, dark, winter months. My other half is completely devastated as you might imagine. Sobbing and sobbing. Through a knee jerk / emotional reaction she said she would pay for another date next year. The venue have reluctantly agreed to this and they are charging full price for the room hire (expensive). I rang to appeal as I think it is completely unfair and is taking advantage of two very good customers. I completely understand they need a strict policy on moving the dates, though at the moment there are lots of 2021 dates available. Everyone is getting hit with the corvid problem. I even offered to pay but could it be discounted, but this was not met with any customer service and the company suggest they have been flexible enough allowing us to buy another date. 

I can't talk about it with the other half as I don't wish to cause further upset and heartache, but I've lost trust in the company and my thoughts are sadly now poor of them. Every other supplier / hotel etc has changed without any charge - they're obviously taking lots of hits too. 
From my perspective we should be offered a like for like replacement. We're prepared to wait another full year. 
Thoughts and opinions? I can imagine a lot of people telling them to stick it and demand a full refund. We do have wedding insurance, and can possibly claim through either cancellation or the rearrangement, but that's not really my point. 
Thanks MSE'rs - hope you're all safe.

typeractive

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

davidmcn

I think your rights are to get a refund, I don't think you can demand an alternative date which is to your liking unless the contract already said that (which I very much doubt any would).

photome

I am confused

the venue offered dates to change to but your other half said no ( is that right)

she then offered to pay for another date next year which the venue accepted , if thats right what have the venue done wrong , 

Aylesbury_Duck

photome said:

I am confused

the venue offered dates to change to but your other half said no ( is that right)

she then offered to pay for another date next year which the venue accepted , if thats right what have the venue done wrong , 

that was my understanding as well.  OP, I think you will need to be a little clearer so we can help.

sheramber

    Next year's  price is higher than this year's was.
The OP doesn't want to pay the new price . He wants a discount on it.

gettingtheresometime

photome said:

I am confused

the venue offered dates to change to but your other half said no ( is that right)

she then offered to pay for another date next year which the venue accepted , if thats right what have the venue done wrong , 

My understanding was that the hotel offered a selection of dates which were in the not so popular season for weddings whereas the available dates that need to be paid for are in the more popular wedding season.

OP, the trouble is is that if everyone demanded their money back and the hotel’s insurance didn’t cover such situations, they would simply go out of business.

typeractive

gettingtheresometime said:

photome said:

I am confused

the venue offered dates to change to but your other half said no ( is that right)

she then offered to pay for another date next year which the venue accepted , if thats right what have the venue done wrong , 

My understanding was that the hotel offered a selection of dates which were in the not so popular season for weddings whereas the available dates that need to be paid for are in the more popular wedding season.

OP, the trouble is is that if everyone demanded their money back and the hotel’s insurance didn’t cover such situations, they would simply go out of business.

This is correct. The venue offered a limited selection of dates which are unsuitable to our requirements (i.e. in winter), which were also cheaper than what we have paid. The offer is not a 'like for like' replacement. The other half offered to pay for a preferred date which the venue (reluctantly) accepted. 

I completely accept that if everyone cancels they will have major financial problems. I also accept that they won't be able to fill their diary with new customers next year if everyone pushes back from this year. However they are getting money for nothing here and I think it would be courteous to at least provide a discount which I highlighted above (I begrudge paying that if I'm honest, but would).
I understand some might not be as bothered about timing of the year as others, though the mass majority of people pick a time / season to be married and there is clearly an associated market value with those timings e.g. summer is more expensive than winter, and Saturday's are more expensive than Friday's purely on supply and demand. More people want nice weather on a Saturday which is more convenient for people to attend. To be offered a completely limited offer only of a lesser value I can understand their business acumen of seeing who would settle for that, but it's not a like for like substitution. Then to be told we have to pay the full amount is ridiculous. A fairer policy would be to offer everyone up to a year to swap their dates then most people would at least a date closer to their preferred time.
I do appreciate the replies though and welcome seeing it from the businesses point of view as obviously I'm feeling angry about this which could be clouding my logic. Bet that's the first time anyone's ever said that in an Internet forum as most people are just arguing their point regardless.

mattyprice4004

I take it from the venue's reluctance to let her pay for another date, you're not paying the full amount again, just a smaller amount for the room? 

What did you pay originally, and what did your other half pay for the replacement booking?  

photome

I am still confused , have you now paid twice, once for the cancelled and once for the rescheduled.

Or just paid a bit extra for her preferred date next year, with inflation a wedding in 2021 would be more expensive than a wedding in 2020, although I understand why you are annoyed

typeractive

mattyprice4004 said:

I take it from the venue's reluctance to let her pay for another date, you're not paying the full amount again, just a smaller amount for the room? 

What did you pay originally, and what did your other half pay for the replacement booking?  

Nope they want the full price i.e. like a new customer.
They were reluctant to even let us pay again!
We haven't actually paid it yet.