Non refundable deposit wedding venue

zwroberts

Yes registrar was booked.. which is another thing I need to cancel, thanks for the reminder! 

softsilk

We were 36 hours away from holding my daughters wedding celebration when Covid-19 forced a postponement, we rescheduled for 2021, but now the hotel have contacted us to say they have sold the venue, it will not continue as a hotel and they will not pay refunds (we had paid in full), they have advised us to claim via wedding insurance or through credit card providers. I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place all deposits (monies paid) into holding accounts, so that if the venue cancels the wedding all monies are refunded. I hope you will sign to help make this a law and stop other families going through the rollercoaster of emotions we have gone through. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

burlingtonfl6

Undervalued said:

burlingtonfl6 said:

I can never understand why people don't understand what a deposit is.
The OP have changed their minds, so they're in the wrong.

True although that applies to companies too.

What a deposit can't be is a penalty. What the venue can't (lawfully) do is just keep the deposit and make no effort to re-sell the date. However that is not very easy for the OP to police. The venue may quite genuinely have turned down several other possible bookings once the OP had booked. I suspect it is harder now, as couples will be cautious about what commitment they are making. If a replacement booking is hard to get the venue may well have to reduce its price and / or require a much smaller deposit. Equally they may have to spend on advertising. Even if they get a booking they can quite lawfully look to the OP to make up any shortfall and again it will be hard for the OP to audit the numbers.

Completely agree.
I just hate people who expect their deposit back when they have changed the conditions.
A deposit should tie the customer and the business into the deal.
As someone else has said, without a large deposit customers would be messing businesses about and vice versa.

mattyprice4004

softsilk said:

We were 36 hours away from holding my daughters wedding celebration when Covid-19 forced a postponement, we rescheduled for 2021, but now the hotel have contacted us to say they have sold the venue, it will not continue as a hotel and they will not pay refunds (we had paid in full), they have advised us to claim via wedding insurance or through credit card providers. I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place all deposits (monies paid) into holding accounts, so that if the venue cancels the wedding all monies are refunded. I hope you will sign to help make this a law and stop other families going through the rollercoaster of emotions we have gone through. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

This is what insurance is for, or failing that credit card refunds - sorry, but administering such a scheme will cost time and money forcing the prices of events up. 

It's a no from me 

Sandtree

softsilk said:

I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place all deposits (monies paid) into holding accounts, so that if the venue cancels the wedding all monies are refunded. I hope you will sign to help make this a law and stop other families going through the rollercoaster of emotions we have gone through. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

Nice idea but with how fragile the hospitality industry is right now it ain't going to happen. 

Depending on exact details of the event the venue may well have to spend monies prior to the event itself (or full balance becoming due) and it is only right that this money comes out of the deposit which wouldn't be possible if they were forced to use a client money account.