Wedding deposits, what are our consumer rights?

Ruffle01

Hi guys, 
I have an upcoming wedding scheduled for the coming months, although not currently postponed by Coronavirus it is highly likely it will be. Like many others I am stuck in limbo wondering what course of action to take. Currently all payments to suppliers have been in the form of deposits. A number of which have been considerable deposits, up to as much as 50%. Of course, when you originally pay these sums of money one would never imagine a global pandemic would cause such chaos. We do have Wedding insurance. However after reviewing the 'competitions and markets authority' guidelines on the government website I do not know whether it would be more appropriate to ask for a deposit to be refunded via our wedding vendors or to go through out Wedding insurance. The CMA guidlines are centered around fairness for both the supplier and the consumer. The stories I have been seeing so far have seem to be favouring the suppliers. Here are just a few of the points that stand out to me in the CMA guidlines.

• "A term saying no refund is available in any circumstances is likely to be unfair. Where there is no fault by your customer and the contract is ended by you, your customer may well have a right to a refund." 
  
• "It is not fair to make any substantial advance payments or deposits non-refundable, regardless of the customer’s reason for cancelling."
• "a deposit is just to reserve the goods/services and is no more than a small percentage of the total price" (wedding deposits are often not very small!)

I understand and believe that it is reasonable that a deposit can be used to cover costs incurred by suppliers, and if I chose to cancel my wedding then I would be doing so knowing I'd take a financial hit. However, if the consumer isn't to blame it seems very strange to me that people are struggling to get back there downpayments / deposits from wedding companies as this seems to go against an awful lot of the 'consumer rights act 2015'. My vendors keep reiterating that our deposits are non refundable, but I just cant see how this is fair or legally binding. 
Any input on this would be greatly appreciate.
Thank you.

Mrsn

It is the same situation for holiday deposits, if they cancel then they become refundable if you do then they keep the deposit. 

That’s standard clause for most deposits I’m afraid, I don’t think the guidance you have pointed out with hold any weight with your argument at this point.  

Check your contract you signed you’ll find most likely that acts of god, force majure etc aren’t covered.... and I’d also be checking the same with your wedding insurance too as many now aren’t covering COVID-19 situations.

Honestly I’d sit tight and just wait to see what happens, it’s frustrating as hell but since you don’t want want to lose money it is your safest option right now.

Ruffle01

Thank you for your response Mrsn, its really helpful to read up on the Force majeure term, although not exactly the news I wanted to hear... but it gives me a better informed perspective, of which I am grateful.

So, in your opinion, would you suggest that the 'force majeure' term would supersede the 'consumer rights act 2015' terms?

We have been in contact with our vendors, but as of yet not bought these specific points to them, is it advisable to do so? It's sensitive, we do not want any animosity between us and our vendors, but right now they hold all the cards - as they have our money. They are offering to move our deposit to a new wedding date providing its takes place in Winter. Ideally, for ultimate peace of mind we would like the extension to cover the whole of next year. Is that an unfair compromise?

Back to the fairness point, it does seem very unfair that these businesses are able to take advantage of Government schemes such as furlough and loans, and are also protected by 'force majeure'. And yet, we as the consumers are put in these very poor and unfair positions. 

steampowered

The CMA published a statement about exactly this issue this morning:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52483453 and https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies

I'd be pointing the vendor towards the CMA's statement and insisting on a refund. Make it clear that if no refund is issued you will report them to the CMA and begin legal action through the small claims process (https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome).

Ruffle01

Thank you steam powered, I have just become aware of this, it is such a relief to see a report such as this. As stated in my previous post there is a whole host of reasons I believe why my wedding company are failing to meet CMA guidlines and its such a relief to see it elevated to such a degree.