Cancelling wedding caterers but they won’t respond!

[Letmeinletmein]

I had a wedding booked for April 2027 but I have cancelled it and cancelled all the vendors I had booked. The caterers just will not respond to me. I emailed them 3 months ago but after a few weeks I sent them another email to ask if they could send me confirmation that it’s been cancelled. I didn’t hear anything so after another few weeks I sent another email. No response. I have been calling every day without any answer. I have sent them three WhatsApp messages which have also gone unanswered. When I booked them in, their communication was very quick so I know that they are purposefully ignoring me.

I am worrying that they are going to pretend that they’ve never received my cancellation and it was never confirmed so that nearer the time they will request the full amount of money from me. I paid a deposit and it says if you cancel within 3 months before the wedding you still have to pay them the full price. I am cancelling more than a year in advance so I shouldn’t have to pay anything but I’m worrying that they’re doing this on purpose for some reason.

Does anyone know, if they pretend that they’ve never received my emails and texts, and ask for money from me closer to the time, will the fact that I have proof that I sent them be enough to cover me or do would I need some sort of confirmation from them?

If you have there address send them a letter by registered post.

This try and find some sort of legal template, include copies/pictures of previous communication attempts and send it where it requires a signature for proof of receipt.

I would be thinking they had gone out of business, they have no reason to ignore you here

I assume they're busy and it's not really a priority to respond to a customer cancelling a booking for 18 months time. Keep the screenshots to prove you got in touch with them, but I would bet you'll never hear from them again.

Don't send a letter that has to be signed for. Send a letter and get proof of postage at a post office instead. It is then deemed to have been delivered after a number of days. Someone who is slippery avoids signing for things and the letter could end up coming back to you weeks later. Presumably you have a contract? In which case check what it states about terminating it just to be sure you are doing what is required.

Well I did think that, that’s why I’ve left it quite a while between each email/text I have sent. But I can’t see how someone can be sooo busy that they can’t just quickly reply to say they’ve received my email and can confirm it’s cancelled. Responding to emails and queries etc is part of their job. I can’t really believe that in three months, they haven’t had a spare 20 seconds to reply to me

If they haven’t answered the phone at all when OP has been calling ‘every day’ it’s unlikely they are ignoring her due to her wanting to cancel, they are not answering any calls.

Get a friend to make an enquiry for some made up event - to establish if they are still responding to other communications. Is there a chance they have gone out of business?

Can you call from a different number??

Sounds like they have gone out of business.

This.

Do they have active social media?

If they are a limited company then send a letter to their address on their Companies House listing.

Have you got their address (you might find this at Companies House)? If so, write them an actual letter. Are they on Facebook? Is so, post a message. Keep screenshots/copies of all communication. Sounds like they're doing a dodge. How did you find out about them in the first place?