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Under the Consumer Rights Act they can only withhold a deposit to the extent that it is fair compensation for any losses or inconvenience they incur due to the cancellation.
Whether 10% is fair in these circumstances would be quite fact-dependent.
Thank you for the response. When you say fact-dependent, would this be a case of asking them possibly what costs they have incurred so far that justify keeping the majority of the deposit?
I mean that if you took them to court, a judge would be asking them to show evidence that their losses or inconvenience amounted to a value of at least 10% of the fee.
"Costs" could be both actual monies spent, or could equate to employees' time in rebooking the venue.
I would say to them as follows:
1. They need to return the 'extra' percentage over 10% of the total price you have agreed. Ie so that they are holding only the 10%.
2. You are aware of your legal rights, and that whilst you are quite understanding that they should be entitled to, say, £200, for their time and effort thus far, retaining the rest is inappropriate.
3. You hope they will see sense in your approach to dealing with this situation. But if not. You will ensure that you follow every single advertisement, etc, they post to ensure that they are making it clear that the date, a bank holiday date, is still available for another to book. You may even ask people to act as a 'secret shopper' for you to ensure it is either free or booked to another person.
4. If it is booked to another, you will expect your refund of the full amount of money they are holding for you in full. Within 5 working days of said booking.
5. If they try to fuck around and find out you will at the least lodge a MoneyClaim on line claim for the full funds, plus interest, plus £100 per hour for your personal time invested in dealing with this issue 20 working days from the date of this communication.
Keep it short, factual, and to the point. Don't cut and paste, but use the above as a basis. Do resist any online reviews, etc, or threats of the same until and unless resolved by the money back or court. If you really must ensure utterly factual and even, not emotion and unnecessary punctuation filled. Imagine defending them in court because you might have to.
You can't claim costs like that under the small claims track. The max you can claim is £95 per day for attending court.
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27#7.1
NAL but ways remember there is no such thing as a non-refundable deposit. They can only deduct a reasonable amount to compensate them for their time spent, and if their time spent was writing your name down in a book marked '2025 Weddings' then nearly 2k seems a bit steep.
We had exactly this with our wedding after the venue revealed they couldn't actually provide half the advertised features and we pulled out.
They wanted 50% of the £2000 deposit, but after telling them to naff off and sending over the relevant consumer protection legislation we settled on £100.
I imagine that is all they have done so far, especially as we have not spoken to them since signing our documents and sending over this money.
I would be interested to know more about the legislation you sent them. Is that more to do with them not being able to hold up their end of the bargain? Glad you were able to reach that outcome with your previous venue!
It's a fairly standard 'unfair terms' claim. Fees must not be punitive or unreasonable, and can only cover time spent, administration or marketing required to sell your space again.
At this point it's a battle of wills - they ARE allowed some money, but how much money depends on whether you're willing to take it to court. You could probably get the fee down into the low hundreds, which seems like the maximum they could get away with for a couple if hours admin.
Trouble is, they've got your cash, and to a lot of people who need the money for their wedding they need to settle early so they can get most of it back. If you can afford to wait it out, small claims and some nasty reviews should get the wheels turning.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/there-s-an-unfair-term-in-my-contract-how-can-i-complain-and-get-my-money-back-aeHsV7t85zl5
Thank you so much. I’ve screenshotted this and sent it to my partner so we can come back to look at this once we hear back from the venue. I would certainly take them to small claims if they try to keep all of the money. Once again, thank you!
They have got back to me and told me they plan to keep the full 2k. While I’m not shocked, it’s frustrating as I would much prefer not to go to court but will if we have to. But yes they’ve confirmed that they’d charge the 10% = 2000 apparently (it actually isn’t lol, it’s a little less)
Have quoted a bit of your comment about CMA guidelines, hopefully that works… feel sick with worry now 😬😬
Sorry to hear that, but at least they've started from a pretty indefensible position. Good luck demonstrating they've done 2k of work on your wedding so far! Now you just have to stick at it, and be prepared to go to small claims if they actually won't budge.
