Petition to make wedding venues place deposits into holding accounts until the wedding has happened.

softsilk

My daughter was 36 hours away from celebrating her wedding when Covid-19 forced us to postpone, we rescheduled the event to April 2021, however, we have now received an email to tell us the venue has been sold and will not continue as a hotel, so our wedding is cancelled. They will not pay refunds and are advising us to claim through wedding insurance (which is not paying due to the pandemic) or through credit card providers. We have consulted solicitors who are unable to place a statutory demand as the government have put a stop on these until September 2020, but we could do something else that would cost £2000.00, so impractical. We had paid in full as we were so close to our date. I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place deposits into a holding account until the wedding has taken place, so that if the venue cancels on you, you get all your monies back. Please sign and share too if you can. Thank you. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

Takmon

softsilk said:

My daughter was 36 hours away from celebrating her wedding when Covid-19 forced us to postpone, we rescheduled the event to April 2021, however, we have now received an email to tell us the venue has been sold and will not continue as a hotel, so our wedding is cancelled. They will not pay refunds and are advising us to claim through wedding insurance (which is not paying due to the pandemic) or through credit card providers. We have consulted solicitors who are unable to place a statutory demand as the government have put a stop on these until September 2020, but we could do something else that would cost £2000.00, so impractical. We had paid in full as we were so close to our date. I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place deposits into a holding account until the wedding has taken place, so that if the venue cancels on you, you get all your monies back. Please sign and share too if you can. Thank you. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

Depending on the level of cover wedding insurance is certainly paying out but it depends on exactly what happened (e.g. wedding was allowed but you chose to postpone due to new restrictions on number of guests may not have been covered but other covid19 reasons could have). 
But what has happened will certainly be able to be claimed back under section 75 because they have taken money for a service they are no longer going to provide so i don't see why extra measures such as a deposit protection scheme needs to exist.

Also it's not like a rental house deposit where the funds are returned after the wedding, this is money that they will be spending to actually provide the wedding so they need access to the money to be able to do this. Plus you said you had paid in full so just protecting just the deposit wouldn't have helped you get the full amount back.

So i don't really see any benefit in what you are suggesting and will just add extra inconvenience and cost to the wedding venue which will ultimately be passed onto customers. 

Tammykitty

softsilk said:

My daughter was 36 hours away from celebrating her wedding when Covid-19 forced us to postpone, we rescheduled the event to April 2021, however, we have now received an email to tell us the venue has been sold and will not continue as a hotel, so our wedding is cancelled. They will not pay refunds and are advising us to claim through wedding insurance (which is not paying due to the pandemic) or through credit card providers. We have consulted solicitors who are unable to place a statutory demand as the government have put a stop on these until September 2020, but we could do something else that would cost £2000.00, so impractical. We had paid in full as we were so close to our date. I have set up a petition to make wedding venues place deposits into a holding account until the wedding has taken place, so that if the venue cancels on you, you get all your monies back. Please sign and share too if you can. Thank you. http://chng.it/WfKky6Rh

The may have sold the venue - but what about the actual business?
It is the business that owes you money. - 

So the business has either sold the hotel to someone else (in which case they should have money (or may have had a lot of debt and don't have any money now)

Or have the sold the business, venue and all, in which case the business still owes you the money.
If the business is insolvent (bankrupt) there us nothing you can do.

Assuming the actual business is a limited company - look up the status of it on companies house - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/?_ga=2.109987397.1304544412.1597617706-636895577.1588785420

The business may be a partnership or something, which will have a different status - but that's unlikely

Small claims court? (Assuming under £10k value)
https://www.moneyclaims.service.gov.uk/eligibility