Re - billed weeks after the event

Sausmeister

My father in law booked a room at a race course.  He paid a deposit of about £150 then was billed £500 and he paid this in advance so before we arrived we had paid £650 already.

food was to be supplied at a cost of £55 a head per adult, less for children.

we originally booked 17 adults and two children, a la crate menu.

they kept changing the menu and in the end said all we could have was the buffet.  At that point we advised that our numbers would now be 14 adults and 2 children

On the day we enjoyed a nice buffet and ordered lots of drinks.  At the end of the day we asked for the bill which was given to us as about £500 ish.  This was paid by two members of our party and we left.

Subsequently since then, they are pursuing us for around £800.  They claim this is outstanding unpaid balance.

I was not involved in planning the event at all so I don’t know what the initial £650 paid was supposed to cover.

I do know that on the day, we asked for the bail and expected to pay the full outstanding amount before leaving, we paid what they asked for and thought we were now paid in full.

the additional £800 has no breakdown so we cannot see how they have come to that figure and how they have accounted for the approx £1,150 we have already paid.  The only thing it does mention is 17 adults which is incorrect.  But this alone cannot account for £800.

any suggestions where we stand?  They are being quite persistent and we have asked for a breakdown which has still
not arrived.  They just want the money and we are saying no at this time.

appreciate all input and advice regards to this 

Jumblebumble

My advice is that you provide all the facts as no one here is going to be able to provide any sensible  answer without this.

Alderbank

Sausmeister said:

any suggestions where we stand?  They are being quite persistent and we have asked for a breakdown which has still
not arrived.  They just want the money and we are saying no at this time.

appreciate all input and advice regards to this 

When you say 'quite persistent' is that phone calls or emails?
You are quite right to stick to asking for a breakdown of the costs before proceeding.
What I would do at this stage however is to make very sure that you have good documentation of everything your party has paid, i.e. the deposit, the £500 bill and in particular the £500 'ish' bill paid by two members of your party.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP the company should have provided you (or the person who booked) with:

the total price of the goods or services inclusive of taxes, or where the nature of the goods or services is such that the price cannot reasonably be calculated in advance, the manner in which the price is to be calculated;

If they haven't done so ask them for this. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Jumblebumble said:

My advice is that you provide all the facts as no one here is going to be able to provide any sensible  answer without this.

I agree.  It's quite a jumble of numbers as it stands, with lots of ambiguity and room for misinterpretation.

OP, can you set it out more clearly?

Ultimately though, you're doing the right thing by not paying until you have clarity of what they are asking for, for what.

Sausmeister

Many thanks for the replies.

yes I can see how the nimble of numbers are not clear.  This is because I was not involved in organising it or paying for it at any stage so I don’t currently have the full picture myself.

My 80 year old, technophobe father in law arranged it and paid all the upfront costs, and my wife along with her brother agreed to pay the rest at the event.

so yes clarity is needed.  I will attempt to find out exact numbers on what was paid in advance, and what this covered and whether there was already an amount owed on the food and venue before we began ordering drinks.

I suspect what was paid on the day was the drinks bill and all the discrepancy relates to the food/venue.  For that we need the breakdown of costs being billed now vs what was agreed in advance.  I don’t know either more precisely that described in my initial post.

As for the firm, they have called and persistently emailed my father in law and he’s getting quite upset and confused by the demands and the number of messages he is receiving.

I shall do some more investigating and report back.

Jenni_D

If £650 was paid up front then that would account for 18 people at £36.11 per head. (Let's assume 2x children = 1x adult). So that would still leave about £19 a head to pay.

However I'd expect a reduced price per head for a buffet vs A La Carte. For 15 people (same assumption as before) then £650 would equal £43.33 per head paid up front - for a buffet arrangement that would seem "reasonable". If you paid an amount at the time (£500) that would equate to about £33 per head in drinks (15 people) - how much were drinks at the venue?

You really need them to itemise the additional charge and should refuse to pay until they do so. If they tried court action and didn't offer evidence then they'd get laughed out; if they only offered evidence at court stage then they might win the case but would likely not get costs awarded due to unreasonable behaviour.

Keep_pedalling

£500 does not sound enough for food for 16 if that was supposed to cover all the drinks you had as well. Sounds lock a !!!!!!-up all round, although I would not be paying any more without having everything itemised.

Jenni_D

Keep_pedalling said:

£500 does not sound enough for food for 16 if that was supposed to cover all the drinks you had as well. Sounds lock a !!!!!!-up all round, although I would not be paying any more without having everything itemised.

IMHO the food has already been paid for (the original £55 per head is no longer valid as the venue changed the terms of offering to a buffet), so the question is whether £500 is enough to cover the drinks for 14 adults + 2 children.

For them to say there's an £800 shortfall they're having a laugh - unless the OP's party was buying bottles of Moet or similar - especially when they won't offer any evidence. I wonder if they've conflated someone else's bill with the OP's table?

Andy_L

Sausmeister said:

My father in law booked a room at a race course.  He paid a deposit of about £150 then was billed £500 and he paid this in advance so before we arrived we had paid £650 already.

food was to be supplied at a cost of £55 a head per adult, less for children.

we originally booked 17 adults and two children, a la crate menu.

they kept changing the menu and in the end said all we could have was the buffet.  At that point we advised that our numbers would now be 14 adults and 2 children

On the day we enjoyed a nice buffet and ordered lots of drinks.  At the end of the day we asked for the bill which was given to us as about £500 ish.  This was paid by two members of our party and we left.

Subsequently since then, they are pursuing us for around £800.  They claim this is outstanding unpaid balance.

I was not involved in planning the event at all so I don’t know what the initial £650 paid was supposed to cover.

I do know that on the day, we asked for the bail and expected to pay the full outstanding amount before leaving, we paid what they asked for and thought we were now paid in full.

the additional £800 has no breakdown so we cannot see how they have come to that figure and how they have accounted for the approx £1,150 we have already paid.  The only thing it does mention is 17 adults which is incorrect.  But this alone cannot account for £800.

any suggestions where we stand?  They are being quite persistent and we have asked for a breakdown which has still
not arrived.  They just want the money and we are saying no at this time.

appreciate all input and advice regards to this 

At a guess the room &, by extension, admission to the races for the day for 19 16 people

Andy_L

Which racecourse & event was it? Some have their hospitality option prices on their website