To think wedding venue can't charge us for their invoicing mistake AFTER wedding

[maria1113]

We were sent a 'final invoice' for our wedding, a few weeks before the big day. Being busy and tired we scanned the invoice and paid the total as requested in bold at the very bottom of the form. Now, two days after our wedding we have an email to say they've noticed they invoiced us wrongly on said 'final invoice'. They now realise they have invoiced us just over £800 short. Is this our problem?

Hate confrontation, my partner is not brave enough to take the lead on this one and having a debate with the venue that we loved will leave a huge stain in the memory of our wedding day, wether we win or lose the debate.

If I stand firm, fight our corner and they accept their mistake, we will feel unwelcome there in future and risk looking like total tight wads. If I refuse to pay, and they lay the blame solely at our door, they could charge us without authorisation as we have given our card details for previous deposit and invoice payments. I can't see a way to avoid hassle, embarrassment and expense. We've spent a lot on the wedding and really aren't in a place to hand out that kind of money willingly.

Anyone know where we stand legally? Their contract says nothing about what will happen in the event they make an invoicing mistake.

Horrible horribleness. We just want to relax, haven't even unpacked our bags from the weekend, now got this lovely flaming bag of shite dumped at the doorstep. thought wedding stress was over. Hello old friend!

Any advice legal or moral welcome.

You can maybe negotiate to split difference?
Check your/ their maths first

It sounds like to me they negotiated a new price and then invoiced you for £800 less than that amount so you should pay.

At first I thought you were being unreasonable and should pay

But on second update I'm back to thinking they are unreasonable and should foot the bill

I actually would go through their so called final invoice with a fine tooth comb then I would be questioning them over this as as far as you were concerned, your bill was paid and they had sent you the final amount long ago. I wouldn't just pay without finding out if something could be done. Did you honestly not know what the final bill was supposed to be?

I still don't understand what happened.

So they quoted you £5000, you made some changes, they quoted £4200, then invoiced you for £4200, then said "oh whoops it was £5000 after all"?

Or they quoted you £6000, you made some changes, they quoted £5000, then invoiced you for £4200, then said "oh whoops you still owe us £800"?

Im a bit skeptical that someone would just cough up thousands by looking at the final number at the bottom of the bill and not checking the bill properly.

Still confused!

But surely, if you'd been juggling things to cut costs, you would know how much your wedding should have cost, and been aware of the fact that you'd not been billed the correct amount? I knew to the penny what each bit of my wedding was going to cost. If they'd over charged you by £800 and they wrote to you to refund you would you refuse because the bill had had final invoice on it? I don't know where you stand legally, but in my world you pay for what you've had. Especially if you'd had a lovely wedding thanks to them..

But yes they should have apologised.

I'm sure if your invoice was 800.more than you were expecting you'd have gone through the itemised list and added it up and no doubt contacted them. Seems mean of you not to do the same when it's the other way around.

This is why you get a quote, in writing. Did you? And once you'd discussed not having certain things, did you get a revised quote in writing?

I want you to build me a bench. The quote is £200. When the invoice arrives, guess what, it's for £200, the price agreed. You don't invoice £300. Unless during the build you realise it's going to be more expensive and explain that to the client and they agree to continue, knowing that the revised price is now £300.

You ask for a quote for a wedding. 10k they say. Can we reduce it, you ask, cut down on the smoked salmon etc, move this, do without that. Yes they say. So now the agreed price is 8k. They bill you 8k. Then 3 months later they bill you for 2k because they've found some costs they forgot about?

The long version...

Visit 1. We met the original wedding coordinator, asked her to quote for everything we ideally wanted - venue hire, food, alcohol. Quote received. Result = got a bit over excited.

Visit 2. Next meeting there is a new wedding coordinator. Reigned in some of the extravagant choices. (Obviously expected price to be somewhat reduced). Quote received. Fair enough. Tick.

Visit 3. Went for meal taster session. Met coordinator. Paid in full for night-before-wedding bedroom so we could check in early and get dressed there on the morning of wedding. On credit card Six months prior to wedding.

Visit 4. Finalised 'options' catering drinks venue hire decisions, paid in full for rooms for night after wedding on credit card. Hence, thought rooms paid for. Three months prior to wedding.

Email. 'Final invoice attached' outstanding price to pay in bold under itemised breakdown of 'options' cost.

Wedding day. Ding doll bells chime etc etc slept in bedrooms as paid for (so we thought) Lovely, couldn't fault the day, apart from a few staff miscommunication issues, nothing of great consequence.

Email. £800 please. We had forgotten to add bedrooms to 'options' list on all previous itemised invoices, but deducted the £800 you have paid from the total.

I look back to invoice, it has a breakdown of 'options'
And below, A 'payments made'' column which states we have paid for all rooms in full. Room payments deducted from total of 'options'

So I guess they are telling me that the coordinator forgot to include rooms in 'options' and therefore never told us they should have been invoiced for on same sheet as other wedding services/goods. They did take our £800 and booked us into the rooms so in my mind we had paid for the rooms.