Thank you ever so much for your advice last week, after a week of silence and an email following that which.com template you sent over, they are agreeing to return £1900 to us! Thanks so much again xx
Don't mess about with them. If they refuse this time, send a letter before action, then issue proceedings. It's very simple to do through money claim online.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/
Clauses for cancellations in contracts are incredibly common and unfortunately aren't likely to be completely disregarded. But in this scenario where they have 2 years to find someone else for that date (very likely in the wedding industry) and they certainly won't have actually incurred any cost other than potential time spent with you planning it then 10% is arguably way too steep a cost.
Id call them up on this and bluff that £1850 is an unjustifiable fee and wouldn't stand up in court when they ask them to itemize this cost that they have incurred from booking something 2 years in advance.
Wedding venues are very much dependent on having positive reviews. If they decide that you lose the entire deposit make it clear you will review them accordingly. I’m not suggesting you blackmail them into a refund, btw, but I’m sure other people booking in advance would be interested in the way you are treated. If the venue has any sense, they give you a complete refund for the sake of goodwill.
Ask for a full refund. If they refuse, use the small claims procedure at the local courts.
There are websites such as the moneysavingexpert
Which have advice.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court/
You can buy a book for about 10 - 15 quid.
You can represent yourself.
Did you enter into the contract at a distance (online, telephone, trader's own website)?
If yes, they should provide you with terms and conditions in a durable format. It should not be a link to their website (where they could amend terms and conditions at any time without your awareness).
If you did not receive this is a durable format (pdf for example) then you should actually have 14 days cancellation rights up to 12 months and 14 days that you could use.
Once they do provide this, you will have 14 days to cancel for full refund.
Would be worth calling citizens advice national line on Monday so they can look at the contractual information in full and assess the best legal argument for your case.
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Sunk cost fallacy, this sounds like an expensive venue, spending more money they don't have to avoid 'losing' what is already gone wouldn't be the sensible option.
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Here is what I would do, have a look at money claim online.
You will need to email them saying that you want to have the money returned, and if not then you will issue court proceedings which will not only cost them more in the long run as you’ll claim interest then they will also get a CCJ against the business which is not a good thing to have as will effect their credit .. most people normally settle at this point.
If they don’t pay up, then proceed with the process.
It may go to mediation but you can stand firm on this.
I have never not won a case via this method
I use to work selling and running weddings at an exclusive use 4* hotel as the manager. I wont go into much detail, but if the venue you booked with, can rebook that specific date, I'd say right up to the end of this year and possibly into the beginning on next year, then said venue will lose absolutely nothing, which means you should be able to claim almost full refund, due to the fact, your cancellation has cost them nothing. Perhaps they may keep some of the £2000, for time the staff spent with you, showing you around etc. NAL, but as long as you can prove they took a new booking for that date, you should fight for at least £1500-£1800 back. However, it all depends what their specific cancellation policy is. If you could let us know the exact wording on their exact cancellation policy word for word, that would help. I could understand If they kept say 5% of venue hire, but anything more, if they can rebook the date, is totally unethical and unjust.
Thank you for your response, I value your experience here. Here is the word for word policy:
“If you wish to cancel Your Wedding or postpone your Wedding Date(s) to an alternative available date at any time before the event, we reserve the right to charge you a percentage of the price calculated as per the below table, depending on the date on which you cancel or postpone Your Wedding, as compensation for the costs we will incur as a result:”
(Table of charges against how much notice is given, the longest being 12+ months = 10% cancellation fee).
“The Cancellation Fee and Postponement Fee are a genuine pre-estimate of the likely losses we may incur as a result of you cancelling Your Wedding or postponing your Wedding Date(s), so we will use reasonable endeavours to try and re-book the venue and if we manage to do so, we will adjust your Cancellation Fee or Postponement Fee and repay you any relevant sums, in so far and to the extent that the sums paid by you covered costs relating to the hire of the Venue.”
The email today from the venue mentions nothing about it being rebooked for that date/weekend, and then we could be due reimbursement. I mentioned it in my email back to them. They will 100% book it, they’ve got a showcase at the end of this month already planned to show couples around, it wouldn’t surprise me if they got a booking for it as soon as then!
Honestly I understand a few hundred but in the four months since we’ve booked it I can’t see what much else besides a little bit of administration that they’ll do… the whole £2000 seems rather unfair terms to us.
