Non refundable tickets rights - event cancelled

Neddlings

I purchased a family lot of tickets for an outdoor event. This has now been cancelled due to the weather.
The terms and conditions states non refundable.
Am i entitled to my money back, or can they just keep it like that?
I purchased directly from their website.

This is what they state:

Tickets are non-refundable and are non-transferable. In the event that the time and date requirements have changed, we will endeavour to accommodate, subject to availability and a £10 administration fee. Any increase to the overall cost will be have to be paid in full at the time, refunds will not be issued. It is the responsibility of the ticket holder to check this ticket before arrival to the site, it may not be possible to rectify this on the day of the event.

But also:

F****** festive shall be entitled to cancel your booking at any time. In the case that the event decides to cancel your booking it shall use its reasonable endeavours to notify you as soon as possible. You shall be entitled to a full refund in the event of cancellation under this clause, but no other compensation shall be payable.

Not to mention:

In the event that it proves necessary to close the venue or cancel any activities for reasons beyond the control of F******* Festive and in circumstances where your party has commenced participation in the Activities, you shall not be entitled to any refund (in part or in whole). In such circumstances may, but shall not be obliged to, offer alternative dates or times at reduced rates.

I was under the impression that non refundable applied to me changing my mind, not them closing and cancelling.

Im sure it comes under unfair terms and conditions, but im not 100%

They are stating that we can rearrange for another day, but thats not possible for us and id just like my not insignificant amount of money back.

TadleyBaggie

It clearly states if they cancel the event (obviously ahead of time), you will get a full refund:

F****** festive shall be entitled to cancel your booking at any time. In the case that the event decides to cancel your booking it shall use its reasonable endeavours to notify you as soon as possible. You shall be entitled to a full refund in the event of cancellation under this clause, but no other compensation shall be payable.

However if it is canceled once you have arrived, no refund.

Neddlings

TadleyBaggie said:

It clearly states if they cancel the event (obviously ahead of time), you will get a full refund:

F****** festive shall be entitled to cancel your booking at any time. In the case that the event decides to cancel your booking it shall use its reasonable endeavours to notify you as soon as possible. You shall be entitled to a full refund in the event of cancellation under this clause, but no other compensation shall be payable.

However if it is canceled once you have arrived, no refund.

This is what ive approached them with, and they are saying no.

Im not sure how to exactly word things in my email (im doing it all in writing) or what my legal rights are.

TadleyBaggie

How did you pay?

Voyager2002

Neddlings said:

TadleyBaggie said:

It clearly states if they cancel the event (obviously ahead of time), you will get a full refund:

F****** festive shall be entitled to cancel your booking at any time. In the case that the event decides to cancel your booking it shall use its reasonable endeavours to notify you as soon as possible. You shall be entitled to a full refund in the event of cancellation under this clause, but no other compensation shall be payable.

However if it is canceled once you have arrived, no refund.

This is what ive approached them with, and they are saying no.

Im not sure how to exactly word things in my email (im doing it all in writing) or what my legal rights are.

Your legal rights are what they say in their terms, in other words to a refund but nothing more.

I would simply quote the paragraph you have quoted above, and ask them to honour their agreement.

Neddlings

TadleyBaggie said:

How did you pay?

Debit card. Ive just gone through the chargeback process. 

They clearly wont refund based on their most recent email so i will go through my bank.

I mainly wanted to check i had a right to a refund, which i believe i do.

Grumpy_chap

I think this might be a case where a little patience will work wonders.

This is an outdoor event for today (?) and probably cancelled quite late in the day yesterday (?).  The business have done their best to communicate that with the attendees for the event so that abortive travel and such like is avoided.

The OP has quoted three clauses from the Ts&Cs:

• If the OP cancels, there is no refund.  Not relevant because the OP has not cancelled.
• If the event cancels in advance, there is a refund.
• If the event cancels after the event has started, there is no refund.  Not relevant because the event cancelled in advance.

I suspect any communications the OP is receiving so far are automated / scripted responses from what ever junior admin staff happen to be on shift this weekend.

Await Monday, and allow the business a little time to let the Managers make and implement a proper decision and the refunds will quite likely be managed through some semi-automated process, which may include re-schedule as an alternative to refund.

Jumblebumble

Grumpy_chap said:

I think this might be a case where a little patience will work wonders.

This is an outdoor event for today (?) and probably cancelled quite late in the day yesterday (?).  The business have done their best to communicate that with the attendees for the event so that abortive travel and such like is avoided.

The OP has quoted three clauses from the Ts&Cs:

• If the OP cancels, there is no refund.  Not relevant because the OP has not cancelled.
• If the event cancels in advance, there is a refund.
• If the event cancels after the event has started, there is no refund.  Not relevant because the event cancelled in advance.

I suspect any communications the OP is receiving so far are automated / scripted responses from what ever junior admin staff happen to be on shift this weekend.

Await Monday, and allow the business a little time to let the Managers make and implement a proper decision and the refunds will quite likely be managed through some semi-automated process, which may include re-schedule as an alternative to refund.

Or maybe some sort of bot is answering the emails

ThumbRemote

Grumpy_chap said:

Await Monday, and allow the business a little time to let the Managers make and implement a proper decision and the refunds will quite likely be managed through some semi-automated process, which may include re-schedule as an alternative to refund.

It's not the consumers fault if the company has trained their junior staff to give the wrong answer, or are using bots, or anything else. If the business wanted to say "wait until Monday and we'll sort it then", they could have done. They didn't. 

I'd suggest that getting in quickly with a chargeback is a sensible idea, because the business may not have the finance to refund everyone.

born_again

ThumbRemote said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Await Monday, and allow the business a little time to let the Managers make and implement a proper decision and the refunds will quite likely be managed through some semi-automated process, which may include re-schedule as an alternative to refund.

It's not the consumers fault if the company has trained their junior staff to give the wrong answer, or are using bots, or anything else. If the business wanted to say "wait until Monday and we'll sort it then", they could have done. They didn't. 

I'd suggest that getting in quickly with a chargeback is a sensible idea, because the business may not have the finance to refund everyone.

Company funds have nothing to do with customers getting refunds via chargebacks. It comes from their merchant bank.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Neddlings said:

This is what they state:

Tickets are non-refundable and are non-transferable. In the event that the time and date requirements have changed, we will endeavour to accommodate, subject to availability and a £10 administration fee. Any increase to the overall cost will be have to be paid in full at the time, refunds will not be issued. It is the responsibility of the ticket holder to check this ticket before arrival to the site, it may not be possible to rectify this on the day of the event.

But also:

F****** festive shall be entitled to cancel your booking at any time. In the case that the event decides to cancel your booking it shall use its reasonable endeavours to notify you as soon as possible. You shall be entitled to a full refund in the event of cancellation under this clause, but no other compensation shall be payable.

Not to mention:

In the event that it proves necessary to close the venue or cancel any activities for reasons beyond the control of F******* Festive and in circumstances where your party has commenced participation in the Activities, you shall not be entitled to any refund (in part or in whole). In such circumstances may, but shall not be obliged to, offer alternative dates or times at reduced rates.

I think their terms are poor, they won't let you cancel but say they can so the contract isn't balanced which would I believe void the first two terms with the ordinary position applying. 

I can't see the that third term is valid, if they can't provide the service they are in breach of contract. 

If you booked tickets for a set day then arranging them for another day is varying the contract and there are very limited areas where this can be done and the specifics should be stated as part of the terms.

The only aspect I'd be unsure of would be, if a company has all their terms correct and the event has been cancelled due to the extreme weather, varying the contract, to provide another date for example, may be acceptable.