Cancelled Party Booking - venue threatening to sue me for full costs!

[daisymama]

Hi - I booked a venue for a party for a significant birthday last July, the party is in June. All correspondence was via email and the manager explained that as a popular wedding venue I would need to pay a £250 deposit to secure my date. I have now had a rethink (lots of changes in my personal circumstances over the past few years) and I don't want to have the party in this place as I'm going for something more low key. I emailed the venue yesterday, it was over 3 months notice. Received a really nasty response about how they had turned away dozens of wedding enquiries and there is no way he will fill the date now, the most he can hope for is a couple of table bookings in the restaurant (in the summer at a popular venue in London, you are kidding me?), he says that if I cancel he will contact his solicitor to sue me for the cost of my party which he estimates to be £2500. He says that by paying a deposit I entered into a legal contract which I am bound to honour and I have to go ahead or pay up. I have no paper contract, no ts& cs or cancellation policy. All I have is an email thread and I have paid a £250 deposit, he hasn't even asked for my address and thinking about it he didn't even give me a receipt for my deposit. Does he have a leg to stand on, there's no way I want a party at that place now with that sort of horrible attitude - I hosted the memorial for my husband there 2 years ago so he knows I am widowed and I explained to him that since my husband's death my 12 year old daughter also died too and that is part of the reason for cancelling I just don't feel up to celebrating as I thought I would have. His response at the end of the email was along the lines of "you'll feel better when this cold weather goes and the sun is shining and you can think about having a nice party" - please tell me that he's wrong and I'm not going to be sued ontop of all the other crap I am currently dealing wiht in my life!

I'm so sorry for your losses. You've clearly been through a heck of a lot and don't need this on top!

My feeling would be that if there is no contract and nothing on the website terms and conditions then you cannot be forced to pay the full amount.

I'm no legal expert but it sounds like a lot of hot air if you haven't had an estimate and terms and conditions in writing to outline their cancellation policy. I'm sure if he takes it to a solicitor they will tell him that.

No expert, but surely this is what deposits are for? If you cancel you lose your deposit, but you wouldn't have to pay for the party costs. I reckon he's trying it on, he won't have any trouble rebooking and then he'll have made an extra £2500.
If I were you I would seek some advice from a solicitor, it would be worth the money if it means you get peace of mind.

I am so so sorry to hear of your losses. This is this last thing you need! And of course with a nasty attitude like that, I can see why you wouldn't want to do business with this venue any further at all. I have no legal expertise, but I can't understand how the venue would be able to force you to pay costs when nothing is signed, no contract etc. The deposit you stand to lose- fair enough, that's what they're for... I would certainly push back in the strongest terms.

Phone Citizens Advice consumer hotline. Look at their website and hunt for their consumer number. They have dedicated people who know the law inside out and will be able to advise you quickly and suggest an appropriate draft letter. Good luck!

Tell him to go ahead and sue.
Or to fuck off.

It's a deposit, and they should have asked for full payment by X date if cancellation was an issue.

Sorry for your losses. You need to check any terms and conditions you may have agreed to by paying a deposit, possibly on the website, or attached to an email. They may get another booking but possibly only at a reduced fee so they have a loss to cover. CAB is a good suggestion for advice.

Some of the advice on this thread is wrong.

The venue is correct that you have entered into a contract. You have now decided to break that contract. I understand your reasons and I'm sorry for your losses but I'm afraid it doesn't alter the fact that you are in breach of contract. The venue may therefore be able to sue you for loss of profit. The fact that you have paid a deposit does not prevent them from suing for additional losses. However, they must make every effort to mitigate their loss by finding an alternative booking. Note also that they can only recover their lost profits. They cannot recover the full price of the party. I am unclear from your post whether the £2,500 is the estimated cost of the party or their estimated profit.

I hope they back down.

update: managed to get through to Citizen's Advice Consumer Helpline (what a brilliant service btw!) and I was able to confirm that once I booked & paid the deposit I received no receipt or details of their cancellation terms (and there are none on the website), as a result " under the Consumer contracts regulations 2013 if the trader doesn’t supply me with my cancellation rights or confirmation of my contract in a durable medium (email/paper) then it is a potential criminal offence and the matter should be referred to trading standards referencing the business practices he has adopted as he has not adhered to the consumer contracts regulations. I am in my rights to claim my deposit back as damages" - So he has messed up by not providing me with a written contract detailing our agreement including a cancellation policy. Thanks all!

So now you're going to go after him and try and get your full deposit back. Seems pretty awful to me. Let it go.

Sorry - missed the fact that they hadn't told you your cancellation rights. That changes the picture.

They should’ve sent you a contract to sign when you paid your deposit that sets out cancellation charges, if you haven’t had that I’m not sure legally what right they have to enforce anything other than keeping your deposit.

I book a lot of venues for work and nothing is binding unless you’ve signed a contract to confirm minimum spend or venue hire agreement

Is the manager saying they’ve sent you a contract? Where’s their evidence of that?

So now you're going to go after him and try and get your full deposit back. Seems pretty awful to me. Let it go.

This is Legal, where people come to find out their legal rights. I have seen umpteen threads about CMS child maintenance where payers of maintenance are castigated for only paying the "minimum" of the actual assessment, yet none where receivers of maintenance are castigated for accepting the full amount.

To castigate OP for expecting her legal rights to be respected is a nonsense.

No advice but sincere sympathies for your losses OP X

So now you're going to go after him and try and get your full deposit back. Seems pretty awful to me. Let it go.

His loss for not running his business properly, and if that’s the legal right then why shouldn’t she, I would after the way he’s behaved (would be less inclined if he’d just said the deposit was lost)

So now you're going to go after him and try and get your full deposit back. Seems pretty awful to me. Let it go.

Well, she didn’t say she was going to do that, did she? Just that the legal advice she received stated that she had the right to.
Given that she has given more than three months’ notice, it seems unlikely that the proprietor won’t be able to sell the date again.

Sorry not sure how to quote but Midnitescribbler why shouldn't OP go after them? They have behaved appallingly and shown little empathy. They should be able to take another booking. What makes it worse is that OP has used them already by the past so surely they could have shown a little more empathy. Sorry for your losses Op.

So now you're going to go after him and try and get your full deposit back. Seems pretty awful to me. Let it go

She's entitled to it, and there is nothing awful about it.

Sounds like he is chancing it. Ask him to forward proof that you agreed to these outrageous ts and cs.