Wedding Planning

Womble_wwfc

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the right discussion area for this but I'll post it & hope. We have paid a deposit to a wedding planner who it appears has had an argument with the venue, it's since been made up however only for current/booked weddings. Due to the current covid 19 situation we have taken the decision (along with the planner) to postpone, this is where the issue starts. The venue have said they will honour dates, the planner has decided that they will stop being planners after all their booked functions are completed so are now dragging their feet about the postponement taking the ceremony into next year, we would just like to have someone who is willing to take control of the ceremony rather than do things "part time" so requested a refund of the deposit which we have been told won't happen as they specify it as being non refundable,  are we within our rights to claim it back & employ someone else or do we have to rely on them fitting us in between other things? Any help would be welcomed,  thanks

Grumpelstiltskin

 Did you actually sign a contract with the wedding planner? If so what did it say about the deposit?

Womble_wwfc

We have a receipt for the deposit which does have the words non refundable on it but the reason for the question is that we are not getting the service promised by them, I asked here because of differing advice from others

Grumpelstiltskin

So you have no contract stating exactly what you were getting for your money?

Mrsn

The contract I’m assuming is for services to be provided for a set date.... you have chosen to postpone the set date (for a valid reason...) so you need to look into the terms and conditions regarding postponement and amendments to your original contract.

I suspect there may be a clause about them having to agree to the amendment you have requested and that might be a sticking point 

Womble_wwfc

Thanks all, the sticking point is the wording of non refundable deposit, I'm assuming that a receipt constitutes a contract but I've been getting conflicting replies (not on here) about the legality of saying that the deposit is non refundable,  some say it's illegal whilst others say it's ok. I think I'll bite the bullet & speak to a solicitor friend (who I didn't want to impose on) to see what the law actually says, at present we've had absolutely no service from them & I can't see much changing if we've moved the date