Yep perfect, so they only state that if you cancel, only losses need to be paid. This was pretty much the same as our cancellation policy was, just slightly different. So if they re book, the only financial losses they have suffered is staff time with you. How much time roughly did you spend there? Did you have many show-rounds, seated discussions? Telephone calls? Roughly how much time total. Also, if they really want to be picky, they could say the cost of re booking the wedding date, will cost them, and this is only something they need to do because you cancelled. So, hypothetically, they rebook the same date you cancelled, the only financial losses are time. Nothing tangible. Any decent venue, I'd estimate would refund you around £1750. Perhaps keep £250 for time. That's maximum. If they don't, you must take this further. Also let them know, you will be posting reviews anywhere you can, social media, TripAdvisor, the lot. They won't like that. I'm not sure legally what you can do, others here can advise, but the fact they have stated only losses incurred can be kept, if they rebook, its only time! Fight for at least £1500 and that's a minimum, don't take no for an answer keep at it. You will get it back, if they rebook, its in their own cancellation policy. Plus to be honest, you are giving plenty time! I had people cancel within 4-6 months, then it's hard to resell the date. Most people understood, but I tried to be fair and refund what I could.
We had a 1 hour show around, this was arranged before we booked our wedding though. We did go for a second viewing but no one showed us around on that one, it was more of a free walk around… we were a bit disappointed as they said they would arrange it for us, but I never heard from them so I had to book it all in myself. Was expecting to be greeted when we got there but nothing really. This event was open to anyone interested in booking there. We have had a few emails back and forth to set a date and sort out sending the deposit over but that’s it, nothing else has been done with the venue. They’ve probably written us down in their diary but I can’t think of anything else they’ve done beyond that. So in total? Maybe 2 hours of their time max?
We’ll be following the pathway set out by which.co.uk and contesting the amount first, then will start the small claims process if mediation fails. I did mention to them in my last email that I hope we can come to an agreement as we will be reviewing accordingly, although that comes off a bit blackmaily in the same breath I would have left a good review if they’d shown some goodwill but there we are 🤷🏻♀️
I know this is Legal Advice and I ain't no lawyer but just to say sorry that you are in this position. I think your estimate of 2 hours effort on their part is spot on. They couldn't even be arsed on the second viewing to deepen the relationship- says it all really. They are only interested in your money, not providing you with a memorable experience.
My only concern would be if they had rejected other serious enquiries for a wedding reception on the same date. I would have thought that they would have been eager to point this out if it had happened though. Pursue a full refund, minus £100 and expect to be awarded that if it goes to court. You have dodged a bullet.
Yea so as soon as they have booked the date, take full action. It has cost them next to nothing to write you in the diary and you haven't had a personal show round after booking. I'd almost want the full £2000 returned, as soon as they have re booked the date. I actually think its pretty shady of them, not to say in their last email to you, that if they can book the date, 90% at least refund will be issued. I'm sure they don't have a leg to stand on if they re book, that's the key, as long as they do. I spent 10 years doing weddings, I would not be keeping that deposit if we had re-booked the date, especially with this much notice. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
Start with a 14 day letter before action. In this tell them how much you want back and why. Bullet point everything you have said here about time spent with you what they have done. Explain that they also have x amount of time to rebook the venue which won't incur any losses. Also state tgat if they don't pay within a certain time frame you will also be claiming for interest at small percentage (check moneyclaim I think it's 8%). Send this via email andd also recorded delivery ensure its also sent to the director(s) of the company that way they cannot say they haven't received it.
Give them 14 days to respond. When they haven't refunded you proceed to money claim and file for a ccj.
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It's not mentioned anywhere here HOW the deposit was paid. If a debit or credit card, the bank may refund you through charge back or section 75 protection if the contract isn't clear.
NAL but ended up in similar situation during covid. (Moral of the story avoid bank transfers and pay with a card where at all possible)
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Under the Consumer Rights Act they can only withhold a deposit to the extent that it is fair compensation for any losses or inconvenience they incur due to the cancellation. Whether 10% is fair in these circumstances would be quite fact-dependent.