However, as the rooms were nowhere to be seen on the invoice, they took the £800 and deducted this amount from the 'options' list total. A list which didn't mention rooms.

Their Mistake - They did not include rooms we already purchased on the itemised 'final invoice' (or any other invoice for that matter) or add their cost into the total amount to be paid. Basically they forgot an item, and cannot write out an invoice effectively enough for us or themselves to charge the customer correct amount.

Our mistake - not combing the quote in the first place. We just saw the word rooms on the invoice so thought great, food, drink, venue, bedrooms all mentioned, with prices agreed. Done. Basically, we were too lazy to check their maths.

My brain hurts. If I pay without questioning their incompetence, will it make the long-winded explanations stop?! I think I've talked myself around to a 360.

It's still a lot of money to make a mistake over. This is their day job after all, selling a wedding package to a dumbass customer. I do feel like a dumbass if it's of any pleasure to those who say iabu.

Thanks for your patience. deleriously tired, but still curious as to How you would proceed in my shoes. I will accept that we had something, so we should pay for something. I like the instalment idea. We've been rinsed with final bills from suppliers this month, it's shite timing.

Thanks that makes it clearer - so you thought you'd paid an amount that covered rooms and they think you haven't.

I think a conversation with them is needed - you may be able to split the difference in some way

Email. £800 please. We had forgotten to add bedrooms to 'options' list on all previous itemised invoices, but deducted the £800 you have paid from the total.

Ok, this to me is the important bit. I do think you still need to pay, but I totally would ask for interest-free instalments if it has come at a shit time for you with bills etc. I think that is reasonable. You were expecting to pay the £800 so it isn't like they've conjured it up by adding things on.

I would be polite when responding and you may find you get a discount. Explain that actually they are at fault with the handling of this situation and it you would have preferred to pay it way back when you paid the invoice.

Gosh, that is very poor of them.

I don't think you should have to pay really. They gave you a quote which included the rooms, you've paid it.

Surely they can't turn round after all this time, several quotes and several meetings and ask for payments?

That should be *you thought the quote included the rooms, that was the price you and the venue agreed on for those services.

Yes it's their mistake but presumably you used the rooms booked, therefore you still owe the balance? It sounds like you thought you'd gotten away without paying for the rooms, on top of what must have already been a very expensive day, so I do understand why you're upset.

Yes thanks for bearing with me people, I've gone through the emotions now, still maintain we are not responsible for the mistake but we are reasonable in dealing with it.Perhaps more so now than a few hours ago

Cost of rooms we had already paid in full already deducted and showing in the 'balances paid' column.

I totally gave them a shit sandwich in my reply and sweetened it with sugar. When we go to sort it out, I will voice that they need to stick with the coordinator and give her the full time hours she told me she needs to do her job to her best ability. Glaringly obvious to me she needs time to concentrate!

Not denying the rooms were had and enjoyed, would purchase them again if I were to go back in time.

I'm shit at maths it's clear, Just think they should have their accounting down by now. They've been in business a year. Though we were only the second wedding these hosted...Teething problems on their part, absentmindedness on mine.

Still, is it reasonable that it irritates me to have to travel over an hour each way to sort out the problem At the venue with two under three in the back of the car three days after our wedding. Barely had time to piss never mind unpack.. Dealing with this not at top of list of things we want to do with our week off together.

Just let my feelings be the tiniest bit validated.

Sorry, I'm still confused despite you being very patient!

So you paid for the rooms in advance, and now they want you to pay for the same rooms again because they messed up their accounting system?

Ask them to send someone to you to discuss it!

Id tell them no - you're not paying as presumably you have proof of having already paid for the rooms? You paid the final invoice as requested, so I'm struggling to see why you owe them anything else.

Just saw your update - absolutely do not travel to them, they can come to where it is convenient for you if it's that important to them. I'd also call your credit card company to ensure they can't put any charges through without your specific authorisation.

Yes, it is totally reasonable that it has irritated you! It's a huge annoyance particularly as I can totally see how you would have been unaware of it.

I really hope that they compensate you in some way. I would also mention the time and travel expenses it is going to take to sort this out... Are you in contact with the manager or just the events planner?

So.....
You paid £800 up front for the rooms.
On the final invoice those rooms were not included in the total cost, but they deducted the £800 you had already paid from the total cost as a payment on account.
So there should have been a room cost of £800 in the total, then a payment of £800 to net to nil, but there was actually just the £800 payment deducted.
So their mistake and understandable you assumed the bill was right. Annoying but you need to pay it. But yes they should have apologised for the inconvenience.

I can't think of an easy way to explain.

OP paid for the rooms, but as well as removing the room costs from the final invoice they removed an additional £800 as well. So, they deducted the rooms twice from final invoice.