Wedding Cancellation

Hmm, the 'deposit paid ' term is potentially a bit ambiguous, as you haven't paid the actual deposit, but you have paid a booking fee.

I would maybe contact them and ask them to clarify that they consider the booking fee and deposit as separate monies. If they still try and press for the 25%, you could ask if they would consider waiving it as a goodwill gesture, given that they still have a year to fill the date.

Other than that, I would recommend calling Citizen's Advice and see what they suggest.

*disclaimer* I don't have any legal knowledge, this is just what I would do!

Good luck! X

Have you actually signed the contract? Personally, I think they would be hard pushed to charge a cancellation fee if you haven't paid a deposit. You could argue legally that no contract has been made until the deposit has been paid - that's what a deposit is for.

Like you say, the contract states "upon booking & deposit paid". which implies that the deposit needs to be paid for it to be a firm contractual agreement. I would stand my ground with them. Refuse to pay it based on this argument, and be very firm in your wording and make it sound like 'legal speak', lol.

It is their bad for not getting deposit at the same time of the booking.

I think you're right here and you can turn their own words against them by saying

"since a deposit has not been paid, you would be still within your rights to cancel my booking, so therefore so am i. as it states in your contract 'to make a firm booking we will require..' and i have not yet provided those items which makes my booking non-binding and as such i will not be paying your cancellation fee."

if that doesn't work then i wouldn't bother with citizens advice, they are useless in my experience as they're not experts. You're better off looking on the money saving expert website and talking to people in the forums there. :-)

good luck!

Although I am not a lawyer, I would agree that it definitely looks like the fact that you haven't paid the deposit means you're not liable for the 25%. On a purely moral level, I think it's totally unreasonable. They're not going to lose any revenue since they've got over a year to find someone else for that date, it's not like you cancelled on them a week beforehand. On a pragmatic level, if you refuse to pay the money the only way they'll get it off you is by going to court, which I doubt they'd bother with - especially given that their legal grounds for demanding the money seem dubious plus they haven't actually lost any money as it stands, and will easily earn that money by simply re-booking that date. It's probably more effort than it's worth for them. So I wouldn't worry too much, just stand your ground.

It's hard to advise on here but the T&C's only apply if you had them BEFORE you paid the money. If you have not signed the contract yet (and got paperwork) then the venue can't hold you to T&C's you have not seen.

Contact trading standards for more advice.

Hi!

sorry to hear of this, I can advise as i have had a situation in regards to deposits and no contacts though. I would call citizens advice and also check consumer laws and regulations 2013 and 2015. It will help a lot. I would strongly suggest to call citizens advice, they were really really helpful.

It doesn't mean if someone puts things in a contract its correct, a contact could be full of faulty things, as i have found that a non refundable deposit doesnt actually mean anything

Check these sites

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/citizens-advice-consumer-work/the-consumer-rights-act-2015/

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/contents/enacted

Hope this all helps!