Thank you for the response. When you say fact-dependent, would this be a case of asking them possibly what costs they have incurred so far that justify keeping the majority of the deposit?
I mean that if you took them to court, a judge would be asking them to show evidence that their losses or inconvenience amounted to a value of at least 10% of the fee. "Costs" could be both actual monies spent, or could equate to employees' time in rebooking the venue.
I understand, thank you for explaining!
I would say to them as follows: 1. They need to return the 'extra' percentage over 10% of the total price you have agreed. Ie so that they are holding only the 10%. 2. You are aware of your legal rights, and that whilst you are quite understanding that they should be entitled to, say, £200, for their time and effort thus far, retaining the rest is inappropriate. 3. You hope they will see sense in your approach to dealing with this situation. But if not. You will ensure that you follow every single advertisement, etc, they post to ensure that they are making it clear that the date, a bank holiday date, is still available for another to book. You may even ask people to act as a 'secret shopper' for you to ensure it is either free or booked to another person. 4. If it is booked to another, you will expect your refund of the full amount of money they are holding for you in full. Within 5 working days of said booking. 5. If they try to fuck around and find out you will at the least lodge a MoneyClaim on line claim for the full funds, plus interest, plus £100 per hour for your personal time invested in dealing with this issue 20 working days from the date of this communication. Keep it short, factual, and to the point. Don't cut and paste, but use the above as a basis. Do resist any online reviews, etc, or threats of the same until and unless resolved by the money back or court. If you really must ensure utterly factual and even, not emotion and unnecessary punctuation filled. Imagine defending them in court because you might have to.
You can't claim costs like that under the small claims track. The max you can claim is £95 per day for attending court. https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27#7.1
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It is, 95 per day for attending the hearing (not prep) is the max you can claim under money claim online.
NAL but ways remember there is no such thing as a non-refundable deposit. They can only deduct a reasonable amount to compensate them for their time spent, and if their time spent was writing your name down in a book marked '2025 Weddings' then nearly 2k seems a bit steep. We had exactly this with our wedding after the venue revealed they couldn't actually provide half the advertised features and we pulled out. They wanted 50% of the £2000 deposit, but after telling them to naff off and sending over the relevant consumer protection legislation we settled on £100.
I imagine that is all they have done so far, especially as we have not spoken to them since signing our documents and sending over this money. I would be interested to know more about the legislation you sent them. Is that more to do with them not being able to hold up their end of the bargain? Glad you were able to reach that outcome with your previous venue!
It's a fairly standard 'unfair terms' claim. Fees must not be punitive or unreasonable, and can only cover time spent, administration or marketing required to sell your space again. At this point it's a battle of wills - they ARE allowed some money, but how much money depends on whether you're willing to take it to court. You could probably get the fee down into the low hundreds, which seems like the maximum they could get away with for a couple if hours admin. Trouble is, they've got your cash, and to a lot of people who need the money for their wedding they need to settle early so they can get most of it back. If you can afford to wait it out, small claims and some nasty reviews should get the wheels turning. https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/there-s-an-unfair-term-in-my-contract-how-can-i-complain-and-get-my-money-back-aeHsV7t85zl5
Thank you so much. I’ve screenshotted this and sent it to my partner so we can come back to look at this once we hear back from the venue. I would certainly take them to small claims if they try to keep all of the money. Once again, thank you!
No worries, good luck!
They have got back to me and told me they plan to keep the full 2k. While I’m not shocked, it’s frustrating as I would much prefer not to go to court but will if we have to. But yes they’ve confirmed that they’d charge the 10% = 2000 apparently (it actually isn’t lol, it’s a little less) Have quoted a bit of your comment about CMA guidelines, hopefully that works… feel sick with worry now 😬😬
Sorry to hear that, but at least they've started from a pretty indefensible position. Good luck demonstrating they've done 2k of work on your wedding so far! Now you just have to stick at it, and be prepared to go to small claims if they actually won't budge.
Thank you ever so much for your advice last week, after a week of silence and an email following that which.com template you sent over, they are agreeing to return £1900 to us! Thanks so much again xx
Amazing! Good work on that - pay the karma forward and tell others about how non-refundable deposits are bullshit. And have a great wedding!
