Company refuse to refund deposit

Njw1945

on 26 February we paid £1900 deposit for our drive and patio to be redone expecting the work to be carried out early May. On 23 March the company notified us it was closed indefinitely due to Coronavirus with no prospect of the work being done on the foreseeable future.  We are uncomfortable having this amount of money in limbo, the company are not responding to our requests for a refund until the situation clarifies. What are our rights in this situation.
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The_Rainmaker

Cross your fingers and wait.

DoaM

What T&Cs were agreed? Was the early-May date written into the contract?

How did you pay?

Undervalued

Limited at the moment I'm afraid.
Given that the current restrictions are to be reviewed every three weeks it is (theoretically) possible the work could be done in early May. Also, some outdoor building work is still being done so it is far from clear whether it is actually prohibited.

To what extent is the "early May" date tied down?

If you paid at least £100 of the deposit via a credit card (or other finance) then the finance company is liable for the full amount should the driveway company go bust.

davidmcn

I can't see that you'll have any right to get the deposit back now, unless there's something unusual in your contract saying so.

Also bear in mind that any legal action is unlikely to be resolved any faster than the date on which they'd be able to start work on site anyway.