Another sad cancelled wedding question

Renfrewman

The 'event' has already been cancelled...too late to try and wangle!

Emmia

Grumpy_chap said:

Emmia said:

Grumpy_chap said:

FadingGinger said:

A  total of £ 15,275 was paid comprising:

- Deposit/damage deposit   £ 1,000.00 (Always returnable unless damage caused)

- Venue hire                         £ 4,438.50 (in three payments of £ 1,479.50) sliding scale of refund,                                                  nothing within 3 months.

- Accommodation totalling   £ 2,600.00 (not separately defined - within venue hire?)

- Catering, drinks & service £ 7,236.00 (6 week refund period)

By the letter of the contract, nothing within the 6 week period is refundable.  However, we’ve done a little better than that.

The £ 1,000 deposit has been refunded. No event = no damage, so difficult to defend keeping that!

The £ 2,600 accommodation has been refunded 

.  They claim that even at this level of refund they will be making a loss on the weekend.  At this point they retain £11,675 for doing very little, so I’m unsympathetic!

 

The venue should try to remarket the now vacant opening.

How is the catering etc. provided?
Is it an external provider?
Are they already committed to paying the staff for the shift even if they don't work?

That £7k for catering, drinks, service.
Ask them to provide you the bottles of bubbles and the wine, and to plate up the full number of meals for takeaway.  You can then freeze them and still be dining on this until Christmas.

I'd request the bottles of drinks, as they'll store. I'm not sure about the food which at present would presumably be in its raw ingredient form. 

But if the venue are still charging the full food cost, they can still cook the food.

But do you actually want to be eating wedding food for most of your meals in the next month or two? And not everything freezes well.

However delicious, it might start to pall after a while 

visidigi

Emmia said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Emmia said:

Grumpy_chap said:

FadingGinger said:

A  total of £ 15,275 was paid comprising:

- Deposit/damage deposit   £ 1,000.00 (Always returnable unless damage caused)

- Venue hire                         £ 4,438.50 (in three payments of £ 1,479.50) sliding scale of refund,                                                  nothing within 3 months.

- Accommodation totalling   £ 2,600.00 (not separately defined - within venue hire?)

- Catering, drinks & service £ 7,236.00 (6 week refund period)

By the letter of the contract, nothing within the 6 week period is refundable.  However, we’ve done a little better than that.

The £ 1,000 deposit has been refunded. No event = no damage, so difficult to defend keeping that!

The £ 2,600 accommodation has been refunded 

.  They claim that even at this level of refund they will be making a loss on the weekend.  At this point they retain £11,675 for doing very little, so I’m unsympathetic!

 

The venue should try to remarket the now vacant opening.

How is the catering etc. provided?
Is it an external provider?
Are they already committed to paying the staff for the shift even if they don't work?

That £7k for catering, drinks, service.
Ask them to provide you the bottles of bubbles and the wine, and to plate up the full number of meals for takeaway.  You can then freeze them and still be dining on this until Christmas.

I'd request the bottles of drinks, as they'll store. I'm not sure about the food which at present would presumably be in its raw ingredient form. 

But if the venue are still charging the full food cost, they can still cook the food.

But do you actually want to be eating wedding food for most of your meals in the next month or two? And not everything freezes well.

However delicious, it might start to pall after a while 

That's not the point. The point is the company taking the money are still obliged to provide the food if asked. If they are going to retain all the money make them provide the food/drink.

If the guests don't want the party, arrange with local charities on the day to come and collect the food/drink you don't want to consume.

Plenty of demand for it. And its better going to those in need rather than those of greed.

FadingGinger

Thanks to all for your thoughts.  The alternate party suggestion has been considered.  We are not in a party mood really. One of the grooms friends suggested inviting local care homes to bring their more able residents for the meal.  I'm pretty sure that the venue would not entertain such notions at this stage.

Meal was to be roast beef and all the trimmings.  Fresh ingredients being a major selling point, so unlikely to have been purchased 5 + weeks out.  I believe the venue do their own catering so no subcontract to consider.  The wine had to be chosen from their standard list so this is also highly unlikely to have been ordered in specially.

Grumpy_chap

FadingGinger said:

 The wine had to be chosen from their standard list so this is also highly unlikely to have been ordered in specially.

Even more reason that you should not be charged for it.

TELLIT01

I would certainly be asking about the drinks that have been paid for.  They aren't perishable.

I would be cutting the venue some slack though as they will have lost valuable income, through no fault of their own, whichever way you look at it.

saajan_12

TELLIT01 said:

I would certainly be asking about the drinks that have been paid for.  They aren't perishable.

I would be cutting the venue some slack though as they will have lost valuable income, through no fault of their own, whichever way you look at it.

Would they though? If they just return the expenses they don't have to incur and keep 100% of the profit, then what are they out? 

When I say expenses, I mean at cost price. So if they were buying wholesale wine bottles at £20 ea and selling them to OP at £30 each, they should just return the £20 which they don't have to incur. Same for food they don't have to buy, staff they don't have to employ and electricity they don't have to use. 

diveunderthebonnet

As has been suggested tell the company that as you have had to pay for it the guests will be attending and expecting the full menu including drinks, they  MIGHT decided to refund you something as they are not going to make 100% profit if they do not supply the product you have paid for , you have nothing to loose.

sheramber

diveunderthebonnet said:

As has been suggested tell the company that as you have had to pay for it the guests will be attending and expecting the full menu including drinks, they  MIGHT decided to refund you something as they are not going to make 100% profit if they do not supply the product you have paid for , you have nothing to loose.

The booking has already been cancelled so cab
not do that. 

ThumbRemote

It's unusual for me not to side with a consumer on this board, but this time I think you're expecting far too much. 

Your payments aren't just profit to a venue, they cover fixed costs like year-round salaries, maintenance for the property, the planning that's already gone into the event, etc. Everyone saying that the food doesn't have to be prepared - realistically, the food cost is a very limited part of the overall costs, the staff payments for preparing it are much greater. Who knows whether the chef(s) still have to be paid; management of the venue certainly will. 

The venue have presumably also lost anticipated bar takings for the event, which could easily be a 4-figure sum. 

They've already refunded you the accommodation charge, which they absolutely didn't need to do. At such short notice they aren't going to get anything back on that. The fact that, despite this, you're already bad-mouthing them and considering leaving bad reviews suggests you're upset and the situation and lashing out at them. 

You claim that "in law a contract needs to meet certain tests of fairness and balance" then suggest that this one doesn't. How is it unfair or unbalanced? Maybe turn things around - would you have been happy if the venue cancelled 39 days in advance of the wedding? And if they had, how much would you be expecting them to compensate you?

This is not the venues fault, it's not the staffs fault, and it's unreasonable of them to lose out financially because of the cancellation.