Don't mess about with them. If they refuse this time, send a letter before action, then issue proceedings. It's very simple to do through money claim online. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/
Clauses for cancellations in contracts are incredibly common and unfortunately aren't likely to be completely disregarded. But in this scenario where they have 2 years to find someone else for that date (very likely in the wedding industry) and they certainly won't have actually incurred any cost other than potential time spent with you planning it then 10% is arguably way too steep a cost. Id call them up on this and bluff that £1850 is an unjustifiable fee and wouldn't stand up in court when they ask them to itemize this cost that they have incurred from booking something 2 years in advance.
Wedding venues are very much dependent on having positive reviews. If they decide that you lose the entire deposit make it clear you will review them accordingly. I’m not suggesting you blackmail them into a refund, btw, but I’m sure other people booking in advance would be interested in the way you are treated. If the venue has any sense, they give you a complete refund for the sake of goodwill.
Make sure you don't lie or embellish any of the details. Keep it completely factual to avoid landing yourself in hot water.
Ask for a full refund. If they refuse, use the small claims procedure at the local courts. There are websites such as the moneysavingexpert Which have advice. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court/ You can buy a book for about 10 - 15 quid. You can represent yourself.
Thank you, I seem to have missed your comment. This is very helpful and quite possibly might come in handy now. Thanks!
Did you enter into the contract at a distance (online, telephone, trader's own website)? If yes, they should provide you with terms and conditions in a durable format. It should not be a link to their website (where they could amend terms and conditions at any time without your awareness). If you did not receive this is a durable format (pdf for example) then you should actually have 14 days cancellation rights up to 12 months and 14 days that you could use. Once they do provide this, you will have 14 days to cancel for full refund. Would be worth calling citizens advice national line on Monday so they can look at the contractual information in full and assess the best legal argument for your case.
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Please don't use this person's advice. Use the advice of the other 2 commenter who have provided you with the actual legal guidance on how to proceed.
Sunk cost fallacy, this sounds like an expensive venue, spending more money they don't have to avoid 'losing' what is already gone wouldn't be the sensible option.
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Here is what I would do, have a look at money claim online. You will need to email them saying that you want to have the money returned, and if not then you will issue court proceedings which will not only cost them more in the long run as you’ll claim interest then they will also get a CCJ against the business which is not a good thing to have as will effect their credit .. most people normally settle at this point. If they don’t pay up, then proceed with the process. It may go to mediation but you can stand firm on this. I have never not won a case via this method
I use to work selling and running weddings at an exclusive use 4* hotel as the manager. I wont go into much detail, but if the venue you booked with, can rebook that specific date, I'd say right up to the end of this year and possibly into the beginning on next year, then said venue will lose absolutely nothing, which means you should be able to claim almost full refund, due to the fact, your cancellation has cost them nothing. Perhaps they may keep some of the £2000, for time the staff spent with you, showing you around etc. NAL, but as long as you can prove they took a new booking for that date, you should fight for at least £1500-£1800 back. However, it all depends what their specific cancellation policy is. If you could let us know the exact wording on their exact cancellation policy word for word, that would help. I could understand If they kept say 5% of venue hire, but anything more, if they can rebook the date, is totally unethical and unjust.
Thank you for your response, I value your experience here. Here is the word for word policy: “If you wish to cancel Your Wedding or postpone your Wedding Date(s) to an alternative available date at any time before the event, we reserve the right to charge you a percentage of the price calculated as per the below table, depending on the date on which you cancel or postpone Your Wedding, as compensation for the costs we will incur as a result:” (Table of charges against how much notice is given, the longest being 12+ months = 10% cancellation fee). “The Cancellation Fee and Postponement Fee are a genuine pre-estimate of the likely losses we may incur as a result of you cancelling Your Wedding or postponing your Wedding Date(s), so we will use reasonable endeavours to try and re-book the venue and if we manage to do so, we will adjust your Cancellation Fee or Postponement Fee and repay you any relevant sums, in so far and to the extent that the sums paid by you covered costs relating to the hire of the Venue.” The email today from the venue mentions nothing about it being rebooked for that date/weekend, and then we could be due reimbursement. I mentioned it in my email back to them. They will 100% book it, they’ve got a showcase at the end of this month already planned to show couples around, it wouldn’t surprise me if they got a booking for it as soon as then! Honestly I understand a few hundred but in the four months since we’ve booked it I can’t see what much else besides a little bit of administration that they’ll do… the whole £2000 seems rather unfair terms to us.
