Prom dress refund advice

karend2061

Hi,
I hope you can help. My granddaughters school prom was understandably cancelled due to the outbreak of corona virus. We have paid a £300 deposit on the dress now the dress shop has phoned today to say the dress has come in from the suppliers and would need to be paid in full. We had already informed the shop of the prom being cancelled and we would no longer need the dress but they did not cancel the order and is refusing us a refund. They are saying because it’s a small size whatever that means,there haven’t been any alterations carried out on it so it’s not as if it was specially fitted for my granddaughter.I know it isn’t the shop fault the pandemic happened but why is this different from booking an holiday and getting a full refund. 
We have been in touch with the school to see if they might reschedule but there are no plans to do this.
My son and daughter in law have been furloughed and have 3 children they can do without this worry
The dress is prom dress and is not suitable for wearing anywhere other than to a ball or prom so will be stuck in the wardrobe.
Please can you advise, have we got any consumer rights

poppy12345

What do the T's and C's say?

gettingtheresometime

It's different from a travel company giving a refund for the simple reason that the travel company couldn't provide the holiday but the dress shop can provide the service ie provide the dress.

The reason your granddaughter needed the dress isn't relevant.

As for informing the shop that the dress was no longer needed is also irrelevant....it's what's in the t&cs you agreed to is the relevant bit - unless of course the contract stated that there were cancellation terms in that contract.

It may be that the best thing you can do is to try and sell the dress though there will obviously be a hit to be taken.

Jeremy535897

This falls into a similar category as the provision of student accommodation by private landlords. You contract with the dress shop for a dress. Whether it is for a prom is a matter for you. If you cancelled within the time frame allowed, under the terms of the contract, you would not normally be required to pay the balance, otherwise there would be no point in such a provision in the contract. What did the contract say about cancellations?

jimkelly

This is similar to the holiday cottage deposit thread.

How do you expect the dress shop to survive if they've ordered in all these dresses off the back of customer deposits/orders and now have all this unwanted stock, yet you still expect them to refund everyone?

rosiesposies

no different to any other goods, the reason you need/not need them now is of no interest to the supplier. they have fulfilled their side of the contract. if they couldnt then you would be in a different position