Bathroom Fitting Deposit

Boman75

Hello,
Hoping for a bit of advice or guidance here please. We paid nearly £5k to Ripples Bathrooms in Winchester in January 2020 for a new fitting that was due to take place in mud April. Obviously this is not happening now and there is no way of knowing when it will be possible to schedule or fit a the new bathroom. So we are requesting that Ripples return our deposit, as we simply cannot afford for them to have nearly £5k of our money. We are both self-employed with no government support, so we could really do with that money back! Ripples have been pretty poor so far, they won't return the deposit and are stalling us. Would be very grateful for any advice for next steps. 
Many thanks.

DoaM

If you made the contract in their store then you have no right to cancel (unless the contract terms allow for such). Your only possible get-out was if the install was confirmed (in writing) for mi-April (not estimated), and even then it depends on any Force Majeure clause in the contract T&Cs. Plus we haven't yet reached mid-April.

Boman75

DoaM said:

If you made the contract in their store then you have no right to cancel (unless the contract terms allow for such). Your only possible get-out was if the install was confirmed (in writing) for mi-April (not estimated), and even then it depends on any Force Majeure clause in the contract T&Cs. Plus we haven't yet reached mid-April.

Thanks for the reply. We never actually had a contract (we requested one but didn't receive). All we have in writing is from them saying that they received our deposit. The mid-April date was confirmed by them in an email (as it was from the plumber who also requested a deposit, but refunded it as soon as we asked). Since there is no way that a bathroom can be installed in mid-April and with no possible way of knowing when it will be, it seems wrong both ethically and legally to hold on to so much money at this trying time. 

Aylesbury_Duck

You do have a contract.  It was formed when you paid the deposit and received acknowledgement of it.

I'm afraid that in the current circumstances, they aren't do anything illegal.  Timing is awful, but that's neither your fault nor theirs.