Wedding decorators demanded we paid full sum in order to secure a new date now in liquidation

alicemay1992

Hi guys,

So myself and my partner we due to get married July 2019 - in January 2019 we booked our wedding decorators. We had to pay a 50% deposit (which equated to £2,225) which we did. Fast forward to May 2019 and due to obvious reasons, the wedding wasn't going ahead so I asked our decorators if we could move the date to July 2021. They said they would do this as a 'gesture of goodwill' but that we would have to pay the remaining balance in order for them to do so. This meant we paid a total cost of £4,500 and at this point had received nothing in return, only a 'gesture of goodwill' by them fitting us in for a date in 2020. 

As of last week, the company informed me they had gone into liquidation and had no assets etc so that was basically it- we were left £4,500 out of pocket. We didn't have wedding insurance at this point so admittedly this was our error but I am finding it a bitter pill to swallow that the company made us make the remaining payment probably knowing they were going to go into liquidation at some point.

Does anyone have any advice of what I can do or is this just something I will have to take on the chin? 

Thanks in advance.

alicemay1992

Sorry! got my dates wrong. So the wedding was originally booked for July 2020 and we booked the decorators January 2020! not 2019.

Thrugelmir

Harsh lesson to learn. Without insurance you are always going to be exposed to financial loss from unexpected future events.  The Company hasn't gone into liquidation intentionally either. Simply the consequences of the pandemic continuing for far longer than people envisaged. 

superbigal

Ensure whoever is dealing with the wind up of the company is aware of your financial interest.
Therefore if there are any assets at least you stand a chance of getting something back.
Live and learn unfortunately.
You may find they mysteriously start up again next week.
If so look to put some pressure on the new organisation if fundamentally the same people.
I would also squeeze via social media if you do get to that stage and they do not want to "help".
Legally of course they will not be responsible, but you never know they might not be a set of rogues.

Feel free to name them.

[Deleted User]

alicemay1992 said:

Does anyone have any advice of what I can do or is this just something I will have to take on the chin? 

How did you pay?

wannabe_a_saver

4.5k on wedding decoration!  What were they going to do, gold plate the entire venue and all your guests?

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do, you can't get blood from a stone, but presumably this is money you can afford to lose, seeing as you were spending it on something so non-essential. 

The company probably didn't know they were going to fold, back in May 2020 nobody knew how long this would last. 

justwhat

wannabe_a_saver said:

The company probably didn't know they were going to fold, back in May 2020 nobody knew how long this would last. 

For some its cheaper to fold rather than pay debt and creditors back. Many will fold and start up again.

TBagpuss

How did you pay? If you paid any of it by credit card you may be able to claim from your card issuer. 

If the company was continuing to trade knowing they were insolvent then the directors may be personally liable (look up 'wrongful trading' ) but it's probably not something to pursue single handed unless you have deep pockets and very strong evidence. 

daveyjp

Only hope is you paid by card,  otherwise you will be one of many creditors and it is unlikely a business such as this will have lots of assets to cover debt to customers.

unholyangel

How did you pay them? This is also why it's considered an unfair term to request payment in full in advance of provision - because it unfairly excludes your right to set off and transfers inappropriate risks (traders insolvency) to you. 

However, unless you paid by a method that provides protection, your only hope would be asking a court to lift the limited liability and make the directors personally liable. Limited liability exists for a reason though, so you'd have to show some impropriety by the directors (such as trading when insolvent). 

This is assuming that when you say company you mean company and don't mean business. A company has limited liability but not all businesses do (like sole traders)

Jeremy535897

unholyangel said:

How did you pay them? This is also why it's considered an unfair term to request payment in full in advance of provision - because it unfairly excludes your right to set off and transfers inappropriate risks (traders insolvency) to you. 

However, unless you paid by a method that provides protection, your only hope would be asking a court to lift the limited liability and make the directors personally liable. Limited liability exists for a reason though, so you'd have to show some impropriety by the directors (such as trading when insolvent). 

This is assuming that when you say company you mean company and don't mean business. A company has limited liability but not all businesses do (like sole traders)

Indeed. Liquidation applies to companies though. Trading while insolvent was suspended from March to September 2020, which may not be helpful either.