Wedding singer won't refund our deposit

Dianne2265

We were due to get married on 20 June but this has been cancelled by the Government and by the fact that the venue is not allowed to open until at least early July. Also social distancing would not be possible on a dance floor. We do not have wedding insurance and we are financing the wedding ourselves. Everyone has been helpful and we have postponed our wedding until April 2021, we were very limited with dates as everyone who was due to get married in April and May had already re-booked and the venue is closed in February and March for refurbishment. It is very important to us that we get married in church and therefore chose the date that both the church and venue could do. Unfortunately the wedding singer cannot do this date as he is attending a family wedding that has been postponed from this April, but he is refusing to refund our deposit even though the wedding cannot go ahead due to Government legislation.  We have followed the advice given by Martin and pointed our to him that he is going against the Competitions and Marketing Authority advice but still he is refusing to refund the £200 we have paid. We paid the deposit by bank transfer so have no credit/debit card to go back to. Can anyone please tell us what we should do next? Could we use the Financial Ombudsman? We don't want to go down the legal route as we cannot afford it.

bradders1983

Financial ombudsman? No. 

Sadly the way you paid him isnt ideal either. Your only recourse here is the small claims court but nobody here has seen the contract you agreed to.

GHolmesAdmin

Just move on. This is not worth the aggravation you are giving it, not worth taking to court so just draw a line and move on 

Dianne2265

I understand what you are saying but I am sure I read somewhere Martin said that the contract is 'frustrated' and therefore refunds should be repaid. It is alright you saying move on but £200 is a lot of money to us.

123thfc123

I would just share your story on wedding blogs, his facebook page etc. as people have pointed out, you may not get the £200 back but this will undoubtetly damage his future business if shared on the right channels, which may force him to pay it back.

bradders1983

You say you couldnt afford the legal route...you are aware it would only cost you £25? And you get it back if you win?

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

Dianne2265

No I didn't. That certainly makes a difference. Thank you very much for that.

GHolmesAdmin

You have ask yourself if you really want to be taken over by angry vindictiveness, it's not healthy and you may regret it later on. Ask yourself if a year from now you will be happy abut how you handled it. Also, the laws of defamation and slander might come into it.
BTW it will cost you more than £25 if you actually continue the action to the courts.

bradders1983

GHolmesAdmin said:

You have ask yourself if you really want to be taken over by angry vindictiveness, it's not healthy and you may regret it later on. Ask yourself if a year from now you will be happy abut how you handled it. Also, the laws of defamation and slander might come into it.

Yes I would agree. Dont post anything slanderous on social media if you are taking him to court.

Dianne2265

Thanks for the advice, I have no intention of posting anything bad. I am seriously considering going down the court route though and will discuss it with my fiance when he gets home.

bradders1983

Dianne2265 said:

Thanks for the advice, I have no intention of posting anything bad. I am seriously considering going down the court route though and will discuss it with my fiance when he gets home.

Before you file, you need to make one final recorded effort with the singer to get your money back.

Send him a Letter Before Action (if you Google this term you will find templates) giving him 30 days to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.  Send it by recorded delivery. The court would want to see you have exhausted all avenues before going to them. 

Even the threat of court may make him pay up, who knows.