Wedding cancellation

[Kp1988]

Hi,

I had a wedding venue booked for 11 October 2019. I then changed the date last week to 20 August 2019 and paid a £50 amendment fee. When I originally booked the wedding, I paid a £500 booking fee and the £1000 is due on 12 October 2018 (next week). At this stage I hadn’t booked any suppliers or registrar and only the booking fee has been paid. I have now cancelled the wedding and changed the venue due to family issues and the venue has now come back to me stating that I owe 25% of the revenue according to the contract. The contract states that the cancellation fee of 25% is owed ‘upon booking & deposit paid.’ I am under the impression that as I have only paid the booking fee then the cancellation fee would not apply? Any help please?!

[Kp1988]

Here is the wording of the contract:

1) To make a firm booking we will require your signed copy of this contract and a booking fee of £500.00 providing such date has been agreed with The Orchard with a £1000 deposit to be received no later than 12 weeks from booking.

2) All deposits are non- refundable with exception of the damage deposit in accordance with clause 19.

3) Cancellation policy: In the event of cancellation of any booking or non-arrival by a client, the client shall pay The Orchard a cancellation fee.

Charges incurred if Wedding cancelled:
Upon booking and deposit paid - 25% of anticipated revenue

[Amethyst]

It seems quite clear cancellation charges apply after booking fee AND deposit - else why have deposit 12 weeks after booking. The cancelled date is 10 months away so plenty of time to resell it. Plus how is 'anticipated revenue' calculated ? You're already losing the booking fee which is substantial.

Cant see much on anticipated revenue but assume its the 100% cost that isn't due until 3 months before the event date.... you don't actually chose options etc until 3 months before so don't know what the total cost will be until then.

Irrelevant in any case as you have only paid booking fee and deposit isn't due till next week so their 25% doesn't kick in until both have been paid IMO. There's a couple other threads on wedding cancellations which might help on letter wording covering this issue - I'll have a look shortly.

Also clause 9 looks problematic legally - irrelevant to your situation but you can't absolve liability for death and injury in that way under the Unfair Contract Terms Act and consumer rights act.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/...dule/2/enacted



https://orchardsuite.co.uk/wp-conten...tions_0718.pdf

[Kp1988]

Thanks Amethyst, I agree with you. We hadn’t even confirmed guest numbers, chosen food options or discussed/booked any suppliers. They can easily sell the date as we only booked that date last week when we changed it! IMO it is an unfair method to make profit.

[2222]

This seems a very, very one sided contract. For example, clause 11 allows the venue to increase charges, but without any right for the customer to cancel. The cancellation charges are completely unreasonable, up to 100% of anticipated revenue, whatever that means, but without having to provide any of the corresponding services. The revenue is clearly not the same as profits after meeting expenditure. Is this contract too uncertain to be valid or too one sided to be valid?

[2222]

Personally, I'd offer them £50 to alter the booking date to 3019.

[Kp1988]

Good idea 2222

I agree, it seems very much orientated around financial gain for them.

[Amethyst]

the venue has now come back to me stating that I owe 25% of the revenue according to the contract.

Is this in writing? Just thinking on a response, disputing their claim, which wants to be in writing, so if it was a letter/invoice could you redact and post that please.

[Kp1988]

‘In line with your signed contract, you will be required to pay a cancellation fee of 25% of the contracted amount. In this instance it equates to £2878.50. You have so far paid £500 which leaves a remainder of £2378.50 to be paid in order to bring the contract to a close. I would be willing to accept a payment plan proposal from yourselves if you would find that easier.’

The £500 paid was the booking fee.

[Kp1988]

They emailed me.

[Amethyst]

25% is £2878.50 ? you'd booked the 'GOLD' package at £9,595 + VAT presumably then?

OUCH. Glad I've just gone for a registry office and a pub lunch....

Okay let me put something together to respond.

[Kp1988]

Yes we booked the Gold package.

Sounds like a much better idea!

Thanks amethyst

[Amethyst]

Okay I'm not great at writing letters... but something along these lines;


Dear xxxxxxxxxxxx

CANCELLATION CHARGE

Thank you for your email following on from my cancellation of hire of your venue for a Wedding to be held on 20th August 2019.

You will be aware that we have paid a £500 'booking fee' and a deposit of £1000 was not due to be paid until 12th October 2018. I would point out that your contract terms state that a cancellation charge of 25% of anticpated revenue is payable upon 'booking AND deposit paid'. As we have cancelled before the deposit was due to be paid we do not agree that we are liable to pay any such penalty for the cancellation.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 companies are not entitled to retain any money in relation to goods or services which could be reasonably sold on. The term outlined above in your contract may be considered an unfair term. The Competition and Markets Authority states that advance payment and cancellation terms commonly used by venue providers, including terms regarding non-refundable deposits, schedules of advance payments and sliding scales of cancellation charges, may be unfair to consumers, cause consumers financial loss and breach consumer protection law.

The date which has been cancelled is more than 10 months away and we only booked the date last week after amending the date from October 2019 ( for which we paid a £50 amendment charge) there is absolutely no reason you should incur any losses from our cancellation.

In any case, in the event of cancellation, a business is generally only entitled to keep or receive an amount sufficient to cover their actual losses that directly result from the cancellation (eg costs already incurred or loss of profit). Businesses must take reasonable steps to reduce their losses (eg by re-selling the goods or services). Non-refundable deposits should only be a small percentage of the total price and any cancellation charges must be a genuine estimate of the business’ direct loss. With that in mind we also believe that we are entitled to a refund of the 'booking fee' paid.

Should you decide to continue with your demands for cancellations charges of almost £3000 please be aware that we fully intend to make a formal request for a refund, a formal complaint to the CMA and Trading Standards, and should you decide to take court action, your claim will be strongly defended.

Yours sincerely

xxxxx

[Kp1988]

Thank you amethyst, that’s great! You have a been a real help.

[2222]

25% is £2878.50 ? you'd booked the 'GOLD' package at £9,595 + VAT presumably then?

OUCH. Glad I've just gone for a registry office and a pub lunch....

Okay let me put something together to respond.

You've chosen wisely, Amethyst. My daughter got married on Hampstead Heath in an open air wedding. It was a logistical nightmare. Fortunately, it didn't pour with rain until after the wedding ceremony.

So, the OP is being charged £2878 for a cancellation 10 months before the new date (and over a year before the original one). The venue has not had any outgoings, for food, drink or what is in my experience the most expensive item, namely hiring in waiters and cooks for the day. They have a very good chance of rebooking the room, anyway. This may well fall foul of:

"A term which has the object or effect of requiring that, where the consumer decides not to conclude or perform the contract, the consumer must pay the trader a disproportionately high sum in compensation or for services which have not been supplied."

And, although not relevant to the complaint, the price increase term in the contract falls foul of:
"A term which has the object or effect of permitting a trader to increase the price of goods, digital content or services without giving the consumer the right to cancel the contract if the final price is too high in relation to the price agreed when the contract was concluded."

There are clearly other faults in the contract.

I like Amethyst's draft letter.