Wedding venue wants to postpone wedding from July to winter.....

Dom55

Wedding venue has written to say that due to Covidm they must postpone our wedding day to midweek in winter. We don't have insurance, or want to delay. Can I ask for a refund of my deposit?

Mrsn

Unlikely as it’s you choosing to cancel the alternative they have given you. Can I ask why they have decided to move it to a weekday? I’m assuming you currently have a weekend booking in place.

Dom55

It was originally booked for a Thursday (long weekend) but they have offered a Monday or Tuesday in winter, which we don't wish to accept.

spiro

You don't say when the wedding was originally planned for. As you don't have any insurance to fall back on what do the T&Cs of your booking say about cancellation, postpone etc?

gwynlas

How nice of them to offer you a date in the future on which they are most unlikely to have any booking.
If you are happy to wait until winter then negociate a date tand discount hat suits you. 
Utherwise after checking terms and conditions request your deposit be returned as this would not appear to be a suitable  alternative as guests unlikely to attend mid week wedding due to difficulties in taking time off.

steampowered

The Op may be interested in the following article and statement by the Competition and Markets Authority which suggests that refunds must be offered: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52483453 and https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies

In view of the CMA's intervention it's a perfect moment to follow up with the wedding company and insist on a refund.

Obviously, offering a mid-week wedding in winter is not an acceptable alternative.

Jeremy535897

Bear in mind though that the businesses concerned may well go bankrupt if everyone asks for their money back.

Ruffle01

I believe the deposit money should be held safely by the company in a secure scheme and not spent. To me this means that the returning of said money should not be the reason a company goes bankrupt. However, this obviously doesn't cover the lack of income being the reason the company may go bankrupt - unfortunately this is not the consumers fault. 

Jeremy535897

Ruffle01 said:

I believe the deposit money should be held safely by the company in a secure scheme and not spent. To me this means that the returning of said money should not be the reason a company goes bankrupt. However, this obviously doesn't cover the lack of income being the reason the company may go bankrupt - unfortunately this is not the consumers fault. 

Deposits paid by tenants at the start of a tenancy have to be placed in a separate fund. Is this what you are thinking of? Normal deposits for commercial services do not have to be treated in such a manner.

Ruffle01

"you hold any advance payments in a secure scheme so they are safely held until any dispute with a customer is resolved."
This is a quote directly taken from a source on the government website. Unfortunatly since I am a newbie I cannot send a link but if you look through the consumer and markets authority guidance it is there, on one of there explanation sheets.

Jeremy535897

I suspect this is best practice rather than legal obligation. I have been unable to track down the specific document.