Breach of contract but no refund.

Outdoors123

I am after some advice. 

Back in June I went to a local bridal shop to choose a wedding dress. Having found one I loved, I paid a £950 deposit to secure the dress. I did at the time sign a terms and conditions document, which stated the deposit was non refundable. 

Last week the dress shop rang and told me that the dress I had selected the designer had gone into administration and therefore I could no longer have the dress I wanted. They told me they had a dress that fit my measurements but that it was not the same. 

I have since asked for a full refund of the deposit as I have found another dress elsewhere, however they are refusing to repay. 

Do I have a case to escalate this? My thoughts are they have breached the contract not me. 

What does everyone else think? 

powerful_Rogue

Outdoors123 said:

I am after some advice. 

Back in June I went to a local bridal shop to choose a wedding dress. Having found one I loved, I paid a £950 deposit to secure the dress. I did at the time sign a terms and conditions document, which stated the deposit was non refundable. 

Last week the dress shop rang and told me that the dress I had selected the designer had gone into administration and therefore I could no longer have the dress I wanted. They told me they had a dress that fit my measurements but that it was not the same. 

I have since asked for a full refund of the deposit as I have found another dress elsewhere, however they are refusing to repay. 

Do I have a case to escalate this? My thoughts are they have breached the contract not me. 

What does everyone else think? 

Yup, appears they have breached the contract. How did you pay the deposit?

If credit card you have the option of s75 or chargeback.

If debit card you have the option of chargeback.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/

If you paid via other means, will be a case of a letter before action and then action via the small claims court.

Aylesbury_Duck

Looks like a slam-dunk breach of contract so as the previous poster says, you have options depending on how you paid.

The only thing to check is that your deposit wasn't for "a dress", rather than that particular dress.  What do the terms and conditions say about it?  Even then, with correspondence from them acknowledging that "the dress" you ordered is no longer available would seem good enough to demonstrate the intention to supply that particular dress.

Ergates

Outdoors123 said:

Do I have a case to escalate this? My thoughts are they have breached the contract not me. 

Yes and yes.

There is no such things as a "non-refundable deposit" in the UK (for consumers)- not matter how much some companies seem to with it was the case.

If *you* cancel a contract, then the company is allowed to retain an amount of any deposit to cover things like costs they've already spent, or loss of profit if they cannot refill a booked timeslot etc etc.  And, in some circumstances, this *may* cover the entirety of the deposit.  But this doesn't make the deposit itself non-refundable.

And none of that applies here as clearly *they* are the ones who have breached the contract.