WIBU to query why it's not a full refund?

[cherrypie314159]

DCs prom was scheduled for early July. It was postponed to late August in the hope that the current situation would have improved enough for it to go ahead by then. I've received an email from school this morning to say it's been completely cancelled now, and not going to be rescheduled again.

The ticket was £50. A £20 non-refundable deposit was payable by November 2019. The £30 balance was payable by February 2020.

The email said we will get the £30 back, but not the £20 as it's non-refundable. But surely they can't uphold that when it's them doing the cancelling? There are approx 200 kids per year group - that's potentially up to £4,000 that the venue (or the school?) are pocketing? This can't be right?!

@sirfredfredgeorge

It’s non refundable, so of course you don’t get it back.

That really is not how things work, we rightly have considerably consumer protection law in this country, you cannot simply say "non-refundable" and refuse to refund when you choose to cancel, it would be a great way for disreputable businesses to make money.

The CMA's opinion is quite clear, full refunds should be available in this case:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-to-investigate-concerns-about-cancellation-policies-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-consumer-contracts-cancellation-and-refunds

Of course, here we are in a slightly different situation with it being a school, and you may not want them to lose the money, so you may choose not to pursue it - but there's certainly an expectation that a full refund should be available and I cannot see any successful defence that the school would have in not offering one.

Are you 100% certain that a school organising a prom is subject to consumer protection laws. I do not know the answer, but some laws are not pervasive over everything.

The venue is a country manor house, the type also used for weddings etc.

That's an interesting and helpful link thank you @sirfredfredgeorge

It seems the CMA's view is that full refunds should be forthcoming even if it was, as in this case, the school/customer that chose to cancel due to the current situation, rather than the venue.

I am going to at least query it and see what school says.