Wedding venue refusing refund

loades1980

We were due to get married July 2020, which obviously never went ahead. We tried to work with our wedding venue to postpone to summer 2021 but they are asking for us to pay an extra 50% on top of what we’ve already paid, or they said we can do it for free before 31st March 2021, which is not possible for us (plus we are in the middle of a pandemic still).

We cannot afford to pay the 50% more on top of what we have already paid so when we asked for a refund they said we could only have half of our £6,000 back and they also keep our £1000 deposit too.  Our wedding was paid to the venue by my parents via bank transfer in 4 installments.

Our wedding insurance claim and appeal was refused, the Financial Ombudsmen, CMA and HM Treasury have all advised us to go back to venue to recoup our money. We have a solicitor helping us but the venue is still refusing to refund us and our legal costs are mounting up, over £2000 now.

The CMA guide published in September 2020 is also of no use to us, its a guide and not the law, so this and numerous solicitor letters has not worked in getting our money back from the venuw. My parents saved for 40 years for my wedding and the venue have £13,000 of their money and are refusing to refund it. It's taking over my life and i really need help!

elsien

If you’ve got a solicitor working for you, I’m not sure there’s anything else that people on here can offer. We’re not specialists. The following thoughts come to mind though: 
Why did it not go ahead in July - weddings of a smaller size were still happening then. Was that their decision or yours - were they open then? 
What is the reason your wedding insurance refused to pay out? 
They’ve offered you alternative dates which you have declined. If you can’t afford the extra 50%, would you be able to negotiate a spring/summer date but have a smaller number of people so the extra costs are less - is there any room for compromise there? 

They’ve offered you half your money back (they are allowed to deduct reasonable expenses, so how have they come up with that figure) so it’s not entirely accurate to say they have £13000 they are refusing to refund. Although you also say you can only have half of your £6000 back - which is it? 

If you genuinely think you have a case, then the small claims court is your only option but that’s only for under 10K. Which is why I was asking about the 6 or 13K? 

loades1980

Thankfully I have all my money back now thanks to the financial ombudsman’s involvement, the insurance company paid out

Undervalued

elsien said:

If you’ve got a solicitor working for you, I’m not sure there’s anything else that people on here can offer. 

Indeed.

Presumably, OP, your solicitor feels you have a case that has a reasonable prospect of succeeding?

They will, I assume, have seen all of the paperwork?

Did they give you an estimate of likely costs if the claim was contested?

Did they say anything about the likelihood of being able to claim their costs, obviously assuming you win?

Equally, should you lose have you been advised if you are likely to be liable for the venue's legal costs?

The reason I ask is that generally you don't get your legal costs awarded if you choose to use a solicitor for a small clam.

Finally, Like "elsien" I am a bit confused about the value of your claim over and above the amount the venue has offered to refund?

loades1980

Please see my above comment, all resolved now but thanks for your post