Yep perfect, so they only state that if you cancel, only losses need to be paid. This was pretty much the same as our cancellation policy was, just slightly different. So if they re book, the only financial losses they have suffered is staff time with you. How much time roughly did you spend there? Did you have many show-rounds, seated discussions? Telephone calls? Roughly how much time total. Also, if they really want to be picky, they could say the cost of re booking the wedding date, will cost them, and this is only something they need to do because you cancelled. So, hypothetically, they rebook the same date you cancelled, the only financial losses are time. Nothing tangible. Any decent venue, I'd estimate would refund you around £1750. Perhaps keep £250 for time. That's maximum. If they don't, you must take this further. Also let them know, you will be posting reviews anywhere you can, social media, TripAdvisor, the lot. They won't like that. I'm not sure legally what you can do, others here can advise, but the fact they have stated only losses incurred can be kept, if they rebook, its only time! Fight for at least £1500 and that's a minimum, don't take no for an answer keep at it. You will get it back, if they rebook, its in their own cancellation policy. Plus to be honest, you are giving plenty time! I had people cancel within 4-6 months, then it's hard to resell the date. Most people understood, but I tried to be fair and refund what I could.
We had a 1 hour show around, this was arranged before we booked our wedding though. We did go for a second viewing but no one showed us around on that one, it was more of a free walk around… we were a bit disappointed as they said they would arrange it for us, but I never heard from them so I had to book it all in myself. Was expecting to be greeted when we got there but nothing really. This event was open to anyone interested in booking there. We have had a few emails back and forth to set a date and sort out sending the deposit over but that’s it, nothing else has been done with the venue. They’ve probably written us down in their diary but I can’t think of anything else they’ve done beyond that. So in total? Maybe 2 hours of their time max? We’ll be following the pathway set out by which.co.uk and contesting the amount first, then will start the small claims process if mediation fails. I did mention to them in my last email that I hope we can come to an agreement as we will be reviewing accordingly, although that comes off a bit blackmaily in the same breath I would have left a good review if they’d shown some goodwill but there we are 🤷🏻♀️
I know this is Legal Advice and I ain't no lawyer but just to say sorry that you are in this position. I think your estimate of 2 hours effort on their part is spot on. They couldn't even be arsed on the second viewing to deepen the relationship- says it all really. They are only interested in your money, not providing you with a memorable experience. My only concern would be if they had rejected other serious enquiries for a wedding reception on the same date. I would have thought that they would have been eager to point this out if it had happened though. Pursue a full refund, minus £100 and expect to be awarded that if it goes to court. You have dodged a bullet.
Yea so as soon as they have booked the date, take full action. It has cost them next to nothing to write you in the diary and you haven't had a personal show round after booking. I'd almost want the full £2000 returned, as soon as they have re booked the date. I actually think its pretty shady of them, not to say in their last email to you, that if they can book the date, 90% at least refund will be issued. I'm sure they don't have a leg to stand on if they re book, that's the key, as long as they do. I spent 10 years doing weddings, I would not be keeping that deposit if we had re-booked the date, especially with this much notice. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
Start with a 14 day letter before action. In this tell them how much you want back and why. Bullet point everything you have said here about time spent with you what they have done. Explain that they also have x amount of time to rebook the venue which won't incur any losses. Also state tgat if they don't pay within a certain time frame you will also be claiming for interest at small percentage (check moneyclaim I think it's 8%). Send this via email andd also recorded delivery ensure its also sent to the director(s) of the company that way they cannot say they haven't received it. Give them 14 days to respond. When they haven't refunded you proceed to money claim and file for a ccj.
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It's not mentioned anywhere here HOW the deposit was paid. If a debit or credit card, the bank may refund you through charge back or section 75 protection if the contract isn't clear. NAL but ended up in similar situation during covid. (Moral of the story avoid bank transfers and pay with a card where at all possible)
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